Compare and contrast: so many choices

Knowing what to compare yourself to can make - and break - a business. Ask Nick Southgate.

What makes people buy a new TV? If you're a manufacturer of high spec teles, you might be disapponted to find that things like the number of HDMI sockets, or compatibility with the soon to be important DNLA wireless standard are pretty low down the list, or don't make it at all. Much more important are "Will it be better than my old one?" "Will it cost more than a Sony?" "Will it make it easier to understand than my brother's?" "Can I get it quicker online or in a shop?"

You're also being compared to coping without it, with spending the money on a holiday, to making the old one do, to buying it in a year's time. Or with doing nothing at all.