But as customers and their needs grow increasingly diverse, such an approach has become a surefire way to add unnecessary cost and complexity to operations. Companies throughout the world have embraced mass customization in an attempt to avoid those pitfalls and provide unique value to their customers in an efficient manner. Readily available information technology and flexible work processes permit them to customize goods or services for individual customers in high volumes and at a relatively low cost.
But many managers at these companies have discovered that mass customization, too, can produce unnecessary cost and complexity. They are realizing that they did not examine thoroughly enough what kind of customization their customers would value before they plunged ahead with this new strategy. That is understandable. Until now, no framework has existed to help managers determine the type of customization they should pursue. We have identified four distinct approaches to customization, which we call collaborative , adaptive , cosmetic , and transparent.
When designing or redesigning a product, process, or business unit, managers should examine each of the approaches for possible insights into how best to serve their customers.
In some cases, a single approach will dominate the design. More often, however, managers will discover that they need a mix of some or all of the four approaches to serve their own particular set of customers. The approach most often associated with the term mass customization , collaborative customization is appropriate for businesses whose customers cannot easily articulate what they want and grow frustrated when forced to select from a plethora of options.
Paris Miki, a Japanese eyewear retailer that has the largest number of eyewear stores in the world, is the quintessential collaborative customizer. The consumer and optician next collaborate to adjust the shape and size of the lenses until both are pleased with the look. In similar fashion, consumers select from a number of options for the nose bridge, hinges, and arms in order to complete the design. Then they receive a photo-quality picture of themselves with the proposed eyeglasses.
Finally, a technician grinds the lenses and assembles the eyeglasses in the store in as little as an hour. The adaptive approach is appropriate for businesses whose customers want the product to perform in different ways on different occasions, and available technology makes it possible for them to customize the product easily on their own.
Rather than repeatedly having to adjust separate light switches until the right combination is found, the customer can quickly achieve the desired effect merely by punching in the programmed settings. The cosmetic approach is appropriate when customers use a product the same way and differ only in how they want it presented. Rather than being customized or customizable, the standard offering is packaged specially for each customer.
Although personalizing a product in this way is, frankly, cosmetic, it is still of real value to many customers. Witness the billions of dollars that consumers spend each year on such products as embellished T-shirts and sweatshirts.
The Planters Company, a unit of Nabisco, chose cosmetic customization when it retooled its old plant in Suffolk, Virginia, in order to satisfy the increasingly diverse merchandising demands of its retail customers. In the past, Planters could produce only long batches of small, medium, and large cans; as a result, customers had to choose from a few standard packages to find the one that most closely met their requirements.
Consider ChemStation of Dayton, Ohio, which mass-customizes a product that most of its competitors treat as a commodity: industrial soap for such commercial uses as car washes and cleaning factory floors. This practice eliminates the need for customers to spend time creating or reviewing orders. They do not know which soap formulation they have, how much is in inventory, or when the soap was delivered. They only know—and care—that the soap works and is always there when they need it.
Although each of the four companies has implemented a strikingly different customization strategy, all share an orientation that challenges the conventional concept of markets and products. As mass production took hold in the hearts and minds of managers during the past century, the definition of a market shifted from a gathering of people for the sale and purchase of goods at a fixed time and place to an unknown aggregation of potential customers.
Today as markets disaggregate, the definition is changing again: customers can no longer be thought of as members of a homogeneous market grouping. In fact, the concept of markets needs to be redefined still further as customization becomes more commonplace. Economies of scale in manufacturing and distribution brought down the price of mass-produced goods so much that all but the most well-to-do customers were often willing to forgo their individuality and settle for standardized—but very affordable—goods.
Still, the uniqueness of individual customers never went away; it was just subsumed in the averages of countless bell curves in every market-research study ever performed. The concept began coming back into view when companies discovered segmentation in the s and niche marketing in the s. And so it seems that we have come to the end of a year progression. Or have we?
In fact, the journey does not end with every customer being his or her own market. The next step, a widespread recognition that multiple markets reside within individual customers, will turn the entire notion of markets and customers completely inside out.
The idea that every customer is in different markets at different times and different places is not as heretical as it initially might sound. For instance, newspaper publishers have long recognized that most of their customers have more leisure time on Sundays to read the paper and accordingly have filled that edition with a greater number and wider variety of stories.
Similarly, airlines, hotels, and car-rental companies find that the desires of their clients differ greatly depending on whether they are traveling for business or for leisure—and differ yet again when they combine the two. Only those companies that take their approach to customization down to this level will gain access to the multiple markets within each of us.
How can companies tackle this task? If the technological wherewithal exists, the easiest approach would be to design a product that could adapt to whatever market its user happened to be in—such as a car transmission that can be sporty for tooling down the coast or smooth for taking the in-laws out to dinner.
For frequently purchased goods and services, a company could work with individual customers first to identify the markets they potentially could be in at different times and in different circumstances and then to maintain a distinct profile for each possibility. A real opportunity arises here because even the customers themselves may not realize these distinctions. Many people in many situations will discover things about themselves only in a collaborative dialogue with a trusted supplier.
Together, customer and supplier will create the multiple markets within. Instead of focusing on homogeneous markets and average offerings, mass customizers have identified the dimensions along which their customers differ in their needs.
