Guild Wars 2

So I was thinking about getting some cool outfits on the gem store but then I realized that most cannot be brought anymore? I was interested in the Ghostly Outfit and others but they aren’t on the gem store. The gem store doesn’t have many outfits for sale at all either. Anyone know why this is?

They change what’s in the gem store periodically. Some things like the ghostly outfit are tied to specific festivals – in that case Halloween. Others just come and go periodically throughout the year.

Strange as it sounds it actually increases sales, for 3 reasons:
1) Less stuff to sort through so less risk of players getting bored or overwhelmed trying to find something to buy.
2) Gets people like me who might spend forever thinking we’ll maybe buy it one day to get on and make a decision because it’s going to be gone soon.
3) Gives the and excuse to advertise stuff again – when items are brought back they’re on the promotions page, and often mentioned in the news posts on the main site and on Facebook and Twitter. Which draws attention to them.

Of course they could do 3 anyway, but it has less impact when it’s simply “Hey don’t forget we’re selling this thing”.

Yes it sucks if you want to buy something which isn’t currently available and yes that does mean they might lose sales (e.g. I wanted to buy the Strider’s armour, once it was back I couldn’t remember why I wanted it and didn’t get it), but in spite of that it’s a very common marketing strategy precisely because it works.

Danikat.8537:

They change what’s in the gem store periodically. Some things like the ghostly outfit are tied to specific festivals – in that case Halloween. Others just come and go periodically throughout the year.

Strange as it sounds it actually increases sales, for 3 reasons:
1) Less stuff to sort through so less risk of players getting bored or overwhelmed trying to find something to buy.
2) Gets people like me who might spend forever thinking we’ll maybe buy it one day to get on and make a decision because it’s going to be gone soon.
3) Gives the and excuse to advertise stuff again – when items are brought back they’re on the promotions page, and often mentioned in the news posts on the main site and on Facebook and Twitter. Which draws attention to them.

Of course they could do 3 anyway, but it has less impact when it’s simply “Hey don’t forget we’re selling this thing”.

Yes it sucks if you want to buy something which isn’t currently available and yes that does mean they might lose sales (e.g. I wanted to buy the Strider’s armour, once it was back I couldn’t remember why I wanted it and didn’t get it), but in spite of that it’s a very common marketing strategy precisely because it works.

Ahh ok thanks for the answer!

It’s the impulse buy strategy plus they are banking on you have little self-control when it comes to something that’s “limited time only”.

It’s about as shady as casinos preying on gambling addicts but it’s still legal.

I still think they would make more money over the long term if they would keep more things in there, or allow us to buy the outfits out of the tab in the character panel.

Excelsior.
Just check out for seasonal events as well.

The Ghostly Outfit (which is incredibly beautiful and totally my taste, bought it on the instant and it’s today still my one and only outfit I own) will most likely come back in roughly 2 months and 3 weeks.

kitsuneshoujo.5734:

I still think they would make more money over the long term if they would keep more things in there, or allow us to buy the outfits out of the tab in the character panel.

Decades of consumer behavior, research, and case studies have shown otherwise. As Danikat mentioned, it’s more than just getting people to make impulse purchases: people don’t value what’s in front of them all the time, visual clutter gets in the way of purchases, and even just adding things to the shop gets people’s attention.