I’m trying to come up with an example to use for my marketing class proposal and I need to come up with a company that has went from from a low price low quality company to a high price high quality company. The only company I can think of that would fit this description would be an older established company like Dillards or Macy’s. Am I right, or am I totally off base?
Thanks for help. 
Well, the entire electronics industry of Japan, if you like.
Sony and Samsung both come immediately to mind.
How about Banana Republic? In the 80’s, they were a carbon copy of Gap. In the early 90’s, the brands began to seperate and Old Navy filled the budget line, Gap became the mid-priced line and Banana Republic became the high priced line.
Target has moved from low-price, low-quality to mid-price, mid-quality.
And not just Japanese electronics, but Japanese cars, as well.
That’s right. Especially Honda’s immersion into the U.S. market from the 1970’s until today.
so then what would be some examples of companies that have went from high price and high quality to low price and low quality. What comes to mind here for me would be companies that specialize in clothes. For instance Tommy Hilfiger and Polo clothes. What about computers like Dell?
IBM recently sold off its personal computer division to concentrate on high-end business computers.
I don’t like those examples. Tommy Hilfiger and Polo may be more mainstream brands now but I would hardly call them low quality. Likewise, Dell just produces more computers than others do. They aren’t necessarily “bad” and many would consider them quite good.
Another for the OP would be the automobile business of Hyundai.
Maybe Black & Decker? Known for producing cheap, somewhat crappy consumer tools. Then they bought DeWalt and now also produce highly regarded contractor tools as well.
How about Harley Davidson? One of the great brand transformations of all time. When AMF owned them the product was JUNK. Not sure about price, but it could hardly be premium because the product was absolute shit. The workers bought the company back from AMF and started to transform the brand. HD is now a premium brand in all respects of the word.
Gallo Wine.
This happens to many high tech products when they become mass-market commodities. Floppy disk drives are a good example. They used to cost $500 each, when $500 was worth a lot more than today. They were designed to last and to be repairable. When they wore out, you could send them in for an overhaul. Prices, and quality, declined over the years, although storage density improved. They became throwaway items, not designed to be adjusted or repaired. Pricing pressures became extreme and resulted in today’s product, which is very cheap and has marginal reliability. Cheap products that are “good enough” often drive better products out of the marketplace.
Well, if you also accept ‘quality’ (in quotes), then perhaps Rolling Rock beer is an example: it used to be a cheap regional brand, just like Genesee, Iron City, Narraganset Bay, Lone Star, etc. etc.
Now, though I doubt the actual product has changed, it sells for yuppie beer prices.
There are also even more extreme examples in the liquor world, vodka especially, where tripling the price of a brand (without changing the product) causes huge increases in sales.
If you’re looking at the apparel industry, you may want to try Barneys. It was originally a discount mens clothing retailer and has changed in the last 15 years or so to being a high-end fashion shop.
How about Joe Boxer? They used to be fairly decent quality and medium-priced, and now they’re noticeably lower-quality and less expensive since Kmart sells their stuff.
Sears in general, especially their Craftsman tools (well–maybe it was more of a mid-price, mid-quality to low-price, low-quality, but still).
Pepsi Cola. It was originally sold as a low-price alternative to Coke:
“Pepsi Cola hits the spot
12 ounce bottle that’s a lot
Twice as much for a nickel, too.
Pepsi Cola’s the drink for you!”
As you can see, their main claim was that they gave you twice as much for the same price.
Later, Pepsi decided that being cheap meant you’d lose out to anyone whoever could beat your price, so they switch to being a premium cola.
I don’t know about the actual quailty and price, because I was a kid, but in the 1960s, RCA was considered a top notch brand, at least in the South. For the past decade, however, I’ve considered it among the lowest quality brands, cutting corners on features and sepcs, and with a high premature failure rate.