Materialism and well-being: How is choice affecting our quality of life? by abbie nicholson

STAGE ONE

ABBIE NICHOLSON N0581024

WORD COUNT 6557

Materialism and Well-being: How is choice affecting our quality of life?

I confirm that this work has gained ethical approval and that I have faithfully observed the terms of the approval in the conduct of this project. Signed (student) ……………………………………………………..................

06 09 10 12 INTRODUCTION

RATIONALE

29 30 36

LITERATURE REVIEW

RESEARCH FINDINGS

AIMS & OBJECTIVES

CHAPTER 1 IS LESS MORE

METHODOLOGY

CHAPTER 2 THE ART OF SIMPLICITY

41 42 45 48 CONCLUSION

CRITICAL REFLECTION

KEY INSIGHTS

50 53 54 BIBLIOGRAPHY

ILLUSTRATIONS

APPENDIX

REFERENCES

INTRODUCTION This report will explore the research question â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;materialism and well-being: how is choice affecting our quality of life?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; by using a wide range of primary and secondary research that will be carefully analysed in order to discover new insights around the topic and to find gaps that could inspire possible business opportunities. It will also highlight relevant theories are discussions that will be found in the literature review to give a broad overview of current research that has been done on the research topic. Following that will be the main body of the report, which is where the analysis and discussion of the primary research can be found. Finally, the report will end with a critical reflection on the research undertaken and it will identify possible insights and areas of research that will be considered in the next part of the module.

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‘Today’s problem seems to be the meaning we assign to our stuff: we tend to give too much meaning to our things, often forsaking our health, our relationships, our passions, our personal growth, and our desire to contribute beyond ourselves’ – The Minimalists (2017)

RATIONALE The minimalist lifestyle has been making moves into the mainstream with a huge amount of followers freely choosing to strip back their possession and only live with the necessities so they can focus more on what is important. In today’s consumer culture it is hard to know what is important in our lives and the line between what we want and what we need have merged. With advertisers telling us we need more in order for our lives to be fulfilled, some people have had enough and are taking back control of how they live. So what has driven this movement? The collective anxiety the world is feeling at this very moment has been shaped by surprising factors such as Brexit and Donald Trump. Shocking people across the globe, the unpredictability of these historic events have created the craving for security, safety and closeness. Alongside this, economic apprehension has changed people’s vision of life; consumers are being overwhelmed by information, work and choice resulting in the desire to live a minimalist life. With this said I wanted to look into what effect a materialistic lifestyle can have on a persons well-being and to understand who is to blame for this. Millennial’s behaviour is a regular talking point in the media, especially our buying behaviour and we are constantly labelled as being materialistic, but are we to blame for this? Millennial’s are the target consumer of many brands and are we are being seduced by advertising that is constantly telling us we need an abundance of things in order to fulfil the goals in our lives. Being a millennial myself I want to understand what impact this is having on myself, other millennial’s around me and the brands we purchase from, which it was has inspired me to choose my research question.

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PROJECT AIMS & OBJECTIVES

AIM The aim of this research project is to explore the relationship between materialism and well-being and to determine in what way having choice is affecting the life of individuals and whether the abundance of choice we now have is changing people attitudes towards purchasing.

OBJECTIVES To determine the relationship between materialism and well-being to understand how having choice is affecting individuals lives. To explore peoples attitudes towards materialism and their materialistic possessions by determining what it is that motivates people to buy. To investigate the impact that a materialistic society is having on individuals and their purchasing behaviour. To consider the future of consumption and to analyse whether there are new desires coming from consumers that brands will need to satisfy. To determine how fashion brands are being affected and to understand what they are doing in response to this.

METHODOLOGY

To underpin the secondary research within this report a range of academic sources were assessed, books, journal articles, newspapers, websites and online data were all important in gaining a deep understanding of the research that already exists around the selected research topic. It was noted that during the secondary research process that when looking at articles related to materialism and consumerism, often millennial’s would be mentioned. The negative comments aimed towards millennial’s influenced the focus towards them during the primary research stage. Selected literature has also been critically analysed in a literature review, which is categorised into key themes surrounding the topic. When considering primary research for this research project, both quantitative and qualitative methods were selected. This was to ensure the research for this project was diverse and indepth to gain a thorough insight into consumer’s behaviours and attitudes towards the research topic. A relevant industry expert was also interviewed so that insights could be collected from an industry perspective to be analysed and applied to the study. An online survey was also published targeting a random sample of millennial’s aged 18-35; this was used to investigate current attitudes towards choice and materialism. A more in-depth investigation was carried out with a focus group of 4 millennial’s aged between 20-26 and 1 on 1 interview’s with 5 selected millennial’s aged from 20 to 35. Ethnography was also conducted to investigate how choice is having an immediate effect on consumers when faced in a retail environment and how this affects their purchases.

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Quantitative data was collected through an online survey, which was open to male and female millennial’s aged between 18-35 and distributed to a random sample online. This method of primary research was chosen to meet the objective ‘to explore peoples attitudes towards materialism and their materialistic possessions by determining what it is that motivates people to buy’. It would allow numerical findings to be collected easily from a large sample, which can be easily analysed and compared. It was posted on social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, posted on student survey groups on Facebook and distributed to friends and family to complete and share. The survey gained 117 responses where 79% were female, 20% male and 1% other. With the majority of the sample size being female, this limitation means that the research findings are dominant from a female perspective meaning that the research findings show imbalanced and improper representation of the demographic targeted. Similarly, the results are imbalanced between younger and older millennial’s with 85% of the results being younger millennial’s aged 18-25. These limitations give the research findings from this online survey a biased view from a young, female millennial, which must be considered when analysing the data. These limitations come from a lack of access to certain demographics, for example, when distributed to friends and posted onto social media sites, the majority of people who had access to the survey this way were young and female. Males had to be individually targeted in order to complete the survey, however, this was not enough to balance out the results.

from the online survey discussed previously, however, the focus group was still limited by its imbalance of age which means that the results will have a similar bias from a young millennial’s point of view. This limitation comes from using a pre-existing social group that is made up with only young millennial’s. With interaction in a focus group being key, this preexisting group was selected because it allowed easy flowing interaction within discussion as there was already an existing level of comfort between them. However, focus groups have been criticised for only allowing a shallow understanding of an issue so 1 on 1 structured interviews were also conducted. 5 millennial’s aged 20, 21, 26, 27 and 35 were selected to take part in an in depth interview where they would be asked a number of open questions in the aim to understand their attitudes towards materialism and their possessions whilst also understanding how choice is affecting their quality of life. The interviews were imbalanced in terms of gender having 2 male and 3 female participants, however, with the participants aged 37 and 35, this allowed the research to finally get an in-depth opinion from an older millennial. But this small sample of in depth interviews is not sufficient enough to gain a thorough understanding of the both the young and old millennial demographic, this again must be considered when analysing the findings.

Qualitative research methods were appropriate for the nature of this study as the research question seeks to explore the links between materialism and well-being whilst also understanding the effect choice is having on quality of life. Qualitative data helped build a deeper understanding around the research topic whilst uncovering trends in thoughts and opinions. In order to achieve the objective ‘to determine the relationship between materialism and well-being to understand how having choice is affecting individuals lives’ a focus group was conducted involving 4 millennial’s, it was balanced with 2 female participants aged 20 and 26 and 2 male participants aged 20 and 24. The gender balance was important in order to try and overcome the limitation

Expert interviews were also utilised in order to gain a professional understanding of the research topic, however, it was only possible to interview 1 professional. Maria Boos, a communication expert and brand experience innovator from Seigel + Gale gave her insights on the research topic, in particular, how it is influencing brands. Gaining insights from someone who has over 30 years experience in the industry allows the report to gain a deeper understanding of the objectives of how consumers desire are changing and how fashion brands are being affected by this. A limitation would be that only 1 expert interview took place, more interviews of this type would of helped forge together more insights and opinions, however, even with many attempts to gain more, unfortunately these attempts were unsuccessful. In order to overcome this limitation, reports and indexâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s published from companies of whom were contacted were used in place of the interviews, even though they were valuable to the secondary research, they did not provide the specific, personal response that would have been gained by expert interviews. Another form of qualitative data collected was through observation. Ethnographic research was conducted on 1 male and 1 female where they were observed shopping for a selected item in a real-life environment. The objective of this research method was to gain a deeper understanding of consumerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s decision-making process and how the choice they have can affect this. Each participant was out shopping in Nottingham town centre for a specific item where they gave permission to be observed. They were interacted with in order to scope feelings, attitude and opinions whilst going through the decision-making process. Ethnography was chosen because it can help identify and analyse unexpected issues, however, a limitation of this research method is that participants may not act naturally during the short study and this limitation could affect the reliability of the results. However, this research method was only used to observe peoples decision making in a store environment, if this research method was to be developed further, people shopping online should have also been observed in order to see if there were any differences in how it affects consumers decisionmaking process and their feelings and attitudes towards it.

