The ‘W’ manifesto: too

In my last post I covered the idea that too much choice, paradoxically, is having a negative impact on the consumer. It will eventually lead to birthing a new industry of "navigators" or organisations whose sole purpose will be to simplify the lives of consumers in terms of offering them guidance and information to empower them to make the wisest choice when it comes to product and service selection.

In a sense, these organisations already exist in the form of financial and medical aid brokers. However most ‘customer navigators' in their current form provide vertical services, focusing on a particular field of expertise, such as investment advice as opposed to covering multiple fields. Most are also designed to benefit particular companies within that category as opposed to benefiting the consumer.

There are a few exceptions, such as Mortgage SA, which helps you shop for the best home loan in the market. I do not include initiatives such as "McCarthy Call a Car" because while it helps you find your ideal car, it only searches within its network of dealerships. This is the key difference with the future navigators - they will seek only to find the best possible solution for its client without prejudice or favour.

All too soon consumers will gravitate to the navigators that have their best interests as their core strategic imperative. All other sub-category navigators will become information pools that the true navigators will consult when processing a decision for its client. As opposed to going to sub-navigators such as McCarthy Call a Car, a consumer will consult his or her navigator and it will in turn consult all the possible avenues available to come to the best possible decision, including McCarthy Call a Car.

More on how this will create a whole new industry with its own business model in my next post next week.