Cop.Flip.Invest

Souce: https://www.gq.com

The economic principle I’m exploring is “ that people gain when they trade voluntarily, and because of scarcity, people choose. All choices have an opportunity cost. My research question to help me study the economic principle is “What social trends have led to the increase of demand for Supreme clothing?

The article published in GQ titled “Can Selling Supreme Make You a Millionaire” demonstrates this economic principle because it shows how marketing and the use of technology has allowed buying and reselling supreme to be potentially a profitable business, especially for millenials.

 First, the article states that the people buying supreme aren’t doing it to be more stylish, they’re doing it because “it’s about reselling the destined-to-skyrocket rarities for a profit.”  In today’s society people want to make money as fast and as easily as they can, the Supreme resell market offers the perfect opportunity to turn quick profits.

 A company based out of Canada names Wealthsimple has put a billboard in New York reading “"Cop. Flip. Invest," and it's a marketing move… aimed at making the whole investing money/saving for your future thing easier for millennials.” Legitimate companies have seen the opportunity to make profits, and are recruiting a young workforce ready to make money. Companies advertising to an eager workforce adds to the social stigma that reselling Supreme can be and is a legitimate market. 

But it’s not as easy as companies like Wealthsimple would have you believe.  As Jake Woolf the author of this article states “the professional-grade Supreme flippers of 2017 aren't standing on the sidewalk with crossed fingers; they're using bots and hackers to check out from Supreme's online store within seconds of a major collection's drop, eating up all the supply and, in turn, creating their own demand.” Because Supreme only has a limited amount of each item, and “professional-grade Supreme flippers” are buying up most of the product, the group that Wealthsimple is marketing to is left with just scraps of the profit.

In my next blog post I will research: Why are people willing to pay 2 or 3 times the original price of the original item? (Does the trade mutually benefit the buyer)