In any market, “Customer is the King”. Hence, it becomes
imperative to provide outstanding service to customers. Flexible work flows and
latest information technology allow companies to customize their products and
meet their customers’ unique needs at a low cost. Mass customization is
described as "enabling a customer to decide the exact specification of a
product or service, and have that product or service supplied to them at a
price close to that for an ordinary mass produced alternative". Many
companies have explored this option to benefit from customer heterogeneity.
Paris Miki is a big Japanese eyewear retailer and has many
global eyewear stores. The company developed Mikissimes Design System which
eliminates the need to view random choices when selecting a pair of glasses.
The process involves capturing a digital image of the customer’s face,
analyzing its attributes, inputting customer preferences, recommending lens
shape and size and displaying it on the digital image of the customer. The
customer is provided options to select hinges, arms and nose bridges to
finalize the design. Once the design is decided, the optician assembles the
eyeglasses within an hour.
ChemsStation, a company in Ohio, mass customized industrial
soap used for car washes and cleaning factory floors. It analyzes the
customer’s needs and formulates the correct proportion of soap and other
ingredients. The company analyses the consumer patterns and delivers more soap
without the customer placing an order. Hence, the customer does not have to
spend time reordering goods.
Hertz, a rental car service, changed the processes governing
car reservations, preparations and returns to reduce counter interaction and
less time consuming. It started the gold service program, under which it assigned
vehicles to customers en route and automatically prepared rental agreements.
Hertz found out that the gold service actually cost it less than the standard
operating procedure.
Ritz-Carlton uses data mining techniques to learn about
individual needs and customize the rooms based on their preferences. It stores
information about guest such as their preferences for particular radio stations
and tv channels, hypoallergenic pillows and their food preferences. It then
uses it to tailor the service for the customer’s next visit. Each visit adds
more preferences to the customer database and the hotel is able to customize
and create a unique experience for its guests. [1]
Nike, a sportswear company, allows its customers to
customize clothing using the NikeID service. The customers are allowed to add
personal designs to selected items. NikeId attributes for almost 20% of the
company’s revenue. [2]
Wild Things, an outdoor gear retailer, offered customizable
jackets by allowing customers to select the linen fabric, color combination and
even the zipper. It also allowed the customers to remove the pockets or pick
the location of the pocket depending on whether the customer was left or right
handed.[3] Nowadays customers have the option to personalize the card background
image (Disover Card), design their shoes (Shoes of prey), choose the perfect
artwork according to space (at60inches) and also make their own serial
(MixMyOwn).
Although mass customization is lucrative, companies run the
risk of sliding from phenomenon to fad if they pick an overcrowded category.
Companies need to strike a perfect balance between the features it allows its
customers to customize and standard features. High rate of customization might
increase costs and delivery times. One should consider all these factors before
adopting mass customization techniques.
[1] Four faces of Mass Customization, Harvard Business
Review
[3] http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/229869
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