You're not deceiving the customer. The problem is the customer depends on other inputs to make a decision. 99% of the time the decision has no rationale except social proof.

For example: If you went to buy 2 products next to each other at a store. They both do the same thing and same price, which do you take? The one that your neighbor bought or a random one?

For me whenever this happens, I most likely don't buy either unless I have a very specific need to get it.

> Why should deceiving be some kind of desirable conduct ?

I don't find it deceitful. Is it deceitful if a restaurant has several separate rooms instead of one big room? If they have one big room and most of the room is empty it sends a negative message to a diner. If they have several rooms but don't open up additional rooms unless needed then there is no negative in the patron's mind.

In the case of Home Depot they had the merchandise if someone wanted to buy it. Having empty boxes is a marketing ploy. Is it deceitful if a store gets slotting fees from vendors for better shelf placement? Where does this thinking end? Malls cover up empty stores in creative ways. They don't have a window where you can see the store is empty. They create a front or some other creative way to handle the vacancy. (There are many examples of this behavior which is considered acceptable and clever in business.)

Surprised to see this getting downvotes. I purposely created a new discussion to avoid taking this thread further off-topic. And that post quickly became very popular and even made the front page. Is it just not kosher to link to relevant discussions that you posted? If so, sorry! I figured it would be ok since the linked post is not in any way self-promotional.