There are many factors that could affect the reliability of the research collected, for example, researcher error and researcher bias. Research error was overcome by being methodologically rigorous in the way in which the research was carried out and devised in order to avoid threatening the reliability of the research findings. Similarly, with research bias, all research has been recorded in a fully transparent way allowing other to be able to judge the finding themselves if they wished to. fig.4

LITERATURE REVIEW

With consumer culture driving society, advertisers and brands are thriving on people’s materialistic desire for owning possessions and with more choice than ever before, to what effect is this having on their well-being? Freedom is a fundamental human need and choice plays an important part in this, however, “the fact that some choice is good doesn’t necessarily mean that more choice is better” (Schwartz, 2002). Researchers for many years have had strong views on the effects materialism has on ones well-being and their quality of life. The aim of this chapter is to provide, through selective reference to some of the literature, a clear understanding of the broad opinions and research around materialism, choice and consumption.

MATERIALISM Kasser (2003) states that at this point in human history, the world has enough material resources to fulfil every individual’s basic human needs, however, with the world dividing itself into ‘first’ and ‘third’ world countries, this reality is far from the truth. He argues that “most of the world’s population are growing up in winner-takes-all economies” (Kasser, 2003) where the main goal for selected individuals is to live a selfish, material life, where they strive to get whatever they can for themselves. Dittmar et al. (2014) define materialism as the long-term endorsement of values, goals or beliefs that emphasise the importance of acquiring money and possessions that convey status. Selfishness and materialism are no longer seen as moral problems for some, but life goals for them to aim to achieve. With the majority of the population placing at least some importance on possessions, money and image, sometimes it is hard to define what makes a person materialistic, however, Kasser (2003) believes that a materialistic person is when materialism takes hold of the centre of that person’s value system. But for these individuals, this high price of life could come at an extra cost.

MATERIALISM VS WELLBEING Criticism of conspicuous consumption and consumerism is nothing new yet it is society that is constantly telling us that money and possessions will make us happy and that they are significant goals people should strive for. But research has shown that ‘people who strongly value the pursuit of wealth and possession report a lower psychological wellbeing than those who are less concerned with such aims’ (Kasser, 2003). There has long been a strong correlation between materialistic tendencies and low well-being, for example, a series of studies in the journal ‘motivation and emotion’ (Kasser et al., 2013) shows that as people become more materialistic, their well-being (good relationships, autonomy, sense of purpose and the rest) diminishes. Then as they become less materialistic, it rises. Similar results were also found from Dittmar et al (2014) in studies reported in the journal ‘Personality and Social Psychology’ where people who had materialistic attributes report less happiness and life satisfaction, lower levels of vitality and self-actualization, and more depression and anxiety. It has been proposed that part of the reason why materialism contributes to reducing well-being is that it involves focussing on a lifestyle which undermines the ability to satisfy basic psychological needs. Kasser (2003) concludes that there are 4 sets of needs that are basic to the well-being of humans, the first set being safety, security and sustenance. This set describes the essentials of life, food on our tables, a roof over our head and clothes to keep us warm. The second set, competence, efficacy and selfesteem, describes our desire to do

the things we set out to do and to have a more positive than negative outlook of ourselves. The third need is connectedness, which illustrates humans desire for intimacy and to feel connected to others, and finally, the fourth set is a human need to feel autonomous. Kasser proposes that if these 4 sets of needs are satisfied, then that person’s well-being will increase, and if not satisfied, their well-being would decrease. This theory is not new and is similar to Maslow’s motivational theory, the hierarchy of needs. Maslow suggests that the state of self-actualization can only be achieved once both basic and psychological needs have been met ( Maslow 1987 in McLeod, 2017). Consequently, for people who live a materialistic lifestyle that does not satisfy these psychological needs, they will never be able to reach ‘self-actualization’ which could contribute to their diminishing wellbeing.

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MATERIALISTIC MILLENIALS Millennial’s get a lot of bad press in the media and in 2013, Time magazine ran a cover story entitled ‘Millennial’s: The Me Me Me Generation’ where they were labelled lazy, entitled, selfish and shallow. Other articles such as one titled “Millennial Generation Money-Obsessed And Less Concerned With Giving Back” (HuffPost, 2012) also label millennial’s as a generation obsessed with money and possessions. However, in the past year, there have been many articles published that argue against this popular opinion. Millennial’s do a lot of things differently to their parents and with new data looking at their spending habits, they are frustrating retailers as they defy consumption patterns that previous generations have followed for years. “Millennial’s are far less likely to buy something because it’s convenient, something many companies capitalize on. Rather, they’re focusing on value.” (Martin, 2017) Millennial’s are willing to search for the lowest price on an item or patiently wait for the right offer to pop up. They take their time to contemplate each purchase, not just buying what’s directly in front of them. As a generation that has student debt and increasing house prices, like any other generation millennial’s like a bargain with “80% of them influenced by price.” (Kestenbaum, 2017) However, with the boom of the experience economy which in the UK “in 2016, rose by eight percent” (Carat.com, 2017) millennial’s in particular are choosing to spend a lot more than other generations are ‘experiences’ which includes travel, entertainment and dining, which argues that this generation is slowing stepping away from its materialistic image. If this is the case then retailers may no longer be able to count on this generation to part with their money as easily as they want, and as Siewert (2017) suggests, millennial’s are just being extra choosy about what they deem worthy.

WHY CONSUME? Consumption is the “search for, choice, acquisition, possession and disposal of goods and services” (Hogg and Mitchell, 1996). Identity construction plays an important role in consumption theory, Ruvio and Belk (2013) contend that in today’s materialistic society, there is no debate that consumption is linked to self-identity – shaping it, changing it and often challenging it. “Today you are what you consume” (Ruvio and Belk, 2013). They propose that consumption is a dominant part of identity; this is done by creating visual cues that allows people to encode and decode them silently. Ruvio and Belk (2013) indicate that consumers often purchase products and brands in symbolic ways to express their identities and to compose ones ‘extended self’. The concept of the extended-self considers the idea that “possessions are a major contributor to and reflection of our identities” (Belk, 1988). The term can be used to describe a physical extension of someone, which includes things, places, people and body parts. The freedom of choice and the vast choice people now have allows them to create whatever identity they wish to create.

The fact that some choice is good doesn’t necessarily mean that more choice is better.” (BARRY ScHWARTZ, 2014)

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CHOICE With freedom being a basic human desire, brands continue to create new options or variations of existing products providing consumers with more choice. Having choice lets people feel in control of their lives. Consumption and choice is also a form of selfexpression, it allows people to have the freedom to be who they want to be. However, people now have the freedom to choose in aspects of their lives they never thought they’d have. For example, aspects of appearance have now become a matter of choice; if someone is not happy with the way they look they have the choice to change this. The abundance of choice people now have may be beneficial and important for many and there’s no denying that choice improves the quality of peoples lives, yet it could be damaging to some and it has raised the question, how is too much choice affecting quality of life? Barry Schwartz (2004) suggests, “The fact that some choice is good doesn’t necessarily mean that more choice is better.” His book ‘The paradox of choice’ argues that people now have so many options they are suffering.

