Woolies and Coles are actively decreasing the number of proprietary brands on shelf in favour of house brands. The standard explanation for this is that they are intent on capturing the manufacturing and brand margin from proprietary brands.
This is true, however perhaps unwittingly there is a psychological benefit they are tapping into.
British psychologist William Hick observed in the 1950s that ‘ the complexity of a decision increases in proportion to the number of available alternatives’
How often have you stood in front of a supermarket shelf with numerous options to choose from, and felt some level of confusion at the choice to be made, and occasionally walked away empty handed?
While price is always noted as the reason Aldi has been so successful, I speculate that the absence of choice plays a significant and under-recognised role.
Similarly, flicking through the many options offered by Netflix, you end up re watching something you have seen before as an alternative to making a choice of something new.
This is Hicks Law in operation.
A short while ago I dined at a upmarket restaurant with I few close friends. We had a choice. A degustation menu with matched wines, or an a la carte menu requiring choices to be made from an extensive list of delicious sounding dishes. We all chose the degustation menu, it was for us a single choice, that removed the ‘stress’ of making a series of choices, all of which were difficult.
Similarly a workshop intending to identify creative solutions to an ill-defined problem, and lacking clear guidelines will always fail.
Hicks law again. The absence of choice makes decisions simpler.
When designing marketing programmes when you have a very good picture of the outcome you want, it makes sense to provide the target of your programme with clarity which will stand out amongst the chaos of alternative offers.
Why do you think the logos for Apple, Qantas, and Nike work so well?
Their simplicity leads to instant ‘mental availability’ of the brand when a potential customer is considering the type of service provided.
