Shoppers have too much choice, from chocolate bars to jeans.' What, in your opinion, are the advantages and disadvantages of having many things to choose from?

Have you ever been to a supermarket to buy daily necessities, but wasted too much

time

on

Suggestion

in

considering which product to choose from after scanning through the entire shelf of goods that tower way above you? I am sure that many of us have experienced

this

symptom at least once, as

we

of or belonging to us

our

shoppers have simply too much choice, from chocolate bars to jeans. Having a wide selection of goods to choose from is a double-edged sword for all consumers. Definitely, as consumers, we may think

this

benefits us,

such

as allowing us to purchase items according to our personal preferences and allowing us to obtain savings through buying cheaply-priced items.

However

,

this

is not entirely the case as some disadvantages include overspending and wasting

time

on contemplating on

Suggestion

contemplating on

what to choose.

One

advantage of having many choices is that we can

shop

according to our personal preferences. Each of us has our different perception and perspective of the world around us, including places, objects and people. Naturally, we

also

possess a taste for things unique to ourselves.

Therefore

, we may not necessarily find a product

that is

our cup of tea if there are only a limited

one

or two products.

One

the contrary, if there is a wider selection of products offered, we are more likely to find something which adheres to our tastes.

For example

, NTUC Fairprice supermarket outlets display a generous array of

coffee

products on its shelves within a lane, ranging from Nescafe, Goldkili to Old Town White

Coffee

etc. Even within a specific brand

such

as Nescafe, there are plenty of types of

coffee

,

such

as the "Gold" selection, which uses Arabia

coffee

beans, and the 3-in-1 white

coffee

series. Recently, they have released a new series of

coffee

products, which is called the

Kopi

a strip of land projecting into a body of water

Cape

Gao Siew Dai with less sugar, in order to pertain to the consumers' needs,

such

as people who prefer to have a lower sugar intake for their health's sake or people without a sweet tooth.

Therefore

, with a wide array of goods available in the market, companies would more often than not improve their products to better attract the consumers to whip their wallets out of their pockets to purchase their goods, enabling consumers to

shop

more easily according to their preferences. With so many products available in a

shop

, what is

one

way to certainly boost the sales of a product? As consumers ourselves, we are undoubtedly seeking for the "treasures" during our shopping trips, which are the best buys for us. We are constantly on the lookout for discounted items, even if we only save up ten cents. We are using our sharp eyes to spot any offer that will benefit our wallets more when we compare various items.

Hence

, to stand out among the sea of things to choose from, brands have to cut down largely on their prices so as to remain competitive and relevant to the market, which makes prices more affordable, cheaper and wallet-friendly,

thus

passing down these savings to the consumers.

[

Accept space

[

<-Good point] Let us take Uniqlo as an example. It is a large-chain shopping outlet, which has more than twenty clothing branches throughout Singapore. In order to compete against strong competitors

such

as H&M

,

Accept space

,

Topshop and

Cottonon

Suggestion

Cotton on

and appeal to the public, it has reduced its prices for shorts, winter wear and other products significantly.

Thus

, its chain has since

then

expanded throughout Singapore at a rapid rate and is gaining recognition among shoppers for value-for-money goods.

Hence

, the shoppers will certainly benefit by saving up money through purchasing cheaper goods, especially in the long term.

However

, as having too many choices is a double-edged sword, there are disadvantages as well.

One

disadvantage is overspending. With higher purchasing power in developed countries

such

as Singapore, Australia and Japan, and the rise of the middle class in countries

such

as China, people may be more willing to fork out that bit of money to buy whatever appeals to them, especially since there is simply so much to choose. As the phrase goes "

shop

till you drop", quite a number of people often do not control their spending wisely and buy goods uncontrollably, even buying unnecessary items which they do not need.

One

swipe, two swipes and three swipes of the credit card... They unknowingly overspend, given that they have too many things to choose from. In a study conducted by a local bank, it is reported that up to thirty percent of Singaporeans cannot pay their bills on

time

and about ten percent

also

exceed their credit limit in a month. These statistics show that people may spend too much money when they cannot

shop

wisely given a large variety of goods. There are even cases of overspending that resulted in bankruptcy.

For example

, many women in

China

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a China shop

the China shop

shop

for luxury goods and there were quite a number of cases of women shopping for

Louis Vuitton

Accept comma addition

Louis, Vuitton

, Prada and Kate Spade bags excessively, till the extent of bankruptcy.

Thus

, we can tell that people may overspend when they are offered a wide variety of items, especially when they cannot resist the urge to

shop

.

Lastly

, having too much

choices

Suggestion

choice

is detrimental, especially for indecisive individuals because we spend too much

time

on shopping. As there are too many choices for each kind of item,

such

as chocolates

such

as Cadbury Dairy Milk, Ferrero Rocher, Lindt and countless of other brands, we spend a lot of

time

hesitating or contemplating about

this

question whilst scratching our heads, "Should I get

this

or that? Which chocolate brand would my family like better?"

As

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At

the

time

accumulates, we may spend close to thirty minutes of plain hesitation while shopping. Since

time

is finite and so valuable, shouldn't we conserve our precious resource of

time

on hesitating about what to buy

instead

? In conclusion, the advantages of having many things to choose from include purchasing items according to our own preferences and saving costs, while the disadvantages are overspending and wasting too much

time

on contemplating what should we pick.

Hence upon

Accept comma addition

Hence, upon

being informed

on

Suggestion

of

these, we should be wiser consumers who take advantage of the

man

any very large body of (salt) water

main

choices offered to us shoppers.