My 8-month-old daughter has a really good way of demonstrating market forces, in particular supply and demand.
When there is limited supply (i.e. I don’t have the toy) demand is proportionally great, and I will do anything to obtain the goods required, especially if I think the goods required are being deliberately withheld by an oppressive regime (playful parent) – measures may include clambering over interfering parents, crying and/or grabbing painfully (the baby equivalent of a declaration of war).
When there is a glut of supply (i.e. I have the toy), the demand dwindles (and I can commence one of my routine experiments to verify that gravity is still working by dropping aforementioned toy on the ground, preferably from a height) – the analogue of losing interest in a war on foreign soil.
Chris (and Tom and Damian) came to visit this weekend, and as is inevitable when {heavy irony} social media gurus {/heavy irony} come together, we brainstormed new business concepts.
Well, maybe not entirely new, but ‘Baby Social Media Management’ seemed a concept worth exploring, so we checked if http://emi.ly was available (it wasn’t, already registered to some doting Bavarian dad, apparently) and considered other stratagems for maximising my 7-month-old daughter’s social graph. Knowem seems particularly well named for my daughter’s use…
As part of this discussion, Chris pointed me at this case study – which, needless to say, is dynamic, interactive, synergistic, integrated social media success.
We’re trying a different online grocery service – Ocado. After years of using Tesco.com and finding that it had by far the best online experience of all the online grocery stores (I’ve tried Sainsbury, Iceland and Ocado in years gone by), a friend who worked for John Lewis’ consistent evangelism and a couple of vouchers, coupled with a persistent desire for us to eat healthy, provided the push we needed to give it a another go. Over the years they have revamped their website and their delivery service is superb – slick and seamless where Tesco’s is clunky and fiddly. One example of this is that they bring the groceries in bags which they collect on their next delivery, ensuring they can walk straight to your kitchen and not faff around with trays or pallets and you’re still empowered to be moderately eco-friendly as far as the bags are concerned. Also one-hour booking slots, etc.
It struck me that online delivery services free you from the supermarket lottery of life. Whilst proximity to good groceries was an important factor in us choosing our home, we weren’t specific about the grocer, and as it happens we’re in a Tesco catchment area – the nearest Waitrose is 15 miles away, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s about twice the distance of the local Tesco. This means you get accustomed to a certain level of mediocrity from your shopping after a while, and you get constrained by the choices Tesco imposes on you. One massive bonus of the village we’re in is we have two local butchers, so at least for meat we have some extra choice… and of course our garden will hopefully soon provide some veg.
That said, the delivery charges on Ocado are steep and we’re not sure yet if we’re going to set up a recurring shop (which gives you free delivery) as there is a certain joy and satisfaction in actually going to a shop and getting inspiration for meals that way. OK, it’s not Rick Stein wandering through the markets of a Mediterranean town, but it’s less sterile than hitting a virtual checkout…
I was talking to @geowgeow about why things cost random prices in shops, on seeing a surprisingly reassuring price-list in a sandwich shop in Victoria station. Everything there cost rounded whole numbers instead of apparently arbitrary digits – 12.64 is a pin code, not a price tag dammit!
Carrying the thought through (as you do) however led us to the fallacy of this – inflation is running at over 4%, so a 1 pound sausage roll would have to cost 1.04 next year and so on. So the silly prices return.
@geowgeow speculated that rounding for tidiness is probably worsening inflation – store managers that don’t like price tags that say 1.04 round up to 1.05 and BANG – up goes inflation by another percentage point.
Alan Sugar might be happy with the entrepreneurial instincts shown here, but Mervyn King? He’s probably unimpressed by the entire situation.
Usually, the train guards on Southwest trains are fairly unsympathetic. They’ll barge their way through a massively overcrowded train asking to see people’s tickets, trampling on old ladies and kicking children in the stomach in the process.*
Today, in an inspired moment, our guard told off the people who had left bags on the seats. “No matter how many times I tell you all, some people still left bags on the seats despite the fact there were people standing. I don’t want to see any bags on the seats when I walk through the train!”
Genius. Sometimes I think the larger the crowd of people the more the authority figures need to treat them like itinerant children… at the very least, it makes for a few guilty looks and a selection of wry smiles…!
*not quite, but… y’know.
Armand David's personal weblog: dadhood, technology, running, media, food, stuff and nonsense.
