#TOW — Quality
What is ‘quality’ and what does it mean?!
If we were to ask some manufacturers in Macedonia “What is your greatest competitive advantage?”, they will all say — the quality of our product / service (based on our experience of working in Macedonia). If quality truly were everyone’s main competitive feature, then it would be very difficult for all of them to highlight it as an advantage on the market. Needless to say, if one factor were the same for everyone, it would immediately stop being a competitive factor (regardless of whether it’s positive or negative). On the other hand, however, if we were to ask consumers to rank products according to their quality, they would all place them on different levels on the “quality ladder”.
So, what is quality, really?! How do we measure or perceive it?! It could mean one thing for me, and something totally different for you.
A few years ago, we did some consumer market research for one of our clients. We asked consumers how they felt about a certain product, what they associated it with, how often they bought it, their experience with it, as well as everything else that’s important to know about a customer. What I found fascinating was that we found out, amongst all the very important information we collected, that “consumers equate quality with (1) the taste and (2) the brand’s perception”. So, if you figure out consumers’ tastes and your brand is positioned higher in their perception, they will see your product as a quality one.
In order to truly know what quality means and how to find it, we must always take time to properly assess the things we’re buying. This means that next time you go shopping, take a look at a product’s ingredients, then go on the Internet and see what those ingredients are, what effect they have, then read a study or various perspectives, check out relevant sources, and so on. In this way, you might just manage to buy something before the shop closes… In reality, we don’t have time for such expansive analyses and so we react impulsively on the basis of messages we’ve been sent by adverts.
In essence, the only real way to look at the notion of “quality” is through the perception that’s been created about a product. In other words, a product’s taste (which consumers must like) and the company’s marketing campaign, i.e. the massages they send, define the product’s value. And this, in the minds of consumers, is directly connected to its quality.
QUALITY = PERCEPTION = VALUE = MARKETING
This is why we can’t talk about what ‘quality’ is or is not. Depending on the characteristics and values of various companies, we consumers will always be exposed to “high quality” and “low quality” goods.
As a result, unfortunately, it’s all down to the marketing. My advice to consumers on what to do and how is: I don’t know! The only thing I can tell you is to be careful! Meanwhile, to those companies that think that their competitive advantage is their quality, I say forget about that and focus more on developing your product (to match consumers’ tastes) and working on a communications strategy that supports the product and emphasises its value.
Wishing you success with the changes to come,
Petar Lazarov
“Tip of the Week” Team member
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