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"Americans do not buy for quality, they buy for price"

Which must explain our gross national product, then. Cheaper, as always, *is* better.

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as John Ruskin said: 1. those who buy for price alone are this man's lawful prey.

Those who *don't* buy for price alone are usually somebody's lunch sooner or later.

I somehow missed the full thread on this topic, but I disagree that "cheaper, as always, *is* better." There are many markets and situations where people (Americans included) shop by "value" (perceived or otherwise), not just price. This is what VARs and "branding" are about and what enables market power. For example, Gerry Heller, CEO of FastParts - an online auction for semiconductors, was quoted in a recent Forrester Research report as admitting that even in this commodity-like market "availability is more important than price" when it comes to auctioning semiconductors. - Rob ----------------------------------------------------------------- Robert H Guttman voice:617-253-9603 mailto:guttman@media.mit.edu MIT Media Laboratory http://www.media.mit.edu/~guttman Software Agents Group http://ecommerce.media.mit.edu/ Agent-mediated E-Commerce -----------------------------------------------------------------