Tastes and Preferences
Finally, consumer tastes may affect demand. Consumers may clamor for an item one year and ignore it the next. The clothing industry is particularly vulnerable to quickly changing tastes. How ready was the clothing industry for the abandonment of the polyester bell bottom complemented by a form-fitting butterfly collar shirt? How ready was the industry for the revival of these ridiculous clothes thirty years later?
Why It Matters Today
Every Christmas season, it seems, there is that one must-have item that everybody just needs to have under the tree. Manufacturers just can't make enough, stores run out of inventory, and desperate shoppers trample each other on Black Friday trying to get their hands on the precious, the precious.
Here are the best-selling must-haves of recent holiday shopping seasons:
| Best Selling Christmas Items | |
|---|---|
| 2009 | Nook eReader (Barnes & Noble) |
| 2008 | Elmo Live (Fisher Price) |
| 2007 | iTouch (Apple) |
| 2006 | Playstation 3 (Sony) |
| 2005 | Xbox 360 (Microsoft) |
| 2004 | RoboSapiens (WowWee) |
| 2002-3 | Beyblades (Hasbro) |
| 2001 | Bratz Dolls (MGA Entertainment) |
| 2000 | Razor Scooters (Razor USA) |
(source)
Sometimes a Song Says it Better: Two is Better than One, by Boys Like Girls
“I can’t live without you” – that’s the boy’s current taste.