Sunday, June 19, 2011
fads and consumer behaviors
Why is it that there are things that seem to be cool one moment and lame the next? How did bandannas become cool in the eighties and die out by the mid nineties to flannel t- shirts and ripped jean? How does one even try to keep up or make money selling these things. I think people that change styles according to whats hip are trying to fool themselves on who they are. The thing that i think sellers do to influence consumer behavior is honestly guess what is gonna be hot in a year and make a crap ton of it ( or look at something that was cool 10 or 15 years ago). Consumers are probably the least predictable things in the world. Like why is the iPod the best mp3 player and not the Zune, there is not reason just because someone told us that so now everyone believes it. They sound they same, do the same thing and so on so why does one outsell the others? Consumers have infinite wants and a finite budget, what makes them choose one thing over an other. I think its a mix of style, whats cool with the people around the consumer, what celebrity endorses the product, and if they think they need it. Example is right now if Justin Beiber endorsed a pair of weird little boys shoes with a heel on them they would sell because he is popular not because the shoes are good or conforable just because he says he wears them. Consumer behavior is swayed by the slightest thing and you could be popular on month and not the next.
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To comment on the consumer may be the most unpredictable entity, I have been told recently that trends are being shown to often repeat on algorithms, or "patterns". I found this interesting because although I had always assumed something like this to be true, it is amazing that researchers are indulging into this aspect to the social portion of us as Humans.
ReplyDeleteBen
ReplyDeleteI agree with you to a certain extent... on the clothing or fashion trends. Tech trends are far different though.... People have become fascinated with Apple because of its user interface. The I Pod is much more user friendly than the Zune, and the I Pod is the most successful because like the I phone it was the first of its kind... One thing is true about consumer trends is that history repeats itself...
In my opinion, I believe that advertising and popularity is much do with most of the subject about styles that you are talking about in the blog. communication through many difference ways to influence the consumer. Creators or producers try to make new products and try to get them to sell by using many ways to get to their customers by communication.
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