Do consumers prefer offers that are easy to compare? An experimental investigation Volume 5 Jena Economic Research Papers 2011-10-12 2011 2007 2011-044 Bounded Rationality Cognitive Limitations Common Standards Consumer Choice Experimental Economics Heuristics Libertarian Paternalism Pricing Formats Spurious Complexity Consumers make mistakes when facing complex purchasing decision problems but if at least some consumers choose only among offers that are easy to compare with others then firms will adopt common ways to present their offers and thus make choice easier (Gaudeul and Sugden, 2011). We design an original experiment to identify consumers’ choice heuristics in the lab. Subjects are presented with menus of offers and do appear to favour offers that are easy to compare with others in the menu. While not all subjects do so, this is enough to deter firms from introducing spurious complexity in the way they present products. jportal_jpjournal_00000016 2011-10-12T08:06:35.103Z 2011-10-12T08:05:46.289Z