This story appears in the
December 2000 issue of
Entrepreneur.
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One of my favorite projects involved a distribution problem with
Snapple. The company had more than 50 flavors and had encountered a
problem: Customers were taking whole lunch hours to figure out
which flavor they wanted with their tuna sandwiches.
At that time, I was touting a shift in consumers' desire for
something called managed choice, in which "editors"
sifted through people's options and eliminated what was
unnecessary. My recommendation for Snapple was a rack that held
only eight flavors. . . four that remained constant and four that
changed daily. That way, consumers could choose something different
or something familiar.
Editing customers' choices has always been crucial. Just ask
pharmacists. They've surpassed physicians as the most trusted
professionals-in many cases, their opinions now carry more weight
than doctors' do.
And now we're starting to see a change in editing itself.
Editing is no longer just eliminating what you don't
want-it's also delivering more of what you do want. In our
information society, any source (especially a Web site) that
doesn't take you deeper into your subjects of interest will
more than likely not be used again.
This suggests consumers' expectations have changed. More
than ever, you'll have to be up on the latest issues and help
customers know what's on the cutting edge in your industry.
Watts Wacker-lecturer, political commentator, social critic,
bestselling author and CEO of FirstMatter-is one of the world's
most respected futurists.