Beginning with Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, economic theories have made use of “Product differentiation”. This process has often been touted as a key component to effective and successful marketing over the centuries. However, it wasn't until the industrial revolution launched in full-force that "Product differentiation" really took off.
With new production methods, standardization had become increasingly popular, allowing for more consistent product quality and greater quantity output—allowing businesses to finally produce at scale. Unfortunately, this led to competitive overcrowding in many industries as supply surpassed demand far too often.
This lack of market control is what triggered marketers to propose “Product differentiation” as a remedy and an antidote to oversupply in pricing wars between competitors. It was thought this tactic would allow firms the opportunity to manipulate markets through consumer decisions instead of active price slashing campaigns—and ultimately reshape buyer behaviors away from highly price-sensitive trends into something steadier, longer-lasting and better proportioned with available supply.
By creating unique characteristics consumers can spot on products or services (like brand recognition), companies can stand apart from their rivals and even create semi-monopolies on certain markets; thus driving up profits for themselves accordingly—or so goes the goal, anyway!
However, savvy shoppers have caught onto these tactics over time and leveraged their own expertise when choosing companies nowadays - making general loyalty a thing many organizations struggle with keeping afloat... And yet despite popular opinion still remaining divided on whether product differentiations are strategically helpful or just schemes put forth by companies trying desperately to sell stuff - its impact remains undebated after all these years.
Altogether “Product differentiation” remains bounded towards continued success going forward into its next major evolutionary phase: being able to give consumers exactly what they want through AI advancements translating customer requirements into specific parameters guiding corporate decision makers accordingly… But we're not quite ready for that one just yet!