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Too Many Choices for the Future? Consumers Want Fewer "Flavors"
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장바울
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2012-09-14 14:13:37, 조회 : 1,946 |
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Too Many Choices for the Future? Consumers Want Fewer \"Flavors\"
A choice of 33 flavors of ice cream tonight may be highly desirable, but most people don’t want to sort through 33 types of annuity options for their retirement decades from now. Psychological distance from a decision outcome tends to determine the number of options that consumers wish to deal with, according to Joseph K. Goodman and Selin A. Malkoc, both assistant professors of marketing at Washington University in St. Louis.
\"The lure of assortment may not be as universal as previously thought. Consumers’ preferences for large assortments can decrease due to a key psychological factor—psychological distance,\" the authors write in a paper to be published in the Journal of Consumer Research.
In retirement planning, for instance, we typically prefer to focus on the end goal—target dates and income, choice of residence, or whether to volunteer part time. Consumers needing to make a decision about an annuity plan may actually prefer fewer choices, the researchers found. This preference could help inform retailers’ strategies.
\"In product categories where psychological distance is automatically evoked, it might not be necessary for retailers to offer a large and overwhelming number of options,\" the authors conclude. \"Consumers may even be attracted to those sellers offering a smaller and simpler assortment of options.\"
Goodman and Malkoc's work echoes a famous 2001 study by Sheena Iyengar and Mark Leeper of Columbia University titled \"When Choice is Demotivating: Can One Desire Too Much of a Good Thing?\" Iyengar and Leeper set up table outside of California grocery store and offered some passersby six flavors of jam; others they offered 24 flavors. When there were 24 options, only 3% of the customers purchased anything. When the number of options was a more manageable six, the purchase rate was 30%. Moral? if you're making your customers select from too many options they aren't going to select as well.
Sources: Washington University in St. Louis
The study \"Choosing for the Here and Now vs. There and Later: The Moderating Role of Psychological Distance on Assortment Size Preference,\" is available online and scheduled to appear in the December 2012 print issue of the Journal of Consumer Research.
Download the Iyengar and Leeper paper: \"When Choice is Demotivating: Can One Desire Too Much of a Good Thing?\" here.
Counterterrorism Efforts \"Target\" Boston’s Subways
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has chosen the Boston subway system as a real-life testing ground to evaluate several experimental models of biological agent-detection sensors. Scientists from the Science and Technology Directorate will spray subway tunnels during the off hours with quantities of dead Bacillus subtilis, a bacterial strain that is common in soil and plants and is not hazardous to humans. The researchers will then deploy the sensors to see if they can detect the bacteria’s presence.
This Detect-to-Protect (D2P) Bio Detection project will run from September 2012 until February 2013, with oversight from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, as well as state and local public-health officials. Flir Inc., Northrop Grumman, Menon and Associates, and Qinetiq North America are the systems’ manufacturers. If the systems work as their designers intend, then they will be able to detect a microbial strain within minutes, allowing DHS authorities to mobilize fast public responses in the event of a biological attack.
Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security
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