Rules for buying products better
As consumers, we’re all suckers.
We’re not stupid, and most companies aren’t evil. It’s just the natural order of things.
Ideally, the things we buy meet our expectations. But usually they don’t. The scales usually tip toward the producer. Companies nudge us toward building greater pre-purchase expectations than the product can deliver. This off-balance value exchange helps the business grow.
Clever ways of designing, engineering and marketing trick us into overvaluing products we haven’t bought yet.
Consumer reviews can be helpful. I love good reviews. But not every product is reviewed. And not every reviewer is any good. Plus, reading one-off reviews doesn’t give you a big picture understanding of how to evaluate and assess products. How to understand products on your own. How to not be a sucker.
Because in some cases, this relationship flips and the consumer actually gets the better deal. The product is better than presented. The opportunity is for the consumer.
These are my rules for finding those opportunities.
1. Start with the Vitruvian Triangle
Never lose sight of how the product satisfies the three points of the Vitruvian Triangle: aesthetics (how good it looks), durability (how well it’s made) and utility (how well it performs its job).
Usually products sacrifice some parts of the triangle. You’d go broke trying to satisfy all parts in every purchase. Instead ask what the job of the product is and how much each point of the triangle services that job.
Don’t ask: Is this durable?
Ask: Is this durable enough for its job?
A cheap picture frame isn’t very durable compared to a chair or a drawer. But it’s plenty durable enough to hang on the wall undisturbed for a long time.
Since utility of a picture frame is fairly straightforward (will it both hold and display the photo?), you’re free to evaluate a picture frame on aesthetics alone. Or if you imagine this frame to be a family heirloom over many generations — or say it’s holding something really valuable and you live in earthquake country — give more weight to durability.
On the other hand, a product like motor oil should be evaluated entirely on utility and durability with no regard for aesthetics. An entire car should satisfy all three points pretty strongly. So should a couch or a swimming pool or a house. Big ticket purchases are typically three-point purchases.
2. Seek products with good potential for patina
Patina is the phenomenon of a product’s aesthetic value improving with regular use over time. These products are generally made from natural materials — leather, wood, and stone; for example. Regular maintenance is typically a good indicator of a natural material that will improve with age. If a material needs to be regularly “hydrated” (oiled, conditioned, stained, etc.) that’s a good sign.
Referencing nature is also a good shortcut to aesthetic value and future proofing against aesthetic trends, since aesthetic taste is often subjective. Very little in the natural world is “ugly” to the human eye.
Patina is generally limited to aesthetics. Few physical products enjoy better durability or utility as they age (at best they stay the same).
In very rare cases, regular use improves aesthetics AND utility, while durability doesn’t degrade. In other words, the products looks and performs better over time. Cast iron cooking pans are one example. (Cast iron pans, by the way, light up the vitruvian triangle like a pinball machine).
3. Embrace the minimum viable purchase
The road to quality products in your life doesn’t start with blowing a bunch of money on high-end gear. The only thing this achieves is a dusty shelf of a few pro-level products you never use. At the top of most product lines you’re paying for durability and specialty extra features, not the core job of the product.
You’ll also sacrifice money you could otherwise spend on exploring quality product elsewhere.
Someone who thinks “I’d like music to be a bigger part of my life, I’d like a really great home stereo” could fall into this trap.
Fancying themselves a savvy consumer who doesn’t waste money, this person might dive into a rabbit hole of product reviews on home audio equipment and spend a lot of money on expensive gear.
Instead, buy the basic components (more on this later), learn the hobby, and upgrade slowly as your knowledge and interest develops. The minimum viable purchase is your gateway to high end gear.
4. Seek network effects and platforms
Network effect is the high-tech supercharged cousin of patina. Typically applied to software and communication tools, network effects happen when a product becomes more valuable to each user as more people use the product.
Network effects in physical products is mostly limited to communication hardware. The telephone was an early network effect benefactor. Mailboxes, e-mail, smartphones.
Similarly, platform products are created when an ecosystem of third-party creators continuously build features and value into the core product. Smartphones are platforms. The community of independent developers building apps increases the potential value of the device over time.
Physical products can be platforms, too. A Canon DSLR camera includes a large community of third-party developers selling lenses, add-ons, accessories, and tools for the Canon camera body. A Weber grill owner benefits from a huge catalog of official and unofficial accessories for the the core product.
5. Component systems trump all-in-one systems
The Canon DSLR is a also great example of a component system. In a component system, the job of the product is completed by a custom set of two or more interconnected products working together. In this case, there is a camera body and a lens. From there you can add more components or accessories.
Component systems are great. They allow you to upgrade, repair or replace components individually as it fits your use case. This customizable scaling allows you to improve the areas of the product you use the most, which is a lot more like an organic system (muscles you use a lot get stronger).
Early PCs were a great example of component systems. Getting really into 3D gaming? You could easily update your graphics card or monitor. Typing a lot? Add an ergonomic keyboard.
6. Build story into products
Humans build connection and meaning through story. In product, the terms “conversation piece” or “sentimental value” trivialize this principle. The fact is, story matters. And it’s a great way to add value to a product that might otherwise be low on the vitruvian triangle.*
We remember and care for things better when there is a story behind them. That story can be as simple as “I got this on our vacation last year.” It’s why a travel souvenirs stick around despite barely registering on the triangle.
Try bundling a purchase into an experience or story to impart greater meaning into it. Fill your life with experiences, fill your home with reminders of those experiences.
*Gifting carries a similar effect. Gifting builds human relationship association into a physical thing, thus humanizing the physical thing for years to come.
7. Don’t be fooled by artificial pricing
An item’s worth is whatever people are willing to pay for it. That’s very plain economics.
