Our lives are filled with gadgets we can't use (automatic sprinklers, GPS devices, fancy blenders), instructions we can't follow (labels on medicine bottles, directions for assembling toys or furniture) and forms we can't decipher (tax returns, gym membership contracts, wireless phone bills). Every facet of our lives, even entertainment and recreation, is complicated by an ever-widening array of choices delivered at a frantic pace. Consider:

• More than 2,000,000 apps in the Apple App Store
• 250-plus selections on the Cheesecake Factory menu, and is 20 pages long
• 135 mascaras, 437 lotions and 1,992 fragrances at Sephora.com
• In 1980, the typical credit card contract was about 400 words long. Today, many are 20,000 words.
• One company, PC Pitstop, deliberately buried a clause in its end-user license agreement, offering $1,000 to the first person who emailed the company at a certain address. It took five months and 3,000 sales until someone claimed the money.

But one company has worked hard to counter this complexity trend—the supermarket chain Trader Joe's. Trader Joe's figured out that trying to give people everything is a lousy business model: It overwhelms customers, clutters stores, and undermines the shopping experience. So Trader Joe's offers many fewer products than other supermarkets (about 4,000 items instead of 50,000). But limiting variety doesn't mean bland selections. The company offers customers the best choices possible. Thus, shoppers don't have to sort through dozens of options for jam or mustard or frozen foods.

Does it work? The chain, which has about 350 stores in the U.S., sells an estimated $1,750 in merchandise per square foot, more than double the sales generated per square foot by Whole Foods Market.

Editor’s Note: These statistics have been updated as of 8/2024

Possible Preaching Angles: (1) Church Life and Church Programs—When the church needs to simplify its options and programs and focus on what's really important. (2) Personal Spiritual Disciplines or Devotions—The need to pare down the distractions in our life so we can focus on what's really important.