The Consequence of Choice

While standing in line at the checkout in my local supermarket, I remembered I needed some refill blades for my razor. Grabbing what I thought was the right product led to some disappointment when I arrived home and realised I purchased the Gillette for men and not the Venus for women, although a relatively low cost mistake at $13.85, I still experienced the annoyance sometimes referred to as buyer’s remorse.

Returning to purchase the required item, I understood my error, observing an overwhelming choice of over 25 varieties of razor products, with a multitude of different brands further complicated by at least three options per brand for gender and colour, but similarly packaged. The experienced reminded me of a book I had been reading by Barry Schwartz called The Paradox of Choice.

Supermarkets are storehouses of perishable goods i.e. goods that are used quickly and replenished and people typically make choices quickly when supermarket shopping. I usually purchase the same grocery items from habit otherwise I would never get my weekly shop done. Accidentally buying the wrong product or making a wrong choice has a relatively low consequence, although, slightly irritating.

However unlike supermarket products, those products such as purchasing a pair of jeans or an electronics item, which don’t get used up so fast, have increased penalties which we have to live with, or return the item to the shop and go through the sometimes painful process of choosing all over again.Having made a few clothing blunders in the past when recently purchasing a new pair of jeans I became aware of what was occurring in my own purchasing decision process. I asked myself how I will feel about this pair of jeans if I find a better pair or cheaper pair in the next shop. Here I was experiencing feelings of potential dissatisfaction before I had even made a purchase, this bitter sweet shopping experience, whether justified or not is known as anticipated regret.

Furthermore a flight or package holiday has a much higher cost both emotionally and financially. If we make a mistake, we do have to live with the consequence, this is known as post decision regret. Recently when I purchased flights online, I experienced an emotional roller coaster; the pressure to book quickly and get a good price was immense, but the feeling after purchase was not of satisfaction and pleasure, but one of doubt. Immediately a purchase is made people experience second thoughts, convinced that the alternatives explored were actually better.

When purchasing products online I think it’s actually harder for people to make a choice and enjoy the experience. The products are the same as in the real world but a real world shopping experience is not provided for in the virtual environment. Both types of regret anticipated and post decision will raise the emotional stakes making decisions harder to make and harder to enjoy, these factors can produce paralysis causing conflict in the consumers mind which if not adequately catered for is why many people just won’t buy over the internet, for fear of regret.

For more information on this topic read ‘The Paradox of Choice’ by Barry Schwartz.