Variety for sale: Mass customization or mass confusion?

Retailers who implement a high variety strategy need to ensure that customers are not confused with the complexity inherent in a wide assortment of options. Experimental evidence shows that when asking consumers to choose among items in a wide assortment, both the way the information is presented and the type of customer input to the information gathering process influence customer satisfaction. First, asking consumers to indicate their within-attribute preferences through an attribute-based information format, as opposed to an alternative-based format, increases satisfaction and learning. Second, consumers are likely to be more satisfied and perceive less complexity in the choice set when they are asked to explicitly indicate their preferences within each attribute, as compared to more effortful tasks or less effortful tasks.