Deferring Choice

The study of Tversky and Shafir (1992):

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The American retailer Williams-Sonoma offered a bread machine at a price of $275. After some years, the same company offered a new bread machine which cost $429 and could not bake wholewheat bread. It is not surprising that the new machine ($429 ) did not sell well, but the sales for the original bread machine (275$) almost doubled.

Deferring Choice

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Suppose you are considering buying a compact disk

(CD) player, and have not yet decided what model to

buy. You pass by a store that is having a one-day

clearance sale. They offer a popular SONY player for

just $99, well below the list price. Do you buy the

SONY player or wait until you learn more about the

various models.

66% decided to buy

34% decided to wait

Deferring Choice

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Suppose you are considering buying a compact disk (CD)

player, and have not yet decided what model to buy. You

pass by a store that is having a one-day clearance sale.

They offer a popular SONY player for just $99, and a top-

of-the-line AIWA player for just $159, both well below the

list price. Do you buy the AIWA player, buy the SONY

player, or wait until you learn more about the various

models.

27% decided to buy the SONY player

27% decided to buy the AIWA player

46% decided to wait

Deferring Choice

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If the “top-of-the-line AIWA player” was replaced

by a less attractive CD player, no one chose the

less attractive player.

76% decided to buy the SONY player

24% decided to wait.

This mimics the mentioned sales of the bread

machines by Williams-Sonoma.

Deferring Choice

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In sum, if consumers have two equivalent options, they defer choice. This was also the case with real choices and no possibility for further search. If consumers have an excellent option compared to a less attractive option, they are less likely to defer choice.

Summarized percentages of deferral:

One option: 34%

Two equivalent options: 46%

One good, one bad: 24%

Deferring choice is important, as the next experiment shows:

Deferring Choice

The authors offered students $5 for answering and returning a long questionnaire by a given date. One group was given 5 days to complete the questionnaire, a second group was given 3 weeks, and a third group was given no definite deadline.

Returning rates:

Five days: 60%

Three weeks: 42%

No deadline: 25%

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