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Common Goods marketed as Luxury Goods.
Szechuanosaurus
Registered User, ClubPA regular
Registered User, ClubPA regular
Here's a bit of an abstract one for you all.
I'm trying to think of common, everyday, boring products that have been successfully re-marketed as highly desirable, luxury items.
As an (not very great) example, bottled water. We all use water everyday, often by the gallon and it is quite literally 'on tap' in most households. And yet companies have managed to sell us premium water by bottling it, often from mineral sources, at prices which would quickly drive everybody into crippling debt if they were applied to our tap water.
There are quite a few examples in food products, although very often they rely on one product using, better, fresher, healthier ingredients than another (such as Green & Blacks Organic Chocolate Spread compared to Nutella), as is I suppose the case with mineral water. What I'm really interested in are products which aren't noticeably different from their counterparts except in how they've been packaged or marketed (although less-than-perfect examples are also welcome). I guess Collectors Edition computer game re-packagings would count as an example as well, where they've increased the perceived value by adding some extra junk and putting it in a fancier box but then increased the price-tag beyond the actual worth of the additional tat.
I think that should make sense. Any suggestions are welcome, there is no right answer or one particular product I'm looking for here, just a range to research.
Oh, and examples of failures are also welcome.
I'm trying to think of common, everyday, boring products that have been successfully re-marketed as highly desirable, luxury items.
As an (not very great) example, bottled water. We all use water everyday, often by the gallon and it is quite literally 'on tap' in most households. And yet companies have managed to sell us premium water by bottling it, often from mineral sources, at prices which would quickly drive everybody into crippling debt if they were applied to our tap water.
There are quite a few examples in food products, although very often they rely on one product using, better, fresher, healthier ingredients than another (such as Green & Blacks Organic Chocolate Spread compared to Nutella), as is I suppose the case with mineral water. What I'm really interested in are products which aren't noticeably different from their counterparts except in how they've been packaged or marketed (although less-than-perfect examples are also welcome). I guess Collectors Edition computer game re-packagings would count as an example as well, where they've increased the perceived value by adding some extra junk and putting it in a fancier box but then increased the price-tag beyond the actual worth of the additional tat.
I think that should make sense. Any suggestions are welcome, there is no right answer or one particular product I'm looking for here, just a range to research.
Oh, and examples of failures are also welcome.
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The 6 Dollar Burger from Carl's Jr, which is seems big in relation to the menu's other items.
And vegetarian ready-meals. Where's the meat? What am I paying for here?
Dunno. The best examples are the ones we won't even think about any more.
That's the rub, isn't it? The successful ones, I suspect, are successful specifically because no one has yet noticed they are being duped. Which is why I'm finding it so hard to come up with examples myself.
Fiji really seems to taste better though. And if its a choice between that and that shitty Dasani stuff, what would you pick?
Razors with more than two blades (some have vibrate and other crap too).
Best Buy's "Geek Squad".
Am I doing this right?
Athletic shoes for going to the grocery store
Body wash w/ super-mosturizing, foaming, rainbow-spewing ribbons of delight. (what happen to a bar of soap?)
So not only do Starbucks charge a premium for the 'starbucks experience' they also sell you identical coffee as fairtrade coffee but with a slightly higher price tag which is really only buying you a conscience.
This is all good stuff guys.
Then its just a matter of taste, and not quality.
Portable Radios - those $200 brand name ones (that I can't even think of now)
Oh! And batteries... You can buy a 48 pack of no name brand AA's for something like $2 at a couple stores near me (I'm thinkin this was Giant Tiger) and yet at the checkout lines of every store they have $6 for 4AA's.
That is actually a great example, especially when alot of bottled waters are more expensive per gallon than gas. Of course, it gets even worse when you buy one at, for example, a movie theatre; $3.50 for a bottle of water is absurdity at best. And yet we buy them.
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Haha. Yeah, that's one I'd thought about yesterday but forgot about. File under failures?
Black macs cost more than white macs.
:?
I have a friend who bought a black mac.
