Mass customization: Oxymoron or inevitability?

Since the advent of the industrial revolution in the 1800s, mass production has become commonplace. It wasn’t unusual to see mass-produced cars, kitchen products, textiles, clothing, and other items used day-to-day by consumers. As time went on, however, customer interests changed. There has been a noticeable shift from mass production to mass customization in recent years, especially since the introduction of the internet.

Consumers these days want to be involved in the production process, having a direct say in the features of a product and truly making it their own. This “made-to-order” trend has continued year in and year out, with some businesses choosing to allow customization directly through their web portals or e-commerce stores.

In our current economy, there is a tension between mass customization and mass production. Older brands are still offering time-tested and proven products, while new innovative companies are beginning to embrace the mass customization push head-on.

In this blog, we’ll discuss mass customization, its challenges and benefits, and how businesses can begin implementing and making the shift towards customized and “made-to-order” products in the near future.

Benefits of mass customization

Mass customization offers a wide variety of benefits for businesses, consumers, and society as a whole. It allows companies to create a more sustainable economy, reduces waste, increases efficiency, paves the way for highly targeted audience engagement, and builds a more equitable distribution of goods and services.

Mass customization plays a role in developing a more sustainable economy due to the fact that not every product is perfectly suited to each consumer when mass-produced, allowing for the possibility of extra waste and products that don’t end up being used past the first few days or weeks after purchase. When products or services are customized to each individual consumer, they are much more likely to be utilized and cherished for the long term.

Waste reduction is another direct benefit brought about by mass customization. Since made-to-order products are typically purchased when there is an urgent need for that particular product, companies don’t need to mass-produce (and potentially throw out) large quantities of inventory. This allows for more efficiency in supply chains and ensures customers receive products they customize to their own liking, increasing their satisfaction with the product and its brand.

Mass customization also offers benefits in terms of audience engagement and the ability to market to highly targeted niche consumers. In a broad marketplace, there may be millions of people who need a particular type of product and then a large number of customer sub-groups that require slight customization to fit their particular use case. Mass customization solves this need and allows customers to order a specific type or iteration of a product.

Using mass customization to create a loyal base of happy customers

While the benefits of mass customization are clear, businesses that implement customization into their product or service offerings can improve their email strategy, enhance the web experience their customers find online, and empower their customers to have further control over each product they purchase.

Email marketing is often done with a segmented audience, split up by their particular interests and past interactions with a brand. Mass customization can be used in conjunction with an existing email marketing strategy and customer list to show consumers that they’ll be able to customize their favorite products and adapt them to how they use those products on a daily basis. The more relevant marketing emails are, the more likely they are to be opened and acted upon.

This improves the overall web experience since now consumers can see exactly how they can customize products to their liking, and if designed correctly, it allows prospective buyers to see the impact of their changes on an online web application or customization app.

There’s never been a better way to empower your most loyal buyers than to offer mass customization on products that can directly benefit from slight changes to make them more efficient or effective in day-to-day use.

Challenges of mass customization

While the benefits of mass customization are great, there are a number of challenges that anyone implementing mass customization has to be aware of, including increased supply chain complexity, the need for new and improved technologies, and the ability to handle an increased variety of customer queries and support requests.

The first and possibly greatest challenge businesses will face when implementing mass customization is the supply chain complexities that can result from these changes. In a typical mass production environment, the supply chain is static, and the inputs typically never change. As soon as mass customization is implemented, there could be a dozen new supply chain inputs, raw material inputs, and personnel requirements that need to be accounted for and budgeted for. Overcoming supply chain challenges is likely to be one of the biggest challenges faced, but once overcome, it can prove to be incredibly rewarding.

Depending on the scale of customization a business plans to implement, new technologies and/or machinery may be required to modify existing products and production systems to accommodate this customization. Furthermore, customization introduces more product variations, which can lead to a greater variety of support requests and customer service challenges.

