The quirky little grocery chain with California roots and German ownership has a lot to teach all of us about choice architecture, efficiency, frugality, collaboration, and team spirit. SOURCES:Kirk DesErmia, facilities manager in Seward, Alaska.Mark Gardiner, journalist and author.Sheena Iyengar, professor of business at Columbia Business School.Michael Roberto, professor of management at Bryant University. RESOURCES:“Trader Joe’s,” David Ager and Michael Roberto (Harvard Business School Case, 2014).“What Brands Are Actually Behind Trader Joe’s Snacks?,” Vince Dixon (Eater, 2017).Build a Brand Like Trader Joe’s by Mark Gardiner (2012).“When Choice is Demotivating: Can One Desire Too Much of a Good Thing?,” Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2000).Unlocking Creativity, by Michael Roberto (2019). EXTRAS:“How Can This Possibly Be True?,” by Freakonomics Radio (2016).“How to Save $1 Billion Without Even Trying,” by Freakonomics Radio (2016).
Full Episode
Hey there, it's Stephen Dubner, and I wanted to say thanks for the overwhelming response to our most recent episode, which was called 10 Myths About the U.S. Tax System. There were a lot of good suggestions for follow-up episodes, and we will certainly keep those in mind.
One of the joys of making this show is going after stories that simply seem interesting and worthwhile without any set agenda to follow. And you never know which episodes are going to strike a chord like this one did. Today, we have gone into the archive to play you another episode that struck a chord when it was first published. It's called Should America Be Run by Trader Joe's?
We've updated facts and figures as necessary. I should note that Trader Joe's did not participate in the making of this episode. Their executives don't tend to give interviews. Although we did receive a note from then-CEO Dan Bain after we first published this episode in 2018. He wrote, you pose the question, should America be run by Trader Joe's?
We are pretty sure such work would likely require a coat and tie. We like Hawaiian shirts, so we will pass. Thanks. Let me know what you think of this episode. You can always leave a comment on your podcast app or send us an email to radio at Freakonomics.com. As always, thanks for listening.
Let's play Shark Tank today. You're the investors. Shark Tank, if you don't know, is the TV show where people pitch business ideas to famous investors. You might be Mark Cuban or Mr. Wonderful. You're trying to decide, would you invest?
And that is Michael Roberto. He's a business professor at Bryant University, formerly of the Harvard Business School. There's one lecture he likes to start by giving his students this fictional Shark Tank pitch.
I'd like to open a new kind of grocery store. We're not gonna have any branded items. It's all gonna be private label. We're gonna have no television advertising and no social media whatsoever. We're never gonna have anything on sale. We're not gonna accept coupons. We'll have no loyalty card. We won't have a circular that appears in the Sunday newspaper. We'll have no self-checkout.
We won't have wide aisles or big parking lots. Would you invest in my company?"
And of course, you're supposed to think, there is no way I'd invest in that company. That sounds like the stupidest company ever. And of course, you get a lot of consternation. That's when Roberto reveals that not only does such a grocery store already exist, but they're crushing the competition.
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