By: Staff Writer

March 27, 2006, United Press International

CHICAGO, March 27 (UPI) -- A Northwestern University study has found that consumers would rather have a simple decision-making process than more options.

The findings published in the Journal of Consumer Research offers an explanation of the hierarchical consumer choices that lead to dissatisfaction with an overwhelming number of options -- and how we can overcome these shopping crises, says the study.

"This research examines consumer choice as a decision process that comprises two different stages: selecting an assortment and, subsequently, selecting a particular option from that assortment," explains Alexander Chernev, an associate professor of marketing at Northwestern.

Chernev said conflicting goals are in play when we shop: maximal flexibility and minimal decision complexity.

When choosing where to shop, people tend to prefer a large assortment of options, the study said. However, when test subjects were asked to focus on the idea that a larger number of options would make the final decision of what to purchase more complicated, they tended to revise their choice and go for a smaller, less-varied assortment.

Chernev said increasing the size of the assortment tends to complicate the decision process and decrease the overall probability of purchase.