Overwhelming Choices

I think that Barry Schwartz has touched on something that plagues everyone. For instance, if I am in a hurry or on somwhat strict time table, I never go to the grocery store for the exact reasons he listed: there are too many things to buy, and I get sidetracked and spend hours idly wandering the isles.

I especially related to his observation on young adults and the personal choices they face today. The option of marriage, job, grad school, peace corp, studying abroad, etc, etc, etc, take up thousands of extra minutes in my life. Often when I think to myself 'I really got a lot done today' perhaps only 20% of it was actually related to school (my primary occupation), where as the vast majority of things I 'accomplished' had to do with running errands, shopping, looking for jobs, thinking about all the things i need to do, making lists, filling out applications, e-mailing people questions, calling people with questions, answering other peoples' questions, going to meetings... and all of the million other things that the average adult in an American society deals with on a daily basis.

In regards to the consumer, I think that the choice paradox is a stumbling block in their consumption. In knowing that they have the resources (i.e. internet) to find the 'perfect' good, they spend hours searching and agonizing about it, imagining the ideal object, that when they actually obtain it, it falls short of their expectations. So his observation that today's consumer has high expections and therefore a significant risk of disappointment is very applicable.

When I go dress shopping for a special occasion, I usually got to several small stores and place one item on hold at each. I do this because I think at the smaller store, it's less likely someone will have the same dress I want (because there are usually only one in each size), and especially in Austin, boutiques tend to find out of the labels to attract buyers from the larger dept. stores (i.e. Neiman Marcus, Saks, Nordstrom, etc). But I always buy the dress from the store that has a return policy, because I don't want it to be set in stone if I change my mind, or gain 10 lbs., or end up in the hospital the day of the event and can't attend.

This is just to illustrate that with all of the options available to consumers, marketers have to realize that not only the merit of the good comes into play in the consumer's mind. And many of the variables that affect consumers are difficult to predict and even more difficult to control.