A. The trend of consumption at present
As information and technology made great progress in recent years, the
differences between various products become narrow. Efforts to standardize and
diversify products have been increasing constantly. However, growth of business does
not lie in competition of technology or feature anymore, but the ways to satisfy the
needs of consumers because their needs are changing all the time. The consumers pay
more and more attention to the price and the quality. They gather more fashion
information, in order to be more efficient on spending. Therefore, we need to talk
about the relation between price and quality.
Collecting information is a very important stage for consumers before shopping
if they want to buy the styles they prefer at a lower price with better quality. In a
television program which made a feature report on the depression, the crew had
interviews with some consumers and they found most consumers collected
information and compared prices through advertisements, the Internet, and handbills
to find cheaper and better products. There are two aspects concerning consumers’
views of price and quality.
First, consumers should pay the price when they search for information. When
the result and benefit do not meet the expectation of consumers, that is, if the cost is
greater than advantage, the consumers would stop searching for products of lower
price. In short, most consumers want to pay lower price for better products.
Second, according to Reward Theory of Social Psychology1, consumers would
get economical advantage when they do search for information. Besides, they also get
an advantage other than economic one. According to Reward Theory of Social
Psychology, the advantage would enable consumers to obtain various levels of
happiness and satisfaction. It is kind of psychological gratification. Consumers could
perceive the quality of each brand and enjoy shopping; they could also get the
satisfaction when others identify with themselves in the process of sharing
information. Whatever information consumers search for, they want to know the price
and quality of a product first.
“The higher the price, the better the quality of the merchandise” is a slogan that
has long been used in the market. However, the theory has changed with time. Not all
cheap products have bad quality. There are still good quality in the cheaper products.
Nowadays, although most markets are based on the same principle, the more
important is how to plan good tactics to increase business. For example, the brand
could emphasize the aesthetic sense of products as well as practicability. Department
stores could also have promotions or give gifts to attract shoppers. Therefore, both
consumers and businessmen would get the advantages they want. It is a win-win
1消費者價格搜尋行為與價格知識之探討，林意展
http://woodyli.myweb.hinet.net/people/022.htm
:
situation for them.