Regarding shelf space/inventory limitations, my argument is that banking’s corresponding challenge is this: if you start a bank in your town, you realistically have about a five-mile radius to pull potential customers from. That means that as a brand, you have to be generic/bland enough to “appeal” to as many of the people in that radius as possible. So while a book store has a finite amount of shelf space, a bank has a finite geographic market potential–resulting in both the bookstore and the bank needing to make choices that will allow them to be as broadly appealing in this finite opportunity as possible. This results in what Chris Anderson calls a “hit culture,” where the business focuses on selling the big hits to the masses, rather than selling the obscure titles to the niches.

Most importantly, what we’re really talking about is not so much an infinite number of product configurations, but more like an infinite number of brand experience configurations. In other words, we can tailor the perfect brand experience for thousands of different tiny niches. The products would be tailored as appropriate too, but honestly would be secondary in importance to the tailored brand experience. The big bet in our model is that banking customers of the future will make their choices based not on the products, but rather on the niche-interests-based experiences they have in consuming those products.

I understand that this is a big concept with lots of facets yet to be discussed. I appreciate your interest and look forward to all your thoughts and debate!

If what you’re talking about is the ability to create an endless number of product configurations appealing to an infinite number of market niches (i.e., consumer segments), then I’m all ears — although very skeptical.

Skeptical because: 1) While some choice is good, too much choice can be confusing and stifling, and 2) Just because you’re tall, thin, and good looking and I’m short, fat, and ugly doesn’t mean we have different needs in banking products and services.