We’re all getting used to the fact that modern consumers prefer fewer choices and that less is more. Countless reports seem to confirm this. The rise of the discounter supermarkets here in the UK proves this as they hold, on average, 1,350 lines in their stores with 90% of these own brands.
Compare this with the big supermarkets who hold, on average 35,000 product lines.
A major mortgage lender here in the UK has, on its website, details of 584 mortgages available to customers. I kid you not.
But my message isn’t just offer less choice to customers, but to remind us to make things simple, which the discounters do really well.
Reduce your choices to customers and make the service or product really simple.
Steve Jobs from Apple was a great believer in little choice and drastically cut the product lines at Apple when he arrived in 1997. He was inspired by early computer game instructions particularly those targeted at zoned out gamers. The guide to one Star Trek game caught him: 1. Insert quarter 2. Avoid Klingons.
