Consumer preferences

Have you ever wondered why you like Coca-Cola but you have a friend that would beg to differ? Or maybe how you could never have tea over coffee but your decaffeinated friend will spend extra bucks for an iced tea? This is what we call consumer preferences. Consumer preferences is the subjective tastes of individuals, measured by the amount of satisfaction they receive from consuming an item. This satisfaction is called ‘utility’. So the value of a commodity can be found out by comparing the utility that consumers get from it with the utility of other commodities or products. While consumer preferences is defined as being ‘subjective’, it might not always be the case. These preferences are also influenced by factors such as social environment and peer pressure among others. For example, you might prefer to buy a Samsung smartphone, but instead choose to buy an iPhone so you can facetime your friends. Or you might end up buying a brand of shoes your favourite sportsperson wears. Wh...