(Yes, I'll take that one.)
Tim Manners at Reveries points me to this article in the NY Times by Bill Vlasic. The article describes the brand promiscuity that has evolved in the US automotive market. This image makes the point:
Tim at Reveries highlighted this quote:
“Brand loyalty has shrunk because of widespread improvements in the products,” said James Farley, Ford Motor Company’s head of marketing. “The ‘trust factor’ is more or less the same for most cars.”
So is quality a commodity?
Not hardly. Professor Chuck Holloway taught me to be really careful when I used the word "quality." It means all manner of things: availability, reliability, meeting specifications, just plain working as expected, etc.
With an expansive definition of quality, there are all kinds of opportunities for differentiation and excellence. With universally-better or common components, you have the opportunity to focus on quality all along the value chain and in all aspects of the consumer experience. This is happening in consumer electronics where integration is one of the primary drivers of value and consumers are starting to demand less from their goods, rather than more.
My stomach really turned when considering the notion that the 'trust factor' for cars was somehow equal because most brands warrant and make similar claims of reliability.
Is trust solely the realm of product performance? Absolutely not.
