Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Blog # 2, The Choice is Yours

Turkey? Chicken Breast? Buffalo Shrimp Po’ Boy? As I stood in line in my favorite Sandwich store I was forced to make a crucial decision with so many options…well in fact TOO many options. I am a hungry consumer that needs to feel satisfied with the right meal, but with so many options how will I know if I made the right choice in only a matter of minutes? So after careful and long deliberation, I chose the Buffalo Shrimp Po’ Boy. Satisfaction here I come! But as I scrolled my eyes down, I began to see a barrage of toppings, dressings and cheeses and can’t help but to be unfortunately overwhelmed once again. By the time I placed my order, my two friends were already chomping away at their sandwiches while I’m still having second thoughts about that turkey on rye…


The mere availability of options gives consumers so much pleasure…yet so much pain as shown in the previous example. Although I feel like I am a pretty savvy consumer that knows what I want, when more than one perfectly viable option is presented, I am quite frankly, flabbergasted. This is when Barry Schwarz’s Paradox of Choice comes into play and smacks you across the face with his loaf of Italian, Wheat and White bread (toasted or not toasted is up to you).

Maximizing freedom = maximizing choice, or so we think. We as a society have a love/hate relationship when it comes to choice. When there’s not enough, we’re not satisfied and ask for more. When there’s too many, we’re still not satisfied and ask for less. How picky we are. The world presents us with an array of everyday choices that seem to please and confuse us simultaneously. Some hate the fact that they take a lifetime to select what shade of blue on a Polo emblem shirt will match their plaid pants better or what dry cleaning facility will offer better services. Alternatively some do in fact love the way they can order it their way and for instance, get a baked potato instead of their fries with their value meal (like me). So my next question I pose is what is the right amount of choices? Is it the size of the menu we see at McDonald’s or is it the selection of different sodas in a vending machine? That’s the job of us ‘Marketers’ to help find that perfect balance we desire through surveys, focus groups, and other types of marketing research. As more and more available choices open up and become discovered, it becomes more and more difficult for consumers to choose what they want leaving us marketers, still with jobs.


Another issue surrounding this topic is customization. We’re in an age of personalizing…um…everything. Oh how we love the funky colors on our Nikes and the iPods with our favorite quote inscribed on the back, and we definitely do adore those lovely Build-a-Bears. We are definitely living in the era of the Generation Y’ers where we can have selection and personal customization in the palm of our hands. However, for anyone’s that’s ever decided to customize their own items, how long does it take? There’s so many colors, so many patterns, so many…options. Customers may spend an eternity searching for the ideal color shoelace, and ironically when they see them in person they may have second thoughts of picking that other color. Cognitive dissonance definitely wanders in this realm of post-customization and rears it’s ugly head forcing unwanted returns and feelings of “I wish I wouldn’t have gotten this altogether.

I personally have trouble when it comes to making decisions about clothing and shoes; I am quite the picky one. I go through piles and piles of shirts and when I finally search two shirts I like, I sit there and debate over a long stretch of time. And when I ultimately do select the shirt I want, I am too tired to look through the stacks of slim-fit, stone washed, and boot cut jeans on the opposite end of the store and instead pay for the shirt so I could go home. This previous scenario has happened to too many of us; we find ourselves stuck on debating on a single product that saps away our attention and focus and ultimately leads to fewer or repeat purchases of the same product. In this respect, companies might lose profits down the road with customers buying less and spending more time debating on a variety of options. The ending scenario of this story as well as choice paralysis leave customers leaving with a sense of confusion, bewilderment, and second guessing, not feelings of joy, excitement and happiness like they’d want it to be. However looking at the big picture, in my opinion the option of choice does more good than harm by giving customers the freedom to choose their personal, ideal product that fits their personalities and lifestyles. The choice is yours and yours alone….

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