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Segmentation only works in ways that the market structure permits. For example it's practically impossible for a supermarket to do very good fresh bread; "fresh

Segmentation only works in ways that the market structure permits. For example it's practically impossible for a supermarket to do very good fresh bread; "fresh" supermarket bread is normally delivered frozen part baked and there isn't margin for much labour beyond schlepping things in and out of ovens, slicers and baggers. The bread you get at the start of a meal in a fine dining restaurant, baked from scratch in the kitchen? Never going to come close. Most "luxury" products are a big marketing spend, combined with an emphasis on components and finish the customer can notice easily, ideally by sight. For things where consistency is more important than specificity, this works ok. For example, you almost always want the mass market engine, not the bespoke one tuned by the artisan mechanic. I don't think it's nearly as true for food.

clairity 6y ago
yes, that's why we need to make sure our politico-economic policies shape the structures of markets to promote fair competition. but your example of a market (for bread? or food?) doesn't seem to exemplify structure limiting segmentation. you can buy bread all along the range of price and quality, from mass-produced wonder bread to the local mass bakery (labrea bakery in LA comes to mind) to the freshly handcrafted loaf (at restaurants and artisan bread shops). one layer deeper, favoring fair and free markets really means that we should favor markets that have mostly small and mid-sized compettitors and entirely eschew large ($100MM+) corporations where the paradox of abundance applied to scale (relative to the individual) turns employees inwards toward harvesting the abundance for themselves rather than toward serving the market, and where economies of scale and scope wane in most markets.