MAXIMIZERS VS SATISFICERS The maximizer vs. satisficer theory was outlined by Shwartz et al. (2002) who suggest that there are two different types of people in relation to how they make their decisions and choosing wisely. “Choosing wisely begins with developing a clear understanding of your goals” (Schwartz, 2004). People must choose whether they want the goal of choosing what’s good enough or the goal of choosing the absolute best. This choice distinguishes whether someone is a maximizer or a satisficer, which could also determine how choice affects him or her. Schwartz (2004) If a person seeks or only accepts the best then they are a maximizer. Maximizers need to assure themselves that every purchase or decision made was the absolute best that could be made. As a decision strategy, this can be very daunting for them, especially with the number of options they have to choose from. The opposite to this is the satisficer, to satisfice is to settle for the decision/choice that is good enough and to not worry about whether or not there was a better choice out there for them. “The difference between the two types is that the satisficer is content with the merely excellent as opposed to the absolute best” (Schwartz, 2004). With this said, maximizing could be a source of dissatisfaction for some as constantly striving for the best is a choice that might not always be met which could lead to feelings of regret, anxiety and even depression which has been found through studies such as the one reported in the journal ‘Personality and Individual Differences. Their investigation examined that maximizers show less commitment to their choices than satisficers, which resulted in them being less satisfied with their choices. “This dissatisfaction caused a negative effect on their well-being” (Sparks et al., 2012). All this research has the focus on proving that choice can have negative implications on quality of life, yet the results findings only prove that this is true for people who identify as being a maximizer. A gap in this research is that it does not explain whether satisficers also experience a lower quality of life. This suggests that yes too much choice can cause a lower quality of life, but only to the few.

PARALYSIS Whether or not someone identifies as a maximizer or satisficer, choice itself can still have an effect on how someone makes a choice. Schwartz (2005) argues that all the choice we now have “produces paralysis, rather than liberation”, with so many options to choose from it is hard to choose at all. For example, Schwartz had a friend who worked at an accounting firm that offered 156 different retirement plans, the copious amount of choice left people feeling incompetent to choose between such a large set of plans so they didn’t choose at all. Records from Vanguard, who is an America investment company, show “that for every 10 mutual funds the employer offered, the rate of participation went down 2%” (Jeffries, 2015) which demonstrates that the more a consumer is offered, the less they are likely to choose at all. Freedom

is an essential human desire and allows us to be our true selves, but is the increased choice of goods and services contributing to the kind of freedom wanted, or could it be argued that it just overwhelming and takes away time and energy that could be given elsewhere. The case study presented may seem persuasive, however, it must be remembered that these statistics only speak for a selected sample, which we do not know the size, so we do not know how typical the results are. It would be interesting to try out the experiment on millennial’s to find out how they respond to this. The author of this chapter can, therefore, be criticized here for a lack of evidence to support this view.

CONCLUSION The above discussion has highlighted the extensive knowledge and research related to the question ‘materialism and well-being: how is choice affecting our quality of life?’ It reviews a range of previous applications that have used data as stimuli for investigations into how materialism and choice can affect a person’s well-being and happiness. To summarise, the literature strongly suggests that there is a negative relationship between one’s materialistic values and their well-being, the more materialistic you are the lower you wellbeing will be. Future research within this report will look to fill the gap in knowledge, are people aware of the effects that this lifestyle is having on them? And if so, are they choosing to change the way they consume in order to increase their well-being. Similarly, with Schwartz’s research, he proposes that there are two different types of a decision maker, a maximizer and satisficer, and your level of well-being depends on which one you are. If you are a maximizer then this will have an effect on your well-being and quality of life. No matter the effect materialism and possession have on people and their lives, they will still consume. With Ruvio and Belk (2013) discussing the importance of consumption in relation to identity, people will continue to purchase into brands that feel meaningful to them so that they can construct what they deem as their best identity and life.

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RESEARCH FINDINGS

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CHAPTER 1 IS LESS MORE?

As discussed in the literature review, consumers are being overwhelmed by choice, which is negatively affecting their well-being by causing stress and feeling of regret. This feeling of stress could be physically seen during the observations carried out, both participants became flustered when tasked with purchasing a certain item due to the amount of choice they had to select from and when asked how they were finding the task, participant A expressed that she didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to make the wrong decision and later find a better option (appendix 9). Schwartz (2004) calls this â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;postdecision regretâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, which is sometimes referred to as buyer remorse, this is when after making a purchasing decision, you start to have second thoughts, convincing yourself that there were better decisions to be made. This feeling of regret detracts from the instant satisfaction gained from buying and with the more choices you have the more likely you are to experience these feelings. This regret robs people of the satisfaction they crave and can leave them feeling unhappy which can negatively impact their well-being.

With well-being becoming nothing short of a global movement, consumers are seeking to ensure they live healthy lives for as long as possible. Gone are the days where ‘wellness’ expressed just going to the gym and eating healthy, now it is so much more, in fact, in 2016 the global industry was worth a hefty $3.72 trillion (Global Wellness Institute, 2016) which proves this trend is a vast commercial money maker. It is predicted that in 2018 the trends within the wellness industry will allow wellness to be accessible than ever, allowing everyone to be there best self. With people becoming more aware of the effects that their own lifestyles can have on their health and well-being consumers are realising that they have the power to change themselves for the better. As discussed in the literature review, consumers are pursuing ‘self-actualization’ where they seek to become the best version of themselves, and “consumerism is the primary means by which people pursue that search” (TrendWatching, 2016). For many, physical, mental and emotional peak performance are a fundamental part of self-actualization so consumers will do anything in order to achieve this also means that consumers will only engage, love and purchase from brands that they feel will help them become the person they want to be.

the positive effects following this lifestyle can have on the quality of life. Minimalists (2016) who are the original pioneers is mainstreaming the trend say that the lifestyle “is a tool to rid yourself of life’s excess in favour of focusing on what’s important—so you can find happiness, fulfilment, and freedom”. The secondary research found that happiness, fulfilment and freedom are the opposite of what you achieve by living a materialistic life, which is why so many people are choosing to try out what a minimalist life can offer.

This has had an effect on how people consume goods; in some cases consumers are just being more selective with who they purchase from which may not affect the quantity of what they consume, however, there are a selected group of individuals that refer to themselves as minimalists where they choose to live with less, which is their way of reaching self-actualization. With 61% of people surveyed admitted to having feelings of regret after making purchases (appendix 1, chart 4), people are choosing to make fewer purchases to steer clear of this feeling. The trend simplicity and minimalism has stemmed from this deliberate avoidance of consumerism, where individuals are choosing to live with less. The minimalist lifestyle continues to grow in popularity and authors, journalist and bloggers continue to promote

61%

of people surveyed admitting to having feelings of regret after making purchases

However, the minimalist lifestyle does not rule out all consumption, so even though this lifestyle may rule out the negative implications of being materialistic, it cannot promise to rule out the negative implications of choice, as people will still have to make decisions, some of more important than others. Multiple psychologists, most famously Barry Schwartz, have found the correlation between what he calls “the tyranny of choice” (Schwartz, 2004) and emotional state causing a lower quality of life, yet primary research has shown that millennial’s are unaware of this. When asked ‘how do you think choice is affecting your quality of life?’ nobody declared it has affected him or her negatively, in fact, multiple participants even responded saying it affects their life positively. One participant said that choice “allows me to have the freedom to be myself and to live my best life” (appendix 3) similarly, another voiced that choice “aids the expression of individuality” (appendix 7). The two females, who are of similar age express that choice allows them to create their identities, this acknowledges Belk’s (1988) theory of the extended-self discussed. The importance of consumption in relation to identity is an established argument, which can be seen implemented in this primary research. These findings could suggest two things, that people are truly unaware of how the abundance of choice they have today is affecting them negatively, or that the positives like the freedom of creating your own identity, outweigh the negatives, meaning that they choose to disregard the negatives. Similar findings were also discovered from the survey when asked whether they thought choice was more of a burden or a blessing, 86% responded with blessing (appendix 1, chart 7). All of these findings show that millennial’s regard choice as being important no matter the consequences of it, yet if the decision was made on behalf of them to give them less choice how would they react?

It can be seen that choice is important to those that were involved in the primary research, so what would their response be if they had less choice? Participants in the focus groups and 1 on 1 interviews were asked ‘how would having less choice make you feel?’ and everyone answered in a similar way, they would not like less. “Because I am used to having a lot of options it would be hard to now have less, Id really miss it” (appendix 3). This response perfectly summaries the collective response given, to take it away now would cause feelings of upset and unhappiness, which surprisingly are the feelings that choice itself has been proven to give. The desire coming from consumers is not to have less choice, because they are so accustomed to having the freedom it gives they would miss it if it was gone, but ask them if choice overwhelms them and the shared response is yes. This opposing finding shows that consumers, millennial’s in particular, are uncertain about what they want, choice overwhelms them yet they wouldn’t want it taken away. This creates a tension and a new desire that brands must satisfy, however, would a brand want to take away its choice they offer to their consumers?

