Please explain me the parts of following paragraph:
Such products may dominate a market if the price is reasonable, but they must to a degree meet competition. They invite substitution. They are naturally classified with other products which have like ingredients, so the price must remain in that class.
What's the meaning of meeting competition? Please explain the meaning of substitution? Please explain the last part of that paragraph.
Thank you very much.
The quote is from here:
Google books "Scientific Advertising"
It discusses the marketing value gained from having a unique name for an ordinary product.
"Such products" are those whose name is valuable because of advertising. The author says that to dominate the market, the well-named products must still have prices and performance that are similar to those of competitive products.
The products will be in the same class as other products, and purchasers will prefer those if they are much cheaper. That is the meaning of "meeting competition": unique, recognized names provide some advantage, but not enough to allow much higher prices.
So, for example, a consumer may buy "Palmolive" soap (one of the product names mentioned) because they recognize the name, but if its price is too high, they will "substitute", that is, buy another brand.
