Too many choices?

The Barry Schwarz pod cast discusses how our modern world is significantly different than the world of previous generations because of the vast amount of choices available to everyone. One of his examples was that before there was only one type of jean, but now you have boot cut, straight leg, zipper, buttons, stone wash, acid wash, ect. He notes that while some choice is good, many choices are not necessarily good. The two negative effects are that these numerous choices produce paralysis rather than liberation, meaning that there are so many choices that people find it hard to choose at all. Also, even if we manage to make a choice, we will end up unhappy with our choice because we can imagine that we might have made a better choice. This idea relates strongly to consumers making decisions about products and services. If we go into an upscale department store to purchase a watch, we are faced with hundreds of options. There are sports watches, fine watches, medium quality watches. There are many different brands with many different styles. We must also choice whether we want gold, silver, a combination, or if we want to add precious stones. Often a consumer will look at all the watches but not be able to make a decision because there are too many choices. From what I have witnessed, people usually will leave and come back to make a decision. I believe this is especially true for when purchasing expensive items like watches because there is more money at stake. When a mother is purchasing diapers for her baby she may have to spend more time looking at all the diaper brands before choosing. However, she will probably not walk away from the decision because diapers are something she really needs right at that moment. She will not get so overwhelmed that she will leave and not purchase the diapers at all because in this case, she is not investing a large amount of money in her purchase. Therefore, in this case, I do not believe that Schwarz’s theory applies completely. I believe that only in situations where a lot of money or time is at stake will people perhaps avoid making a choice if they are presented with too many choices.
I do, however, agree with Schwarz's theory that we have so many choices, we often end up less satisfied with the option we chose. The California Management Review stages that people don’t often come into a store with a clear idea of what they want, even when they have a clear idea of the characteristics of the alternatives. Instead, people often construct their preferences when faced with a specific purchase decision. With this assumption in place, it is easy to see how Schwarz’ theory applies to consumer purchases. Without a clear idea of what they want, a consumer will have to personally choose a product out of the variety of choices. The choice is completely theirs so they will have to accept the responsibility if their chosen products isn’t perfect.
So how can marketers get past this dilemma to satisfy their customers? The role of a market is to discover and satisfy. The most general need marketers can satisfy is happiness. Therefore, is crucial that marketers avoid giving consumers too many choices. If they give too many choices, a consumer may be too overwhelmed to even make a choice that could possibly bring them the happiness they need. Even if they do manage to make a choice, with too many options, they will regret the choice they make and therefore will again miss out of the happiness. Large superstores, for example, should then avoid giving too many options of products and perhaps look at market segments and decide for them what they believe the best product would be for each segment. Perhaps they could have one diaper for the money conscious mom, one for the quality seeking mom, and one for the mom seeking a good combination.
One time in my life when I experienced the paradox of choice was when I was choosing a college. Back in my parent’s time, if you were lucky enough to go to college you just went to your state college, no questions asked. Students at the very top of the social rank may go to ivy leagues, but it was very rare that a Texan would go to the University of Virginia. However, when it came time for me to apply to college, I was given an endless list of possible college to apply too. Not only was I needing to choose what state to go to college in but I had the option of liberal arts colleges, colleges with excellent business schools, colleges with great social scenes, small colleges, all-women colleges, and just about everything in between. It was very overwhelming and I put off applying to the colleges because I didn’t know where to start. I believe that had I not had parents and an upbringing that greatly valued a college education, I may have even given up all together because the task of choosing seemed too daunting. However, I did eventually choose to apply to 6 different colleges and I ended up getting into 5 of them. Then, I had the task of choosing which of the five. I eventually chose the University of Texas; however, I faced the fear of choosing the wrong college. Because I had so many options, I knew that perhaps this college wasn’t the perfect one for me. I spent my entire freshman year examining my experience and comparing it to my friends at other colleges. Whenever something was unsatisfactory, I would fear that I had made the wrong choice even though overall I was really enjoying UT. Thus, although it was great that I was given more options of colleges because this meant that I could probably find a college that best suited me, I still was not able to be completely satisfied with my choice.