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CHAPTER 2 THE ART OF SIMPLICITY

For the consumers that are negatively affected by choice it can cause them frustrations when shopping, brands have noticed the frustration in consumers and a few have reacted in a way that will have both positive effects on them and the frustrated consumer. For example, Perse London has used this desire to create a new business model that challenges the overconsumption customers are being overwhelmed by. They have elevated the ‘buy less, buy better’ concept with a new idea: release a coat every 2 months. The fashion industry has built its success on its fast fashion model with brands wanting “you to feel out of trend after one week, so the following week you’ll go out and buy more” (Minimalism: a Documentary About the Important Things, 2016). Fast fashion and its quick overturn in trends “makes people feel like they have to keep up with others” (appendix 2, participant 2) with its abundance of options, but with all this choice how do they choose what to buy? Perse London is challenging this model and prioritising quality over quantity and taking away choice from the consumer to give a simple, enjoyable experience where the final product is perfect. While successful, the speed of the traditional production cycle left little time for research and development so by Perse London releasing one coat every 2 months, they are given the time to perfect the final product. Stripping a brand down to the basics is not a new concept for Maria Boos, as a communications expert and brand experience innovator she says that this is a concept “that I have talked about with my clients a lot, I’m always preaching that brands need to be really brilliant at the basics” (appendix 8). A similar notion came from one response when asked ‘do you think we need all the choice we have today?’ they suggested that “designers put more thought into making one final perfect product instead of lots of options” (appendix 4). For brands to take away choice that they give customers, first they would have to be sure that this wouldn’t also take away profits and secondly, they would have to have the loyalty from customers to trust that their needs can still be met with less choice. However, relating to back to the findings in chapter 1, that people would dislike having less choice because they are accustomed for it, would high-street fashion brands be able to make this business decision or would there be a backlash from consumers who are accustomed to what the brand offers? Before a brand makes that decision they would ask, does simplicity sell?

64%

of consumers ARE willING to pay more for simpler experiences. (Siegel+Gale, 2017)

“Brands that deliver, clear, human and useful experiences – win” (Siegel+Gale, 2017). Simplicity is the ultimate driver of brand loyalty, which inspires consumers to spend more, ultimately driving financial gain for companies that embrace it. With “64% of consumers willing to pay more for simpler experiences” (Siegel+Gale, 2017), simplicity definitely sells. Siegel+Gale release their Global Brand Simplicity Index, which shows the impact that simplicity has on global brands, topping the index for the fourth year in a row is the supermarket chain, ALDI. With its simple, consistent store layouts, ALDI offers affordable, high-quality goods combined with a stress-free customer experience. Because the discount supermarket chain mostly carries exclusive products, customers don’t have to choose between the typical and sometimes overwhelming array of brands and prices. This unique offering resonated with shoppers as ALDI opened 70 new shops last year, was this because the store made it easier for customers to make decisions? The online survey found that 47% of respondents agreed that ‘they always make the best decision possible’ (appendix 1,chart 1) yet with 61% of them saying they have ‘feelings of regret after purchasing’ (appendix 1, chart 4) surely they cant be making the best decision. These contrasting statistics could be interpreted that it is the decision-making process that consumers need help with, they don’t want less choice, but if they were to make a better decision and diminish the feelings of regret they feel, their satisfaction would increase giving then a better experience overall. With only 4 fashion brands in the top 50 rankings of the global brand simplicity index, is the fashion industry missing a trick?

An example of a brand that is testing an away that helps consumers find what they’re looking for quicker is North Face. North Face has created an AI powered shopping advisor online that can surface the most relevant products and save the consumer from browsing hundreds of options. It asked the customer questions and suggests items based on the responses, this is filtering down the options for the customer so they don’t have to. After asking millennial’s ‘how do you think choice affects your decision-making process’ one responded “it can make the process longer than it needs to be” (appendix 3) and another said, “I think it can be quite time-consuming and put you off so, in the end, you buy nothing” (appendix 6). These responses show a frustration coming from consumers, they don’t want to use up the little free time they have browsing the multitude of options out there for them, they would rather invest their time elsewhere and in some cases, they would choose to not buy anything. The art of simplicity could be where fashion brands need to invest it, they don’t necessarily have to take away choice from the consumer, but they do need to make the customer journey more pleasant and less overwhelming, in doing this not only could they increase customer satisfaction, but they could also see their profits increase.

CONLUSION

fig.11

CRITICAL REFLECTIONS

The aim of this research project was to explore the relationship between materialism and wellbeing and to determine in what way having choice is affecting the lives of individuals and whether the abundance of choice we now have is changing people attitudes towards purchasing. This aim was met by conducting expansive primary and secondary research; a wide range of literature explored the relationship between materialism and well-being which found there is a negative connection between the two. The more materialistic you are, the lower your well-being will be. The proliferation of choice is a contributing factor to this statement, as choice and the freedom it gives is allowing consumers to be more susceptible to this system. It is also changing peoples attitudes towards purchasing, as their options increase consumers are becoming more and more overwhelmed by whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in front of them any many wish to purchase nothing due to this. More extensive primary research including more expert interviews would have helped gain a more profound understanding of how this change is affecting brands and how they are reacting to this. This meant that some research objective were more thoroughly researched than others, however, more primary research can be conducted in the next stage of this project could overcome this limitation.

“Brands that don’t provide simple experiences are leaving an estimated share of $86 billion on the table.” (Siegel+Gale, 2017)

KEY INSIGHTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS After extensive primary and secondary research its significant that a persons well-being is becoming increasingly important to them and the global desire to be ones best self has filtered into consumer culture. A clear tension throughout this report can be seen, choice and materialism robs people of the satisfaction they crave and has been proven to lower their well-being, and when asked people have voiced that they are being overwhelmed by all their options which are making their decision making process more time consuming than they would want it to be. Yet they would not want their freedom of choice taken away from them or to even have less. Fast fashion is where the tension is the greatest with millennialâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s being inundated with hundreds of options that they then have to sift through. It can be seen that there is a new need coming from consumers, they want more ease from the decision-making process which brands will need to meet. This mixed with the idea that there is a gap in the market for a fashion brand that would benefit heavily from giving consumers a simplified, easy experience allows many opportunities to be explored in stage 2 of this project. After careful consideration, the following 2 recommendations give a strong starting point for what research to conduct next. To explore a way in which brands could offer a service that is dramatically different to what is already on the market, which will help customers to filter down the choice offered to them. This will make the decision making process a quicker and more enjoyable experience. More research will be needed on how this service could be created, whether the best way would be by using AI or if consumers would prefer the human touch. To create a brand whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ethos is to perfect the basics. This brand would only sell the basics that everyone needs in their wardrobe and would play on the idea of building a capsule wardrobe. It would offer a simple, stress-free service for its customers. Research into competitors would be needed in order to see whether a USP for this brand could be created and extensive market research would be needed in order to discover who to target this brand at.