Some retailers and manufacturers practice displaying an artificial price that the product is supposedly “marked down from.” This price is usually total bullshit designed to trick you. A product’s “original price” is only truthful if people actually regularly paid that.
8. Early adopters are suckers
If being on the bleeding edge of the technology conversation matters to you, by all means be an early adopter. But understand you’re paying a premium for that status.
In 1997, the average price of a DVD player was $490 (or $753 in today’s dollar). In three years that price halved. Halved again four years after that. By the end of the ’00s, any Wal-Mart would sell you a player for $20.
So what did those 1997 early adopters actually get for their high price?
- Better quality home video than the rest of the county (for a few years)
- Early adopter status
But what were the tradeoffs and risks?
- Higher price
- Joining a platform with an immature distribution system for content. VHS tapes were simply more available and easier to access until about 2002, when they started outselling VHS.
- Joining a platform that wasn’t yet the clear winner in its space. We didn’t have enough signals to know in 1997 if DVD would be the ubiquitous medium it became, or if it would be the next LaserDisc.
Early adopting is paying a premium to help a company build momentum and work the kinks our of a new product, which may or may not actually work.
Give the market time to reject the product before you get involved. The upside of early adopting is relatively low and the downside it high.
9. Look for products that solve one core job really well
Add-on products that solve totally different jobs than the core product are everywhere. Refrigerators with ice dispensers. Cars with radios. Clocks with radios.
Always be cautious of this. Not saying you shouldn’t buy a car with a radio, just be aware of frivolous add-on jobs built into any product. Best case scenario, the add-on breaks or becomes obsolete before the core product does, and the core product remains useful. In some cases, the add-on breaking breaks the core product. In other cases, the add-on and the core product solve both problems worse by nature of being combined.
Add-ons are great if they improve the core job of the product without much potential for downside. Ask how you’ll feel about the core product when add-on breaks or becomes obsolete. Does the core product still perform? Is the broken add-on easy to fix or replace ?
A car with a broken or obsolete stereo still runs. A broken car stereo probably isn’t a strong enough incentive to replace the car. A refrigerator with a broken ice machine can probably be fixed. But if it can’t be fixed, you might find yourself likely to replace the entire refrigerator. The broken extra machine jutting out of the surface of your home’s largest appliance might be just enough of a hassle and eye sore that you start looking for a new refrigerator.
You might start weighing the cost of fixing the ice maker with just replacing the whole appliance. Companies love this. They want your refrigerator purchase cycle shorter, not longer. It’s a bear trap for sucker consumers.
This is unfortunate, because the refrigerator likely had many potential years of doing its job and satisfying our Vitruvian Triangle.
10. Think differently about software
Once a physical product includes software, you need to start evaluating the producer as a software creator.
A lot of physical product software is inconspicuous — basic firmware nestle deep into your microwave or dishwasher running simple calculations.
It’s the new trend of web connected physical products with smartphone-like user interfaces that has me worried. On one hand, web connectivity makes it possible (and in theory, easy, for developers to ship updates and fixes to software).
It’s important to understand the different approaches to quality control in hardware products and software products. In hardware, shipping products that may need to be improved or fixed in the future could ruin a company. Recalling hardware is really expensive and impractical for the manufacturer. As a result, quality control is aligned for expectations that the thing will never be touched by the producer again. Producers for more complex hardware like cars and appliances have traditionally built in a service network of technicians and repair centers, but the expectation for physical products has always been to build something that cost the producer little resources after it’s shipped.
Software is very different. The marginal cost of shipping updates and fixes (particularly over the web) is basically zero. The opportunity to improve the product in the future is pretty high. Software teams expect they will ship code that needs to be fixed, changed and updated after consumers get their hands on it.
This is fine, but it means the relationship between producer and consumer is inherently different. Rather than the see-you-never handoff you get with physical products, buying something with software means buying into an ongoing relationship with that software producer.
In a lot of cases this is OK. You can have pretty good assurance when you buy an iPhone that Apple will continue to employ software engineers through the life of that hardware. But there’s a new wave of producers who traditionally never shipped software this way and suddenly are starting to. Companies that build blenders and coffee pots and bathtubs. What’s their experience shipping software? Will they be a reliable software shop, say, five years from now? Will the company pivot and stop supporting updates to your smart fridge in 10 years? Will they be acquired by a different company that has different priorities? There are a lot of questions to consider.
Also, solutionism starts to creep in with a lot of these products. Migrating to more and more software makes great sense for producers. The marginal cost of production and scale is very low. For consumers, it doesn’t always make sense. I want refrigerators producers working on advances in keeping food colder while burning less energy, not touch interfaces that keep a shopping list. I have other products for that job.
And aesthetically, trends and preferences move a lot quicker in software and computer hardware. That slick touch screen on your refrigerator door might be an eyesore in 10 years.
Not all of these products are bad, they just take a different kind of evaluating.
11. Economy of scale is a great deal
Hiring a custom auto builder to hand-build you a fully bespoke version of a car that performs like a Toyota Corolla would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Hiring a master carpenter to build you a bookshelf will cost hundreds or thousands more than a similar size product from Ikea.
Sometimes this custom work makes sense. Like anything, it depends what jobs you’re trying to complete. If you want something with sky-high durability and aesthetics, and a great story, by all means hire the master carpenter. Otherwise, look to benefit from economy of scale.
Economy of scale happens when greater production volume creates lower per-unit fixed costs, thus allowing the producer to lower the price to the consumer.
In many cases, the best product for the job is from Ikea or Toyota.
12. Buying used is a great deal
Ebay, Craigslist, thrift stores, estate sales and garage sales. These are some of the greatest opportunities around for the consumer. Full stop. Learn these rules, learn to know what to look for, and you’ll feel like you’re stealing the next time you hit a good garage sale.
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