A business strategy Jeff Bezos used to build Amazon was to focus on things that don't change. Low prices. Fast delivery.

And vast selection: The more choices, the better. 

Costco took the opposite approach. Costco's strategy for merchandise offered at warehouses? The fewer choices, the better. 

From a retailer's perspective, that approach makes sense. In a fairly famous 2001 experiment, researchers found that people purchased more jelly when fewer options were available. While offering 24 types of jam attracted more shoppers, only 3 percent of them actually made a purchase. Contrast that with what happened when people only had six choices: 30 percent of them made a purchase.

And felt greater satisfaction with their selection when their options were more limited.

That's why you'll see, say, only a few different cereal options on display. Or a few types of nutrition bars. Costco tends to stock just a few types of a particular item; if you're looking for socks, choose between these.

But that also extends to Kirkland, Costco's house brand. Early on, Costco offered dozens of private-label brands. You could buy Coke, or Costco's house brand, Simply Soda. You could buy Charmin, or Costco's Chelsea toilet paper. 

Then Costco co-founder Jim Sinegal spotted an opportunity. As Sinegal said, "We found that there was a resurgence of private-label product, and that was driven an awful lot by the fact that the prices of brand-name products were growing so rapidly. The result was an 'umbrella' Costco could use to develop its own brands," Sinegal said at a talk in 2019 at Georgetown University. Rising prices for big-name brands led Costco to develop and offer its own brands, at prices approximately 20 percent lower than major label alternatives.

"Conventional wisdom said you had to have a different name for every class of product," Sinegal said. Like Sears, which had Kenmore appliances, DieHard batteries, Craftsman tools ... 

"We looked at it and we said, you know, we're in so many countries and we have such a wide array of products we'll have a room full of attorneys that are doing nothing but trying to clear these names," he added.

And Kirkland Signature was born, replacing all the different private labels. Creating one brand identity for customers to remember. Creating one logo, a uniform style of packaging that can be applied to current and new products, and fewer choices for customers.

Want toilet paper? You can buy Charmin, or pay a little less for Kirkland Signature. Instead of deciding between 10 or 15 toilet paper brands, you choose from two.

And are much more likely to be satisfied by your purchase, because the options are limited -- and the potential for decision regret is greatly diminished.

Clearly it works: Kirkland Signature makes up over 30 percent of all Costco sales, and experiences growth at a higher rate than overall Costco sales.

Even so, most retailers haven't jumped on one-size-fits all private label branding. Walmart has at least 10 private brands. Target has dozens. According to at least one analysis, Amazon deploys over 400 different house brands.

And that strategy might not work for you, either.

But you should least least consider it, especially if you're launching a startup. More choices for customers means more products to stock, marketing materials to create, inventory to stock (and pay for). When you're resource-constrained, complexity is your enemy.

And, according to research, may create choice overload for your customers.

Which may result in them making no choice -- and purchase -- at all.