Tuesday May 19, 2009

IPOH: The Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry is working to have a consumer complaints centre in all markets nationwide every Saturday and Sunday.

Deputy Minister Datuk Tan Lian Hoe said this would allow consumers to lodge complaints about errant traders, marked-up prices and other concerns up to 1pm.

Click here to view PDF file of Food Trend Analysis (21-9-08 to 26-4-09)

Note:
• Total of 37 items have been monitored for 33 weeks - 21/9/08 to 26/4/09.
• The graph represents the average prices of a particular item from 3
  hypermarkets.
• The 3 hypermarkets from where the data was collected are GIANT,
  CARREFOUR and TESCO in the Klang Valley.
• The data is collected weekly.
• A gap in the graph; means that the particular item is not available in all three
  monitored hypermarkets.

By Sean Gregory Monday, May. 18, 2009

In this groundbreaking 2008 book Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy, Danish brand consultant Martin Lindstrom showed how neurology, as much as economics, drives consumer behavior. One of TIME's 100 Most Influential People in the World, Lindstrom talks to TIME's Sean Gregory, during a business trip in Thailand, about what's buzzing around our brains in this recession.

There have been some signs, though fleeting, of a possible economic rebound. What's the consumer thinking right now?
What is fundamentally different about the recession, except for the ones we had in the 1930s, is that we're putting bookmarks in our brains. When icons that we defined as stable, like Lehman Brothers, fall apart, you are suddenly questioning everything around you. So consumers now, if things start to get better, will not run into the stores and start consuming like there had never been a recession. That will not happen. At the end of the day, consumers will want something practical that will enhance their lives in concrete ways. And that's really a fundamental change from the past, right?

Thursday May 14, 2009

LONDON (Reuters) - Travel restrictions and other measures help limit the spread of the new H1N1 virus but officials are largely ignoring the best way to stop the bug: focusing on children's hygiene, a researcher said on Thursday.

Citing a review of 51 studies examining different ways to contain respiratory virus epidemics, Tom Jefferson of the Cochrane Library said encouraging children to do simple things like wash their hands is most effective.

2009/05/14
By : JAMES GONZALES, Kuala Lumpur

THE commuter service that plies the KL Sentral, Seremban, Rawang and Port Klang routes is useful for the thousands who travel daily to the capital for work.

Over the past two weeks, I travelled a couple of times along these routes and I must say that it is the most convenient mode of transport compared with travelling by car or bus. The ticket fares are also reasonable.

However, I feel there is still room for improvement.