Market Stall Loyalty
Italy - Each neighborhood has its daily mercato, or outdoor produce market, where the vegetables and fruit are cheaper and fresher than those at the grocery store. So the market stall owners are people that you see on a pretty regular basis, who recognize you after all of three visits and know your name after five. Trouble is, you only need a few tomatoes today, and there are twice as many market stalls. Who to go to?
Here is a perfect example of an inelastic market. Economic theory would suggest you go the person selling the cheaper better tomatoes . . and on your non-chalant 1st lap walk-about of the market today you notice that Fabbrizio and Rina have a great batch. Ahhhh . . BUT . . . you haven't been to Bruno in a few days, who has been tracking you approaching the market out of the coner of his eye from half a block away. Failure to visit him today will result in no free basil plant next week. Then there's Sig. Franco, who is smiling all too eagerly at you as he realizes you've realized that he forgot to add those potatoes a few days ago. If you head over to him to claim the potatoes you might as well just buy the tomatoes too and call it a day. Meanwhile, Fabbrizio and Rina already have a pre-emptive sour look on their face because you have not b-lined it to their stall, as Adam Smith's invisible hand of the market posits you should have given their better offering.
Mind you, all this for tomatoes that probably taste just as good regardless of who you buy them from, and whose price difference is 5 cents/lb. at the most. In Italy however, (for better or for worse) everything from the smallest consideration to the most important decision will always have social implications and an effect on interpersonal relations. Yes, even who you buy tomatoes from today.