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Schwartz, B. (2004). The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less. New York: HarperCollins. Schwartz, B., Ward, A., Monterosso, J., Lyubomirsky, S., White, K. and Lehman, D. (2002). Maximizing versus satisficing: Happiness is a matter of choice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, [online] 83(5), pp.1178-1197. Available at: https://search.proquest.com/ docview/209816161?accountid=14693&rfr_id=info%3Axri%2Fsid%3Aprimo [Accessed 1 Jan. 2018]. Simms, A. and Potts, R. (2012). The new materialism. The real press. Sparks, E., Ehrlinger, J. and Eibach, R. (2012). Failing to commit: Maximizers avoid commitment in a way that contributes to reduced satisfaction. Personality and Individual Differences, [online] 52(1), pp.72-77. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/ S0191886916301507 [Accessed 1 Jan. 2018]. Trentmann, F. (2016). Empire of Things. London: Allen Lane. Murphy, W. (2016). Consumer Culture and Society. London: Sage Publications. Zey, M. (1999). Rational Choice Theory and Organizational Theory: A Critique. London [u.a.]: Sage. Online Sources Campaignlive.co.uk. (2018). Ecommerce and the paradox of choice: how brands can win in the era of the ‘infinite shelf’. [online] Available at: https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/ecommerce-paradox-choice-brands-win-era-infinite-shelf/1451037 [Accessed 18 Jan. 2018]. Carat.com. (2017). Navigating the Experience Economy: Travel Trends. [online] Available at: https://www.carat.com/manchester/en/news-views/navigating-the-experience-economy-travel-trends/ [Accessed 7 Nov. 2017]. Global Wellness Institute. (2016). Wellness Now a $3.72 Trillion Global Industry. [online] Available at: https://www.globalwellnessinstitute.org/wellness-now-a-372-trillion-global-industry/ [Accessed 11 Jan. 2018]. HuffPost. (2012). Study Finds Millennial Generation Less Generous Than Boomers. [online] Available at: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/16/millennial-generation-study-fame-money_n_1354028.html [Accessed 11 Jan. 2018]. Jeffries, S. (2015). Why too much choice is stressing us out. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/oct/21/choice-stressing-us-out-dating-partners-monopolies [Accessed 1 Jan. 2018]. Johnson, B. (n.d.). Philosophers Notes - The Paradox of Choice. [online] Experiencelife.com. Available at: http://experiencelife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/The-Paradox-of-Choice.pdf [Accessed 29 Dec. 2017]. Kestenbaum, R. (2017). This is How Millennials Shop. [online] Forbes.com. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardkestenbaum/2017/06/14/this-is-how-millennialsshop/#61c7662b244c [Accessed 15 Jan. 2018]. Martin, E. (2017). Goldman Sachs says millennials didn’t inherit a spending habit companies have capitalized on for years. [online] Business Insider. Available at: http://uk.businessinsider. com/goldman-sachs-millennials-spending-habits-2017-1?r=US&IR=T [Accessed 14 Jan. 2018].

McLeod, S. (2017). Maslowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hierarchy of Needs. [online] Simply Psychology. Available at: https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html [Accessed 4 Jan. 2018]. Monbiot, G. (2018). Materialism: a system that eats us from the inside out | George Monbiot. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/09/ materialism-system-eats-us-from-inside-out [Accessed 1 Jan. 2018]. PER/se. (2018). Our (Twin) Story. [online] Available at: https://perse.london/pages/about-usfashion-twins [Accessed 17 Jan. 2018]. Potts, R. (2018). The great British make off: how a new materialism can give us back control | Ruth Potts. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/23/great-british-make-off-new-materialism-stuff-economy [Accessed 3 Jan. 2018]. Siegel + Gale (2017). Global Brand Simplicity Index 2017. [online] New York: Siegel + Gale. Available at: http://simplicityindex.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/SG_GBSI_2017.pdf [Accessed 17 Jan. 2018]. Stein, J. (2013). Millennials: The Me Me Me Generation. [online] Time.com. Available at: http:// time.com/247/millennials-the-me-me-me-generation/ [Accessed 11 Jan. 2018]. TrendWatching. (2016). THE FUTURE OF BETTERMENT - TrendWatching. [online] Available at: http://trendwatching.com/trends/the-future-of-betterment/ [Accessed 17 Jan. 2018]. Wood, Z. and Butler, S. (2015). Tesco cuts range by 30% to simplify shopping. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jan/30/tesco-cuts-rangeproducts [Accessed 11 Jan. 2018]. Video & Film Barry Schwartz on the Paradox of Choice. (2005). [video] TEDGlobal. Less is More: How to be Happy with Nothing. (2014). [film] Indigenius. Minimalism: a Documentary About the Important Things. (2016). [film] USA: The Minimalists. Podcasts Siewert, J. (2017). My Generation - What your birth year says about how you spend. [podcast] Exchanges at Goldman Sachs. Available at: http://www.goldmansachs.com/our-thinking/podcasts/episodes/01-10-2017-my-generation.html [Accessed 15 Jan. 2018].

ILLUSTRATIONS Fig.1 Minimal Fashion Image 1. (2017). [image] Available at: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/2f/77/02/2f7702dc9cc50ac6f87e63a6ced227ee.jpg [Accessed 18 Jan. 2018]. Fig.2 Minimal Fashion Image 2. (2016). [image] Available at: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/23/fd/ a4/23fda476def1041370b222017bd906ad--minimal-fashion-style-style-fashion.jpg [Accessed 18 Jan. 2018]. Fig.3 Minimal Fashion Image 3. (2017). [image] Available at: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/17/49/ f5/1749f5df016e3b69c84abcdd2b2b3475--fashion--fall-fashion.jpg [Accessed 18 Jan. 2018]. Fig.4 Minimal Fashion Image 4. (2015). [image] Available at: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ f6/45/27/f64527eb95a54a9ca6d1a1f45172c04d.jpg [Accessed 18 Jan. 2018]. Fig.5 Minimal Fashion Image 5. (2015). [image] Available at: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/2e/4f/ b2/2e4fb2ce693e6c6be709fadbf81a2ffa--my-fashion-fashion-details.jpg [Accessed 18 Jan. 2018]. Fig.6 Minimal Fashion Image 6. (2017). [image] Available at: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/71/ c7/5e/71c75e58836889f833d7e71e109d7795--minimal-fashion-white-fashion.jpg [Accessed 18 Jan. 2018]. Fig.7 Minimal Fashion Image 7. (2018). [image] Available at: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ d5/54/38/d55438afafbca4c6c938b835f3b7d449.jpg [Accessed 18 Jan. 2018]. Fig.8 Minimal Fashion Image 8. (2016). [image] Available at: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/c0/73/22/ c07322871fb0bc85003cfdc2d3a64469--black-white-fashion-all-black-everything.jpg [Accessed 18 Jan. 2018]. Fig.9 Minimal Fashion Image 9. (2014). [image] Available at: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/08/92/ ed/0892edd747e5e57f7183e65c4f42ce10.png [Accessed 18 Jan. 2018]. Fig.10 Minimal Fashion Image 10. (2013). [image] Available at: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/51/ f9/0b/51f90bf15215e562acb61aa748e0f701--model-photos-resorts.jpg [Accessed 18 Jan. 2018]. Fig.11 Minimal Fashion Image 11. (2016). [image] Available at: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/ e5/19/90/e51990c52e3454299190f1adb7fa1753--minimalist-fashion-women-minimalist-dress. jpg [Accessed 18 Jan. 2018].

APPENDIX 1 - SURVEY RESULTS FROM 117 RESPONSES Chart 1

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APPENDIX 2 - FOCUS GROUP

TRANSCRIPT ON NEXT PAGE Participant 1 = Polly Thomas, 21 Participant 2 = Fleur Brass, 20 Participant 3 = Jack Trushcel, 26 Participant 4 = Phil Matthews, 23

FOCUS GROUP QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS DATE: 18/12/17 INTERVIEWER: First of all I would just like to say thank you for taking part in this focus group. The focus group will be taped and transcribed, and should you want a copy of the transcription then please ask me and I will arrange for one to be sent to you. The information you give me will be used in support of my work and will be written up in my project. Anything you say will be treated with the strictest confidence and your contribution to the discussion will not be attributed to you as an individual, what you said will be used for illustration only; to reinforce a point that I am making. My first question is would you consider yourself a materialistic person? PARTICIPANT 1: Honestly yes, (laughs) Id like to say no, but I do always end up buying lots of things and stuff that I don’t really need. PARTICIPANT 2: I think there’s a difference between being materialistic and not caring if you know what I mean. PARTICIPANT 3: I think I definitely buy a lot of things I don’t need PARTICIPANT 2: Yeah same, but I’ve noticed I’ve started changing, especially with no having any money at the minute, you kind of think about it more. PARTICIPANT 4: Id say I was materialistic yes, but, I don’t buy a lot, I’m not like others I don’t buy lots of stuff, Ill save up and ill buy a big purchase, because a lot of the brands I like to buy from aren’t cheap, so in that sense, I would see myself as materialistic because I don’t like to own nice things. INTERVIWER: Okay, so do you then think that money and possessions make us happier people? PARTICIPANT 2: In a sense yes, sometimes it fills a void you have. PARTICIPANT 3: I think it depends on what they purchase is. If it’s something you’ve wanted for a long time. PARTICIPANT 2: Yes or if it was something like a house, because that’s still a possession, then that’s a possession you strive for so it is going to make you a happier person. PARTICIPANT 4: Well with clothes, when you buy clothes it does make you happy because you get excited about it, but I don’t think your life depends on it, there’s better things you could spend your money on to make you happier. PARTICIPANT 1: I don’t think when you think of things it terms of happiness that buying stuff would be on the top of my list for things that make me happy, it would be more experiences. INTERVIEWER: What effect do you think that consumer culture/materialism has on people? PARTICIPANT 2: I think it makes people feel like that they have to keep up with others, when you see people buying all these brands. PARTICIPANT 4: Yeah it makes others want to keep up with this image that you can afford to have all these nice things.

