Cheapskates Who Spend Big For Items That Hit Them Emotionally
from the this-is-new? dept
I think I've always been this way, so it's a bit of a surprise that this is considered a "new" phenomenon. Some researchers are pointing out that many of today's shoppers are complete cheapskates in many areas, but are willing to spend extra on certain quality items, where there's an emotional attachment. Thus, you may have a desk made out of an old piece of plywood, but buy a nice Aeron chair to go with it. It just depends on what the person values, and in that particular category, price becomes much less of an issue than quality. They also tend to do a ton of research and are quite well informed about what they're buying. This increasing dichotomy is important for anyone selling products that might fall into those categories. In fact, the article suggests we're actually reaching a split world, with absolute discounters on one side and high quality specialty sellers on the other. The folks in the middle are getting squeezed from both sides - because they're seen as being too expensive for not so great quality.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
