Can Brand Distance Make a Premium Brand More Desirable?

The brilliant strategy of brand distance explains why waiting two years to buy an everyday item would usually make someone very angry, but making them wait for an expensive bag makes it highly desirable. When a famous company makes someone wait two years for a premium item, the exact opposite of anger happens: the person stays and adds their name to a long waiting list right away.

When a company makes an item very hard to get, scarcity makes buyers want it even more. According to consumer psychology research published in the Journal of Business Research, scarcity directly increases the money a person is willing to pay. High brand distance shows that an item is truly rare. If everyone can buy it today, the wealthy buyer loses interest completely because they want something their friends cannot easily get.

How Brand Distance Creates Higher Value

A regular clothing shop puts a huge discount sign outside every Friday. The owner begs people to buy his shirts, but a true premium business never does this. A luxury maker uses strict brand distance to protect its high prices. 

The luxury bag brand Hermès does not sell its top bags online. A buyer has to visit a specific boutique several times. She must first build a relationship with the staff before the store will even show her a bag.

This brand distance separates serious buyers from casual shoppers. Market analysts at Bain & Company report a clear financial fact about controlled scarcity: luxury sales grow much faster when companies limit product availability. 

When a brand acts strict and unavailable, buyers feel challenged. Shoppers spend huge amounts of cash just to prove they belong to an exclusive group. Making the buying process highly difficult actually creates much more demand. The wealthy buyer feels special because the brand does not sell to ordinary buyers.

Sometimes a premium company wants to sell many units very quickly. The owner starts selling his expensive shoes inside regular supermarkets. This bad decision completely removes the brand distance. 

As we noted in our recent article about brand contrast, doing what ordinary competitors do can hurt a business. When a premium item sits next to cheap everyday groceries, the wealthy buyer may feel insulted. The product loses its special status instantly.

The famous fashion brand Pierre Cardin made this exact mistake years ago. They put their logo on cheap pens and normal frying pans. They removed all brand distance to make more profit. The rich buyers abandoned the brand entirely. 

The company lost its premium status simply because it became too easy to find. A premium item must remain separate from the crowd. If a seller removes the brand distance, he turns an expensive item into a cheap everyday commodity. Customers stop paying high prices once the item becomes common.

Smart business owners know how to use this separation properly. A wise seller understands that maintaining brand distance keeps prices high for decades. A premium carmaker like Ferrari does not produce enough cars for everyone who wants one. They intentionally build fewer cars each year than the market demands.

This calculated brand distance makes every car highly desirable. A buyer feels incredibly lucky when the company finally allows him to buy a vehicle. He gladly pays the full price and never asks the seller for a discount. He signs the cheque immediately. 

To keep receiving premium payments, a luxury brand must learn to say ‘no’. A company must refuse certain buyers to maintain strong brand distance. This bold refusal is exactly what makes the chosen buyers hand over their cash without hesitation. The buyer pays extra money just for the privilege of being selected by the famous brand.

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–Written by Rajnish Kumar, a copywriter and strategist with a background in fast-paced journalism, who explores the gap between what brands promise and how consumers actually behave.