The Economics of Variety

Chris Anderson writes:  "... More variety does not, by itself, always encourage more demand. Indeed, as some studies have shown, people can be overwhelmed by too much choice and actually buy less, as in the 24 kinds of jam example cited by Barry Schwartz in his "Tyranny of Choice" arguments.  Amazon has found that one solution to this is to add information about the products, from something as simply as "rank by bestselling" to more detailed customer reviews and ratings, which can cut through that confusion and encourage consumers to buy with confidence. (See my previous post on why variety is not enough.) ..."  Link:  The Long Tail weblog.