PARTICIPANT 2: Yeah its definitely has this culture feel to it, that if you cant afford this thing, then you’re not aloud to be a part of the group. INTERVIEWER: Do you think it has an effect on people’s well-being? PARTICIPANT 4: I think it can affect people’s mental health if they’re constantly comparing themselves to others its not going to do them good, because you don’t have what they have. PARTICIPANT 3: You can get stressed out by just not owning something, which is a bit weird, if you think about it. Its like they have a gap that they’re trying to fill with objects. INTERVIEWER: I also want to look at how choice is affecting our quality of life both positively and negatively, how do you think having the freedom of choice has affected your life? PARTICIPANT 2: Well I think that everyone thinks we have so much choice but I really don’t think that’s the case, in terms of choice, obviously when you go to a clothes shop yes it has a lot but pretty much every shop sells the same thing just in slight variations. In terms of choice it is very similar you just have to pick the best thing from the same things. PARTICIPANT 4: With choice its more subjective, even though there’s so much choice, for each individual person it’s narrowed down so much for your taste. For more I know what brands I would shop with and the ones I wouldn’t so that immediately cuts down my options for me. INTERVIEWER: What about choice that’s not fashion and clothing related then, for example, how did you choose which university course to pick? PARTICIPANT 3: Its all about thinking about what you do want and what you don’t want, if you do that before you even start looking at the options if makes it so much easier. PARTICIPANT 2: Yeah I was the same; I knew I wanted to be in a city, which wasn’t London so it was easy for me to choose my best option. But I do think it just depends on what type of person you are because some people are really sure of what they want so it must be difficult for the ones who aren’t. PARTICIPANT 1: I think price is always a big factor as well, obviously not with university courses, but other things. Especially for me that’s always a really important factor when I’m choosing what option is best for me. PARTICIPANT 4: Yeah I like to be 100% sure I want something before I buy it, I like to save things I want to a pinterest board and if in a few weeks time I still want it then I can let myself buy it. That way I don’t impulse buy. PARTICIPANT 3: I should try that I’m always impulse buying and I always end up regretting it. INTERVIEWER: So would you say you ever get overwhelmed by choice? PARTICIPANT 2: See not really no because I know what I want. I always know the kind of things I want to buy, like I don’t think I ever purchase things just for the sake of it or because someone else has it and its cool. I’m always very sure about it. PARTICIPANT 1: I think it just depends on what mood you’re in as well, sometimes I’m like I just want to browse so there’s not any pressure on me to purchase anything. I think that helps. If it’s a really important decision I think that’s when the choice becomes overwhelming. INTERVIEWER: How do you think choice affects your decision-making process when deciding what option to purchase?

PARTICIPANT 4: So mine, if I see something I like Ill save it to my pinterest board and if its still there in a few weeks, I know ill really want it, so it keeps my decisions very simple. I don’t really tend to look for a better option because I’m always sure about what I like. PARTICIPANT 2: I think there’s a big difference between the things I want to buy and the things I do end up buying, if were talking about pinterest then mine just full of things that I know I will never be able to afford, so that immediately cuts down my choice and makes things easier. PARTICIPANT 3: I think if it’s a real investment then I’m going to really sit down and think about it, having more choice means you just have to think a bit more about which option you think is going to be best for you. INTERVIEWER: If you had less choice, do you think it would make this process easier and more enjoyable? PARTICIPANT 3: Yes id say so because sometimes I just end up getting really distracted when there’s lot of choice and I go off onto different tangents and end up finding other things that I want so my shopping basket just becomes huge. PARTICIPANT 1: I think it probably would yes but I don’t know whether id like that or not. INTERVIEWER: Okay so, how would having less choice make you feel? PARTICIPANT 2: I think because were given the choice and if we were suddenly to be given less choice wed be upset by this, but if wed always had less choice you wouldn’t know any difference. PARTICIPANT 3: Yes I agree, if our option were to suddenly be cut now we’d all be really upset because its what were used to. If you look your hardest you can always find the perfect option for you but if our choice was taken away maybe we would be able to do that. INTERVIEWER: Thank you for your time.

APPENDIX 3 - INTERVIEW (FEMALE, 27) INTERVIEW 1: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS DATE: 23/12/2017 INTERVIEWER: Would you consider yourself a materialistic person? PARTICIPANT: No I wouldn’t say I am actually. INTERVIEWER: Do you think that money and possessions make us happier? Or enhance the quality of our lives? PARTICIPANT: I think defiantly think money helps, but only because of the society we live in. We all want to have nice things and to do nice things and unfortunately that costs money. INTERVIEWER: What effect do you think that consumer culture/materialism has on people? PARTICIPANT: I believe it makes people greedy; people are obsessed with money and the thought of having nicer things, for example, having a nice house or car just so they can say that they have it - rather than needing it. Anything to get have a likeable instagram post. INTERVIEWER: Do you think it has an effect on their well-being? PARTICIPANT: Mentally, maybe. Id say people who are materialistic will be obsessed over new things, which I’m sure isn’t good for them at all. Physically, no not at all. INTERVIEWER: I also want to look at how choice is affecting our quality of life both positively and negatively, how do you think having the freedom of choice has affected your life? PARTICIPANT: I think having the choice has had a positive affect on my life - it has made me think about the choices I have, and how they affect myself and other people. Plus they allow me to have the freedom to be myself and to live my best life. An example being no matter how I want to dress I have the choice too, because somewhere will have what I want. INTERVIEWER: Do you ever get overwhelmed by the choice of products we have? Whether its fashion, items in the supermarket etc. PARTICIPANT: Sometimes I find it hard to make a decision because of the amount of options available. But id say its worth it. INTERVIEWER: Do you think we need the all the choice we have today? PARTICIPANT: No, I definitely think sometimes there are too many options. But people are always going to buy them do companies would get rid of the products. INTERVIEWER: How do you think choice affects your decision-making process when deciding what option to purchase? PARTICIPANT: It can make it harder, and therefore make the process longer than what it needs to be. INTERVIEWER: If you had less choice, do you think it would make this process easier and more enjoyable?

PARTICIPANT: Possibly yes, but would I then have to annoyance that places don’t have what I want because they’ve cut down the choice too much? INTERVIEWER: Okay so, how would having less choice make you feel? PARTICIPANT: I think, because I am used to having a lot of options it would be hard to now have less. Id probably miss it. INTERVIEWER: Thank you for your time.

APPENDIX 4 - INTERVIEW (MALE, 21) INTERVIEW 2: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS DATE: 23/12/2017 INTERVIEWER: Would you consider yourself a materialistic person? PARTICIPANT: I don’t think so. I’d rather live without all the unnecessary stuff that companies like to flog but then I also do like owning things that are well made, well designed and that has effort put into. Especially traditional essential things. INTERVIEWER: Do you think that money and possessions make us happier? Or enhance the quality of our lives? PARTICIPANT: It makes life easier but probably not necessary to be happy. Its just seeing everyone else with the stuff that makes you unhappy. INTERVIEWER: What effect do you think that consumer culture/materialism has on people? PARTICIPANT: hate the whole ‘Kim Kardashian has this so I need it’ culture. It makes people want things that they wouldn’t otherwise care about and makes them disappointed when they can’t have it. It makes people measure their value against their possessions and feel like they are being judged for their choices; which they sometimes sadly are. INTERVIEWER: Do you ever get overwhelmed by the choice of products we have? Whether its fashion, items in the supermarket etc. PARTICIPANT: Yes I stand staring at shelves and rails for too long, get overwhelmed then leave. INTERVIEWER: Do you think we need the all the choice we have today? PARTICIPANT: No, designers should put more thought into making one final perfect product instead of lots of options. The designer should make the choice and people should either trust their opinion, or chose a different designer. INTERVIEWER: How do you think choice affects your decision-making process when deciding what option to purchase? PARTICIPANT: It just means I’m going to take longer and put more thought into what I actually want. So I don’t get home and decide I wanted something else that was on offer. INTERVIEWER: If you had less choice, do you think it would make this process easier and more enjoyable?