Some textile and clothing businesses that have successfully implemented mass customization in recent years include Printful, where t-shirts can be screen printed with custom designs, logos, text, or patterns, and Kamakura Shirts, where dress shirts can be “made-to-order” based on specific measurements sent over by a customer.

Mass customization implementation requires a balance between the features allowed to be customized and how these features impact a product’s operations and supply chains.

Using the right strategies and data, any business can understand exactly which customization options their customers want and take the steps required to implement this customization in their products or services.

Audience segmentation: The key to implementing mass customization

Audience and customer segmentation are when a business creates segments of customers depending on their past interactions with a business and their interests. This is most often done through email lists, where customers can be “bucketed” based on the links they click, website pages they visit, and products they purchase. The ultimate goal of a segmented audience is to provide relevant content and product recommendations, boosting engagement as a result.

New technologies are changing the landscape of mass customization, with improved data collection and customer visibility, allowing for optimized ad spending and happier customers over time.

More and more businesses are utilizing real-time data collection and analytics to get a clear picture of their customers, what they typically purchase, when they purchase, and their spending habits. This type of insight wasn’t even remotely possible to obtain even a short decade ago, and it allows businesses to optimize their advertising spending and create marketing campaigns that are highly targeted to their existing customer base.

Mass customization works best with segmentation

Audience customization and segmentation need to be paired with a mass customization strategy, especially if you segment your existing or prospective customers by their interests and the products they’ve purchased in the past.

A customer who purchases lawn or garden products from premium brands and has a keen interest in koi fish (data collected through segmentation or interests questionnaires), for example, will be much more likely to buy customized premium products that accommodate a highly landscaped or decorative yard.

This customer can directly benefit from product offerings centered around koi fish, decorative landscaping, and premium landscaping products.

Regardless of your niche or industry, segmentation is essential if you want your customers to feel like you’re speaking directly to their needs rather than trying to market at them. If you want your customers to feel like they can customize their favorite products to meet specific needs or use cases, they’ll be much more likely to buy if you can send them specific product offerings based on their past interests.

In short, the key to a successful mass customization strategy is to deeply understand the specific segments your customers fall into and utilize these segments to develop your customization offerings.

Practical applications for mass customization in your business

New technologies related to accurate segmentation and improved data collection/analytics can be used to help your business overcome mass customization challenges and successfully make the shift to “made-to-order.”

Segmentation is key when it comes to implementing mass customization most effectively, especially with the potential supply chain impacts new customized product iterations can bring about. If you know exactly what specific segments your customers fall into, you can accurately design customization options that fit consumers in each of your existing segments. Rather than guessing which customizations your customers need, this allows you to back up your customization decisions with real, hard facts and data, saving significant time and money in the long run.

When we think of mass customization, it wouldn’t be unusual to have grand thoughts about major product changes or iterations that can alter the efficiency and operation of a standard mass-produced product. Drastic changes like these that could be outside the scope of your supply chain capabilities aren’t recommended – instead, we recommend finding a middle ground between customizable features and the existing product.

An example of a balance between custom features and the technology/personnel required to implement it would be allowing users to customize their product’s outer colors or add a specific engraving to their order; customization can also be balanced through custom order quantities, such as giving customers the ability to choose the weight of coffee beans they wish to have delivered.

These are examples of changes that don’t invoke significant supply chain disruptions while still satisfying that “customization itch.”

The future of mass customization

As the internet continues to flourish and companies increasingly add customization offerings to their flagship products and services, mass customization is here to stay and will likely continue to grow in popularity.

As consumers increasingly demand more customization from the products and services they use day-to-day, it will be up to businesses to meet that demand by ensuring that they are listening to customers and taking note of the specific customization options they wish to see in the products they purchase. Personalization must go beyond demographic data to be truly effective and instead rely on consumers’ interests and actual behaviors.

Mass customization is not just an oxymoron – it is an inevitability in our future.

As the internet allows consumers to research brands, products, and services and seek out those best suited to their needs and requirements, companies that meet these needs by offering customized solutions will be much more likely to beat the competition and win in their respective marketplaces.