All About Demand- Demand Curve | Shifts| Movements

🐙The Tale of SquidPop & The Bubble Tea Battle 💥

Welcome to Poplantis, an underwater city where all the sea creatures have one obsession: Bubble Tea .

Every day, the Bubble Tea Café run by Miss SquidPop (a savvy octopus entrepreneur 🐙💼) is packed with jellyfish, crabs, and chill turtles slurping away at flavours like Seaweed Matcha and Coral Mango.

But one day, something fishy starts happening… demand for her bubble tea goes wild. One day it’s booming, the next it drops. What’s going on? Let’s dive into the ECONOMICS behind it. 👇

📘 Chapter 1: What is Demand?

Miss SquidPop turns to her wise accountant clam 🐚 who says:

"Demand is how much of your bubble tea consumers are both willing AND able to buy at a certain price, in a given time period.”

💸 If they want it but can’t afford it, it’s just a wish, not effective demand.

📉 Chapter 2: The Law of Demand

Miss SquidPop experiments with prices.

• When she raises prices from 2 sand dollars to 3, the jellyfish stop coming.

• But when she drops prices to 1 sand dollar, the turtles line up from reef to reef. 🐢🧋🐢

💡 That’s the Law of Demand:

As price increases, quantity demanded falls.
As price decreases, quantity demanded rises.
✅ Inverse relationship.

📉 Her demand curve? Always slopes DOWN. Mnemonic: "Down for Demand"

🧍‍♀️ Chapter 3: Individual vs Market Demand

🦀 Crabster wants 1 tea.
🐢 Turtz wants 3.
🐙 SquidPop wants none (she’s a coffee gal).

➡️ Individual demand = how much one creature wants
➡️ Market demand = all the creatures added up!

If the reef has 200 turtles and 100 crabs? That’s a tidal wave of demand! 🌊

⛓️ Chapter 4: Movements Along the Curve

The clam accountant says:

“Miss SquidPop, when the only thing that changes is price — and everything else stays the same (i.e ceteris paribus) — the change in quantity demanded is a movement along the curve."

• Price ↑ = contraction 🧍‍♀️⬆️ (up the curve)

• Price ↓ = extension 🧍‍♀️⬇️ (down the curve)

Diagram: Movement along the Demand Curve.

No new fish joined. No trend changed. Just a price swap = movement.

🔀 Chapter 5: Shift Happens (Non-Price Factors)

Then… boom 💥! An influencer stingray named RayaFin posts a viral video of herself sipping Coral Mango on FishTok 🎥

Suddenly, fish across oceans want SquidPop's tea — even at the same price!

This isn’t just a movement… it’s a SHIFT in demand ⏩

The whole curve moves rightward — more demand at every price.

Diagram: Shift In Demand Curve.

👀 Why? Because of non-price factors. 

🧍‍♂️ B – Buyers (Population): New reef opened = more sea creatures = more demand
📣 U – Unmissable Ads (Advertising): FishTok clip went viral
🔄 B – Better Alternatives (Substitutes): Coral Cola’s price rose = more switch to Bubble Tea
💸 B – Bigger Wallets (Income): Sea economy boomed = more sand dollars = more luxury slurps
👗 L – Lifestyle,Taste & (Fashion): Bubble Tea became the post-RayaFin trend
💳E – Easier Borrowing (Interest Rates): Stingray Bank cut rates = loans cost less = more spending
🥯 S – Strong Pairings (Complements): Seaweed waffles now half price = more reason to buy tea

Use the BUBBLES memory hack.

🚫 Chapter 6: Shift Left – The Fall

But trends change fast…

Next month, Sharkbucks launches a Salted Tuna Latte 😬☕. Suddenly, fewer customers come.

Even though SquidPop didn’t change her prices, demand dropped.

This is a leftward shift ( or Inward Shift)⏪

• New trend. 

• Loss of interest

• Less income

• Price drop in complements
  💥 Non-price factors = whole curve shifts LEFT.

  🎬 The Final Slurp: What Miss SquidPop Learned 🧋

  As Miss SquidPop floated back behind her coral cash register, she finally understood the real recipe behind bubble tea success — and it wasn’t just boba pearls and squid juice.

  It was Economics. Supply? That’s her.
  But Demand? That’s the ever-changing tide of tastes, trends, and 🐠 fishy finances.

  She realised:

  • Sometimes, price changes will contract or extend her customer base 🧍‍♀️ (movement along the curve).

  • But other times, influencers, income shifts, or even complementary sea-snacks will move the entire curve ⏩ or ⏪ (shift in demand).

  • And unless demand is effective — not just wishful thinking — she’s just blending smoothies for the seaweed.

