Cheap : the real cost of the global trend for bargains, discounts & customer choice

Manufactured goods have been getting cheaper, both in absolute terms and relative to services. Since the Consumer Prices Index was first launched in 1996, the prices of "goods" have fallen an average 2%; while the prices of services have risen 35%. The most talked about example has been in textiles: since 1996, the average price of clothes has fallen 36%. But it is not just clothes that have been falling in price: new cars are 1.5% cheaper than they were in 1996; household appliances are 24% cheaper; toys are 30% cheaper, and of course, in the audio-visual category, you'll find things are on average now 56% cheaper than they were nine years ago. Although manufactured goods have been getting cheaper, with that trend, Bosshart warns, comes cheap morals and cheap ethics. With implications for the environment, the labor market, and for companies, "the age of cheap" comes with a price. Contents......Page 5 1 The Age of Cheap......Page 9 Why the trend towards low-priced goods is changingour lives: the link between prosperity, democracy andprice orientation......Page 10 The four stages of development in customerbehaviour6......Page 16 The panorama of cheap......Page 18 The first axis: trade – Wal-Mart and the message, ‘Demand more for less!’......Page 47 The second axis: the manufacturers – China and the possibilities of global sourcing......Page 49 The third axis: the customer – the internet and the global customer cartel......Page 53 Which factors are accelerating the trend?......Page 55 The dream becomes cheaper – the bulldozer rolls on......Page 62 Why Wal-Mart concerns us all......Page 66 What is Wal-Martization?......Page 69 The rationalization models......Page 88 Why are these models so rational and so successful?33......Page 110 5 Faster, better, cheaper......Page 124 Time as an economic factor......Page 125 The logic of increase (Logic No. 1)......Page 127 Real markets mimic financial markets......Page 130 The neglect of personal resources: the logic of increase means higher hidden costs for the customer......Page 143 Differentiation logic (Logic No. 2): what happens when uncontrollable costs of side-effects exceed costs......Page 149 ‘Outsourcing to the customer’: the myths of services......Page 157 Marketing means selling goods: the myth of customer orientation......Page 165 7 What is worth what?......Page 171 8 The next chapter......Page 183 Index......Page 189 "In most developed countries, in almost every trade sector, prices have decreased considerably over the last few years in some cases, by more than 20 per cent. The choice of products on offer is immense, and customers are inundated with a vast range of goods, costing very little money. In this compelling, powerful and shocking account of society's greedy over-consumption, David Bosshart paints a bleak picture of our increasing obsession with cheap goods. He exposes the darker side of some of our favourite organizations such as easyJet, Wal-Mart, Aldi, Hennes and Mauritz, and Disney and reveals some substantial paradoxes in their business strategies. David Bosshart leads us to question our pursuit of unbridled consumer choice and low prices, and the effect that it is having on the world's economies and societies. Can we rise to the challenge and overcome this obsession for cheap goods before it's too late?" -- Publisher's website David Bosshart opens consumer's eyes to the problems with cheap goods- namely workers struggling to survive on low wages and company directors making a fortune. He suggests that we must all question our pursuit of unbridled consumer choice and low prices Presents the author's thesis that food, clothing, home goods, and technolgical products have declined in price over the last decade, allowing middle-class consumers to purchase more items and services and improve their lifestyle. 'Cheap' is the most important development on our way to the next stage in the modernization process taking place in our economy and our society.