1439 Product Differentiation

When I went back to the supermarket to pick up my photos of the lake, developed with a special deal which included a disc, they were not quite ready. "Just 2 minutes," she said cheerily. So I wandered through the health and beauty aisles, and stopped at Crest toothpaste. Twenty seven varieties. I could hardly believe my eyes, so I counted them. Cinnamon. Baking soda. Mint. Peppermint. Cool mint. Regular (whatever that is). Striped. Tartar fighting. Whitening. Small. Medium. Large. Supersize. Child friendly. Oval shape. Long shape. Then mix and match those. It mystifies me that economists and marketers think this is a big deal, but they do. It seems it is very important to our economy. I just googled the term and got a college course in it.

Today I was at the drug store. I like to look at greeting cards. More product differentiation. Becoming a citizen. Mom and her new husband. Dad and his new wife. Driver's license. Leaving for college. Going to camp. Loss of a child. Loss of an infant. Divorce. Sympathy for a sudden loss. Entering the service. Father to be. Setting up an anti-war camp in Texas (just kidding on that one, but the others are real).

I buy sugar free cookies. What I like about them is that within a brand, there are only a few choices, and there aren't very many brands. Archway has chocolate chip, double chocolate chip, peanut butter and Rocky Road. Voorhis has a shortbread and a raspberry and some sandwich cookies. There's another brand I look for that has really good oreo type in chocolate, vanilla and lemon. They are more expensive, but much easier on the brain.