The existing literature on the phenomena of special and limited edition products has focused its attention mostly on the consumer behaviour aspect linked to the phenomena. The current research, instead, represents a base for the use of special and limited editions as multipurpose tools and it links together different business themes. Special and limited editions are powerful instruments which a company can use to address different objectives and achieve specific results.
Nonetheless, there is the need to expand the research and the literature on the topic, as it provides great possibilities for future researches. Specifically, an initial research should address the theoretical distinction between special and limited edition products and their characteristics depending on the specific industry. There are two main paths which future research could follow: the first one could provide a deeper and quantitative analysis based on the current research, the second one could include a wider study including new and different themes.
9.1 In-depth future research
A first future research direction could address the limitations of the current study focusing on a quantitative analysis of the special and limited editions phenomena. Particularly, it would be insightful to carry out a quantitative research in relation to the use of these products within a product life cycle. Indeed, the efficacy of these strategies has been proven in this paper through a qualitative analysis with data collected from interviews, but it lacks the support and extension of a more rigid scientific process. There is the need for a more detailed and profound analysis about the impact of special and limited editions on each phase of the product life cycle, in order to measure and quantify in-depth their efficacy along the PLC curve.
Furthermore, future researches could conduct a wider analysis on the use of special and limited editions within the entire automotive industry in order to generate a more comprehensive overview of the topic. Indeed, the research process has brought the attention on the extensive use of these products made by car manufacturer companies.
An interesting direction for future researches could be the study of the use of special and limited edition models within car manufacturer firms characterized by a higher degree of planning and lower degree of flexibility, as for example the lean manufacturing systems implemented by Toyota. For instance, the current research has not taken in consideration how the implementation of these strategy can vary according to the particular flexibility and planning schedule of different companies. More generally, a cross-comparison between brands
could be useful in order to find similarities and differences in the use of these products and provide valuable guideline for the management.
Moreover, the automotive industry landscape is currently facing several changes concerning the general configuration of the car manufacturers’ business model. For instance, many companies have already developed new models focusing on delivering a mobility service, rather than selling just products. For example, Mercedes and BMW created Car2Go and DriveNow respectively, which represent two different carsharing options.
Furthermore, they are trying to migrate to a network efficiency business model, merging their two services in a new platform called ShareNow (YourNow, 2019).
On the other hand, Alfa Romeo is currently investing on sharing mobility with the platform U-go by Leasys (Alfa Romeo Press, 2019). The company wants to first offer the Alfa Romeo Giulietta model to private customers and successively give them the option to share the vehicle through a peer to peer platform.
Therefore, the future research could investigate the impact of using special and limited editions within the context of industry changes which are shaping the automotive market. Particularly, it would be interesting to analyse the use of a special or limited edition model as a strategy to better address the particular needs of the sharing economy customers.
Additionally, special and limited editions have been analysed in relation to a business operating with a value-based business model, offering an overview of how these could be valuable strategies in order to make the invisible attributes of a product visible or to emphasize some of its features. A research connecting the use of these products to the different types of business models could be carried out.
Furthermore, a deeper analysis of the double-edge sword effect of limited edition within the context of business model fit could be carried out in the future. This could help managers in the transition to a new business model or in the challenge of creating a fit with newly modified objectives.
9.2 Wider-scope future research
Special and limited editions have wider effects on company strategies and operations than what has been researched in this paper. Indeed, the researchers have focused this study on the investigation of the use of these products as tools within three main themes.
Within the automotive industry as well as in other industries, special and limited editions have been largely implemented in order to create collaborations between brands. The fashion and furniture industries represent a clear example of this purpose. As described in the introduction of this research, Fiat developed a special edition of the Fiat 500 model in collaboration with the yacht building company Riva (Fiat Press, 2019a) and a
limited edition with the Italian fashion company Gucci (Fiat Press, 2019b). Louis Vuitton has developed a limited edition line with the brand Supreme (Louis Vuitton, 2019).
Further analysis on the impact of special and limited editions concerning the collaboration between brands and industries could be developed in order to gather a broader understanding on which benefits and purposes they can address.
Moreover, both special and limited edition can be used in order to quickly produce prototypes in order to test the product market response. Thus, this could represent another direction for future analysis.
The current research does not consider the impact on a business project management of the creation of special and limited edition products. For instance, it would be interesting to analyse how special editions in general are developed as projects and what are, if any, their distinctive characteristics.
Nowadays, the creation of shared value is increasingly important for companies in all the industries, as they are trying to create a higher value for the social environment. Lacoste developed a limited edition T-shirt where it changed the traditional crocodile logo with one showing the endangered species in order to sensitize the customers to save them. The company limited the offering availability in a creative way, offering each piece in the number of units representing the remaining animals showed in the logo (Lacoste, 2019).
Furthermore, several brands have started the production of special edition products together with the association (RED) in order to spread awareness on the AIDS/HIV issue. Those products are characterized by the iconic red colour and a part of these products profits are invested in campaigns fighting the disease.
Different brands have decided to commit to this cause collaborating with (RED), from telephone to beverages companies, from luxury to skateboards brands (RED, 2019).
Therefore, special editions in general are able to enhance the shared value created by companies and to engage them socially for the community and the environment. Future researches could investigate the use of these strategy for this specific purpose.
Limited editions in the past have been used in order to create a revival of some products. For example, the Egg chair designed by Arne Jacobsen has been brought back in the market in 2008 through a limited edition available in 999 units (Christiansen et al., 2010) and this has infused new life to the product. A direction for the future research could be the investigation of special and limited editions as strategies implemented in order to revitalize old products.