Marquee items pegged around events like Father's Day have been coming too late for shoppers. Across the country, retailers and suppliers are fighting against a lack of cargo space that’s stalling this time-sensitive merchandise and driving up costs for retailers. Fighting for freight space is leading retailers to pay two to three times last year's rates. What does this mean for consumers?
When it comes to Super Bowl Sunday, who turned out the best commercial is almost as newsworthy as who won the game. This year companies forked out a record $200 million for a slice of the Super Bowl advertising pie. With the economy in shambles, consumer confidence at a 30-year low and the GDP shrinking at an alarming rate, these ads need to get a serious bang for their buck. To assess if this year’s batch of commercials did what they needed to do to motivate reluctant consumers, we turn to Behavioral Economist Dan Ariely. He is the James B. Duke Professor of Behavioral Economics at Duke University and author of Predictably Irrational.
Feeling a little sheepish because you got your sister socks, and she got you a new purple iPod? Evolution can be blamed for the guilt — if not your poor taste in gifts. Jonah Lehrer, author of "Proust Was a Neuroscientist," gives us the dirt on why we feel the need to give as much as we receive.
Why do so many otherwise rational individuals make irrational decisions when it comes to money? Why do shoppers overspend when using credit cards, but manage to stay in a budget when they use cash? And why would a person walk five blocks to save $10 on a $20 purchase, but not on a $1,000 suit?
"Our brains evolved to make decisions on the savannah or in a jungle. And a lot of the decisions we have to make as adults in a modern world aren't necessarily applicable to what we might have made 10,000 years ago. The decisions aren't crazy; they are simply obsolete."
--Gary Belsky on irrational spending behaviors
Look for new placards at your grocery store that say "local." More stores are catching on to food that's made close to home. In part, it's because of high oil prices, which make it harder to transport food, but it's also due to the curiosity of Americans who want to know where their food comes from. It's doesn't matter why: Local farmers know a boon when they see it.
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