Despite the study we read on choice overload not extending to wine, I certainly don't walk into BevMo with much confidence. My tastes have recently changed to favoring reds over whites, but while I have my go-to Sauvignon Blanc, I haven't yet designated an everyday Cab. Even with Vinino in hand, choice overload gets me almost every time at brick-and-mortar stores. eCommerce may present its own challenges, but in regards to choice specifically, it presents the best solution.
Amazon offers consumers the opportunity to purchase about 50 types of almost anything under the sun (except wine) in an additional 50 different colors. Despite the plethora of choice, Amazon was processing 35 orders every second in 2015. How is this possible given research on overload? Amazon overcomes the paradox of choice through personalization. Imagine if every time that you walked into a brick and mortar store, a salesperson who knows your exact purchase history came to your immediate aid, offering personalized recommendations via reviews, rankings, lists of items frequently purchased together, price and product comparisons, best-seller lists, and data on past searches and purchases. This is exactly the high-touch (and low cost) service that eCommerce is able to offer.
Think back for a moment to the jam/choice overload experiment. All of the jams in the study were shown simultaneously to potential customers, with no context beyond what participants already knew about jams, the different flavor profiles, and whatever information was provided on their labels. In an online storefront, massive variety still exists, but choice is made much easier, simpler and less overwhelming by allowing customers to narrow their visual search though the use of specific terms, and order their results through parameters like "Most Reviewed," "Top Rated," and other metrics related to popularity, pricing and reviews. Though brick and mortar stores might have this same information, they have no good way of displaying or transmitting it to customers. Therefore, eCommerce has a strong and sustainable competitive advantage over brick and mortar when it comes to choice overload because brick and mortar stores are inherently limited by the physical world, where the information necessary to make an informed choice or to simplify options is lost.
Simone, I believe that Michaela articulated that choice overload does extend to wine. More, your comments result in a very thought provoking question: what is the optimal Ui/Ux to minimize choice overload online?
ReplyDeleteGreat point - my group's final project will address this :)
DeleteVery interesting - I can definitely relate to this problem. I think a platform where you can both purchase wine and track what you like would be the most helpful. If you drink an expensive bottle on your company's dime, it's still helpful to log that you like that taste profile, even if you wouldn't purchase a bottle in that price range on your own. Seems to be what Vivino is trying to do, so definitely curious to see if/when/how Amazon will enter the space.
ReplyDeleteAmazing point. I actually have been trying to study Amazon as a benchmark for Taobao in China. How can it provide both more options (large selection base) and accurate guess / recommendation on each person (through personalized page). I guess wine will be one of the most difficult category to do it.
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