Perteklinį pasirinkimą nulemiančių veiksnių vertinimas: žaislų kategorijos atvejis
ENIn modern and developed society it is acceptable to assume that the greater the choice, the better it meets consumers’ needs. Organizations spend a lot of time and investment in order to provide consumers with the most attractive and their wishes satisfying assortment. Almost in every store consumers are offered a large quantity and variety of products. A large assortment most often is considered as competitive advantage, increasing the freedom of choice, flexibility in decision making, saving time in searching for a suitable alternative. In the last decades it is emphasized that large assortments do not always bring more benefits for consumers, sometimes "more is less". The analysis of scientific literature has shown that choosing from a large assortment can complicate the choice and cause a sense that there are surplus products, though it is not always a rule. Choice overload is a subjective state, each consumer differently perceives the size and complexity of assortment, according to environment, personality, and experience with the category. Scholars refer to different factors influencing choice overload. The most often mentioned factors are: choice set complexity, decision task difficulty, preference uncertainty, decision goal, expectations and assortment complexity. Each factor is distinguished in line with sub factors that reveal their complexity. The aim of the research was to evaluate the importance of factors influencing choice overload. In the article the questionnaire research is provided. Respondents were given a hypothetical situation and had to evaluate 5 factors influencing choice overload, which were divided into sub factors and characterized by 27 statements. Then, the statements were evaluated by the Likert scale. To give an illustration in the research, the authors have chosen the toys category. The research was conducted in April of 2016. In the survey participated 102 respondents of the age 18–64.Most of the respondents were familiar with the toys category, at least once had bought a toy before. The results of the research were analysed at the sub factors level. Based on the results of the research all sub factors are important for the emergence of choice overload in the toys category, but their importance slightly differs. Consumer expectations, the absence of consumer priority to exact product or its attributes as well as time constraints are among the most important sub factors influencing choice overload. Lack of experience, product placement not according to its attributes and the absence of one attribute superior product are considered appeared to be the least important factors for the emergence of choice overload. The results of the research also confirmed that the importance of factors influencing choice overload differ depending on the characteristics of the respondents (namely, respondents that have (no) children under 18 years, their purchase frequency, their prior purchase experience in the selected category). In conclusion, the results of the research are expected to help better understand the phenomenon of choice overload both on the theoretical and practical levels. Moreover, the authors provide short recommendations for the organizations selling toys.
