> You can’t easily prove that your fridge really will last longer, but easy to price the price is low.
I'm not so sure about that. In my experience people tend to be less price sensitive with household appliances (big one time purchases that are supposed to last long) than they are with other more expensive items. Most people I know tend to be lifelong customers if they have good experiences with a specific brand and are very willing to share that brand as a recommendation.
The problem is, those good experiences don't seem to hold true anymore. Price hasn't been a good indicator for product quality and life expectancy for a while. I've seen this first hand with my family. My parents were very willing to spend significant amounts on stuff like dishwashers, fridges, or washing machines. Despite sticking to the brands they had good experiences with, the product lifetime decreased with every new product purchase. It has come to the point that they don't care for the brand they used to trust, they are just buying the stuff thats cheap and checks all the boxes.
These companies seem to have traded high customer loyalty (and possibly a very efficient organic marketing channel) for more frequent sales but higher price competition. I have no insights into those companies, but I'm not sure if that was an intelligent long term play.
It's worse now - the cheaper product often lasts longer (as it's simpler) - I have a fridge/freezer thing that has basically no controls and no computers, and it chugs along.
Newer refridgerators with fancy water faucets and computers and locks have failed in the time I've had it.
Had a washer blow out on a computer control board; $750 for the board.
A similar washer blew out on the dial, $35 for the dial.
Similar story with old Honda’s. Simple cars that just worked with few problems, but they were simple cars with few electrical motors and digital features. Automatic, heated, air conditioned seats? No. Automatic climate control? No. Speed adjusted suspension? No. Speed adjusted stereo volume? No. Etc.
However, some manufacturers like Saab actually delivered all this with excellent reliability only to be rejected by the US market and driven into the ground by General Motors. What is a quality manufacturer to do?
Similar story with old Honda’s. Simple cars that just worked with few problems, but they were simple cars with few electrical motors and digital features.
No they weren't. Japanese manufacturers brought all sorts of whiz-bang doohickeys over by the boatload. That was one of the ways the Japanese luxury cars were able to compete with the Germans. Even if you go back further you'll find stuff like the 2nd gen Accord which was the world's first car to offer automated navigation. Even if not electronic, Honda brought over a bunch of really complex mechanical things like four wheel steering. Even the old carburetors of 70s and 80s Hondas were among the most complex you're ever likely to encounter.
However, some manufacturers like Saab actually delivered all this with excellent reliability
lol. no. I say this as a Saab fan: Saabs have never been reliable. Ever. The (pre-GM) 9000 made the news for being fire prone. The Trionic stuff while fascinating was not reliable in the slightest, or as Saabnet puts it: 100% of engines equipped with direct ignition have had a direct ignition cassette failure. Transmissions were delicate. Climate control…
If you mean older Saabs, well the two stroke stuff has its own set of problems. They're neat cars but were just different enough to make it difficult to find a competent mechanic. Saab already had one foot in the grave by the time GM bought them.
I'm not so sure about that. In my experience people tend to be less price sensitive with household appliances (big one time purchases that are supposed to last long) than they are with other more expensive items. Most people I know tend to be lifelong customers if they have good experiences with a specific brand and are very willing to share that brand as a recommendation.
The problem is, those good experiences don't seem to hold true anymore. Price hasn't been a good indicator for product quality and life expectancy for a while. I've seen this first hand with my family. My parents were very willing to spend significant amounts on stuff like dishwashers, fridges, or washing machines. Despite sticking to the brands they had good experiences with, the product lifetime decreased with every new product purchase. It has come to the point that they don't care for the brand they used to trust, they are just buying the stuff thats cheap and checks all the boxes.
These companies seem to have traded high customer loyalty (and possibly a very efficient organic marketing channel) for more frequent sales but higher price competition. I have no insights into those companies, but I'm not sure if that was an intelligent long term play.