How will AI reshape brand power as shoppers rethink value?

Read the full What the Future: Shopping issue

There’s a long-running narrative that shoppers simply buy cheaper products or swing between scrimping and splurging as their budgets fluctuate with the economy. But many shoppers are rethinking value, due in part to the rise of influencers and reviewers educating on quality, promoting dupes and other ways to get more quality for your money.

Quince is capitalizing on that shift. To Dakota Kate Isaacs, head of brand strategy and narrative, consumers have gotten smarter about questioning quality and value, which reshapes how brands compete for shoppers. The 7-year-old e-commerce company sells luxury-comparable goods through a manufacturer-to-consumer model and markets transparency around its lower unit costs and retail prices. Now Quince is testing brick-and-mortar shopping with pop-ups and sample sales, which could determine whether its model can translate to a similar price advantage in physical retail.

Kate MacArthur: Are people getting smarter about shopping for luxury?

Dakota Kate Isaacs: I don’t know if it’s that people necessarily got smarter or if it’s that the information got free. Shoppers are always capable of judging what something is worth. They just didn’t have access to that data before. And with reviews and social media, we have so much more access to this information.

MacArthur: People are learning more about what makes a good value, thanks partly to some fashion influencers and reviewers. How does that change the equation between brands and shoppers?

Isaacs: I don’t think the future is about convincing someone that something is high quality. You show them. You tell them the fiber, the construction and where it comes from, and then you show the math. It shows that insider information isn’t insider anymore.

MacArthur: Where does price fit in as a quality signal today?

Isaacs: For a long time, price was how people judged quality, but only because they had nothing better to go on. If you can’t see how something is made, you assume the expensive one must be better. A lot of the industry priced directly on that reflex. Economic pressure is what makes people finally run the math. It doesn’t create the behavior, it accelerates it. Cost per wear is one of my favorite conversations to be in because a well-made thing at an honest price wins every single time. You buy it once, it lasts, and then the per-wear cost falls basically through the floor.

MacArthur: Is value-consciousness cyclical or a new reality?

Isaacs: Both of those things are happening. When consumers feel economic pressure, they’re going to become more conscious of what they’re spending. That is cyclical. But the knowledge they’re gaining is not cyclical, because once someone learns what cashmere should cost, they don’t suddenly forget because the economy gets better. That’s a part that sometimes brands underestimate.

MacArthur: What are brands missing about affordability?

Isaacs: People aren’t looking for cheap. They’re looking for what I would call fair. What offends a shopper today is not just something being high-priced. It is a price that cannot be explained. An unexplained markup doesn't read as luxury anymore. Without being dramatic, it reads as disrespect. The old flex was paying the most, whereas the new one is refusing to.

MacArthur: Does aspiration still matter?

Isaacs: Aspiration itself is changing, because for a long time, status was about recognition. You wanted someone else to know what brand you were wearing and, implicitly, what you had to pay for it. Increasingly, status is becoming about discernment. It’s less, “Look what I can afford,” and more, “Look what I know.”

The old flex was paying the most, whereas the new one is refusing to.”
- Dakota Kate Isaacs, Quince

MacArthur: Quince has tested product-themed pop-up stores. Are you considering something more permanent?

Isaacs: You can tell me the dimension of a sofa, and at some point, I still want to sit on the sofa. The physical elements allow it to become almost an education environment. At every one of these, people have come asking for something else that we didn't have in the pop-up. The demand is there.

MacArthur: How will AI change influence on buying decisions in the future?

Isaacs: The most trusted voices are “people like me.” These are peer reviews, communities and micro- and nano-creators who will tell you what's wrong with something. I think AI could change what constitutes brand power. When you authorize an agent to buy for you, that criteria gets brutally explicit. The agent re-shops the entire market on every purchase. There's no coasting on habit or awareness. Influence is moving from the loudest voice to the most trusted crowd to the machine that reads the crowd on your behalf.

For further reading:

• WTF Indulgence
• Younger Americans care more about brand, but not all categories are made the same
• Most younger Americans consider ‘cost per wear’ as a metric for apparel purchases