  She gave a knowing wink to her clam accountant and scribbled the ultimate takeaway on the chalkboard for all her young seacreature interns:

  💡 "Understand demand — and you don’t just run a business.
  You ride the economic current like a pro surfer dolphin." 🐬💸

  And with that, she poured herself a Coral Mango to go, confident that whether it’s bubble tea or economics, she could handle whatever the market demanded next.

  The End... or just the beginning of your A journey 😉📈*

  🎬 Extended Scene: The Demand-sion Multiverse

  Back in Demandopolis (our slay version of Econville), a few new characters had arrived at the marketplace — and they were not messing around.

  🎭 Scene 1: Joint Demand – “The Power Duo”

  Meet Beanie the Coffee Machine ☕ and Dripz the Coffee Pods 🫘.

  Every time someone buys Beanie, they also need Dripz — otherwise, it’s just a useless kitchen ornament. This is called joint demand: when two goods are used together.

  📌 Memory Hack: “No coffee machine without pods. No Netflix without WiFi. Periodt.”

  🟩 Knowledge: Joint demand = goods bought together.
  🔵 Application: E.g., Beanie & Dripz (machine + pods)
  🟣 Analysis: An increase in demand for one boosts the other.
  ⚖️ Evaluation: If Dripz prices rise, Beanie's demand might drop.

  ---

  🥊 Scene 2: Competitive Demand – “The Throwdown”

  Enter stage left: Sneaky Swifty Cola 🥤 and Chaotic Cola Blast 💣. They’re rivals, always stealing customers from each other. If the price of Swifty Cola goes up, Chaotic Cola Blast is living — because its demand goes up.

  This is competitive demand: when goods are substitutes.

  📌 Memory Hack: “One’s up, the other’s up too — enemies to the end.”

  🟩 Knowledge: Competitive demand = substitute goods
  🔵 Application: Cola vs. Cola
  🟣 Analysis: Increase in Swifty’s price → rise in Blast’s demand
  ⚖️ Evaluation: Brand loyalty can soften substitution effects

  ---

  ⚙️ Scene 3: Derived Demand – “The Chain Reaction”

  Meanwhile in the Tech District, everyone wants new smartphones 📱. So suddenly, there’s huge demand for lithium batteries 🔋.

  That's called derived demand: when demand for one good comes from demand for another.

  📌 Memory Hack: “No phone hype = no battery clout. Simple.”

  🟩 Knowledge: Derived demand = linked to another good
  🔵 Application: Phones → Batteries
  🟣 Analysis: Demand chain reaction — final → input
  ⚖️ Evaluation: Vulnerable to global supply chain shocks

  ---

  🍭 Scene 4: Composite Demand – “Double Trouble”

  At the craft booth, Sugar is in high demand. But for what? Lollipops? Cakes? Energy drinks? All of them.

  This is composite demand: when one good is used in many different products.

  📌 Memory Hack: “Sugar got more side hustles than your fave influencer.”

  🟩 Knowledge: Composite demand = one input, many uses
  🔵 Application: Sugar → cake, candy, drinks
  🟣 Analysis: A rise in candy demand = more sugar needed
  ⚖️ Evaluation: Competing uses can create resource conflicts

  ---

  🎬 Final Scene: The Moral of the Multiverse

  From price changes to taste trends, from concerts to coffee pods, demand is more than a line on a graph — it’s a full-on ecosystem of decisions. Whether you're influenced by social proof, trends, or the price tag staring back at you... now you know why you buy.

  ---

  🧠 Final Takeaway Board

  Type of Demand	Meaning	Quick Example
  Joint	Goods used together	Coffee machine + pods
  Competitive	Goods that substitute each other	Coke vs Pepsi
  Composite	One input used in many ways	Sugar → Cake, Candy
  Derived	Demand based on another good	Lithium batteries ← Phones

👊 TL;DR: What You Need to Know

• Demand = willingness + ability to buy

• Effective demand = backed by cash

• Law of demand = inverse relationship

• Demand curve = slopes DOWN

• Movement = caused by PRICE change (extension/contraction)

• Shift = caused by NON-price factors (PASIFIC)

• Market demand = total of all individuals

• Diagram = always label P, Q, D, and D1 if shifted

🧠 Active Recall Q&A

1. What is meant by “effective demand”?
   ➤ It means the consumer wants a good and has the money to buy it.

2. What causes a movement along the demand curve?
   ➤ A change in price, with everything else held constant (ceteris paribus).

3. Give an example of a non-price factor that shifts the demand curve.
   ➤ Advertising: a viral ad may increase demand at all price levels.

4. Why does the demand curve slope downward?
   ➤ Due to the income effect and substitution effect.

5. What’s the difference between individual and market demand?
   ➤ Individual = demand from one person; market = total demand from all buyers.

6. Q: Explain the difference between a movement and a shift in the demand curve. (4 marks)
   A:

   • Movement = caused by a change in price → extension/contraction.

   • Shift = caused by non-price factors → increase/decrease in demand at all price levels.