Patrick Johnson
Economics
Mrs. Straub
Due awhile ago
The White Girl Effect
We all know that girl who wears UGG’s, leggings, North Face, yoga pants, moccasins, fuzzy socks, oversized sweatshirts drinks Starbucks, spends her time taking selfies, you get the point but can all this basicness help the economy?
in 1992 when Starbucks went public to the world the Starbucks stock has grown 5,000 percent from 1992 to 2014.and in 2013 over a quarter of American women had a pair of UGG boots and with most countries with a greater female populations it would almost be impossible not to see a women with starbucks or UGG’s. As the weather drops the demand for warmer wear increases the more women will want to buy the boots no matter the price and even though the price is can be a negative externality because it is so high but the demand for UGG’s has only increased along with Starbucks. Due to the extremely high demand for the products .The average coffee drinker spends on average 780 dollars at any of the big coffee chains a year but with Starbucks being ranked higher in the oligopoly of large coffee chains along with Dunkin Doughnuts, Caribou, Tim Horton’s, and others. UGG Australia is also in an oligopoly in that its only major competitors are are BearPaw, EMU, and Whooga in that all boot suppliers sell similar style of boot but made with different materials and sold for a different price. Below is a picture showing the similarities between UGG, EMU and Bearpaw also shown below is a distribution map of the large coffee chains in America.
With the ever expanding field of social media like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram along with the large white girl movement Starbucks and UGG’s are physically and virtually everywhere.with social media being the cornerstone of everyones lives the demand for UGG’s and Starbucks has only gone up, and with alerts from these social media locations advertising deals or new products in which consumers can take advantage of the newer, better, cheaper products. Along with the social media sites the proprietors of Starbucks and UGG also have their own sites in where they can sell their products along with special online only exclusives and online only deals that eliminate the negative externalities of the consume in which they do not need to leave the comfort of their homes in order to get the products that they want.
With Starbucks and Uggs now pertaining to wider audience in that Starbucks has recently launched the Teavana tea brand drinks, reaching out to the audiences that lean towards the tea side of the coffee house. Along with Starbucks UGG has started pertaining to wider audiences, UGG has started making shoes and boots for children and men and making new stylish designs for the classic womens boots, these new products are causing these companies to appeal to larger audiences but also causing the demand for these product to increase as well as giving the customers a wide range of choices to choose from as well as giving the owners of these companies more opportunities to make a profit off of the new merchandise
Bibliography
"Ugg Boot Faceoff! EMU, Whooga, UGG Australia, BEARPAW & More!"NYShoeSpycom. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2014.
Wallop, Harry. "Sales of Ugg Boots Climb Uphill, as Shoppers Seek out Wooly Footwear." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 28 July 0016. Web. 10 Dec. 2014.
Timberlake, Cotten. "Ugg Boots: As Demand Stalls, Deckers Seeks an Act Two." Bloomberg Business Week. Bloomberg, 13 Dec. 2012. Web. 10 Dec. 2014.
"Topic: Starbucks." Www.statista.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2014.
Wile, Rob. "This Map Shows Which Coffee Chains Dominate America."Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 18 Mar. 2014. Web. 10 Dec. 2014.
"Starbucks Marketing Makes Social Media a Difference Maker." Digital Spark Marketing. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2014.
Bhasin, Kim. "Why Ugg Boots Will Never Go Away." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 03 Mar. 2014. Web. 10 Dec. 2014.
Starbucks Company Statistics." Statistic Brain RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2014.
Krupnick, Ellie. "Uggs Are More Popular Than You Think & More Fun Facts From Beso's Shoe Survey." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 24 Apr. 2013. Web. 10 Dec. 2014.
"What Your Starbucks Habit Really Costs You." Yahoo Finance. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2014. <http://finance.yahoo.com/news/what-your-starbucks-habit-really-costs-you.html>
"Supplemental Financial Data." Investor Overview. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2014. <http://investor.starbucks.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=99518&p=irol-financialhighlights>.
"Annual Reports." Investor Overview. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2014. <http://investor.starbucks.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=99518&p=irol-reportsannual>. .
Based on your essay I guess that I could be considered a "White Girl". However I believe that the fact that I wear ugg boots, have a north face, drink starbucks and enjoy my more than comfortable fuzzy socks, in fact makes me a white girl. However while my purchasing these items may help the economics of it all, what makes me a "white girl" is the fact that I am WHITE! It has nothing to do with what I spend my money on. People of the African American race purchase the same exact products but to call them a white girl would be racist. I'm sorry that my tastes happen to fall into the "basicness" of your mind. In the end good job but too much stereotyping.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting post to say the least, and although the revenue for the companies has increased rapidly especially over the last few years, I don’t know why it’s considered the “white girl movement” as trends of increasing revenue for companies is not uncommon for technology companies, or even fast-food companies. Increasing revenue is a normality, and I don’t understand how UGG’s increasing profits is a negative externality for anybody, as it is simply increasing our economy in general.
ReplyDeleteI really don't think that "basicness" is a word and that this has much to do with economy. Although you did hit the point that there are a bunch of all these clothing clothes sold every day, it will die out. It is the hottest "trend". So it is going to end. Soon everybody will not wear any of that and all of this will be completely down the drain. Overall, I think you did moderately decent on this essay so good job.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting post and it shows how social media and trends spread certain products greatly. I’m pretty sure uggs and starbucks are consumed by people other than “typical white girls” and that is why they are so largely sold, and why the demand continues to increase. The equilibrium for these products is also increasing because they are pretty inelastic objects for people that are daily coffee drinkers and ugg wearers. Overall good idea on how these products are relevant to economics.
ReplyDeleteThis was very interesting because I would not have thought that this could have that big of an effect on the economy. That part of this is still a little fuzzy to me. If you would have went more in depth about the positive and negative externalities and how it effects the economy. But based on this post you could consider almost half of the girls in our school "Basic White Girls."
ReplyDeleteThere are some crazy numbers and facts in this article. I am really glad you know a lot about the common white girl. Without us, we would have a decreasing economy, and without the demand, there would be less GDP and overall, it would an issue for the declining economy. The graphs you choose to represent and help us -- the readers -- understand what you are talking about are great and are really helpful. How you showed all of the different things that the common white girl typically buys. You also did a great job connecting it to all of the economic terms. Good job Patrick.
ReplyDeleteI find it very interesting that the oligopoly seen in these industries is growing so much recently. It is probably due, in no small part, to the fact that oligopolies are able to make pricing decisions based on competitors that will maximize profits for each company, and with such profits being made, research and development departments can be created.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting how social conforms create necessary goods out of something that to an outsider would seem like a complete luxury. Why do girls want those UGGS? MAny say because they are warm and comfortable, yet many other shoes do just the same. Why get Starbucks coffee over other cheaper options? for that little logo on the cup to show off its contents. Social conforms are what drive the demand in these products, and without it they are nothing.
ReplyDelete