We are all suffering from information overload. Yet, on a daily basis overcome with data, extraneous facts and information, we are expected to make numerous decisions from the merely insignificant to the most critical. In his New York Times bestseller, The Organized Mind, cognitive psychologist and neuroscientist, Daniel J. Levitin effectively drives home this very point. And understanding that this is the state of mind of customers is essential for retailers. More than ever before it is time for simplicity in retail.
The Organized Mind
Levitin’s book, The Organized Mind puts things into perspective – life is complicated! Referencing widely accepted cognitive studies and research he explains how we are simply not hard-wired for multi-tasking and dealing with the endless influx of information and competing demands of our modern world. What we deal with now is far beyond anything that our ancestors dealt with.
In 2011, Americans took in five times as much information every day as they did in 1986 – the equivalent of 175 newspapers. During our leisure time, not counting work, each of us processes 34 gigabytes or 100,000 words every day.
We are so overcome that we frequently misplace or forget things like our keys and phones, and information such as appointments, passwords and pin numbers. According to Levitin, organization is the key to navigating the modern world. Using substantiated studies, insights from the hyper-organized and anecdotal references, Levitin explains the workings of the human mind and suggests that we tap into our natural instincts and organize according to what makes sense to our brains. In part, that means off-loading memory to visual and electronic reminders and organizing information and things by instinctive categories. At the same time Levitin acknowledges the human mind’s attraction to novelty and the appeal of “browsing and serendipity”.
Simplicity in retail
In retail, we have long known that too many choices confuse customers; a point that has been further validated in the past 10 years through Neuroscience studies. But even more so today, being bombarded with information and having a plethora of retail options makes decisions that much more difficult for customers. They are simply overwhelmed. Good retailers know how to simplify the shopping experience and the decision-making process. In The Organized Mind, Levitin even references Ace Hardware’s strategy of..
…..putting together functionally associated objects, and all the while maintaining cognitively flexible categories.
However, organizing and arranging product to address how customers shop, is only one part of the solution. For me, the reminder and take-away from Levitin’s book, is that retailers and the designers that work for them, have the opportunity to simplify customers’ lives further, not just with the right layout but with the right offering, the right perks and the right retail experience – ones that tap into customers natural instincts. Whether providing opportunities for customers to off-load information, such as shopping lists, birthday reminders or personal wardrobe inventories; or categorizing in intuitive ways for ease-of-shopping; or offering recommendations that simplify decision-making; or allowing for “browsing and serendipity”, being in-tune with customers’ minds is a potential that has yet to be fully tapped. Sure, on the back-end this means greater complexity for retailers, but on the front-end, greater simplicity for overwhelmed customers will pay in dividends. The time is here for simplicity in retail.
