“Supply and demand” are two of the most well-known words in economics. Simply put, “supply” is the quantity of something that is available or can be made available to consumers. “Demand” is the extent to which consumers want or need a product. When there is more supply than demand, prices fall to encourage consumers to purchase the excess supply. When there is more demand than available supply, prices rise. There are two reasons for this: first, there could be a shortage of the product and the retailer will likely have to pay a lot to restock it; and/or second, the retailer can simply increase profit margins by increasing the price because people are willing to pay for it. On the other hand, if the price of the product increases too much, demand will decrease, bringing supply and demand back into balance (Rittenberg & Tregarthen, 2009). Say no to plagiarism. Get a Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get an Original EssayA popular time of year where we often see supply and demand come into play is the holiday season, which begins with Black Friday and continues until the end. thanks to gift returns and exchanges after Christmas until around New Year's Eve. Every year there seems to be a new must-have item. Often it's a toy. Children learn about it at school or on television, they talk about it with their friends, then they pressure their parents to get it for them. (However, sometimes parents can be just as guilty as children when it comes to consumerism – one parent may decide that their child needs to keep up with the Joneses and have the latest and greatest toy or electronic device.) This sends them off parents get excited trying to find the item in time for the holidays, while thousands – if not millions – of other parents across the country do the same thing. Therefore, the demand for this product becomes very high, and as stores start selling out frequently, the supply is very low. We saw an example of this recently, in December 2016, when the “Hatchimals” phenomenon began to spread across North America – and even other parts of the world! “Hatchimals” are furry, robotic, interactive animals that hatch from an egg that the owner must rub to facilitate the hatching process. Additionally, creatures continue to “grow” and get bigger over time. These are truly revolutionary in the world of children's toys, and as such, they come at a pretty revolutionary price, at around $60 each! This didn't stop many parents from tracking down this toy and snapping it up, but many opportunists began finding and buying Hatchimals in bulk and reselling them on sites such as eBay for triple the price. price. Elasticity started to come into play here, as many parents were unwilling to pay inflated prices for the toy and therefore stopped looking for it altogether. As a result, demand for spare parts from sites like eBay and Amazon has decreased significantly; However, demand to purchase the toy at retail prices at stores like Target and Walmart remained on the rise (Peachman, 2016). Spin Master, the creator of the Hatchimal toy, claimed that he knew the toy would be popular, especially around the 2016 holidays. They produced additional Hatchimals to meet this expected demand. However, they said they did not expect such a massive response and as a result were struggling to keep up with demand from..