Rebekka Zuckermann Kristiansen's Blog

As I go through withdrawal, I could do anything for another piece of that Norwegian milk chocolate I brought to Canada (that I ran out of about 27 hours ago). As I read Elyssa‘s blog post about chocolate (In my current state, I would absolutely buy this fictional new chocolate/sugarshock) I think about how an aisle at the supermarket actually could end up looking like the entire world’s inventory of chocolate was moved into that one location.

In terms of the application of Porter’s Five Forces, perhaps even though an analysis of a market before entering it indicates that the market is already saturated, many producers decide to enter the market regardless. As Barry Schwartz explains in this TED talk video from 1:38 (yes this was originally posted by Gateman for Econ 101 – but seriously, it’s an interesting TED talk), an almost indefinite number of combinations can be applied to many everyday commodities, leaving the consumer more stunned than satisfied. Why do new products keep popping up when according to Porter they shouldn’t even try? And how do they survive the competition? I can come up with two ideas, mainly that there may be more forces to be considered, and that as the producers invent new consumer needs, the niches become more and more detailed, leaving eternally new areas of available markets. In stead of going to the supermarket for a bar of chocolate, we go to the supermarket to consider 25+ different kinds of chocolate, only to (probably) be disappointed by the result of our choice.