My hypothesis, in many consumer cases such as razors, is newer brands are concentrating on growth, not profit, therefore a better deal is often had than buying the established brands. Meaning, as a consumer brand loyalty is expensive over time as new companies are competing with free (VC) money to fund your purchase and build metrics for eventual sale to older brand.
Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk
111–120 of 213 posts
Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
'Eventually the big brands themselves had to lower the quality of their products to be able to compete with the generic products...' I remember some brands lowering the quality of their product long before all of these random Chinese copycats sprung up. Maybe this is why they were able to get a foothold because people like myself began to think that some cheap copies were actually better than the genuine article. My…
Nike quality is atrocious materials are garbage grade but shoes still sell for 200+
The brand has some inertia. Eventually word will spread out deeply that nike is trash and the perceived value will go with it or along with the generation that knew them if they’re lucky.
Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk
#113My default assumption is that if a product is using targeted (or really any digital ads) that it is garbage. I don't think I have ever seen a product advertised on social media that wasn't a drop shipped Chinese rebrand or just a straight up scam.
For a while now when ever a thing in my daily life needs replacement (or I have a need for a new thing) I spend a good amount of time researching those products to find the often hidden gem buy it for life alternative. Wirecutter, Consumer reports, sometimes delving deep into hobbyist territory to find out what the true eccentrics are using and valuing. I'll do this with everything from new sponges, pots and pans, gym bags, audio equipment, umbrellas, luggage, boots, whatever. Although often times yes these options have a higher upfront cost, sometimes the better product costs the same or only marginally more, its just not as well advertised..
I think its probably some sick consumerist enjoyment, but I really do love investing in BIFL products. You have to replace them far less frequently, the experience of using a well made product is often far superior, and I get a lot of satisfaction out of taking care of and maintaining things rather than treating everything as disposable. Especially the seemingly menial things you use and interact with on a daily basis I love the feeling of upgrading my "kit".
I'm not saying that an $80 indestructible stainless steel dish rack changed my life, but after a long day - cleaning up after dinner, being able to fit my entire kitchen into a super sturdy rack that doesn't topple over, and is banked to drain into my sink instead of spilling onto my counter top and then onto the floor every single night really makes a difference.
Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk
#114Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk
#115Seeing this blamed on Amazon and the like is... Awkward. Have folks never seen dollar stores? Or paid attention to most mall stores? Been to a local market? This is nothing new. Nor is lamenting the decline of quality.
It’s happening on every e-commerce platform because it’s profitable. Etsy and Walmart for example have the exact same random cheaply manufactured Chinese goods on there
No need for the "e."
By and large, it happens everywhere. You can try to blame capitalism, but that feels like a trap. My view is that "high quality" is largely an illusion. And you start changing your view of it as you get older.
Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk
#116My feeling throughout reading the article is best summed up as "Y U mad bro?" He harps on an "anti-woke" razor company that tries to market themselves as an alternative to Gillette and Harry's — the big point is "they spend 800k/month on marketing, so it drives up the cost of the razors". Does he know how much Gillette spends (saved you a search: 600M/year)? How do they fund that I wonder? He cites a study that says…
I suspect targeted ads are a part of the phenomenon the article is talking about. Since targeted ads got so cheap, tiny little businesses could buy super targeted social media ads for less money than they could selling their products wholesale at a store. Net result is that they can flood social media with targeted ads for some geoarbitraged thing that tiny startup found on AliExpress decided to sell DTC, and end run…
> flood social media with targeted ads for some geoarbitraged thing that tiny startup found on AliExpress decided to sell DTC
This is a gem of a phrase. I'm going to use 'geoarbitrage' from now on.
I live in a place full of this sort of nonsense, such as resold Clevo ODM notebooks, overly-cheap 'desktop projectors', overly-cheap TVs, water purifiers, and even air-conditioners. Oh, and the 'advertisers' are typically skimpily-dressed young women barely in university.
I simply refuse to buy anything that isn't European, Korean, Taiwanese, or Japanese for home appliances and electronics.
Brands like Miele, Bosch, Samsung, LG, Sony, Brother, Nikon, Philips, Smeg, Liebherr... They're usually up to 2-3x as expensive as the equivalent on AliExpress, but the quality and service is unbeatable.
Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because kids. It's easy enough to say "don't buy it", but the family members buy the juke, the kid comes home bawling his eyes out because everyone else has product X, and it's only $Y, so you get it, because it's been a long week, and it's really only Wednesday and you can't really deal with something valued at only $19.95 right now and just maybe it will buy you 20 minutes of peace so you can cook dinner.
In the most inoffensive way I can put this, this is a personal issue of parenting style rather than a problem with the junk or advertising. This is exactly the kind of "it's easier to just give in" mindset that is the ideal target customer.
How about it being both at the same time?
Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The answer is by adopting different behavior on our end. This tactic has not succeeded even once since written records began. Did snake oil salesmen disappear because we ran out of gullible people? Give me one example when this approach succeeded, without any corresponding legislation
>Give me one example when this approach succeeded, without any corresponding legislation I think he's describing when the market dethrones an entrenched player without legislation. This happens quite often. Cable companies come to mind. Kodak, Novell, Sun Microsystems, etc. Like he said, regulation today serves the wealthiest companies, because startups, the ones that do the dethroning, have extra costs that are more…
my understanding is that his example referred to consumers boycotting a business. I could not find a successful example.
When a business gets replaced by a conpetitor, that's a diffetent mechanism
Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
Your argument breaks down as soon as there are economies of scale. Gillette can probably buy the same quality as Jeremy's at a better price, because they order larger bulk shipments. That means the new niche DTC companies will most likely be a worse value to consumers than the established big brands. Also, the article links to a study which found DTC to be 10% more expensive than traditional retail.
> That means the new niche DTC companies will most likely be a worse value to consumers than the established big brands Umm, I bought a no-name (but Gillette-compatible!) razor last week while travelling due to having left my usual kit at home. Having used the no-name one for a week, I can no longer see any reason to pay the extra for a razor brand ever again.
As someone that has not changed razor blades in 5ish years, I'll warn that you probably can't generalize how well a razor will work for all skin and hair types. I'm thankful that I don't have issues with mine, but I also don't recommend others change.
Granted, I haven't looked at prices in a long time. I am mostly assuming not insane costs.
Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk
#120I bought a Manscaped electric razor after seeing it on a social media ad. It was one of the worst products I've ever used, and it proceeded to cut me significantly worse than other electric razors.
Did you return it?
Even if they did so it’s likely that a large percentage never bother to do so which keep the game going for a lot longer than it logically should