Oh, oh, I know this one.
Stores and the brands that supply them have no clue what you or I like. Instead, they are stuck in an optimisation feedback loop that works like this: They take a wild guess at something we might like. They wait to see how much they sell. If EVERYONE buys it, they keep it. If not, they ditch it.
This results in inoffensive and often bland mass-market products that suit all tastes. Or rather, offend no tastes.
If you took all the people who regularly buy a product and organise them by the time they start using it, you would get a bell curve. the bigger the area under the curve, the more people it represents. Something like this:
Most products follow this distribution. As do ideas. Big stores and brands are trying to optimise for the middle mass-market section because that’s where most of the people are (and, thus, the most cash). All the flavourful, weird, exciting, cool stuff happens before the mass-market uptake.
For most stuff, the green and blue section of the graph (trailblazers and early adopters) is all the people that will like that thing. That’s why the cool, niche stuff is so interesting, spicey, or cool. It is something that a few people will love.
The stores and the big brands would rather search for stuff most people will be mostly okay with. Which means boring, vanilla, and unexciting. They want risk-free make-lots-and-sell-it stuff. The good stuff we like rarely appeals to the mass-market.
This is why it is important to support small and indie creators making stuff you love. They will probably never get mass market support. But if enough of us weirdos love it, that’s probably just fine.
This post was in reply to, “How is it that stores always seem to discontinue the products we like?” which itself was a reply to “What is something that you still cannot explain?“.
Oh, oh, I know this one.
Stores and the brands that supply them have no clue what you or I like. Instead, they are stuck in an optimisation feedback loop that works like this: They take a wild guess at something we might like. They wait to see how much they sell. If EVERYONE buys it, they keep it. If not, they ditch it.
This results in inoffensive and often bland mass-market products that suit all tastes. Or rather, offend no tastes.
If you took all the people who regularly buy a product and organise them by the time they start using it, you would get a bell curve. the bigger the area under the curve, the more people it represents. Something like this:
Most products follow this distribution. As do ideas. Big stores and brands are trying to optimise for the middle mass-market section because that’s where most of the people are (and, thus, the most cash). All the flavourful, weird, exciting, cool stuff happens before the mass-market uptake.
For most stuff, the green and blue section of the graph (trailblazers and early adopters) is all the people that will like that thing. That’s why the cool, niche stuff is so interesting, spicey, or cool. It is something that a few people will love.
The stores and the big brands would rather search for stuff most people will be mostly okay with. Which means boring, vanilla, and unexciting. They want risk-free make-lots-and-sell-it stuff. The good stuff we like rarely appeals to the mass-market.
This is why it is important to support small and indie creators making stuff you love. They will probably never get mass market support. But if enough of us weirdos love it, that’s probably just fine.
This post was in reply to, “How is it that stores always seem to discontinue the products we like?” which itself was a reply to “What is something that you still cannot explain?“.
How is it that stores always seem to discontinue the products we like? 😑️
The thing I still cannot explain
What is something that I still cannot explain?
A famous local artist painted a portrait of the mayor. The police came and arrested the painting.
I think it was framed.
@OpenMentions Life
You speak the truth.
What is something that you still cannot explain? is this week’s question of the week on OpenMentions.com.
In reply to: this
Why my last WebMention triggers a 403. Fortunately, I have help.
Update: It went wrong because this social node had a broken plugin that stopped it playing nicely with others.