These points of common uniqueness reveal where every customer is not the same. Adept mass customizers have identified the dimensions along which their customers differ in their needs. To be effective, mass customizers must let the nature of these sacrifice gaps drive their individual approaches to customization.
Paris Miki understood that consumers rarely have the expertise to determine which eyeglass design best fits their facial structure, desired look, and coloring, and therefore chose to collaborate with customers to help identify their largely unarticulated needs. Lutron adopted adaptive customization because it knew that no two rooms have the same lighting characteristics and that both individuals and groups use any given room in multiple ways. Planters realized that each of its retail customers varied in how it wanted to receive and merchandise standard peanuts, so cosmetic customization was its favored choice.
And ChemStation understood that although each of its customers had unique formulation and delivery needs, none of them wanted to be bothered with either the day-to-day procedures or the formulation of such a mundane part of its business as soap.
Altering the product itself for individual customers provides the most clear-cut means of customization. But adept mass customizers realize that customizing the actual product is only one way to create customer-unique value. Customizing the representation of the product—or how it is presented or portrayed to the customer—can be effective as well. In fact, separating the product from its representation can provide a useful framework for considering which forms of customization are most appropriate for a given business.
Second, determine a cost structure to manufacture the products while remaining profitable. Third, assist customers in building solutions to address their needs. A good balance of agile expertise, process, and technologies is needed to hit the mark. Some of the key success factors and technologies that can drive mass customization include the following:. While the benefits of mass customization are easy to list down, not all mass customization companies succeed. Here are some mass customization ideas to keep in mind when implementing the model:.
ConfigureID has been in the business of helping brands connect with customers, making them happy co-creators of products and services. Our solution has the following features that will be essential in achieving your mass customization:. You will have access to an easy-to-use content management system CMS that will allow you to set up customizable products to showcase on your ecommerce site.
You can also set up sophisticated configuration logic to ensure only valid combinations are allowed. You can show off your products using high-quality 2D images or 3D models. Your customers will be able to interact with these to view the products from different angles. Engage and convert more shoppers with our best-in-class UI. As product specs are updated you can easily incorporate discounts or upcharges as necessary. In turn, customers will see the appropriate adjustments to the price of the item they are buying.
If you sell in different countries, you will have localization options for different currencies and languages. Mass customization is a must if you want to stand out from the rest. Empower consumers and create a truly personalized customer experience for them. Request a demo now to learn more about what ConfigureID can offer your brand and your customers.
Mass Customization: Is it Possible to Achieve? Updated 4 months ago. Lindsay Vine. July 8, Why Is Mass Customization Important? Increase in Sales and Better Profit Margins With brand loyalty , 60 percent of customers purchase more frequently from trusted brands, and 50 percent of these loyal customers spend more on their purchases. Competitive Advantage Understanding the importance of customization is essential, but you need to carefully choose the best approach to deliver the best value to your target market.
Different Types of Mass Customization The concept of mass customization is nothing new. More than 20 years ago, Joseph Pine and James Gilmore outlined the different faces of mass customization: Collaborative Customization As the name suggests, this kind of mass customization involves creating a product in collaboration with clients. Most customers are not interested in having a customized light bulb or washing detergent. Moreover, customized products cost more and clients have to wait in order to get them.
Successful for luxury and not successful for basic products: If we take into consideration the prospect of making profits and doing good business, then for most business types the profits earned by the customization does not outweigh the complexity and cost of producing customized products. This concept works better for high-end, luxury items such as designer wear and cars.
Challenges with return of customized product: Mass customization also creates a lot of problems for the manufacturers when the products get returned. Mainly, this does not happen as the product is created according to the likes of the customer but some returns will take place. In such cases, businesses that do not have mechanisms to reverse the customization tend to face many issues.
Moreover, the chances of another client wanting the same product as someone else are too narrow, which can put the business in a tricky situation. Therefore, majority of such companies do not have any return policies or simply bear the loss of return in case it allows it. The systems of suppliers are mostly optimized and designed for producing prearranged amount of products rather than catering to any unforeseen demand.
Many do not even integrate latest supply-chain management applications like just-in-time inventory and automated planning, which results in lesser flexibility, specificity, and visibility with mass customization. This means that most businesses will only be able to implement mass customization in a partial manner. However, even this partiality can offer advantages to manufacturers. As the concept increases the scope of a product, it helps manufactures to cater to different types of consumer markets.
It also introduces manufacturers to new target markets and allows them to explore the possibility of manufacturing products for them. Mass customization is going to take a few years before it becomes a household name. Even then, it will more likely be a rough adaptation of conventional mass production, according to some theorists. On the contrary, products that cannot exist without customization will be customized no matter what happens to this concept.
E-mail is already registered on the site. Please use the Login form or enter another. You entered an incorrect username or password. Changes take place …. Company culture is ridiculously underestimated. If you are a decision maker in your company and you …. Not yet a member? Sign Up. Find your dream job. Get on promotion fasstrack and increase tour lifetime salary. Explore A structured search through millions of jobs. Job Interview Training Skyrocket your resume, interview performance, and salary negotiation skills.
Find my next job. Resume Templates Choose resume template and create your resume. Cover Letter Templates Choose cover letter template and write your cover letter. Create my resume now. Resources Online resources to advance your career and business. Business Marketing, Sales, Product, Finance, and more.
Personal development Productivity, Mindfulness, Health, and more. Add to favorites. Featured in:. Pin Share Add a picture. Choose file.
0コメント