Is too much choice an issue and how do you decide what to buy?

IsabelC

I think that in answering this questions, it is crucial to make the distinction between genuine choice - choice about factors that customers might consider most important - versus illusory choice, where there is great appearance of choice but little real choice. Real and meaningful choices are almost always appreciated, whereas it is the illusory or not particularly meaningful choices that create stress without giving any benefits. My overall experience with big supermarkets (Coles and Woolworths, because I am in Tasmania where we don't have Aldi yet) is that there are too many product items in the store, but at the same time I often can't get the item I am looking for. In contrast, IGA and other independent grocery stores have fewer different items, but offer more real choices.

One example that comes to mind is frozen puff pastry. There are basically two types: puff pastry made with real butter, and puff pastry made with margerine and/or oil. My local Woolworths store has about six 'different' versions of puff pastry for sale, but they are all oil-based, and I can't the butter version, which is what I need. So they could have more choice by offering two real options instead of six apparent options that are in reality indistinguishable from each other.