Demand and Supply in action - Dry Shampoo
Sales of dry shampoo have rocketed in the past year. Sales have risen by 140% year on year, and research by industry analysts Mintel found 23% of women and 13% of men own a bottle. It is especially popular among younger women, with nearly four in ten of those aged 16 to 24 using it
So why is there such a big increase in demand for this product?
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How much for an olympic torch?
I’ve just seen a great piece of topical demand and supply in action today. Just in case you’ve missed it on the news, the Olympic torch arrived in the UK and embarked on a 70-day tour in the run-up to the London 2012 games.
read more...»Demand and supply in action - minimum price on alcohol
Another great revision story this time on minimum prices. The Scottish Government has announced it wants to set a minimum price of 50p per unit of alcohol.
This will ensure that a standard bottle of wine at 12.5% volume is set at a minimum of £4.69 in Scotland. Compare this to the price of a similar bottle costing £3.49 in England.
A 70cl bottle of whisky at 40% will cost no less than £14 - while you can pick up a bottle in England for just over £10.
Demand and supply in action - bikes
Sales of bicycles are forecast to reach an all-time high this year. The reason is that we are gearing up for a summer of watching cycling champions Victoria Pendleton, Mark Cavendish and Sir Chris Hoy in action. Analysts at Mintel predict that bike sales will grow by 8 per cent on 2011 to £700million this year, rising to £800million by 2016.
Another great one for students to practice their diagram drawing and explanation writing.
Demand and Supply in Action - Potatoes
A great demand and supply in action story as your Year 11 students revise. The price of potatoes is set to rise due to the weather. The wet weather is delaying planting and slowing down harvests. The rains and floods have delayed main crop planting, with total plantings currently estimated to run to just over 70,000 hectares compared with almost 100,000 hectares this time last year.
Favourable weather in 2011 had led to unusually large crops across western Europe, which had kept prices down.
Using this information you could get your students to draw 2 diagrams one for 2011 and one for 2012.
Demand and supply in action - Rice Pudding
The economic downturn seems to have caused a surge in demand for rice pudding. In the past year Muller Rice sales have grown 4% to £57.4million, data showed.
Muller put this increase down to advertising and encouraging shoppers to reappraise the brand. but other makers of pot desserts, such as Rachel’s, Tideford Organics and Yeo Valley, have also seen good growth.
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Great graphic - unemployment
A greater starter for some revision on unemployment here:
10 worst cities for unemployment
Demand and Supply in action: the market for IPads
This week sees the launch of the latest IPad to scenes of overnight queues and fanfares from Apple.
read more...»Demand and Supply in action - Beach hut for sale
How much would you pay for this?
Inflation basket
The constituent parts of the basket that makes up the measure for CPI & RPI inflation is being updated to reflect changes in trends.
read more...»Demand and Supply in Action - shoe polish
A great demand and supply in action story to start the new half term off. The sales of shoe polish have risen 32% in the last year. One reason for this increase is the poor state of the economy. People are really looking after what they have. If you have a £150 pair of shoes, rather than scuff them to hell and get a new pair, they are cherishing them.”
It’s the same phenomenon that saw Timpsons enjoy booming sales as people got their shoes re-soled in the recession, and sales of darning equipment increased at John Lewis.
The economies of Superbowl advertising
A highlight of the year for many sports fans, the Superbowl presents advertisers with a unique opportunity to reach over 110 million captive viewers.
read more...»Demand and Supply in Action - nail polish
Over the past year Superdrug have seen nail polish sales rise by 37 %. L’Oreal’s nail polish sales were up 24%, double the increase in lipstick and lipgloss sales.
‘We live in an image-obsessed world and nail varnish has become the ultimate accessory. Women want a quick and affordable way to get the latest look. A new varnish provides an expression of individuality and the same buzz as a new outfit for 10 per cent of the cost.’
Perfectly price inelastic supply
What cost $10 in 1937 and would now set you back $1 million?
read more...»Demand and Supply in Action - what’s in a name?
It has been suggested in a new report that Skegness should change its name to boost demand in the ailing resort. This links really well with fashion and trends in demand. Skegness has become less popular with the rise of the package holiday (substitute) and younger people seeing Skegness as a less desirable place to go on holiday.
Delicious data - UK debt compared
Here is a great graph for using with your students to do a delicious data question.
Demand and Supply in Action - Recession boosts fast food demand
The recent recession has led to a surge in demand for fast food. This means that 50.4% of all meals eaten out of the home are now at a so-called quick service restaurant, up from 47.3% just two years ago. The term quick service restaurant is used by the industry to describe any outlet where the consumer queues to buy take-away food so includes coffee shops.
read more...»Demand and supply in action - oil prices
A great demand and supply in action story to start the year off. Oil prices have risen by 4%. The cost of Brent crude jumped $4 a barrel to $111.4 by yesterday. The reason is the tensions between Iran and the US.
read more...»Demand and Supply in action - chocolate prices soar
Here is a great demand and supply in action story to get students practising their diagrams and explaining them.
The price of chocolate is set to soar over the next decade. This is due to a worldwide shortage of cocoa beans.
In addition growing taste for cocoa in China, rising demand for dark chocolate and an awareness of its health benefits are forcing up demand.
Delicious data - UK GDP growth
Great graph here showing UK GDP growth between 2007 and 2011.
Demand and Supply in action - The Christmas turkey
The cost of the Christmas turkey could be as much as 25% higher this year. As a result you will pay about £50 for an average 12lb turkey, up from £40 last year.
EU growth rates - delicious data
A great graphic here on growth rates in the UK, Germany, France and the EU as a whole.
read more...»VAT relief on DVDs
The Treasury is scrapping an exemption on VAT for goods valued at less than £15 dispatched from the Channel Islands
read more...»Mnemonic Monday - Party Season Nearly Christmas!
It seems that Christmas festivities start earlier and earlier each year, so this mnemonic is rather fitting at the beginning of November.
This is a great one for remembering cross price elasticity.
Demand and Supply in action - petrol prices
News coming in today suggests that we are going to see prices at the petrol pumps rise considerably over the next few years. The reason behind this will be increasing demand from the fast growing Asian economies.
read more...»Mnemonic Monday - Supply factors
This weeks mnemonic hopefully will help students remember the factors which cause the supply curve to shift. PINTSWC
read more...»Mnemonic Monday - Demand factors
So as we all embark on teaching demand and supply I thought it would be a good idea to remind ourselves of the useful mnemonics for this topic.
This week we will look at the factors which cause the demand curve to shift.
Luxury items buck the trend
We are expecting demand for goods and services to be dropping as the economic outlook worsens. Not so says Burberry, makers of expensive luxury items such as the trench coat and handbags. They have seen revenues rise 30% in the six months to September 30th.
read more...»Demand and Supply in action - fish and chips
1,200 people queued to get their hands on a fish and chip takeaway meal for just £1. Fosters Fish and Chips shop in Didsbury, Manchester, was offering the special promotion to celebrate its first birthday.
And the £4.75 savings on the usual price appeared to be reason enough for 1,200 customers to wait hours in line.
Demand and Supply in action - pumpkins
The recent hurricane on the East Coast of America has seriously affected the crop of pumpkins ahead of Halloween. The US is facing a shortage this year after Hurricane Irene destroyed hundreds of pumpkin patches across the region.
Wholesale prices have doubled in some places as farmers nurse their surviving pumpkin plants toward a late harvest.
