Demand and Supply in Action

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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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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.

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Demand and Supply in action - Beach hut for sale

How much would you pay for this?

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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.

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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.’

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Perfectly price inelastic supply

What cost $10 in 1937 and would now set you back $1 million?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Demand and Supply in action - strawberries and raspberries

Strawberries and now raspberries have arrived into the shops extraordinarily early this year and the fruit itself has been larger, sweeter and juicier than any we have had in years.
This glut is a result of an unusually early spring and, essentially, good pollination.
Growers are fully expecting to outdo the 9,000 tonnes of raspberries sold last year, according to British Summer Fruits.

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Demand and Supply in action - Chocolate digestives

The recent economic crisis has apparently made us all reach for the chocolate digestive. Sales of traditional favourite biscuits have been on the rise in the last year. The total market is up by 22 per cent over the past five years to some £2.2billion.
It is not just biscuits that have seen a rise in consumption due to the economic crisis, other comfort foods like sausage rolls and meat pies have also seen a rise in demand.

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Demand and Supply in action - Fake tan sales soar

Another great demand and supply in action to help you revise. The afternoon of the Royal wedding Debenhams saw sales of fake tan rise by 219% compared with the same day last year. It would seem that people saw the wonderful glow of Kate and Pippa Middleton and wanted to be like them - F in PASIFIC.

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Demand and Supply in action - Porridge sales surge

It would seem the porridge is the new in dish. Once again we see a great demand and supply in action story in this BBC video. It shows how fashion and trends (F in PASIFIC) have caused the demand for porridge to rise. This would be a great starter activity in the run up to exams, getting pupils to watch the video and draw a demand and supply diagram to show the change.

Demand and Supply in action - The Market Bag

This is a great demand and supply in action story I have just heard about on day time tv! The It Bag is apparently out. The new craze is the Market Bag.
At a cost of £90 per bag shown below has sold out everywhere.

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How many Easter eggs did you have?

It would seem not as many as previous years. Thorntons are blaming the great weather we had over Easter on the drop in demand for their chocolate. This is not the first time Thorntons has blamed the weather for poor demand and concerns over profit. Back in December they issued a profit warning due to low demand when the UK was affected by the snow.

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Demand and Supply in action - Bye bye white bread?

This is a great demand and supply in action story. Could white bread be on the way out? The demand for whit bread has significantly fallen over the last few years as people look to the healthier alternatives of brown and seeded bread in an attempt to become more healthy.

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Demand and supply in action - where to buy a cheap house

Here is a really interesting article about the cheapest streets to buy a house in England and Wales.
The study shows a real North-South divide with no street in the South entering the top 20.
This article could make a great start to a discussion about what will affect the demand for housing,

Demand and supply in action - Easter Eggs

With five weeks to go until Easter weekend you may be turning your attention towards Easter eggs in the shops. You may also have noticed that the price of Easter eggs has shot up this year. Easter eggs are costing up to 140% more than last year.

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Demand and Supply in action - Eggs

The price of an egg has now risen above 30p. The cost of a box of six free range eggs averages £1.80 at many major stores, and is likely to rise further. The reason is the spiraling costs of production (C in PINTSWC).

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