Thanks for your comments. I appreciate your insights. Funny you mentioned the Pantene brand. I just read a similar article about the repositioning of the brand in Businessweek and I’m putting a new post together on that topic! Guess great minds think alike! http://www.businessweek.com/print/magazine/content/10_22/b4180023428465.htm

Thoughtful, excellent questions. Thanks for posing them. To answer your first question: it has always been tough for new suppliers to get shelf space. The cost of entry is high and there are too many “me too” items as it is. How many new product launches have been memorable to you lately, Elaine? That’s the point.

Having said that, shelf space will always be available to ground breaking new products. Innovative items that have great sales potential are so few and far between these days, retailers jump at the chance to bring them in. That simply isn’t going to change. Thanks, Elaine, for weighing in. I appreciate it.

Your statement: “No two customers are the same” is exactly the reason why reducing assortments is a tricky business. However, by offering limited choices but more options to customize them, customers generally respond favorably. The importance of speaking with customers on an ongoing basis and finding out what their needs are can’t be overstated. We need insights on what we can do to better service them while honing in on specific products and services the majority of customers are looking for from us. This should yield better results, ie, sales and profits. Thanks for weighing in on my post from the manufacturer’s point of view, Jill. It’s great to hear from totally different sectors. After all: the question of customer choices isn’t unique to the retail industry, is it?

Wow–another strong point made. I love how all of you have added so many important dimensions to my post. It’s what makes blogging so worthwhile. Right: regardless what businesses do, it all really boils down to creating consistently good customer experiences. It also comes down to making the customer a partner in the process; by letting them into the process of selecting and choosing and even customizing those choices where it makes sense to, makes perfect sense. The days of speaking to the customer are over; now we engage in conversation together and we must engage in the process of honing in on our product and service selections together, as well. Thanks, Michael, for weighing in here. And thanks for sharing Professor Iyengar’s work as another resource for DF readers.

You’re so right: thank you for bringing B2B businesses into this discussion. Firms that service other businesses should cull the list of products and services they offer to focus on a shorter menu of options that highlight their specialties, ie, what they do best. By focusing more narrowly, B2B companies like B2C ones, can do more business. The same rules apply. One of the things companies in either sphere can and should do is to educate, as you put it. Content marketing is hot for a reason. Sharing expertise puts the spotlight on our firms and our capabilities: it makes standouts of us and cultivates more business. Thanks very much, Veronica, for raising the B2B issue. Good stuff.

Thanks for offering another great example. The Chipotle business model shows how limited offerings make sense when consumers are given the option to customize their choices. You explained the pluses of this business model most articulately. Can’t add much more except to say thanks again for adding a superb example to this discussion, Chris.

I would recommend that the readers become familiar with Professor Sheena S. Iyengar’s work, at: http://www.columbia.edu/~ss957/publications.shtml

There is far more to this than simply removing choices – you have to make the customers feel in charge of the choice procedure, whether or not you have limited or many choices to make.

I haven’t read her book, yet. But I have read a number of the papers on the site, and think that she is a useful read.

It gives the customer control over their choices, but helps Chipotle stay super efficient in their operations, including speedy service.

We are practicing more simplification in our operation looking both at the front-line sales experience but also how we communicate the product/experience. We still have a long way to go, but this inspires me to think about strategic pruning.

Thank you for the post!

Thanks for sharing your insights with us. You’ve pointed to something quite important: not all categories can be approached in like fashion. In some categories, consumers want and expect more choices; in others, they prefer fewer since, as you stated, it’s otherwise confusing. Exactly why culling assortments is such a tricky business. You’ve also made another important point: retail markets in Western Europe and the United States offer seemingly limitless choices whereas those in countries like India do not. Given a bit more time, Supriya, the explosive growth in your country will inevitably lead to a comparable explosion of consumer goods offerings, as well. I appreciate your comments, Supriya; thanks again for weighing in.

I was recently holidaying in Glasgow and one of the big differences (even today) in shopping in the UK versus shopping here in India, is the sheer amount of choice on the shelves. At the end of a tired day, getting a pack of biscuits from a Sainsbury’s outlet, was one of the most tiring parts of my day there. Just too much of ever kind of thing!

When i think about which categories i prefer choices in, i think the stuff that’s a passing need like a cold drink or a snack, i like limited choices in since its easy to get confused when purchasing these. However, when i think about beauty products or other things i’m more involved with when buying, i prefer having lots to choose from. It’s almost as if i’ll also judge the store according to how much choice it offers me in such a category. It could be just a personal choice though and I’m not sure if it’s generally true for more or less involved categories.

One of the best ways to intelligently reduce customer choice is via analytics. With a firm foundation of historical data and associated infrastructure and applications, a company can meaningfully reduce choice by considering more options than simply “sales” or even customer feedback cards. I talk about how to narrow choice options in a complimentary column to this one titled; “Methods to Systematically Reduce Customer Choice.”