Consumer Behavior and Marketing1) Do you think consumers may have too much choice in shopping? What could it depend on? The consumer may have too much choice in purchasing as various choices provide consumers with a better picture of what they would like to purchase. However, having too many choices can be quite burdensome as it can cause confusion, make decisions difficult and take up a lot of time. This could depend on several factors. - Customers with budget constraints may not consider too many choices favorable as they choose products based on the lowest price. - Busy people with time constraints in shopping will prefer limited choices because too many choices will take too long to choose a product. - Product type is another factor as consumers tend to demand fewer choices for basic goods and more choices for luxury goods. - Personal preferences are another factor as some people prefer a variety of goods while others prefer not to have too many choices. - Brand loyal consumers are indifferent when faced with too many purchasing choices as they tend to ignore other brands and choose the product of their favorite brand.2) You believe that the absolute lowest price for an item is the most important thing for many consumers? What percentage would you say a comparison store has the lowest price? What implications do you see, if any, from your estimate? The absolute lowest price for an item may be very important to many consumers but not all consumers because it depends on factors such as income distribution and product type. The distribution of income has an impact on the profitability of consumer purchasing power. - Lower income populations are more price sensitive and will be more concerned about the absolute lowest price for an item. - Higher income population is less sensitive to the price of products and will select items based on other factors such as quality as they have higher purchasing power. The type of product is also a determining factor in the consumer's need for the lowest price. - For basic goods, consumers are more inelastic to price changes. Since the raw materials are affordable, the price differences are quite small. Therefore, the lowest price is not a major concern for most consumers. - For durable and luxury goods, when deciding to purchase these products, price is one of the most important factors to consider as the price of these products is high. Therefore, people will compare the price between various stores and buy from the bank that offers the best deal with the same quality.