[johnchristopher]

> This strategy is closely related to the concept of “whales” in gaming, in which 1 to 2 percent of users drive 80 percent of gaming companies’ revenue

Last time I heard of that term - `whale` - it was a reference to a mom whose child was making in-app purchase without her mother's consent and/or knowing. Unethical behavior cursor to the max.

[JohnBooty]

Everybody should think deeply about ethics and act morally. Exploiting human beings is not okay.

But the idea of "whales" is nearly universal in all lines of business, and there's nothing unethical about it unless your business is already operating in some kind of ethical gray area.

If you are lucky enough to have customers at all, you will have some that spend 10x or 100x as others.

The most obvious example would be a neighborhood restaurant or food truck. Most people in your town might visit once or twice per year, if at all. But then you have your regular customers that you see a few times per week. Somebody who stops by twice a week is spending 100x as somebody who visits once a year.

Same with a department store. Most people buy nothing, some just want a pair of socks, and some will drop $2,000 on a new business wardrobe.

Something worth considering: if your business is one that inspires passionate fans, do you have any options for these folks to spend more? If not, are you kinda leaving a bunch of money on the table and hamstringing your fledgling business? Probably. Of course, this is something that takes ethical consideration and good judgement.

[nottorp]

Your examples aren't really of whales, because there's an upper limit on how much food/clothes you can get.

The whale term was invented by casinos wasn't it? Where there's no upper limit to how much you can lose.

[naniwaduni]

There's an upper limit to the amount that you can consume.

There is no upper limit on the amount you can pay.

[ergl]

Sure there is, unless you consider incurring infinite debt a positive thing.