It was supposed to be a quick and simple cereal purchase.

I was at the grocery store the other day to pick up some granola for tomorrow含羞草研究社檚 breakfast. This isn含羞草研究社檛 a complicated item and it should have been a simple matter to run in, go to the cereal aisle and pick up a bag.

However, it wasn含羞草研究社檛 quite that simple.

The cereal aisle 含羞草研究社� along with pretty much every aisle in the store 含羞草研究社� offered a lot of choices.

There are multiple companies producing granola and similar breakfast cereals, and each one has its own flavours and varieties. If I含羞草研究社檓 looking for cereal, but not necessarily granola, I含羞草研究社檒l encounter even more choices. The cereal aisle in any grocery store is going to be quite long.

Customers also face a lot of choices when looking for coffee, tea, pasta, yogurt, ice cream and other foods.

The plethora of choices can be just as overwhelming outside of the grocery store.

Try shopping for a computer, a smartphone or other electronic items. The selection can be mind-numbing. It含羞草研究社檚 even more overwhelming when signing up for a cell phone plan, as many companies are offering special deals, packages or limited-time sales offers.

And once someone has the phone and the plan, there are more decisions to be made about the cell phone case and a pair of earbuds. Some of the offerings are great quality and value, while a few are best avoided.

The overabundance of selection today is a far cry from Henry Ford含羞草研究社檚 statement in 1909, about his Model T automobile which had been introduced a year earlier.

含羞草研究社淎ny customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black,含羞草研究社� he said at the time.

Today, Ford has a huge selection of cars, trucks and vans, and they come in a variety of colours. And Ford isn含羞草研究社檛 the only motor vehicle company either. Customers looking for a vehicle have plenty of selection 含羞草研究社� maybe too much.

In recent years, studies have been conducted on choice overload. These have included psychology research and business studies, and they show that it is possible to have too many options available to consumers.

This can also be bad for business. If a customer is overwhelmed with choices, he or she may simply leave the store without buying anything.

Sure, there are ways to narrow down the choices.

Some publications dealing with technology will put together their own product reviews, going into detail on how the product performed in each of several categories. These can be useful, but they take some time to read and evaluate. And it will still be difficult if not impossible to review every option on the market.

Some online retailers have customer reviews and ratings.

These can also work well, unless a product receives five-star ratings from half the respondents and one-star ratings from the other half.

One friend of mine has been posting short video reviews of potato chips. He has been doing this for quite a few months, and he isn含羞草研究社檛 close to running out of new chips to taste.

With a big-ticket purchase, I含羞草研究社檒l do some research before buying.

For smaller items, like the bag of cereal, I含羞草研究社檓 not too interested in finding consumer reports and user reviews.

I含羞草研究社檇 rather get into the store, buy some granola and go home.

John Arendt is the editor of the Summerland Review.