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Rise of the Small Brands
gbobeck writes "Yahoo News is running a story looking at smaller brands in the marketplace. The article discusses the increase of numbers of people who are choosing to purchase lesser known brands of electronics. The bottom line is the major electronics makers still dominate the market, but collective presence of lesser-known brands has helped keep prices down while boosting product choices."
Being a non name brand company doesn't help with the cost of manufacturing electronics.
True. But you realise that there is often a mark-up just because of brand name? There are even manufacturers that have two lines of products, one with the luxury brand and one the "cheapo" brand, whilst the products are essentially the same - the luxury brand just having different finishing and packaging.
Cars are frequently based on the same floorplan and engine.
This is true, just take a look at all news cars - they all look exactly the same. Maybe with a different shaped grill, and some minor changes, but they are all exactly the same. It is a joke.
Besides providing news from many sources the internet also gives consumers many new methods for picking and choosing how to spend their money.
Just as we no longer have to rely on a local newspaper or broadcast television for information about the world around us we no longer have to rely on salesmen or friends for consumer product advice.
Another good side is that problems surface faster because of the net. Bad products and companies are spotlighted much faster than old methods. Consumer groups spread information between themselves directly and indirectly about whom to trust and not trust.
If anything the net is making it easier for consumers to make intelligent choices. Having the information by itself isn't the key, its having access to the opinions of others on how valid the information is that works in the long run.
On a side note, gaming the system is alive and well and has removed the validity of some sites for tracking how well one place does versus another. I find consistency among many different forums to be a better indicator as to which small companies to trust. (ex: ResellerRatings used to be a great source - but not they are corrupted by too many bogus positive and even negative reviews)
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
This helps put to rest the idea that the U.S. economy can survive (some used to say prosper) by leveraging its established brand names and outsourcing the work.