Consider a market transaction that you have undertaken as a consumer which was notable because it is particularly recent, large or unusual. Analyse this transaction from a micro-economic standpoint.
I recently entered a sector of the home entertainment market by purchasing a Playstation 3. The Playstation 3(PS3) is Sony Computer Entertainment’s third video game console which competes in the current seventh generation of consoles alongside Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Nintendo’s Wii.
With the advancement of new technologies such as high definition(HD) and motion sensors it was only natural that consoles would evolve to incorporate these new breakthroughs. The first seventh generation console to be released was Microsoft’s Xbox 360 on
…show more content…
(Q1-Q2)/(P1-P2)*(P1+P2)/Q1+Q2)
Taking the sales figures from earlier we have Q1=3.5, Q2=13.9, P1=499 and P2=250
Plugging these figures into the equation gives an answer of -1.798.
Since the value is less than one we can say that PS3s are elastic. This means that an increase in price of 1% will lead to a greater than 1% change in demand.
I also predict that at the current market price this product to be elastic. This is due to the nature of the product. Being a luxury good, customers are more likely to be price sensitive and also the PS3 is against strong competition so if the price were to change in favour for or against substitute goods this is likely to have a strong effect on demand.
Therefore in this case if Sony were to increase the price of the PS3 they would expect to make lower total revenue. This is because the predicted demand for PS3s would be expected to drop more than the percentage increase in price could cover.
In conclusion by looking at the recorded sales figures we can clearly see the real implications of the PS3 high elasticity at work. The high starting retail price combined with a lack of starting complimentary goods projected poor sales which were then recouped by reducing the price and an increase in complimentary goods.
References
*Quantity sales figures were taken from
If you've never touched a video game controller in your life, but do have avid players in your household, you may be in for a bewildering month. That's because we're on the verge of what the gaming industry excitedly calls 'a new console generation'. In short, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, once the most powerful games machines on the planet are being replaced – the former by the Xbox One, the latter by the PlayStation 4 (PS4).
For the industry analysis, we are certain of sales since the PS4 is a consumer product particularly. For that reason, the buyer has a high bargaining power on the product. The market for casual gamers has increased seriously and sales increased after decreasing price of the PS3. Due to the uniqueness of every video game console and the games buyers have bargaining power. A small difference might be significance an extra hundred dollars for an intense gamer. People have more aware to the price difference because they play video games more casually and as a result they have more bargaining power. Buyers have a reasonable amount of power in the video game industry in particular with Nintendo. Although Microsoft and Sony have other sources of revenues, the major source of income comes from the sales of games and game consoles.
The elasticity of demand measures the buyer’s reaction to price as its changing. “Economists measure the degree to which demand is price elastic or inelastic with the coefficient E d, defined as E d = percentage change in quantity demanded of product X/ percentage change in price of product X” (McConnell, C. 2011). Therefore, Ed=∆Qd/∆Pd. When elasticity of demand is measured less than one, demand is considered to be inelastic. The coefficient in an inelastic range is less than one. When this takes place the percentage change in price is more than the percentage change in quantity. It can be said that when inelastic demand is present that quantity becomes less effected by price changing.
As sales of Nintendo’s Wii and DS dominate the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and PlayStation Portable, respectively, the pressure continues to mount on Sony and Microsoft to move to the next level in the ongoing console wars. Sales of the Wii in 2008
Because the paint is at 2.56, this is considered to be elastic demand. This means that the demand for the good changes at a faster rate than the price change of the good. Sales fall off steeply when the price increases, but they jump sharply when the price declines.
Threat of Substitutes: The main substitute for a video game console would be a personal computer. They can both be used for playing different types of video games and be used for entertainment. The threat of this substitute edging out video game consoles is very low, because they are not completely similar. If anything, video game consoles are edging out personal computers in the gaming industry. The threat of substitutes in the video game is not very high. In 2008, this was not a very strong force in the video game industry.
II. When price falls from 4 pounds to 3 pounds the demand for travel increases to 80,000 units- At the original market price of 4 pounds the demand for travel was 60,000 units generating revenue of 240,000 pounds. When the price is reduced to 3 pounds the resulting demand is 80,000 units and this also generates income of 240,000 pounds. When market price changes and the resulting revenue remains the same it can be said that price elasticity of demand is unitary in
Price elasticity of demand enables business organizations to predict how their total revenue will be effected in the event they change the prices of their products. When a given good has inelastic price elasticity of demand i.e. Ed 1, then the percentage change in the quantity demanded is greater that the change in price. Thus, raising the prices of such commodities results to decline in the total revenue because the business may loss customers to their competitors. Nonetheless, reducing the prices of goods with elastic elasticity of demand increases the total
Overall, the market response to these three consoles has been surprising. Nintendo Wii, has outsold its rivals and more surprisingly, Sony’s PS2 has outsold PS3. This has let Microsoft and Sony with the enormous challenge of competing with a rival possessing two key advantages: a lower cost console and a product with a sound response in the market.
Nintendo appears to have implemented a market-penetration pricing strategy. The Wii at a cost of $250 is 50% less than the 20-gigabyte PS3 (smaller hard drive machine). At this lower price, it is easier for the product to penetrate the market due to affordability in most segments. This aligns with the assumed company’s aim of maximising market share in the current and new segments. To achieve this, Nintendo ensured that the Wii was less costly to manufacture. Moreover, a higher sales volume may lead to lower unit costs and higher long run profits. Conversely, Sony is believed to have a market-skimming pricing strategy. The company invested $2 billion in technology, so this strategy aims at recovering the maximum amount of revenue to cover the high costs incurred in the early stages of the product life cycle. Additionally, Sony has a strong brand due to the success of their previous machines (PS2 and playstation) and the high price assists in communicating the image of a superior product with quality.
When price elasticity of demand is elastic, the coefficient will be greater than one. When a percent price change occurs quantity demanded responds strongly there will be a large change in quantities consumers purchase. There is price sensitive in this scenario. If price elasticity of demanded is inelastic the coefficient will be less than one. When a percent price change occurs quantity demanded does not respond strongly then there is a slight change in quantities consumers will purchase. There a weak price sensitive in this scenario. Lastly, if price elasticity of demanded is unit elastic the coefficient will be equal to one. Whenever there is a percent change in price there is an equally matched percent change in quantity demanded. This scenario is rare.
1. What, if anything, should Sony do to turn around the sales of the PS3?
Some of the most important knowledge gained for practical purposes concerned the concept and application of supply and demand. Anecdotal evidence of supply and demand can be seen all around us; including the way that gasoline prices increase and decrease as a result of the way oil prices, which resulted in a basic understanding of the underlying concept. Other areas where this can be seen include examples such as the stock market and even web sites such as eBay with the auction of goods. However, the ability to understand the way this operates not only helps to explain the observed outcomes, the ability to use this to help predict potential outcomes for different scenarios is highly useful. The concepts of elasticity and cross elasticity with different influences, such as disposable income and competing products are all
What should Sony do to maximize the value of the PS3 to meet the consumer’s satisfaction?
The following graph demonstrate the demand curve of how many items of a product or service a consumer would like to purchase at different prices. Now by having the product at a lower price, the more a consumer is likely to buy. For that same reason it can be concluded that the price is one major factor of the product demand.