Give Experts Novel Product Categories

Your customers like you to place product offerings into categories. Most shoppers appreciate categorization by price, and some appreciate categorization by brand name. However, beyond that, novices and experts have different preferences for how you set up the categories. Novices—people less familiar with the product category—like the items to be categorized by what the alternatives can do for them. Give them features lists. Experts—people who consider themselves to be highly knowledgeable about the product category—prefer that items be categorized by technical specifications.
     Research at University of Pittsburgh and University of South Carolina finds that experts also are attracted to categorization in ways that surprise them. Sporting equipment might be categorized by the sizes of the items. Power tools might be categorized by the type of job they could be used to complete. Clothing might be categorized by color. Foods might be categorized by country of origin.
     How could setting up such strange divisions increase retailer profitability from selling to product experts? The answer: By surprising the expert, we get them to pay attention, and a customer who pays attention is more open to seeing the value in a higher priced option.
     Experts often make product selections without prolonged thought. They don’t need the features lists novices want because the experts already know—or think they know—what the products can do for them. Experts are interested in technical specifications largely because they’ll use those specifications to justify to themselves and others that they’ve made the right choices. In fact, the University of Pittsburgh and University of South Carolina researchers say experts are notoriously complacent about using the technical information before choosing what they’ll purchase.
     To appeal to the experts in your target markets, regularly set up displays and provide lists that categorize products in novel ways.