A recent essay by Benedict Evans reviewing the changing economics of the US newspaper industry (and news content more broadly - https://lnkd.in/gwwEgGT) contains a very interesting trend graph from Google showing the relative share of searches for cheapest vs best product recommendations over time.

It provides a very clear takeaway.

Search initially enabled customers to overcome pricing information asymmetry. ‘Search costs’ - time/effort required to uncover and compare pricing from multiple vendors - was a major impediment, often allowing vendors to charge a price premium.

Simple search tools have meant that, over time, margins across many product/service categories have shrunk.

Increasingly, consumers now leverage search for recommendations of quality, relying on experiential feedback and perceptions of value (including customer experience), rather than cost, to inform purchase decisions.