The Cult of Differentiation
These days you don't have to go much farther than Amazon to see, quite literally, exactly the same product sold by multiple third party vendors. Dozens.
One of the first questions an investor is likely to ask an aspiring entrepreneur is "What differentiates your product?". I have to admit, this sometimes feels like a cult rather than an absolute necessity of business.
The Amazon example might be on the extreme end of the scale. These third party sellers all import exactly the same product from exactly the same manufacturer in China and list them all under different bar-codes.
Strictly speaking speaking, when all the smoke and bullshit clears out, what you are buying is exactly the same product. The smoke and bullshit is the packaging and mostly on-listing marketing (pictures, bullet-points, product description), etc.
Price? Sure.
It's the same product. The buyer doesn't get any more value because the packaging is prettier. If you are buying an avocado peeler, and it is exactly the same avocado peeler, well, it's the same avocado peeler.