Friday 4 March 2016

The power of bundling, doesn't always benefit the consumer

In this article on the FT (http://www.ft.com/); yes a bundle of goods or services can make the problem of selection easier for consumers, but when we start having to deal with selecting between bundles, when the same operator offers more than one bundle, and competitors likewise offer a choice of bundles, the consumer can become even more confused.

Add versioning into the mix and the problem becomes unmanageable.

Read up...
More isn't always better (HBR blog)
And a very long (72 pages) article "Complexity and Smart Nudges with Inattentive Consumers": In an experiment on markets for services, we find that consumers are likely to stick to defaults and achieve suboptimal outcomes...