According to the U.K. price comparison site Compare the Market, the cost of funerals is rising on average at a rate of 7 percent per year. The Funeral Planning Authority (FPA) estimates that the average cost of U.K. funerals is over $5,000. With costs rising, the market for funeral plans has increased; over 120,000 packages are sold on a yearly basis. This is a considerable rise compared to 10 years ago, when less than 40,000 were being sold each year. The FPA states that there are 909,091 active plans (worth an estimated $5 billion) in the United Kingdom and that this total will break the 1 million mark in 2015. It has been estimated that pre-paid funeral plans cover one in ten funerals in the United Kingdom. In 2014, Golden Charter, one of the biggest providers of plans, had a 21 percent growth in sales and their market share increased from 36.9 percent to 41.7 percent. The other two dominant market leaders are the Co-operative Group and Dignity. Between the three companies they control the bulk of the market. The funeral business as a whole is estimated to be worth around $3 billion per year in funeral costs, despite falling death rates. Pre-paid funeral plans are certainly unsought products and services, but they are becoming more and more popular. Source: “A Guide to Funeral Costs,” Compare the Market, http://www.comparethemarket.com/life-insurance/information/funeral-costs-whats-involved; Funeral Planning Authority, http://www.funeralplanningauthority.com.

1.Describe the nature of unsought products and why they might be so notoriously difficult for a business to sell to consumers.

2.Discuss other examples of unsought products and services and how consumers can be convinced to buy them.