commoditize

English

Alternative forms

commoditise

Etymology

Verb

commoditize (third-person singular simple present commoditizes, present participle commoditizing, simple past and past participle commoditized)

(US, business, transitive, proscribed) To transform into a commodity, particularly of an existing product.
- 2004, Joel Spolsky, “Strategy Letter V: The Economics of Open Source”, in Joel on Software […] , Apress, →ISBN, page 284:
  IBM's goal was to commoditize the add-in market, which is a complement of the PC market, and they did this quite successfully. […] Microsoft's goal was to commoditize the PC market. Very soon, the PC itself was basically a commodity, with ever decreasing prices, consistently increasing power, and fierce margins that make it extremely hard to make a profit.

Usage notes

The earlier commodify is more common, sometimes used synonymously, and sometimes considered more correct, with commoditize proscribed.^[1] In other use these are distinguished, with commoditize used in business contexts to describe a market that becomes a commodity market where products are interchangeable and there is heavy price competition, while commodify is used in social contexts to mean that a non-commercial good has become commercial, typically with connotations of “corrupted by commerce” – “Microprocessors are commoditized. Love is commodified.”^[2]^[3]

Synonyms

commodify

Derived terms

References

^ Robert Hartwell Fiske (2011) Robert Hartwell Fiske’s Dictionary of Unendurable English […] , →ISBN, page 99
^ James Surowiecki (1998 January 30) “The Commoditization Conundrum”, in Slate‎^[1], archived from the original on 2012-05-09, retrieved 2015-08-16:
What corporations fear is the phenomenon now known, rather inelegantly, as “commoditization.” What the term means is simply the conversion of the market for a given product into a commodity market, which is characterized by declining prices and profit margins, increasing competition, and lowered barriers to entry. (“Commoditization” is therefore different from “commodification,” the word cultural critics use to decry the corruption of higher goods by commercial values. Microprocessors are commoditized. Love is commodified.)
^ Douglas Rushkoff (2005 September 4) “Commodified vs. Commoditized”, in rushkoff.com‎^[2], archived from the original on 21 February 2010

[1] Robert Hartwell Fiske (2011) Robert Hartwell Fiske’s Dictionary of Unendurable English […] , →ISBN, page 99

[2] James Surowiecki (1998 January 30) “The Commoditization Conundrum”, in Slate‎^[1], archived from the original on 2012-05-09, retrieved 2015-08-16:
What corporations fear is the phenomenon now known, rather inelegantly, as “commoditization.” What the term means is simply the conversion of the market for a given product into a commodity market, which is characterized by declining prices and profit margins, increasing competition, and lowered barriers to entry. (“Commoditization” is therefore different from “commodification,” the word cultural critics use to decry the corruption of higher goods by commercial values. Microprocessors are commoditized. Love is commodified.)

[3] Douglas Rushkoff (2005 September 4) “Commodified vs. Commoditized”, in rushkoff.com‎^[2], archived from the original on 21 February 2010

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