The Vital Marketing Lesson I learned From A Sweaty, Packed Italian Market

This pic was snapped from the Mercato Centrale in Florence.

Each day the market is flooded with thousands of bumbling, confused tourists shopping for (likely counterfeit) Tuscan leather goods and cashmere.

Last week I counted myself among this group of bumbling tourists in the Mercato.

My mission was simple…

Grab a “cashmere” scarf as a gift for my mom.

As my luck had it, every one of the stalls had a near identical assortment of scarves to choose from.

In theory, my choice should have been a cinch.

Pick a stall. Hand over cash. Walk away with a gift for my dear mother. Easy, peasy.

In reality, this “easy choice” produced a stultifying cocktail of dread and decision-paralysis.

What do I pick? Everything looks the same? What if I make the wrong choice?

The situation was made all the worse by the fact that most of the vendors were looking at me with blank faces — as if a dead-eyed stare was enough to beckon me to their stall.

My fears were softened when a helpful vendor finally took me by the shoulder. He asked for my favorite color, and placed a piece of (likely…