For example, brands like Dyson and Shark. Both have similar products but Dyson is just way more expensive. Is it better because it’s more? Or are you really just paying for the name.
I owned both air wrap hair tools and saw no difference between but the price was dramatically different.
I don’t understand how some things are more expensive. Lululemon has shirts for $70+ but similar ones of another brand are way cheaper. Louis Vuitton products are insanely priced but people buy them. Why are they so expensive and why do people buy them? Is it a way to say I have money? I do not understand. Thanks for any replies.
In: Other
Some of it is certainly paying for the label; and sometimes those products are in fact superior.
How often those two overlap is a toss up
Marketing and “Prestige” account for like 95% of the difference. The other 5% is functional/quality difference
Sometimes yes you are literally just paying for the name and not getting a better product. But most often, you’re paying for better material, better build quality, or better quality controls.
Louis Vuitton for example uses very expensive materials and has very high levels of quality control, to ensure their brand reputation doesn’t suffer. As a result, you pay a higher price.
Brands have been known to rely on their reputation to cut costs, however. Using lesser quality materials and skimping on quality control to save money, but charging the same (or more) to maintain or increase profit levels, hoping that the buyer doesn’t notice.
Mostly the name. One of the most explicit examples was the Pontiac Vibe/Toyota Matrix. They’re literally the same car…designed by one engineering team, built from the same parts in the same plant. It was just co-marketed by GM and Toyota. The Matrix sold for a couple thousand $ more than the Vibe…all based on brand reputation.
The key to recognize is that branded stuff is value-priced…it is priced based on what the customer is willing to pay, not what it cost to make, and value is both subjective and can change (between people and over time). The brand is part of the perceived value. People are willing to pay more for some brands…it doesn’t really matter why, as long as they are then the brand will charge appropriately. Could be perceived quality, could be actual quality, could be warranty, could be anything. Could be people like their ads. Could be people love or hate their owner. Anything.
Sometimes you’re paying for a difference in quality that results in better performance. Sometimes you’re paying for a difference in quality that results in better reliability.
Sometimes you’re paying for a name brand that used to have a higher quality and can still ride on it.
And sometimes, you’re paying for lipstick.
Shark also doesn’t really sell replacement parts for their vacuums, so once they’re out of warranty you either have to buy parts salvaged from broken machines, get knockoff parts (if they exist), or get a new cleaner. They are most likely counting on people throwing away their machines once the warranty is over and buying new ones, so they are fine with selling their machines for less.
In some cases you’re also paying for the R&D. Dyson spent a lot of time and money coming up with legitimately innovative engineering solutions. Shark was able to make a knock-off without the years of investment in getting to that point.
Price differences sometimes also reflect differences in quality of manufacturing, after-sales support, warranties, etc.
With fashion to a certain extent you may be partially paying for differences in craftsmanship, materials, and treatment of employees, but at the end of the day it’s also art and you’re paying for the design.
It really depends on the brand/product sometimes is quality or materials, sometimes is taxes or place of origin, sometimes is just prestige and there’s also the fact that you get diminishing returns for example a $10 vacuum could be crap and a $20 one would be decent, a $100 one would be even better but the difference from 10-20 would be more noticeable than the one from 20-100. Also in thing like LV it’s just status symbol it’s not expensive because it’s coveted but rather coveted because it’s expensive
For the brand. In marketing it’s called pricing power or pricing premiums. Stronger brands command greater pricing power.
Because we as a society assign value perspectively based on a name or object. Money is pretty paper. Diamonds are rocks and the Scion FRS, Subaru BRZ and Toyota 86 are the same fucking car. Which one do you think costs more?
Latest Answers