Why Quality Over Price is Always the Sustainable Choice?
Price is almost always the most important consideration when we make a purchase. An item may need to fall within a certain budget and sometimes we’d just rather not spend the money if we don’t feel we have to. However, focusingly solely on price and choosing the less expensive item can actually come at a cost. Consistently choosing the cheaper option not only cost you more money in the long run, it actually sacrifices the quality of a product or service and degrades its value overtime. Let me explain.
Choosing quality over price is almost always the sustainable choice because it eliminates waste, improves efficiency, and supports businesses that prioritizes value. Investing in a quality product ends up saving you money since it will need to be replaced less frequently and focusing on quality also encourages corporate social responsibility practices.
Price will always be a factor in your decision making for buying a product. Price and sustainability are inherently connected, and our decisions in one category will have an influence on the other. We’ll look at this link, the factors associated with quality, and how we as consumers help make these decisions.
The correlation between quality and price can give us a good idea about a product, but it is not always accurate. We shouldn’t assume that all high-quality products are expensive and that all cheap items are poor quality. We have to do a bit more research when buying a product to make this determination.
A high price tag could indicate either of the following:
- Bad value: You may be paying too much for a product that will not be long lasting or work properly
- High quality: The product’s high quality may make the price tag worth it as you can’t find a product of equally high value elsewhere
A low-price product can also mean the following:
- Great value: If costs are low on the company’s end, they can offer a high-quality product at a lower price point.
- Poor quality: The price may be low because the product is not worth much and does not pack the necessary features to drive the price upward.
Quality Costs
At the same time, there are important costs that are directly related to quality. In most cases, better raw materials will drive prices higher, but there are other quality costs that are often overlooked. These are called quality costs, and they are costs that are incurred to meet your expectations as a consumer, with different categories for different types of buyers.
These are the costs that go into upholding the quality of the product and not necessarily improving it. It is important to understand these costs as they can dramatically influence the price tag you see in the store.
These are the different types of quality costs:
- Prevention costs: These costs are incurred to prevent problems with quality from occurring. Prevention can be significantly less costly than fixing something after it goes wrong. These costs include employee training, statistical process control, supplier certification, and product design.
- Appraisal costs: Closely related to prevention, these are costs associated with inspections for quality. This can prevent defected items from leaving the factories and costs associated with testing products for quality.
- Internal failure costs: When a defective product is produced, it will cost money to either fix or replace these goods.
- External failure costs: If a defective product goes go out to the stores, there could be costs associated with product recalls, field service, lawsuit fees, warranty claims, and the loss of clients.
If a company is doing everything in its power to uphold quality, prevention costs should be the largest driver and will keep costs relatively low. This is unpredictable but does come down to company responsibility and diligence. This will account for a large portion of the product cost and is not often displayed when costs are reported.
