[refulgentis]

I'm not sure this imagined scenario, where coffee shops ask where you want your beans from, would apply to this study:

"displayed 24 jams in a busy supermarket for tasting...60% of customers stop[ped and tasted], 3% [made] a purchase."..."Next, 6 jam jars....[40% stopped, less than 60%], but...purchases went up [from 3%] to 30%."

It reeks of the worst sins of early-TED-era social psychology experiments: tons of obvious confounders.

For instance, 24 samples at a table that was 50% busier means I'm thinking I'll come back and wrap up my tryout next week or whenever: it's very busy and I can't afford 15 minutes to sit around trying to maintain tasting notes on something I didn't have intent to buy anyway -- if I did, I wouldn't be sampling!

It also means less 1:1 salesmanship contact with the purveyor of samples, and 4x of much investment needed on their part.

[xnzakg]

It also depends on how popular the place is, and the customer demographic. Continuing with that example, if it's a small grocery store in a town with a population of a few thousand people, sure, there's definitely no point in having 24 different types of jam. However, if it's a store specializing in jam, in a large city, then having a larger selection makes sense, especially when you have someone working there who you can ask to recommend something. Sadly that usually also implies higher prices.