Curation Over Choice: Dangingiss Highlights Retail’s Shift to Guided Customer Experiences

In a recent LinkedIn post, Dangingiss explores a significant shift occurring in customer experience, particularly evident in the retail sector, emphasizing the power of curation over an overwhelming abundance of choice. Dangingiss uses examples from Dick’s Sporting Goods and Foot Locker to illustrate how simplifying options and enhancing the customer journey can drive substantial growth.

The discussion begins with the success of Dick’s Sporting Goods’ “House of Sport” stores, which have sustained comparable sales growth for several years. Dangingiss posits that this longevity indicates more than a fleeting trend. However, the most compelling insight, according to Dangingiss, comes from the turnaround at Foot Locker.

“After Dick’s acquired Foot Locker last year, their executive chairman described the old shoe wall as ‘a run-on sentence — just filled with a bunch of shoes, and there was nothing important.’”

The Power of Curation in Retail

Dangingiss points to Foot Locker’s strategic decision to address this perceived issue. By significantly reducing the number of styles offered and focusing on a curated selection, the company achieved remarkable results. As Dangingiss notes, the outcome was positive:

“Their fix? Cut styles by 30% and lean into curation. The result: double-digit comparable sales growth.”

This success, Dangingiss argues, demonstrates a broader principle: “More choices didn’t win. A better experience did.” This observation moves beyond the retail floor, suggesting that the underlying principle applies to various business models.

Applying Retail Lessons to Broader Business Strategies

Dangingiss extends the analysis beyond the immediate retail context, arguing that many businesses are inadvertently creating a “run-on sentence” experience for their customers. This manifests in several ways:

• Too many options presented to the user.
• An excessive number of clicks required to find information or complete a task.
• Information overload or “too much noise.”
• A lack of clear guidance through the customer journey.

According to Dangingiss, these issues can be found across various customer touchpoints, including website navigation, service menus, product offerings, and even the onboarding process for new users. The core question Dangingiss poses to businesses is:

“Where in your customer journey are you overwhelming people instead of guiding them?”

Dangingiss’s analysis suggests that businesses should critically evaluate their customer journeys, seeking opportunities to simplify and guide rather than present an unfiltered, extensive array of choices. This focus on a well-curated and guided experience, as shown by the retail examples, is presented as a key driver for customer engagement and business growth in today’s market.