The Paradox of Choice, by psychologist Barry Schwartz, is an influential book about how consumers make choices. The paradox in
the title is about how offering more choices can sometimes mean fewer sales. Why? Because we are all suffering from choice overload.
There are just too many products out there to scan through to either satisfy needs or maximize value. According to Schwartz, offering
more choices create a psychological burden that can turn consumers off, because more choices mean more time and effort to choose and
increase odds that you’ll make the wrong choice and regret it. Schwartz points to the famous ‘Jam Study’ that found that consumers were
ten times more likely to purchase jam from a range of six jams than they were from a range of 24. So, offering more choices to consumers may not always be good—even though more choices should mean more and happier
consumers, more choices should mean individual needs will be better satisfied, and more choices should mean an enhanced sense of
autonomy. But more choices sometimes backfires—because it’s inconvenient and risky.
One interesting implication of the Paradox of Choice is that brands should not always seek to maximize choices for consumers by
launching endless variants and line extensions. If a category is cluttered, leave it alone—unless you can be the best, and outspend
competitors on distribution and advertising.
【題組】42. According to the passage, what question should we ask if we want to increase our sales?
(A) How can we retain consumers’ autonomy?
(B) How can we better meet the needs of consumers?
(C) How can we make one choice the best choice?
(D) How can we make it easier for people to choose?
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