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Portalflip
Pokemon X: Atlus | 3539-8807-3813
But you can say that about all things... The bottled water for example, that contains minerals and all sorts, or is perhaps filtered, therefore, bottled water does not equal tap water, but at the same time it's not necessarilly worth the extra money.
Hmm, interesting. My sister brought back some lobster flavoured chips from Boston and they had a little story on the back about how people used to eat lobster and then hide the remains in their back yard because eating them was a sign of being poor. Where as now they cost an arm and a leg and are virtually considered a status symbol of wealthy living.
Similar situation with Salmon in Scotland. Used to be peasant food, now it's a luxury. Although I'm not sure if both of these are due to changes in availability or not.
Yeah, like bottled water, the battery thing is an imperfect example, although it'd be interesting to see if the power advantage of branded batteries is really worth the price difference. Something which would be easier to calculate than the advantages of mineral or pure water over tap water vesus cost.
Like someone already listed, the "premium" windows computer brands.
Pretty much every Apple product available.
Electronics cables for homes and automobiles. BMW does an impressive job of this.
For that matter, car dealerships in general. You take it to an independent mechanic and they use a generic part vs. a name-brand part. Same function, just the badging.
That's a good point about salmon too. Pink salmon is kind of trashy depending on where you come from.
True, I have a friend who's an independant autobody mechanic (owns his own shop), I order all my parts through him.
The last time I took a rock through one of my turn signals, I ordered the orange plastic lense through him, less than half the cost of the Nissan part, when it came in I compared it to the original Nissan on the other side, and the mold markins were virtually identical, (except mirrored).
I was at a club in Mexico. I had a nice buzz going and then I decided to try oxygen because this girl wouldn't stop talking about it. After breathing it for about 5 minutes, I was completely sober. What the hell was the point of that? :x
With salmon I'm sure it's at least partly due to a change in availability. Farmed salmon is quite common, but contaminated waters and over-fishing have put wild salmon into short supply.
Diamonds is actually a good one. The market value of second-hand diamonds is scandalous, as I'm sure any rejected lover looking to sell an engagement ring could tell you. Compared to emeralds, rubies, etc., diamonds are exceptionally common.
Virtually all industrial applications of gold were discovered during the nineteen hundreds. It's applications are primarily for it's ductile/conductive properties in electronics, or it's reflective/anti-corrosive properties in various types of shielding on spacecraft.
The earliest semi-non-ornimental application of gold was probably as Dental fillings, where due to it's malleability (sp?) and corrosive resistance it worked quite well protecting teeth.
But for the thousands of years before that, it was pretty much only sought after for it's shineyness and the fact that it's malleability/melting point made it a good metal for jewellers.
EDIT:
Vista
HOHOHO
Also, When places like Costco came out, they started rebranding regular grocery stores as premium. While on the subject of food - lots and lots and lots of products have been rebranded at healthy by changing the packaging saying something like "no trans fats" or something to that effect. The product never had the ingredient in question, but they try to suggest to you that they've recently changed their evil ways because they love us oh so much.
Yes, but some people like caviar, and it's difficult to get in some places.
As for Vista, well, the judges are still out on that, but it doesn't look like something I'll be buying for a couple years.
I used to work there, and I don't have any particular love for the company, but that's crap. Or at least, it definitely wasn't the case when I worked there. The Fairtrade stuff is different coffee, packaged, handled, and brewed seperately. That's why you can't (or at least couldn't, like I say, it's been a while) get a Fairtrade version of anything made with Espresso, only Filter. Plus, the Fairtrade blend that they do, plus the Fairtrade single origins, taste distinctly different to the rest of the range.
I'm fairly certain to do it that way would be illegal if they used the Fairtrade foundation mark.
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But they're forever... and oh so sparkly. I remember I heart some girl talking about how wonderful diamonds were and then I went into asshole mode and told her about blood diamonds. Good times.
... I have a black MacBook.
But it doesn't cost more because it's black. I refuse to believe this.
According to this:
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?family=MacBook
One pays more for the extra disc space. My macbook, despite being black, has only 75 GBs of space. Also, I remember my dad refusing to pay more than a certain amount, and it was definately under 1.5 grand.