Mass customization

Mass Customization is the customization and personalizationof products and services for individual customers at a mass production price. Thus it means meeting each customer's individual wants and needs exactly, butat prices comparable to those of standard mass produced goods. The concept wasfirst conceived by Stan Davis in Future Perfect. It was then further developedby Joseph Pine in his book Mass Customization - The New Frontier in BusinessCompetition.

Traditionally customization and low cost have been mutuallyexclusive. Mass production provided low cost but at the expense of uniformity. Customizationwas the product of designers and craftsman. Its expense generally made it the preserve of the rich. To-day, new interactive technologies, like the Internet, allow customersto interact with a company and specify their unique requirements which are thenmanufactured by automated systems.

Why Do we Need Mass Customization:

The reasons of using Mass Customization instead of MassProduction can be identified as an adaptive behavior of the business. As theconsumer preferences are ever changing, and are becoming more diverse and unpredictable, gaining advantages among competitors need to be achieved by acknowledging customerneeds and reacting accordingly.

1. People are more unpredictable and diverse-minded; they refused to be considered see as collective groups but as individual person. To approach the goal, customer requires more unique products to exhibit their distinctness and uniqueness.
2. By providing successful customized products to customers, companies can shift the focus of their buyers from how much they are to pay to how much benefit they can get.
3. Since manufacturers make products after receiving orders, the risk of over-producing an item that no one need and stocking it in the inventory are reduced.
4. Companies create a close relationship with their suppliers, distributors and customers when the customers return again and again, sending their unique orders. Also, satisfied customers will provide excellent references and referrals.

Business Strategies Supporting Mass Customization

Mass Customization can be used to support different businessstrategies.

Customization is the norm

Customers are given the opportunity to configure their product. This has been a common strategy in the furniture sector (e.g. sofas). Some customersmay select a recommended version and the company may speculate by stockingpopular configurations, but the underlying strategy is to offer every customera choice.

Customization for premium products and brand building

The principle underlying this strategy is that customers arewilling to pay more for a product that satisfies them more. Compared to (lower priced) standard products, the customizable product can have the potential for greatersatisfaction by: having a better physical fit; a bigger choice of functions;more attractive styling options, and so on.

It is not only the customizable attributes of the priced) standard products, the customizable product can have the potential for greatersatisfaction by: having a better physical fit; a bigger choice of functions;more attractive styling options, and so on.

It is not only the customizable attributes of the product that give it its premium status, but also the buying experience. A customer canbe engaged in the buying process for a considerable time and a well-designedexperience enhances the brand. As an example Adidas is using this model tocustomize its offer.

Customization for market intelligence

A benefit of allowing customers to configure their product is that the company can find out not only how customers are reacting but learn fromthem. Rather than pay for market research, why not allow customers to customizetheir products and thereby tell you what trends are finding favors and whatinnovations they would like to see in your products?

Customization creates new services

By allowing customization, a company can expand is market and create new services

Criticisms of Mass Customization

As MC has risen in profile it has attracted criticism. The major criticisms are that one, It is not applicable to every industry. Thus expert advice against its use in Auto industry. Second, it is very difficult to elicit customers specification. Thus a consumer may not be able to articulate his needs very well.

Mass Customization Case Studies from Apparel Industry

Bodymetrics

Bodymetrics is a UK based organization that deals in made-to-measure jeans. There is a 3-D scanner which takes about 200 measurements in 5 seconds. The measurements are used to create a virtual replica of the body from which a digital pattern for the jeans is created.

Clothes are made in the Far East or North America. Prices start around 250, or $482, per pair of jeans. They dont carry any stock, are never on sale, and receive cash upfront before manufacturing. They have very high sales per square foot about $2000.

DNA Style Lab

They sell customized T-shirts. In this model, the company commissions a number of artists from around the world. They contribute design elements which a customer can select. The more graphic elements a user selects, the more expensive the final product gets.

In this model, the artists will get their full price, the user pay for the graphic elements they select ( about $5), the company itself makes its profit from selling the core product which is about $10.

Ziami

Ziami is a German company, who make custom made shirts for about 29 Euro and custom-made suits for about 99-Euro. They use multi-level marketing approach in their model, in which whosoever purchases a 50 Euro starter package, becomes a custom shirt seller. The distributors purchase a custom shirt for 22 Euro and sell it for 29 Euros. Manufacturing is done in China and Thailand. The major complaints are unstable quality, bad customer service and poor fabrics.

I-Fashion Project, Korea

It combines a consortium of 9 apparel companies and a few technology providers.

The entire process builds on virtual models, which are generated by a 3D body scan of a consumer. The customer can then create on a touch-screen kiosk her new apparel, including the design of the fabric. Designs are illustrated real-time on the customer's avatar.

Zafu.com

It asks women shoppers 11 questions about how they prefer jeans to sit on their hips or waist to create a body profile. The results are used to match the user with as many jeans as could suit them from a database of hundreds of styles, from broadly marketed Gap to pricey Seven, then link them to a retailer to purchase.

Zafu also allows women to save their profile making the process even easier next time they return. This helps them also to inform customers when a new jean is added to their assortment that exactly fits their body style. However, if a user does not want to leave any data, she does not have to do register etc. Zafu.com is profitable because first, Zafu does not carry any inventory, but directs customers directly to the web sites of affiliated retailers and gets the usual commissions between 5-20% of each sale. Second, they will provide in-house fit recommendation services to online and offline retailers, helping the customers of just one brand to navigate the assortment in a store or online shop better.

Adidas

Mi-Adidas store can customize fit (length and width), performance (insole, outsole, upper, and cushioning material; stud distribution etc.) and design (color and custom embroidery) features. In this a consumer jogs on a computerized catwalk. Sensors embedded in the track can record the exact pressure of his footfall and gauge his running posture. This data is used to measure perfect fit. He then chooses the looks of his shoes by choosing a massive interactive cube at the front of the store. And using a three dimensional virtual mirror, he can try-on his own creation, checking out the shape, color and cut from every angle. A custom pair of shoes carries a $40-65 premium and Adidas promises delivery within 21 days in the US.

Suggestions to an exporter about Mass Customization

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