The best of both worlds: quality brand name clothing…cheap”
September 7th, 2009by H. Graves, StarTrend123.com
Immediately after the 1917 Communist revolution the
decision was made to eliminate all brand names on goods produced in the Soviet
Union. The reason: it appeared to be “economically wasteful” to pay extra for
what some considered to be an identical product that merely advertised or
promoted its brand name. Does this argument make sense?
“When the producers of products are not identified with
brand names, a crucial element of the market mechanism cannot operate because
consumers cannot use their past experience to know which products to buy and
which not to buy…when all brand names, including factory production marks,
were eliminated in the Soviet Union, unidentified producers manufacturing
indistinguishable products each had an incentive to supply lower quality goods.”
- Benjamin Klein, professor emeritus at UCLA.
Quality and trust are two of the reasons people buy brand
names. But doesn’t buying brand names mean higher price? Not necessarily.
With clothing, thousands of new labels have popped up over
the last few decades. Department stores have to cycle inventory in and out of
their stores with a much greater frequency because customers won’t come back
regularly if they continue to see the same merchandise displayed. And new
styles are produced constantly.
To make room for new inventory stores liquidate hundreds of
thousands of pieces of brand-new, brand name merchandise every day, by the
truckload. We started buying that merchandise and selling it on eBay as
“StarClub123,” (100% eBay feedback rating). A designer shirt that was just for
sale at your favorite department store last month for, let’s say, $100, we could
sell to you this month for $20.
We realized that we could bring the same value to a lot
more customers mainstream, and launched the StarTrend123.com marketplace. The
StarTrend123.com business model is synonymous with “trust.” We sell only
verified authentic brand name clothing and accessories that we purchase directly
from the brand manufacturer, or shelf-pulls, overstock, and manufacturer
overruns that we purchase directly from several major department stores we’ve
contracted with.
For our customers, it means the best of both worlds:
quality brand name clothing…cheap.