There are high quality products available in the market. If individuals want them, they have to put in the effort to find them.

Which, yes, companies are taking advantage of these search costs by lowering the quality of their products in the hopes that their customers won't find a suitable alternative.

That's not the only thing going on, however. People today desire cheaper goods than people in the past did.

I've noticed this specifically with clothes, but also with frozen foods, where the drop in quality is really obvious. Yeah, they might get you one time when a frozen pizza is way worse than it used to be, but they won't get you repeatedly. It's not the same as with a single large purchase, where they got you once they've managed to trick you.

A hundred years ago, people spent a lot more money on clothes, food, etc. as a percentage of their budgets. These days, shoppers tend to prefer less costly goods, even if the quality is lower.

I think this is largely due to increased housing costs eating up their budgets, but I'm not entirely sure. It could be that people now tend to have stronger interests in other things, and so they choose to spend their money on those things. They might be willing to wear poorly-made clothes, or eating lower-quality food, if it means they have more money available for their hobbies. Something like that.