With the recent spread of the Coronavirus, the demand for disinfecting supplies has surged. With this in mind, many items have increased in price drastically. Amazon, for example has had to remove multiple products from their website due to price gouging. For example, "An 12-ounce, two-pack of Purell hand sanitizer bottles was listed at $99.95, around 10 times what major retailers charge". Sales for hand sanitizer have gone up 54%, thermometers sales have gone up 34%, and aerosol disinfectant sales have risen 19% when compared to last year. Many other companies such as Walmart and Target have tried their best to keep prices low but the demand is extremely high, leading to empty shelves.
I chose this article because the spread of the Coronavirus is something that is going to effect the whole world, myself included. Disinfectant supplies are in high demand right now and at some places, the only way to get them is for an unreasonable price.
This article topic relates to marketing since it shows us a clear example of how supply and demand work. It shows us how some companies deal with pricing during a time of high demand and how some ethical issues are raised.
This is a topic that should be brought to everybody's attention because sellers are going to attempt to sell these products for very unreasonable prices. The economy is going to struggle and sellers are going to find ways to get money and sadly people will purchase them during this time. This is quite disappointing, instead of trying to help prevent the virus from spreading even more people are only thinking about making money out of people.
ReplyDeleteBringing awareness to this reality we are currently facing is definitely important. I have personally witnessed how fast products are selling out through online websites and even in stores. Although this has been an ongoing thing I believe we will continue to see more products such as water, canned foods, etc that will eventually become high in demand.
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