Non-price competition - innovation and exclusivity from M&S

M&S have just solved the ultimate middle class problem by introducing a seedless cocktail avocado, as the BBC puts it, "to help avoid all those pesky avocado-related injuries".

The problem with the common-or-garden avocado is that it can be tricky to peel and to remove the stone - the leading plastic surgeon at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, Simon Eccles, has said he treats about four patients a week for knife wounds caused by cutting into the fruit, a condition which has become known as 'avocado hand'. The new cocktail avocado is grown in Spain, and comes from the unpollinated blossom which grows into a small fruit which is five-to-eight centimetres long, with an edible skin and flesh which M&S describes as "smooth and creamy". Issues here for economists include - free trade, comparative advantage, and the effect of exchange rates. Could you also add the negative externalities caused by avocados?

Therefore it is only available in December, and previously the crop has been sent to Paris for sale in the top-end food markets there, and to be used by chefs in exclusive Parisian restaurants. However this year M&S has managed to secure an exclusive supply for their shops in the UK - quite a coup for them. Issues here for economists include - the oligopoly market amongst food retailers, non-price competition through offering exclusive products, reinforcing barriers to entry with product differentiation.

Not cheap, of course - the BBC reports that there are "approximately" five in a packet weighing 250g and costing £2. Their research shows that a normal avocado costs £1.30 in M&S at the moment. But, of course, this isn't just any avocado - this is a stoneless M&S avocado. Issues here for economists include - the price mechanism and pricing power, and can you get to M&S before they sell out!