There is a phenomenon that is solely human (it could exist in other species, but I cannot communicate with my cat so I don’t know if she experiences regret); regret is the outcome that one experiences when they are thrust into the paradox of decision. As humans, we are often given decisions. The paradox of decision focuses on the feelings of satisfaction with a choice. The theory is that the more options you receive, the more likely you are to regret or be less satisfied with what you have chosen. This is a well documented outcome, as choices increase, the decision maker will be less satisfied with what they chose. The example is usually ice cream – if I offer six choices instead of a hundred, then the person is quick to decide and not feel regret as there was only one flavor out of the six that they truly wanted, but if there was a hundred, they may have three choices they would like so they assume they chose poorly after they make their choice. [click “Read More” for more]
Nevertheless, the point of this post is to focus on the landscape of retailers and how they have shifted. For my comparison, I believe we need to review the differences between a brick and mortar store and online retailer. The key to the difference is simple, selection. When you physically go to a store, you will find yourself with three options for a specific product – low, medium, and high cost (quality being equivalent to those price points). This is due to the limiting nature of the store, you cannot stock fifty three brands with all of their different “trim” levels for that one product. Rather, you can only offer three tiers of a product (maybe more). A great example of this is a wireless speaker. I went to grab a wireless speaker and was given maybe ten square feet of options from three manufacturers. Online, I found probably 500+ wireless speakers to chose from.
Now, in the store there wasn’t just three choices for me. There were many more, but they had clear differentiated aspects – waterproof, stereo sound if you bought two, super bass booster, window rattler, internal use supported. Every major need I would possibly have to solve was covered by the in store options. Also, I didn’t see reviews or any information about what other people thought about the product. All I knew was what it was capable of and that I could return it if it didn’t meet my needs.
While online, the waterproof category had ninety plus options. Of those, thirty were five/four star reviews. Online, I am reliant on my fellow humans to provide ranking of the products so I don’t make a mistake. However, while I read those reviews, I learn key information about the different options. In the store, I see the primary things I want and grab the one that satisfies my cost and value needs.
So… which shopper is more satisfied? In my world, I bought a product that allowed me to listen to music without an aux cable (my phone’s jack had fried itself thus my shopping run), and I never looked at that speaker and thought: man I wish I had that one feature I read about; that’s because I have zero idea about the other features are in the market for bluetooth speakers (other than waterproofness and window rattler functions). In the end, I think shopping in a brick and motor store is better from a moral perspective, but I also think it is better from a sanity position (especially considering some companies pay to get thirty reviews of five stars or more on their products online). They say ignorance is bliss, and when you shop without reviews, you will never know what you are missing.
Moreover, there are even better reasons to buy from a brick and mortar store. You don’t have to worry about the quality of the product. As a store, I want you to come back and I need to make sure that I provide a high quality product. If I don’t provide you a speaker that works for a long time, I will have you coming in to return it (which costs me money) and also leads to bad reviews. As a store owner, it is in my interests to provide well made products to keep you happy. As such, I hire someone who looks through every offering of a bluetooth speaker on the market and makes the decision on which ones we buy. That means, a team went out there and made sure to purchase the best product (most of the time, places like WalMart will actually buy products with lower quality to save money).
In the end, buying online (according to the paradox of decision) will often lead to unsatisfactory feelings on a purchase. Unless you do one search, find one product, buy it, and never read the other reviews… but how many of you actually do that.