The Challenge of Choice

There’s been a lot written about the so-called “paradox of choice”; that is, the idea that the more choices a consumer has, the less likely he or she may be to actually make a purchase.  A trip down the aisles of any grocery store highlights the fact that here in the US, we are blessed (cursed?) with an astonishing array of choice for even the most mundane items.  During my weekly excursion to the store yesterday, I found myself getting a little frustrated because the store had apparently not had time to restock a lot of the shelves, and a number of items that I usually buy were simply not there.  But, when I took a minute to reflect, as I waited for a shopping cart traffic jam to clear, I realized that we have it pretty darn good.  I mean, when you are getting upset because you can’t find the particular size box of a particular flavor of a particular brand of a certain type of breakfast cereal, you really have to step back and get a grip.

 But I realized something else during the weekly shopping trip.  I’m kind of a task-oriented person, and I typically can’t get out of the store fast enough.  I’ve got the store pretty much memorized, and I try to minimize the time I spend in the store, just focused on checking items off the list.  But there are a lot of people who take the time to browse the selection…choosing between the 10 different types and brands of canned peaches, or the mountain of pasta varieties.  Maybe they shop that way because they are overwhelmed by the choice, maybe they have nothing better to do, or maybe they just enjoy the act of browsing, and looking for something new and different.

And that’s where I think online grocery shopping sites fall down – that serendipitous moment when you discover something totally unexpected.  I once thought I was the perfect candidate for online grocery shopping, because for the most part, I buy the same stuff every week.  Once I established my list, I’d be able to save it on a service like Peapod, and then I’d only have to spent a few minutes every week placing my order, saving nearly 90 minutes a week.  And, for a few weeks, I used the service religiously.  But there were two things that I didn’t like about the experience. 

First, there was the issue of substitutions.  Anytime the store was out of the particular size/flavor/brand of an item, someone at the warehouse would choose a substitute, and many times, the substitute wasn’t really what we wanted.

Second, there was no serendipity.  Once a shopping list was established, it became so easy to just place an order every week with a few clicks, and the same items would arrive, week after week. But while that was very “efficient”, it also meant that we got the same thing, week after week.  Because I wasn’t walking about the store, I didn’t see the bucket of just-made chocolate chip cookies sitting on the table by the bakery, so no cookies.  There’s something powerful about seeing, or more accurately, smelling the bakery products to lend itself to impulse buys.  For that matter, simply walking down the aisles of a grocery store can lend itself to all kinds of impulse buys, which is why I brought home the Rosemary and Olive Oil Triscuits last week.  I suppose one could go searching for impulse buys online, but it’s much easier and much more powerful to actually see and feel the products sitting on a shelf. 

So what does that mean for online grocery shopping sites?  Well, if you’re someone who wants the same thing, week after week, or if you can distill your staples list down to a predictable list, online grocery sites can certainly be a time saver.  But to capture someone like me, a site needs to offer up ways for me to stumble across special treats.  Certainly, sites like eBay and Amazon have the ability to track a customer’s purchases, and make inferences about other products that customer might enjoy.  Maybe such an inference engine could drive the site to pop up items randomly for suggestion, but that still wouldn’t match the sensory experience of a bricks and mortar store. 

I think true foodies are always going to prefer the experience of a store where they can see, smell and feel items displayed for them.  And, to be honest, while I don’t think of myself as a foodie, I can’t see myself doing all my grocery shopping online either.   

Reflections on Service

Seth Godin posted a cool piece the other day about the concept of “all inclusive” in business today, and how it can either be a legitimate way to show customers the love, or a half-hearted effort that really isn’t going to help in the long run.  I just happened to read the post while I was at the car dealer, and I realized that I was experiencing a real world example of that very concept at work.

 While I was out of the office over the holidays, one of my to-do’s for the week was to get oil changes and Massachusetts State Inspections done for both of our vehicles.  Over 2 days, I took my car to a local Chevy dealer, and my wife’s van to a local Honda dealer.  The differences between the two experiences were striking, and I think highlighted Seth’s point.

My experience at the Chevy dealer started out by making an appointment to have the work done, due to the fact that it was the end of the month, and I expected a lot of people would be doing the same thing.  I arrived at the dealership on time, and pulled up to the reception bay, where I waited several minutes for someone to open the door.  I pulled inside, shut the car off, and walked to the service desk, where I waited another several minutes for someone to appear.  Eventually someone did, I gave them my information, and was waved to the waiting room down the hall.  The waiting room was about what you’d expect – a small room, a number of barely comfortable chairs, a tv bolted to the wall, and a table with some Chevy brochures.  In the hallway, was a couple of vending machines, and a “quiet room” next to the vending machine featured a couple more chairs, and a couple of desks with phones and power outlets.  I did plug my laptop in to one of the outlets, and discovered that the truck dealer adjoining the Chevy dealer had an open wifi network, so spent most of my time waiting catching up on reading blog posts.  All in all, not a bad experience…just about what I expected from a car dealer.

My visit to the Honda dealer started on a down note.  I didn’t have an appointment, so as I pulled up to the reception bay, I was disappointed to see that not only was the bay full with customer vehicles, but there were at least 8 cars parked outside the bay waiting.  However, a service advisor came out almost immediately to greet me, and let me know how long they expected it was going to take to service my car.  He also gave me a coupon for a free beverage at the dealership cafe (more on that in a minute), and I headed for the waiting room.  The waiting room, which was really integrated into the showroom itself, was a comfortable area with large leather chairs equipped with writing desks, wood paneling, a large flat panel TV on the wall, and several alcoves with computers available for customers.  Down the hall, there was an actual cafe – not vending machines, but a counter staffed with a real person, offering gourmet sandwiches, chips, pastries, coffee and cold drinks.  I sat down in one of the comfy chairs, found a plug and fired up the laptop to take advantage of the wifi that the dealer provides.  When the car was done (about the time the service advisor said it would be), the advisor reminded me that since I bought the car at the dealer, the inspection was free, so I just had to pay for the oil change.  When I got to the car, it had been washed and vacuumed.

 Two dealers, two approaches to service.  It probably bears mentioning that the Chevy dealer is the closest GM dealer to my house, and since I’m not aware of any better dealers, I go there.  However, there is a Honda dealer only 2 miles from my house.  I don’t go there, and drive through 2 towns to get to Honda North, because of the service and the way I’m treated there.  It may have cost them a little extra to build the waiting room, equip it with comfortable chairs and pc’s, build out the cafe and pay someone to staff it.  However, I know that every time I talk to someone who’s looking to buy a Honda, I strongly recommend Honda North to them.  I can’t honestly say that I talk a lot about the Chevy dealer.

How to Attract MORE TRAFFIC!

Nope, I’m not the genius here, it’s Seth Godin, uber-marketing guru and all-around great thinker…Check out his Squidoo lens on increasing your website traffic.

 One of the things that I find fascinating about publishing a blog, is the way that people come across your posts.  While I started this blog as “scratch pad” for my ideas around starting a business, I also wanted to use it as a learning experience.  And, learning how to build an audience and attract traffic is certainly a worthwhile undertaking.  My one caveat, is that I want to do it while publishing posts that matter to ME.  I don’t intend to start blogging about Paris Hilton or Lindsay Lohan here, or writing sordid tell-alls about my past romantic conquests, even though that might attract a certain audience.  (OK, maybe the sordid (NOT!) details of my romantic escapades probably WON’T be a big draw).

 But, I might just try a few things as experiments…maybe I already have, no?