A little while back when researching In-N-Out burger’s packaging, I discovered that they have a ’secret’ menu. Now, I am informed (via Seth) that Starbucks does, too. I’m not entirely sure that I agree with the article writer’s premise that hiding choices helps consumers, but it’s prevalent enough that it can’t be hurting the companies much.

He says:

Any shop would love to be able to charge high prices whenever they could, while still offering low prices to customers who would otherwise shop somewhere else.

I counter that a company can’t be said to truly "offer" something if it isn’t published somewhere for customers to see.

Aside from that, though, he makes some interesting points about design and packaging and the purpose of having different prices for different customers.

Supermarkets package their cheapest products to look more like famine relief than something you’d want to pay for.

It’s not because they can’t afford sexy packaging even for their cheapest foods - it’s because they want to persuade richer customers to buy something more expensive instead.

It’s about designing for your target market and the way they see your product fitting into their lifestyle. How he expects consumers to make such a decision if they don’t know the options exist, though, baffles me.