SpringerBriefs in Business
2011
Mass CustomizationAn Exploration of European CharacteristicsAuthors:

• Paolo Coletti,
• Thomas Aichner
• …show all 2hide
  

ISBN: 978-3-642-18389-8 (Print) 978-3-642-18390-4  (Online)



Mass CustomizationAn Exploration of European Characteristics

Series: SpringerBriefs in Business

Coletti, Paolo, Aichner, Thomas

2011, X, 100p. 20 illus..

ISBN 978-3-642-18390-4

  Immediately available per PDF-download (no DRM, watermarked)

About this book

• Provides a complete overview on mass customisation theories and implementation strategies
•                                         Includes 11 examples of mass customization implementation in different sectors
•                                         Based on a marketing survey with over 500 european respondents
  

Mass Customization excites both Researchers and Practitioners because of the possibility to produce customized products with mass production efficiency. Mass Customization - An Exploration of European Characteristics gives an overview on the need for personalisation from a customer perspective, analyses Mass Customization theories and assesses relevant best practices of European and International markets. The results of a survey among more than 500 European customers show a declining willingness of customers to compromise on the issue of suitability of products to their personal needs and preferences, the possibility for companies to break brand loyalty and the influence of immediate availability, delivery time and price to the customer's willingness to take part in the co-creation process.

Mass Customization has become important to business because of the difficulties of customers to find what they want despite an increase in product variety for many products over the past decades. The emergence of modern technologies in production and communication, however, allows companies to produce customized products without relinquishing economies of scale. With only few companies having taken this promising path, the authors believe that Mass Customization and Mass Customization related marketing strategies will play an essential role in the future and prompt both market leaders and their competitors to offer customization on a large scale for a vast variety of products.

Contents
1 The Need for Personalisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 The Evolution of Needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Trend in Product Variety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.3 Emergence of Mass Customization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.3.1 Competencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.3.2 Transition and Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2 Mass Customization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.1 Different Perspective to Mass Customization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.2 Electronic Mass Customization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.3 Mass Customization Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.3.1 A Demonstrative Model for Customized Assembly . . . . . 37
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3 Empirical Investigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.1 Sample and Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.2 Factors Impacting Consumers’ Behaviour. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.2.1 Prices and Availability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.2.2 Personalisation Intention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.2.3 Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3.2.4 Brand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
4.1 The Role of Stores for Mass Customized Products . . . . . . . . . . 54
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Appendix I: Survey’s Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Appendix II: English Questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
ix
Appendix III: German Questionnaire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Appendix IV: Italian Questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Appendix V: Questionnaire’s Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75