What does quality mean to you? How does good (or bad) quality affect you personally as a consumer? Have you had experiences where your expectations were exceeded, or on the contrary, not met? How did that change your opinion of the organization and its product or service?

 Most definitions of quality are expectations, requirements, fine, preferences, or standards focus. However, all of these definitions can be hugely different among individuals. Food is a good example. The basic rule is safety but not everyone has the same taste and likes the same kind of food. For me, espresso coffee is great but Americano is also popular for many people. You can't judge a cup of coffee by how "espresso" it should be. 

According to Albert Einstein, "Everybody is a genius, but if you judge a fish by the ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." It makes me think that maybe every product can be a genius product if it just fits what its buyer wants it to be. Another reflection on this was if we look back over how iPhone was created and improved year by year, we will find that the expectations are also higher as time passes. Therefore, time is also one of the crucial elements of how we definite quality. 

To summarize, I think quality means two things, time and preferences. When a product or service meets the two elements at the same for an individual, it is probably a good product or service for the consumer.

A good or bad product affects consumers emotionally and physically. For example, some healthy food may be good for my body but it is not always as tasty as some unhealthy food. A better battery life phone helps me keep playing games longer but I will have less time for exercise. If a product is designed to entertain consumers by doing exercise, it would affect consumers both emotionally and physically. Right now, many plant-based food companies such as Beyond Meat tend to make their products both tasty and healthy.

Another example is that online retailers such as Amazon or Alibaba, are doing their business to help their consumers buy goods quickly and conveniently. Amazon Prime even delivers its products within two days. Such services affect customers both emotionally (consumers tend to have anxiety after they pay for something but they have to wait a period) and physically(people no longer have to wait in lines at a physical store or actually take a long ride).

Most of the time, I had experiences where my expectations fell behind when some food smiles good but not so much after I take a bite. Usually, it is very personal since it is feelings or preferences. People also feel differently when they are starving or full. Among daily purchases, some boots I purchased did exceed my expectation. For example, PAMPA LITE+ RECYCLE WP+ Boots were better than I expected since they cost me less money when I purchased them from a retailer. 

I think the prices of a product is also affect the buyer's expectation. Mentally, people feel much more pain from a loss than a gain. It's Loss aversion. It is a phenomenon where a loss is perceived by individuals as emotionally more severe than an equivalent gain. I think even if your product is 50% more valuable, consumers still feel serve pain if it is also 50% more expensive. Regardless of consumer preferences, I reckon that if the price of an iPhone is 50% higher than its competitors' products, fewer iPhones would be bought when it's only 50% more valuable.

Reference

Liberto, D. (2022, July 8). Loss aversion definition. Investopedia. Retrieved September 4, 2022, from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/loss-psychology.asp