Consumers don’t speak category. You wouldn’t ask a colleague “For lunch today – do you feel like fast casual or quick serve?” You’d say “Do you want to go to Chipotle or Taco Bell?”
Categories are a construct of industry and those who analyze it. They are an attempt to create an organizing framework around the things people buy so we can watch, measure and track them. That’s how business thinks and how companies go to market. But that’s not really how people think.
In every day consumer life, categories are becoming increasingly blurred. This is especially true in the retail channel. Is Wal-Mart a clothing store or a grocery store? Is Whole Foods a grocery store or a restaurant? Why do you think travelers like renting cars from National’s “Emerald Aisle?” Because, rather than specifying a mid-size or a full-size (what does that mean!?), they just walk down the aisle and pick the car that looks best at that moment.
