Monday, September 26, 2005

What is Perfect Information?

A good definition is supplied by Wikipedia here. I want to highlight this sentence, 'perfect information would practically mean that all consumers know all things about all products, and therefore always make the best decision regarding purchase.' This is what I believe.

I also feel these traditional or historical definitions need evolving, consumer purchases are becoming less a series of one-off events but turning into a flow of services over time, derived sometimes by the supply of a product. I always stand in the consumers shoes, as that is what I am, to consider what a world of perfect information looks and feels like?

Lets examine the key ingredients of perfect information: It has to be visualized and by that I mean in its broadest sense, viewed by eye, listened to by hear, felt by touch etc. The point I need to state early on is that the consumer should have control over these 'visualization' options.

Trust. We need to trust the source of the information, who is supplying it? Therefore, visualization needs to extended over the source to give the consumer a way of identifying the author. On this a consumer can make a personal value decision. The consumers inherent people/social skills combined with their education or prevailing wisdom are important here.

Timing. Perfect information demands all information is up dated instantly another piece of information is authored or consumed. Increasingly consumers are also building in future expectations into their decision making thus the world of information is more than just historical or real time focused.

Visualization, Trust and Timing. The pillars of consumer confidence in perfect information. I am going to regularly come back to test these and I welcome comments and feedback to help in that process.




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