Price used to be the primary filter.
Given two similar products, users chose the cheaper one. Comparison shopping. Deal hunting. Race to the bottom.
But something is shifting.
Users are increasingly willing to pay more for trust.
A privacy-focused service costs more? They'll pay it. A company with a track record of not selling out? Worth the premium. A product that's been reliable for years? Loyalty matters.
Trust has become scarce.
Too many acquisitions that ruined beloved products. Too many free services that turned users into products. Too many promises broken, too many pivots, too much enshittification.
Now, when users find something trustworthy, they hold on. And they're willing to pay to keep it.
This creates an opening for smaller players.
You don't need to be the cheapest. You don't need to be the biggest. You need to be the most trusted.
Trust is the new moat.
That's the shift worth noticing.