The managers of a supermarket held a discussion with a group of their regular customers to ask them what they did not like about their store. one customer said she did not like their fish and did not buy it. when asked why, she said it was 'packaged' on a little tray wrapped in cling-film and in a cooled display cabinet: 'I only buy fresh fish.' other customers agreed with her. the managers were later assured by their fish buyer that the fish was bought off fishing boats every morning and was of the highest quality. It was sold wrapped for customers' convenience.

• What might be the reasons the customers believed the fish was not fresh?
• to overcome the problem, should the supermarket put up signs in the fish display to 'educate consumers' and say that the fish is fresh? why or why not?
• if the supermarket then created an area where whole fish were displayed on ice and customers could buy pieces of fish cut from these, should the price per gram be the same as that for the packaged fish? why or why not?
• how would you explain such findings to your boss? how would you suggest that it could be determined whether these results were good or bad?