Consumer Behavior Insights

Articles on the intersection of trends, data, and consumer behavior

Why The U.S. Government Subsidizes Colombian Flower Farms

One of the biggest sources of flowers is the result of a regulatory arbitrage: the US government subsidizes Colombian farmers with hundreds of millions of dollars each year to encourage them to plant crops other than coca leaves, as coca leaves make their way into the US in the form of cocaine. The subsidy is so significant that nearly 70% of flowers sold in the US originate from Colombia. At peak season, almost 30 cargo planes of flowers are shuttled from Colombia to the U.S. per day. The flo

The Rise of Electric School Buses – It's Not What You Think

The largest public transportation system in America is not one of trains or subways; it’s school buses. Every day, nearly half a million school buses move 26 million kids to and from school. And while the rise of electric school buses might seem like it’s a story about transportation, it’s in fact a fascinating glimpse into an energy arbitrage business merely in its infancy. It starts with buses’ lack of utilization. While commercial airplane utilization is nearly constant, school bus utilizat

Consumers Are Eating More Chicken than Ever Before

Today, the low-margin, cost-conscious grocery store industry uses rotisserie chickens as a loss-leader product. Many Americans visit the grocery store to buy rotisserie chickens on a weekly basis, and leave with other, higher margin products too. In 2017, a whopping one in every two Americans bought a rotisserie chicken. The best show of rotisserie chicken’s status as a loss leader is that they are cheaper than uncooked chickens. Because they're a popular product, they tend to bring in foot tra

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