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This kind of follows my earlier thread about all the choices at the outlet mall.
Smart Money has a great article this month by Anne Kadet talking about "decision overload." She was shopping for a window air conditioner, so she went online and did a search at shopping.com. It came up with 1,597 choices.
She goes on to explain how the problem is that each store offers totally different items. Many stores, even mom-and-pop places, have exclusive models made for them. They want to avoid having products that you can directly compare with the competition. That's why every mattress retailer can offer the same "nobody beats our prices" guarantee.
The worst part is most of the "different" models aren't really different. For example, Best Buy and Circuit City might each sell an AC unit that is identical on the inside but each has a slightly different outer case or one has brown buttons arranged vertically while the other has gray buttons arranged horizontally.
In fact, sometimes the only difference is the packing box. Small stores with knowledgeable staff often gets a plain box, while big-box retailers "demand shiny packages advertising all the unit's features." Target even dictates the box colors to ensure their aisles are color-coordinated.
I know we've already been through this and talked about the benefit of choices and how it is good for the economy and all that, but this is just insane IMHO.
Smart Money has a great article this month by Anne Kadet talking about "decision overload." She was shopping for a window air conditioner, so she went online and did a search at shopping.com. It came up with 1,597 choices.
She goes on to explain how the problem is that each store offers totally different items. Many stores, even mom-and-pop places, have exclusive models made for them. They want to avoid having products that you can directly compare with the competition. That's why every mattress retailer can offer the same "nobody beats our prices" guarantee.
The worst part is most of the "different" models aren't really different. For example, Best Buy and Circuit City might each sell an AC unit that is identical on the inside but each has a slightly different outer case or one has brown buttons arranged vertically while the other has gray buttons arranged horizontally.
In fact, sometimes the only difference is the packing box. Small stores with knowledgeable staff often gets a plain box, while big-box retailers "demand shiny packages advertising all the unit's features." Target even dictates the box colors to ensure their aisles are color-coordinated.
I know we've already been through this and talked about the benefit of choices and how it is good for the economy and all that, but this is just insane IMHO.