PARTICIPANT: Id say yes, definitely. INTERVIEWER: Okay so, how would having less choice make you feel? PARTICIPANT: It would 100% make me feel more relaxed about making decisions. INTERVIEWER: Thank you for your time.

APPENDIX 5 - INTERVIEW (FEMALE, 35) INTERVIEW 3: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS DATE: 19/12/2017 INTERVIEWER: Would you consider yourself a materialistic person? PARTICIPANT: No I wouldn’t say I was materialistic at all and I don’t think I ever will be. INTERVIEWER: Do you think that money and possessions make us happier? Or enhance the quality of our lives? PARTICIPANT: Yes money and possessions do make me happier and enhance my life but I don’t have to have everything to be happy. INTERVIEWER: What effect do you think that consumer culture/materialism has on people? PARTICIPANT: I think consumer culture makes some people think they need more possessions than they do; it makes some people want to have everything. Which unless you can afford to do, is probably impossible for the majority. INTERVIEWER: Do you ever get overwhelmed by the choice of products we have? Whether its fashion, items in the supermarket etc. PARTICIPANT: Not really, I like having the choice when I can find what I want. Sometimes even with the amount of choice we have now I can never find what I want, which is quite surprising because you’d think that someone had made what you was thinking, that’s usual the case anyway. INTERVIEWER: Do you think we need the all the choice we have today? PARTICIPANT: No, I doubt we need the choice and we could probably manage without it but I don’t think many people would be happy if it got taken away from them. INTERVIEWER: How do you think choice affects your decision-making process when deciding what option to purchase? PARTICIPANT: So say I’m looking for a certain thing like a new jumper, I get all my options together that I’ve seen and liked and I just try and find the middle ground between value and quality. I think having more choice makes this decision making process longer but I don’t think that’s necessarily a negative thing. It gives me more of a possibility to find the perfect thing. INTERVIEWER: If you had less choice, do you think it would make this process easier and more enjoyable?

PARTICIPANT: Oh yes, definitely. Less choice would make things so much easier and maybe make shopping more enjoyable but you cant really say this for definite until you’ve tried it because it might turn out that you miss having the other options. INTERVIEWER: Okay so, how would having less choice make you feel? PARTICIPANT: If the choices were taken away, to start with I would probably be quite unhappy and would think it was unfair. But hopefully after a while you would get used to it and make decisions faster. I also think it depends on what choice you are going to take away from me, if you mean taking away the amount of jam choices we have, I don’t think that would bother me at all. INTERVIEWER: Thank you for your time.

APPENDIX 6 - INTERVIEW (FEMALE, 20) INTERVIEW 4: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS DATE: 19/12/2017 INTERVIEWER: Would you consider yourself a materialistic person? PARTICIPANT: I think it depends of what you mean as materialistic, because yes I do like to own nice things and yes I think having a certain amount of money is important. But if you were to ask me what makes me happy I wouldn’t say money or my phone. So id say yes I was materialistic but on a scale of say 1-10, id be in the low numbers definitely. INTERVIEWER: Do you think that money and possessions make us happier? Or enhance the quality of our lives? PARTICIPANT: 100% yes. Everyone wants to enjoy nice things and unfortunately that costs money. I’m not saying you need to be really rich and have to own everything because I don’t think that’s the case at all. I just think you need to have enough for you and I’m guessing what’s enough for some people isn’t enough for others. INTERVIEWER: What effect do you think that consumer culture/materialism has on people? PARTICIPANT: We are constantly being told we need this and need that, when really we all know this isn’t the case but its like were being brainwashed by companies trying to sell us whatever new product or thing they’ve come out with. I think for some people it can be quite frustrating, for me I’m 21 and I’m a student, so obviously at this point in my life I don’t really have a lot of money, so when you do see something you want but cant afford its horrible. Especially when you go onto instagram and you see that someone else has it, I hate it when that happens. If anything it makes me want it more. INTERVIEWER: Do you ever get overwhelmed by the choice of products we have? Whether its fashion, items in the supermarket etc. PARTICIPANT: It depends of what it is. If I go to a supermarket I don’t think we need that much choice, I don’t want choosing a pasta sauce to be as difficult as it is. Yet with clothes I love having all that choice because you can always find something you like and it allows people to be different. If we didn’t have the choice we had now we’d all be clones of each other, we’d all dress the same and eat the same. Which I don’t think id like at all. INTERVIEWER: Do you think we need the all the choice we have today?

PARTICIPANT: No I don’t think it’s a need for us to have all that choice but it’s nice to have the freedom. INTERVIEWER: How do you think choice affects your decision-making process when deciding what option to purchase? PARTICIPANT: It definitely makes the process longer because you have to filter all the options down yourself, you have so many tabs open because you have to browse every single website out there just in case somewhere else has a better option for you. Its quite time consuming and sometimes I think that can put you off and you end up buying nothing. INTERVIEWER: If you had less choice, do you think it would make this process easier and more enjoyable? PARTICIPANT: It would probably be easier yes and less time consuming. I don’t know about more enjoyable though because if I couldn’t find my perfect option Id just wish I had more choice. INTERVIEWER: Okay so, how would having less choice make you feel? PARTICIPANT: If you wanted to take away my choice of clothing options I think id really miss it because I love having the freedom to dress how I want, I do like having the choice in a lot of things actually. It allows us all to be different and I love that. INTERVIEWER: Thank you for your time.

APPENDIX 7 - INTERVIEW (MALE, 26) INTERVIEW 5: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS DATE: 02/01/2018 INTERVIEWER: Would you consider yourself a materialistic person? PARTICIPANT: No I wouldn’t say I am actually. INTERVIEWER: Do you think that money and possessions make us happier? Or enhance the quality of our lives? PARTICIPANT: I think that money and possessions do enhance the quality of our lives, but really only make us happy in the short-term. Buying a new dress for a night out might make us happy for a few days, but the things money can’t buy (love, friendship, family, etc) are more important for long-term happiness. INTERVIEWER: What effect do you think that consumer culture/materialism has on people? PARTICIPANT: I think that consumer culture probably has a greater effect on people in the age of social media than it has previously. Both because people have the more power to influence other shoppers with positive and negative reviews of products, and because individuals are frequently exposed to material things they might want to buy based on the social networks’ algorithms, their friends, social influencers, etc. INTERVIEWER: Do you think it has an effect on their well-being?

PARTICIPANT: I think that for certain people consumer culture and materialism can affect their well-being because if they are so concerned with material things they will never truly be satisfied with what they already have in their lives. INTERVIEWER: I also want to look at how choice is affecting our quality of life both positively and negatively, how do you think having the freedom of choice has affected your life? PARTICIPANT: I think that choice can be both positive and negative. The positive is that more choice means we are more likely to find things that work for us (e.g. skincare products), it aids the expression of individuality, and also makes it more likely that there will be a variety of price points to choose from. The negatives are that choice can often be overwhelming and stressful. INTERVIEWER: Do you ever get overwhelmed by the choice of products we have? Whether its fashion, items in the supermarket etc. PARTICIPANT: Yes. I think this more so applies to situations where there are a lot of products that are branded a different way and essentially do the same thing (thinking skin care again here) as opposed to food, which I think is less overwhelming. INTERVIEWER: Do you think we need the all the choice we have today? PARTICIPANT: I think there’s a big difference between needing and wanting choice - we have the choice that we want, but not necessarily what we need. INTERVIEWER: How do you think choice affects your decision-making process when deciding what option to purchase? PARTICIPANT: Choice definitely complicates the decision making process, but ultimately it makes me think more carefully about which products I do choose to buy. INTERVIEWER: If you had less choice, do you think it would make this process easier and more enjoyable? PARTICIPANT: I think this question depends on what kind of product/service the choices are related to. I’m not sure that I would be happier if I had less choice, mainly because if choice causes me stress, it’s usually because I’m buying a certain type of product for the first time. Once I find a product I like I’m loyal to that brand and therefore wouldn’t need to debate over the choices again. INTERVIEWER: Okay so, how would having less choice make you feel? PARTICIPANT: Having less choice would probably feel very strange because we are so accustomed to having so many options available to us. INTERVIEWER: Thank you for your time.

