Influx

Ever-growing product selection and consumer choice is creating a backlash in some retail categories as stores lose what was once at the core of their value to consumers: an editorial POV. Historically, consumers counted on their chosen retailers to make informed, sophisticated, tasteful merchandise buying decisions and then to offer a filtered product selection, saving the consumer time by offering peace of mind without the anxiety of unnecessary or uninformed choices. With an increasing number of brands marketing themselves with increasingly compelling value propositions, it’s getting both more difficult and more of a hassle for consumers to make even simple product choices. Today, the typical grocery store offers 35 different types of cream-cheese, the typical clothing department store offers 40 fits of jeans.
Stanford Business School article, ‘Too much choice can hurt brand performance’

While the many merits of offering large selections and customizable products are clear and very real, at a certain point the widening of selections starts to erode the uniqueness and editorial credibility of the retailer. At the extreme, ‘superstores’ definitely offer convenience and value, but in categories like clothing, music and home decor, categories where aesthetic taste and style come into play the most, the backlash is presenting an opportunity for smaller, challenger retailers. The trend is most noticeable in city centers where smaller, trendy retailers are on the rise with hip salespeople and almost unintuitively tiny product selections. While their actual market share may be small, the loyalty awarded by their growing pools of customers is worth considering. While these effects may not yet apply to the mainstream, middle-America consumer, it’s just a matter of time until smaller, boutique retailers branch out to fill these unmet needs. Furthermore, there is no reason why the trend won’t spread into other categories like electronics, computers, food and entertainment.

How will superstores and established chains counteract these effects?
Watch for specialized segment-specific and style-specific subsections to pop up within superstores and as separate bet-hedging brand-extensions. Also keep an eye out for retailers in categories ranging from clothing to cars to bring in and promote more and more ‘guest designers’ with aesthetic credibility and POV.

NYT Article entitled, ‘Stores of the Future Will Think for You’

Some online examples of stores as editors:
microzine
colette