The Paradox of Choice

Barry Schwartz argues why more is less in The Paradox of Choice, it gave me a new concept about consumer behavior. I  had never thought about the choice in consumer behavior. I believed more choice can provide consumers more opportunity to make a decision. And I enjoyed having more choice when I bought anything. After reading The Paradox of Choice, I understand I am a satisficier. I like his idea about maximizers and satisficers. Maximizers always want to make the best decision in every purchase. As maximizers, they always try to maximize the price, quality. Even they made some choices, they still feel regret. They are less satisfaction with life, less happy, or less optimistic. However, satisficers always think good enough. When they make a purchase decision, they will choose one that could meet his or her standards. Satisficers are easy to make a decision and his a opposite life experience to maximizers. I am a satisficer because I spend less time on purchasing decisions. If I want to buy a shoes, I will define the function, style, and color of the shoes that I need. Then, search the brands on the Internet, and choose one that match with my standard. The process of a purchase is about half hour. On the other hand, I went to shopping with my girlfriend in Italy. She is a maximizer because her major is  women wear design. She will consider everything, like, the design must be unique and fashion, the material should match up to the price, and so on. We always went different stores and compare the products in each store. After she understanding all, she would choose the best store. Unfortunately, if there was a tiny thing she felt uncomfortable, she won't buy it. Sometime, we went shopping a whole night without purchasing any clothes.

According my experience and Barry Schwartz's definition, I summarized some ideas when I start my own business. First, I do not want spend more money and time on satisficer, such as me. If the product is good and meet my standard, I will choose it. Second, How to switch maximizers to satisficers is the most significant part for my business. The best way is to let maximizers believe my product is the best product. When I do any marketing communication plan, I will focus on advertise our unique and special points. Third, I will pay more attention on training my employee to understand how to persuade maximizers to satisficiers, such as, tell maximizers why our products can make them feel regret less, to make them feel happy when they finish purchasing.