Comments on: Before Paying More for the Brand Name

By: Wilson Pon

Wilson Pon — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 05:30:52 +0000

Well, branded products are definitely much expensive than other unbranded stuffs, but it doesn’t mean that it have a better quality as well! Hence, use our money wisely, especially in this economic downturn period!

By: financial suggestion

financial suggestion — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 09:40:23 +0000

hello,you are a taste man.For my brand name products is much safe than other none brand products.Because make a brand is not so easy.

By: The Little Dough Girl

The Little Dough Girl — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 03:12:26 +0000

I bought my own fancy cappuccino maker three and a half years ago. It has paid for itself about 6 times over! That is the way to go, my friend…

By: Free Arcade Games

Free Arcade Games — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 21:53:04 +0000

Branded things are actually the ones that are overpriced and sucks. Not to mention, they usually do much more harm to you. Of course it’s not always true, but most of the time it is.

-Mike

By: marci

marci — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 20:15:58 +0000

@Brian – Depends on where you live, I would expect. Around here we’d be MORE apt to hire the lawyer dressed in wrangler jeans and flannel, just like our past governor was usually dressed in wrangler jeans and ‘cowboy’ shirts…. We shy away from those ’slick city slickers”… Definitely depends on where you live.

By: Brian

Brian — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 19:28:19 +0000

I am in the fashion is important camp for sure. As mentioned in the TV analogy, the same thing goes for clothes. You pay for quality, not always for the brand. I recently shopped at Kohls for knock around shorts for the summer, as I usually never wear shorts I figured I could sacrific the quality. I became a fan of getting a bargain on clothes, after years of buying expensive clothing. That being said, you can certainly tell the difference.

If you’re in a profession that relys on image, it pays to make fashion important.

You’d certainly avoid hiring a lawyer dressed in wrangler jeans and a flanel, as you’d be smart to avoid a doctor driving a 15yr old senta.

Sometimes you need to judge a book by its cover.

By: Meg from FruWiki

Meg from FruWiki — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 17:23:31 +0000

Great post! I find branding to be very interesting, maybe because I’m a small business owner, but I think it also ties into my general interest in psychology. I like how you balanced the pros and cons of sticking with a brand in your Starbucks example because sometimes there are times when it makes sense to stick with a brand, even if it costs more. But of course, we should think about our brand choices carefully so that we can save money where it makes more sense instead of just mindlessly buying a particular brand because the packaging looks nice or because it’s what our moms used (even though whatever it is probably has been revised so many times that it’s not really the same product).

I used to think I wasn’t one of those people who is brand loyal or even that affected by brands, but then I realized that just because I don’t really care if my bag says Coach or Prada or nothing at all doesn’t mean that I’m not affected by brands.

With many things, I do look consider my options carefully and try to find the best product for my needs and that is of good (or at least good enough) quality. Many times, this means checking reviews — which means looking up things by brand. And yes, you might miss out on some good but fairly unknown brands. Sometimes I do experiment with lesser known brands, but mostly when there is a decent price incentive or they offer something other companies don’t at that store or if they appeal to my sense of ethics and local pride. And one in person recommendation even from a stranger is often worth more than hundreds of online reviews so long as I think they’re honest.

And despite the fact that I will switch some things based on price and often buy lesser known brands, I am pretty brand loyal. After all, I can only experiment so much. Once I find something that I love, why waste money trying something that might not work well? Plus, I have a strong desire to buy local products or products that are more ethical or green — which I will pay more for instead of switching to cheaper brands because I feel very committed once I’ve started buying those types of things. However, other brands still have a chance to win me over if they can show me that they’re at least as green/local/ethical/etc.

By: MoneyNing

MoneyNing — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 17:20:19 +0000

Speaking of that, I saw tons of commercial about Samsung’s ultra thin HDTVs. They sure are very nice, but I wonder why it would be useful once you bought it. I mean, it’s cool for it to be thin but once it’s on the wall, does it really matter?

I think Sony also have a better “perceived” brand across the world than Samsung so you made the right choice for sure, since it also happened to be much cheaper!

By: MoneyNing

MoneyNing — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 17:18:28 +0000

Looks like most people here are in the “fashion isn’t important” camp here. Too bad those people are mostly non frugal and probably won’t read this piece. It would make for some interesting comments for sure

By: Craig

Craig — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:31:52 +0000

Depends the product for different people. I try to buy more generic on most things given a choice but on some purchases like clothes I may prefer a more brand name cause it will last longer.