Products with too many choices

kranky

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
21,019
156
106
At lunch today we got to talking about how some products seem to have far too many choices than needed.

Too many: unanimous agreement was cigarettes. There is an astounding number of different brands, not even counting the variations within a brand (king size, 100s, menthol, light, menthol light, extra light, etc.). Burning tobacco in a paper tube just doesn't seem to justify that many different brands. The convenience store near me has giant overhead racks of cigarette packs, probably 150 different kinds if not more. The smoker in the group said you'd be crazy to smoke one of the unpopular brands since they would never be fresh, and stale cigarettes are very unpleasant to smoke. Yet they survive?

Runner up was pens. Go to any office supply store and they'll have dozens of different brands, most of which have a retractable medium point, black ink.

Ran out of time before we could tackle products which could use a few more choices.

I said I would stop by ATOT and ask for other suggestions.
 

mattocs

Platinum Member
Jan 25, 2005
2,246
0
0
Prices and quality.

$1.99 smokes are probably crap compared to a $5 pack of name brands?

Same with pens. $1 for a 10 pack of Bics. $20 for a nice pen.
 

lokiju

Lifer
May 29, 2003
18,526
5
0
So are you asking for us to give our list of products that have to many choices are to suggest ones that could use more choices?

:confused:
 

duragezic

Lifer
Oct 11, 1999
11,234
4
81
Toothpaste

All these little variations like whitening with this, baking soda and this, aqua fresh extra double whitening, all of which contain like the same ingredients.
 
Dec 26, 2007
11,782
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It is still all economics of a *so called* open market.

The market will support x number of products in a certain range. So go over that number and the market will naturally drive it back down to x. Supply and demand basics at work.

As for some ideas, how about cell phones? Or condoms? Or guns? Or ammo? Or booze?
 

kranky

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
21,019
156
106
No question that market forces determine which brands survive and which will fold, but for cigarettes and pens, we didn't understand how, given the sheer number of choices, there is any meaningful differentiation once you get past the first 20 or so.

lokiju, no, we were just going to talk about the issue from the opposite viewpoint.