[Ekaros]

The capitalist west seems fully happy buying slop and crap as long as it is cheap... Nearly no one demands quality anymore.

[LexiMax]

Quality isn't really an option anymore, because expensive no longer means quality, it means expensive-looking crap.

If it's all crap anyway, why pay more?

[strix_varius]

Absolutely. In areas where there are known quality options, people are clearly willing to pay more. Toyota for instance is a solid example of this.

Automobiles are large, expensive purchases with a relatively small set of options though... For most purchases, it's impossible to determine quality ahead of time.