May 16, 2005

Do-It-Yourselfers vs. Take-Your-Word-Forits

Monday ramblings before reading The Paradox of Choice.

I talk to a lot of people about how they shop, and I am always amazed at how many ways we can go about the same task. Yet, I think there is a distinction to be made for two groups of shoppers; the do-it-yourselfers and take-your-word-forits. The latter searches for a product that meets their requirements, the former searches for the product that meets their requirements, and then some.

extreme description:
do-it-yourself - reads buying guides, forms detailed requirements, scours the product universe, tests all of the contenders, shops for the best price, buys.
take-your-word - buys solely on a friend's recommendation, no research on product features, no research on competing products, no research on price.

More accurately, these are two extremes of a shopping-activity spectrum, and we all lean to one side or the other in varying degrees. The difference is how much and at what point in the buying process we use outside opinions.

practical description:
do-it-yourself - searches for all products that meet their requirements, reads reviews for the remaining canidates (forward-moving, more inclusive).
take-your-word - reads top picks from expert sources, compares top picks against their product requirements (backwards-moving, less inclusive).

...to be continued after reading The Paradox of Choice.

Do-It-Yourselfers vs. Take-Your-Word-Forits
Posted by Sean O'Rourke on May 16, 2005 at 11:12 AM
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