PaulC you make a very interesting observation.
Whilst at face value your comment is light-hearted -that the bigger and perhaps more modern-looking Moulinex cleaner is cheaper than the Elecrtrolux 170- the whole scenario runs much deeper.
It is fair to say that both Hoover and Electrolux were heavily reliant on their respective reputations in order to both gain the sale AND gain the price they demanded. This came, I suppose, from the 1960's - a time when a number of smaller appliance manufacturers went bust, when others were sold off to bigger rivals, and when some decided to stop making vacuum cleaners altogether.
The 1970's really saw the start of the imports, but in plenty of cases for vacuum cleaners(and I have Which? reports to confirm this) the retail price of many was not always competitive enough to win the loyalty of the UK consumer. Yet by the end of the 1970's and into the 1980's -a time when money was very tight for a good deal of families- the rise in the imported goods and the ever-lowering price tags was a great temptation.
We have to remember of course that even the "cheap" vacuum cleaners were still very expensive, and to that end consumers could well be divided; did they pay less for a cheap purchase which offered so much value for the money, at the risk of it going wrong much more quickly, or should they wait & save a little longer so as to "invest" in an appliance which was built by a name they knew and trusted?
Ultimatly, people would fall into both camps, depending on their mind-sets and budgets. However, whereas someone who purchased a cheap vacuum cleaner which quickly went wrong could easily be told by others that a fool & their money are easily parted, it did seem to me at least that people who'd invested in a well-known brand name that turned out to be what we knew as "a Friday afternoon job" were saying the very same thing to themseleves, on the basis that spending the extra money hadn't been worth it in the end.
I have written here before about a woman who bought three turquoise Moulinex Master cleaners into my shop for repair, two of which she'd told me were purchased on the same day for not much more than she'd planned to spend on one Hoover Turbopower. Having been let-down by what she'd called an expensive Hoover cylinder, and having felt one cleaner was not enough for her large home, she'd intended to buy an upright and to get the existing cylinder repaired. Such was the choice she could make at the point of sale, she decided to chance her luck on two cheap uprights.
She must have been impressed too, as the third cleaner was then purchased for her mother.
But in another twist, the likes of Hoover and Electrolux would always have some loyal followers, and as long as there were club-book catalouges like we see here and Electricity Board showrooms, all of whom offered favourable payment terms (albiet on prices which were higher than in the high-street chain stores like Currys and Comet), there was always the possibilty that a consumer might opt for paying slightly more for slightly longer so as to buy a more established brand.
