I went grocery shopping this weekend. What a nightmare of too many choices and not enough information. The toothpaste aisle almost killed me. It used to be easy. Crest, Colgate, Pepsodent … Selection was simple. You went with Crest because that’s what your Mom bought or you chose the lowest price because your spouse said we had to pinch pennies and voilà, you’re done with the toothpaste and on to shampoo. Life was good.
Now, it’s Saturday afternoon. My 20 minute dash to King Soopers has turned into a seemingly endless morass of indecision. I’ve met my Waterloo in Aisle 2, Dental Care… I’ve been assaulted by at least 15 different brands with 6 or more variations each.
Do I choose Colgate, Crest, Pepsodent, Arm & Hammer, Sensodyne, Tom’s of Maine, Rembrandt, Aquafresh, Ultrabrite, the store brand, etc., etc., etc? Do I select for whitening or super whitening, tartar control, breath freshness, flavor, plaque elimination, sensitivity or – what a concept – simply cavity control? Or do I choose by price, promotion, size, bundles?
You want an education in decision overload? Search on toothpaste at DrugStore.com – they’ll provide 238 results and proudly announce that there are 51 more results available at their partner, Beauty.com. My heart is pounding and my vision blurring just recalling the horror of it all.
How did I choose? I finally made a selection based on A.) did the toothpaste have fluoride and B.) who was willing to give me the best stuff? Moronic, eh, but that’s how we consumers choose. In the absence of sufficient information to make an informed choice; a clear bias towards a specific brand; or obvious (or personally appealing) product differentiation we consumers will default to the “what’s in it for us” mode of decision making. In this case I sold my teeth cleaning soul to Aquafresh for 3 Free Music Downloads with every purchase.
The marketing 101 lesson in all of this? If your product or service doesn’t stand out in a crowded field then you need to either differentiate it so that it does or else bribe your customers for their patronage. The former is harder but it’s the right way to go otherwise your customer’s loyalty will only be as strong as your latest spiff.
The lesson I learned? From now on I buy my toothpaste at Costco. Even though I have to buy 6 or 12 tubes at a time I’ll exchange bulk purchases for decision paralysis any time!
