Are there too many Choices?

It may not be as frightening as a head-spinning horror movie, but today's proliferation of consumer choices in the home furnishings arena can bring one to mind. If your showroom is bursting at the seams, if each additional product you add brings diminishing returns, then you probably offer too many choices. If you can't afford to hire therapists with design degrees for your showroom - how do you help consumers navigate the many product choices that you offer? Therein lies the opportunity.

If you want to end the chaos, complexity and confusion over product selection for your customers – it is time to focus your product offering with a rigorous editing process that is as individual as your business. High-end boutiques in every category have always relied on editing. Pottery Barn and Crate and Barrel have done it successfully. (Watch as these stores get into bathroom furnishings) Trader Joe’s combines the editing process with great service. The iPod is the ultimate “edited” product and research shows that editing works!

Thousands of stores, hundreds of catalogs,
hundreds of thousands of choices and not a thing to wear!
Whether it is fashion or finishes, the problem is the same-
too many choices.

1. The Research: Stanford Business School

Consumer research shows that the American consumer is suffering from choice fatigue. A Stanford Business School Study found too many choices exasperated shoppers. In the research Consumer were offered either 30 choices or 6 choicesof jam and then given coupons to purchase what they sampled. Of those that had the opportunity to sample 30 only 3% made a purchase, while of those given 6 choices ten times as many or 30% made a purchase. Harvard Business School followed up with a study that showed that a grocery retailer increased their revenues by 11 percent simply by reducing their assortment in various categories anywhere from 20 percent to as much as 80 percent.

To really understand how consumers react in the face of too many choices listen to this podcast: http://www.ted.com/tedtalks/tedtalksplayer.cfm
Barry Schwartz is a sociology professor at Swarthmore College and author of The Paradox of Choice. In this talk, he persuasively explains how and why the abundance of choice in modern society is actually making us miserable. While I disagree with his solutions, (being from Swarthmore, he espouses redistribution of wealth) it points out clearly the opportunities for a variety of businesses.

2. Shaping Factors:

In this time of both rapid and constant change, creating the perfect product mix requires more consideration than just bringing in the latest offerings from your suppliers. A variety of cultural, demographic and psychographic, as well as aesthetic trends affect what your customer will choose for their homes:

• The overriding trend that affects consumers’ choices in their homes is the paradigm shift from the Industrial and Information ages to the Biological age. Natural materials are now the most important drivers of the aesthetics of the entire built environment. We can no longer agree on a color derived from a pigment box like “hunter green” or “burgundy,” but get our color inspiration from a wide range of natural stones.
• Homes and home furnishings have moved from being needs based to desire driven products.
• The income curve is flattening creating a new mass affluent market that can afford exactly what they want.
• Boomers are still driving the home market and will continue to do so as they build and furnish their retirement homes.
• The “new” always engages and technology continuously creates new aesthetics that intrigue the desire driven consumer.

3. The Solution:

There is no magic pill or potion to cure the choice fatigue of today’s consumers –it is essential to take a holistic approach. Edit products for:

• “best of”
• most compelling new
  
• the greatest benefit to your customers

4. Edit your way to success in 2007:
Design trends that create interior finish aesthetics:

* Play of light is the new color and pattern. Light bounces off interesting textures, shimmery materials and frosted metallics.
* The “limestone” palette remains important because limestone it fits today’s lifestyles. Created by evolution’s first mobile home- the shell, it is a true natural material and the light, soft and soothing color range is an antidote to our over stimulated lives.
* With our concern for the environment, nature greens remain in the palette.
* Fun and decoration are returning to interiors, driven by Tord Bontje’s inspired decorative motifs and bright colors for a contemporary market.
* Consumers expect products that can be customized. (The iPod is the ultimate example)
* The “local” remains important.

For further reading:

The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less By BarrySchwartz; Ecco

Trading Up: The New American Luxury
By Michael J. Silverstein and Neil Fiske; Portfolio

The Substance of Style: How the rise of aesthetic value is remaking commerce, culture and consciousness By Virginia Postrel; Harper Collins