> “Moving from”? That happened decades ago, before e-commerce became significant. Yes, absolutely, since the invention of brands, at least some brands were the

> “Moving from”? That happened decades ago, before e-commerce became significant. Yes, absolutely, since the invention of brands, at least some brands were the product rather than a signifier of quality. However, in the last 10-20 years, largely due to globalization, high quality goods have become widely available. Before, that Nike hat may well have been much higher quality than the generic, but now they are indistinguishable. As overall product quality has improved, the only thing left to sell is the brand itself.