Toy Story

The Go Go Hamster is set to be one of the top toys this Christmas. But this, and other toys in high demand, might be subject to a shortage of supply. Retailers had their fingers burned last year as demand for toys fell by 12% and many were left with excess supply after the Christmas period. Many toy retailers make over 50% of their sales in November-December, but the early stages of global recession reduced demand for toys in 2008, shifting the demand curve to the left so that, in order to clear excess stocks, retailers had to reduce prices. In a textbook example of cobweb theory, many have ordered fewer toys this year thus reducing supply, but in fact the early signs on both sides of the Atlantic and across Europe is that demand is, at least partly, restored, so there is now a risk of excess demand.

Stockists are trying to adjust to the change - this report from the US says that many have sent delegations to China to visit the factories supplying so many of the goods to try to secure supply at such a crucial time - but the usual time lag between ordering and delivery is about 4 months, so that in order to get emergency supplies in stores in time for the rush retailers are facing higher costs not only for transport (air freight rather than shipping) but for labour as well thanks to the derived demand for overtime. Dare they raise the price in order to cover the costs, or will they play it safe and cut their margins in order to secure the sales? Time will tell (perhaps we should start a Go Go Hamster price index to see if the price rises above the £49.99 that Amazon are charging today - that price has dropped from £60 since I started writing this report!) but the warning from this BBC video report is that some retailers will go bust this Christmas if they cannot get access to stock at this crucial peak period of demand.

Unit 2 Macro: China’s Trade Engine is Spluttering [10 Feb 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Focus on China - Trade and Growth [27 Jan 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Focus on China - Inflation [26 Jan 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Focus on China - Carbon Emissions and Growth [26 Jan 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Focus on China - Per Capita Incomes [26 Jan 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Focus on China - Changing Economic Structure [26 Jan 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Focus on India - World’s Cheapest Computer [26 Jan 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Can China Stay Competitive [25 Jan 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Population Shift in China [23 Jan 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Exporting to the Booming Chinese Economy [23 Jan 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Money, Debt and the New World Order [22 Jan 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Russia Joins the WTO [22 Jan 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Videos on Productivity [17 Jan 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Look Upwards to Find the next Downturn [15 Jan 2012]
China’s newest 5 year plan - and how it could change the world! [12 Jan 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Competitive Advantage in Trade (Some Videos) [12 Jan 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Video Clips on Negative Production Externalities [29 Dec 2011]
2012 - Carnage on the High Street [28 Dec 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Brazil Overtakes UK in Economic Size [26 Dec 2011]
Economics of Deforestation [20 Dec 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Tacit Collusion in the Supermarket [27 Nov 2011]
Jim O’Neill - The Growth Map: Economic Opportunity in the BRICs and Beyond [22 Nov 2011]
Beyond the Bike - What is the value of life in Africa? [19 Nov 2011]
Pasty Prices - Something to Chew Over [19 Nov 2011]
AS Macro: The State of British Business [13 Nov 2011]
Latest world trade data [6 Nov 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Unilever hit by rising costs [6 Nov 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: China and India - Notes from Martin Wolf [6 Nov 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Time of Use Pricing for Energy [2 Nov 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Costs and Benefits of a Super Sewer for London [1 Nov 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Economies of Scale and the Kinect [31 Oct 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Google Maps to Charge for Usage [31 Oct 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Price Discrimination in the E-Book Market [31 Oct 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Is the Sun Dipping on Solar Subsidies? [27 Oct 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: University fees and elasticity of demand [24 Oct 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Economists attack food price speculation [24 Oct 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Ofcom gives stamp of approval for flexible pricing in mail [21 Oct 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Tesco Behaving Badly - Price Anchoring [17 Oct 2011]
Can the “invisible hand” solve Africa’s poverty? [13 Oct 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Unit Labour Costs and Inflation [12 Oct 2011]
The Return of Protectionism? [12 Oct 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Contestable Markets - Lucozade takes on Coca Cola [10 Oct 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: USA edges closer to naming China as a “Currency Manipulator” [4 Oct 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Homework Assignment on Market Prices [2 Oct 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: When China Met Africa [1 Oct 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: The Supply and Demand Rap! [28 Sep 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Exercise on Equilibrium Market Prices [27 Sep 2011]
Putting the “discrimination” into price discrimination! [26 Sep 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Exercise on Market Supply [26 Sep 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Exercise on Market Demand [25 Sep 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Greek Economy at Default’s Door [25 Sep 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: IMF Flags up Risks of Double Dip [20 Sep 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Bangladesh and Comparative Advantage in Textiles [19 Sep 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Fixed and Variable Costs [18 Sep 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Economic Growth and Inequality [14 Sep 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Value Added in Production and GDP [11 Sep 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Short Run Costs of Production [6 Sep 2011]
NHS spending good, private provision bad? [5 Sep 2011]
Starter Activity: Health Economics [1 Sep 2011]
Toilet rolls, soap and climate change [1 Sep 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Quiz on Business Costs and Profits [25 Aug 2011]
Markets and Meerkats [23 Aug 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Baltic Dry Index and Global Weakening [19 Aug 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: GDP per person since the credit crunch [19 Aug 2011]
Guess where China exports its chopsticks from [7 Aug 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: The Price of Football [2 Aug 2011]
Capital labour substitution at FoxConn [2 Aug 2011]
A surprising example of trade between the USA, China, and Korea. [19 Jul 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Cotton Prices and the Retail Price of Clothing [13 Jul 2011]
Harry Potter shows that China isn’t quite a market economy yet! [13 Jul 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Economics of Volatile Corn Prices [12 Jul 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Dangers of High Inflation [11 Jul 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Oligopsony - Dairy Losses Drive Farmers from the Fields [10 Jul 2011]
Where there’s muck there’s brass [6 Jul 2011]
China: The End of Cheap Labour [28 Jun 2011]
AQA ECON4 Context [20 Jun 2011]
Chinese inward investment in the London property market [12 Jun 2011]
Development Econ: Wealth and Inequality in China [10 Jun 2011]
Do tariffs actually reduce imports? [26 May 2011]
AQA Macro: Remember to revise inflation [25 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Cost Push Inflation [24 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Inflation [24 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Oligopoly and Collusion [20 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Oligopoly [20 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Price Discrimination [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro:  Monopsony Power in Markets [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: The Importance of Profit [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: High and Low Marginal Cost Products [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Outsourcing [18 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Business Growth [18 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Innovation Efficiency and Welfare [18 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Moving Away from Profit Max [18 May 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Diseconomies of Scale [18 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Minimum Efficient Scale [18 May 2011]
A2 Micro: External Economies of Scale [18 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Economies of Scope [18 May 2011]
AS economics: Using the cost-benefit principle [18 May 2011]
AS Micro: What´s really behind the oil price rise? [10 May 2011]
Interest Rates Held at 0.5% once again [5 May 2011]
A2 Macro: Chinese investment in the EU [3 May 2011]

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