Pareto improvements: a cautionary tale

I heard this week of a friend who was writing a paper on supermarket pricing.  Some of the research that the shop had carried out (which, unfortunately, remains confidential) showed that people were, at times, put off buying items if they were in a buy-one-get-one-free deal.  Indeed, there were a few items that actually sold worse when they were in a deal than when they were out of it, particularly when you looked at individual shopping habits – yes, those Clubcards are pretty useful from a econometrics point of view. Continue reading “Pareto improvements: a cautionary tale”

Is it good business sense to reduce your customer base?

The following graph would appear to be bad news.  This shows the reach of timesonline.co.uk – that is, the proportion of daily Internet users who visit the site.  For the first half of 2011, around 0.07% of Internet users visited the site each day; while that seems small, it’s a small proportion of a very large number.  Then, in late 2011, the number of users dropped significantly, and (other than a brief temporary increase in early 2013) the site now has a userbase around a quarter of its old level. Continue reading “Is it good business sense to reduce your customer base?”

Spiralling debt and how to escape

An increasing issue in the UK and across the European Union is the growth of high-risk credit and short-term loans, often called “payday loans” as they are marketed to give people an advance until the end of the month when they are paid.  These services are generally aimed at the poorer members of society, who are unable to take out longer-term loans due to poor credit histories, and who are most likely to need fast access to money to pay bills or buy essential goods. Continue reading “Spiralling debt and how to escape”