APPENDIX 8 - EXPERT INTERVIEW

(MARIA BOOS – COMMUNICATIONS EXPERT AND BRAND EXPERIENCE INNOVATOR AT SIEGEL + GALE) INTERVIEWER: First of all I would just like to say thank you for taking part in this interview. The focus group will be taped and transcribed, and should you want a copy of the transcription then please ask me and I will arrange for one to be sent to you. The information you give me will be used in support of my work and will be written up in my project. Anything you say will be treated with the strictest confidence and your contribution to the discussion will not be attributed to you as an individual, what you said will be used for illustration only; to reinforce a point that I am making. Before I ask you any questions ill start by giving you a brief overview of my project, so my research question chosen is ‘material and well-being: how is choice affecting quality of lives?’ So far I have solid research of materialism and its correlation to well-being, consumption and I’ve looked into how our choice is constantly increasing and how this is effecting how we consume. So what I want to look at now is how this is all affecting brands and what they’re doing in reaction to this. So I was hoping this is where you could help, if you have any opinions on the subject matter. PARTICIPANT: Sure yeah, this is a topic we talk a lot about in branding agencies, and I will also send you the links to a couple of studies that I’m aware of. So my firm Siegel + Gale do an annual ‘global brand simplicity index’ which probably has stuff in there that would be useful for you, where you can infer that people find simpler brands easier and more valuable to interact with. There’s also an agency called Profit that does an annual brand relevance index if you’ve heard of that one? INTERVIEWER: I’ve already looked at the simplicity one from your firm but I don’t recognise the Profit one. PARTICIPANT: Oh good, well I don’t know the Profit one inside out but I think there’s probably some good nuggets about how people find relevance in brands, so that’s another one you should take a look at. INTERVIEWER: Yeah I definitely will, thank you. PARTICIPANT: Yeah so I’m just happy to chat a little bit about my perspective and the work I’ve done, float me a specific question and ill let you know how I react to it. INTERVIEWER: Okay so, how do you think brands are being affected by all the changes that are happening currently in consumer culture? PARTICIPANT: Well I definitely think that, erm, that there’s a spectrum of how brands are being affected or how they are responding to what consumers seem to be demanding, I think we have seen an arc of proliferation of choices that initially companies thought was good because they were giving people more to choose from, so they will find the product or service that is better suited to them and then they’ll win their loyalty and increase satisfaction. But I think we’ve seen the backlash of that, that is that people do find themselves overwhelmed with choices and they want companies to direct them in a more effective way based on information they’re willing to share. So rather than my searching through a variety of say investment accounts, that pay different rates of return etc. I would like to share my primary goals, the balance I’m trying to find and have the algorithm suggest to me what’s best appropriate to me and why. A lot of things are converging and the companies are now able to really turn data into insights, these are the ones we’re going to see becoming the leaders in their categories. Sorry that’s a lot, does any of that seem relevant?

INTERVIEWER: Yes it’s all relevant; I’ve touched on a lot of that myself. Especially that proliferation of choice and that consumers are now in sorts, protesting against this and taking control again of their consumption. And because of this brands need to worker harder in capturing their attention because they aren’t buying into them anymore. PARTICIPANT: A related idea that I have talked about with my clients a lot is that I’m always preaching that brands need to be really brilliant at the basics. So unless you’re a brand that’s in the right time and place, you have the creativity and the organisational power to create the next breakthrough offering, for example, you’re the next big thing in the sharing economy, like nearly 5 years ago nobody had heard of Airbnb, now we all do. But those breakthroughs are so far and between, so unless you’re doing that, you’re not going to succeed. I think the companies the companies that do best are really purpose driven and decide their going to be brilliant at that, that’s really a way to connect with consumers more effectively. INTERVIEWER: That’s brilliant thank you. Another thing I’ve been struggling with is trying to find a gap in the market because there is so much choice out there, a need somewhere to worm myself into. Do you have any opinions on gaps that are there or anything that could be improved? PARTICIPANT: Well, one area I think is really ripe for some kind of improvement, we’re all susceptible to reward and loyalty programmes, yet I think there are very few truly customer centric executions of that, often its just oh stand on one leg and go shopping on a full moon and you’ll get a reward. Nearly all industries have a form of them, so if you could think of some brilliant way to achieve really value rewards, that is dramatically different and would inspire loyalty and bring huge value to consumers. It would have to alleviate some pain point that people hate. I think this is an area that could be vastly improved. INTERVIEWER: No that is all perfect, I think that’s about it really, unless you have any opinions on the fashion industry in specific. PARTICIPANT: Yeah you see unfortunately I don’t have much experience in fashion or even consumer goods, my clients tend to be financial services and banking technology, so I don’t really have any relevant experience. But what do you think are the next frontiers in the way in which people shop or try things on, do you think the rental market is going to become the mainstream way we shop or? INTERVIEWER: Well I’ve looked into artificial intelligence a lot and how this can help people make better purchases and decisions. If the issue is that there’s too much choice maybe this is the way we can help people make better decisions. And in the fashion and beauty industry it has become a huge part in how we shop. PARTICIPANT: I am aware of a few companies I’ve seen springing up that have a focus on giving women the classics they need in their wardrobe but that is related to the idea that we need to simplify before we can introduce more choice. But I don’t know if there’s anything to expand of there. INTERVIEWER: No I’ve had that idea myself, that idea of a brand that just does the basics like the capsule wardrobe, but its whether there’s a gap for it. PARTICIAPNT: It’s a fascinating question and as you get further into your research I would be more that happy to talk to you again because I feel as if I’ve not been that helpful. So please feel free to try me again if I can be more helpful. INTERVIEWER: No that is amazing thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me and I hope I speak to you again soon.

APPENDIX 9 - OBSERVATION (FEMALE, 22) Notes taken on day: Shopping for simple pair of black jeans. Basic fashion item, many shops that sell it. “I dont mind spending more on a basic” Shop 1. NewLook Many different styles of jeans, all named. reasonable price points. participant tries on multiple styles. At this point she is very calm, not too overwhelmed. Comes out changing room, likes one pair. Want to visit another store. Shop 2. H&M Not a designated denim section like there was in previous store. Participant has to browse the whole shop in order to find black jeans. She is frustrated by the store layout. “I never like it in here, I can never find what im looking for” Shop 3. Topshop Dedicated denim section, 8 styles of jeans to choose from. Image showing you the different styles, it clear but as participant looks at it she is quite taken back by her options. “I dont know whats going to be best” Jeans are quite expensive Now has 3 pairs in her hands. Different sizes and leg lengths. (Leg lengths = more choice) Frustration occurs when she cant find her size. Heads to changing rooms. Comes out with only 1 pair in her hands. Asked, if theyre the perfect pair. “Im not sure theyre the perfect pair but they’ll do”

APPENDIX 10 - OBSERVATION (MALE, 21) Notes taken on day: Tasked with purchasing a new beard trimmer. Immediately he heads to boots. Finds the electrical section. Instantly can see there are numerous options. “Oh god, look at them all” is his first response. He starts from one side and walks down the selection. A few that are on offer catch his eye. He picks one up, reads the packaging, then puts it back down. He continues to do this for a few minutes, picking up 4 in total, reading packaging. A minute has passed and he is just staring. I ask him how hes feeling: “theres just so many and they all do different things, I dont know what to choose” Stress and frustration can be seen. He picks up one on offer, he has picked it up before. Reads all the packaging, with hesitation he says “this one will do, its on offer” No confidence in his decision. He takes it to the till and pays.

FOCUS GROUP CONSENT FORMS

INTERVIEW CONSENT FORMS

EXPERT INTERVIEW CONSENT