Trends in Consumption Patterns
The business world is very susceptible to the subtleties of consumer choices. The ability to
anticipate the trends in consumer consumption patterns is vital to any company desiring to
be a leader or major factor in their industry. Millions of dollars are spent each year in
research and analysis to determine or to create trends in, not only who the companys
customers may be, now and in the near future, but also, what will those customers want to
buy, and why.
To truly understand trends in consumption patterns, one must first understand the basic
principles of economics. Economics is the science that deals with the production,
distribution, and consumption of goods and services (economics, n.d.). The branch of
economics dealing with particular aspects of an economy, as the price-cost relationship of
an organization is called microeconomics. This aspect of economics concentrates on the
laws of supply and demand. According to Colander (2004), the law of supply states
quantity supplied rises as price rises, when all other factors remain constant and the law of
demand states that the quantity of a good demanded is inversely related to the goods price.
When price goes up, quantity demanded goes down. When price goes down, quantity
demanded goes up. There are several factors that lead to changes in consumption patterns
thus a change in supply and change in demand.
Utility
Many believe that people buy things for their own self interest. Sales courses indicate the
need to know this self interest because the customer really is not buying their product. The
