Mass customization allows customers to customize an item’s features, content, or appearance according to their own preferences, and it is a big thing in the apparel industry for a long period now.
Back in 1970, Alvin Toffler, the futurist forecasted the emergence of customization in Future Shock. Joseph Pine, a customization expert, published “Mass Customization: The New Frontier in Business Competition” in 1992, and the “Markets of One” in 2000 suggests that how personalization/customization would change the structure of the American economy.
Even after several years of prediction, mass customization was not able to grab its route in the industry. However, some major brands tried offering customization for their products and failed miserably.
Levi Strauss & Co. had offer customized jeans from 1993 to 2003 but failed to meet customers’ expectations that made their venture in the customization world unsuccessful. Dell was the most active practitioner of customization at one point of time; however, they put an end on mass customization by stating that the model had too expensive and complex to continue.
But today, when apparel customization and fashion design software are easily accessible, mass customization is experiencing revitalization among big brands like Hallmark, M&Ms, Wrigley, Kraft, and many others. Along with such major brands and organization, numerous other international startups retaining in products like jeans, jewelry, mosaic tile, chocolate, and cereal understand the importance of mass customization to survive in the market. This trend showcases the growing demand for mass customization among consumers. We are living in an era where mass customization is adding the value to many product categories and offering benefits to both sellers and buyers alike.
How are technologies supporting mass customization?
We are living in a world where consumers’ expectations are being shaped by different social media platforms and highly inspired by their favorite stars. Personalization has a growing and a huge role in digital experiences, from Facebook to Instagram to other mobile applications like Google Maps.
These expectations can be achieved by the following trends that market the mass customization service for products:
• The new age’s supply chain technology enables business for highly efficient production. Supply chain software provides an effective flow between users’ creative efforts and production supply chain.
• Today, product customization software is readily available and cost less money. In the recent past, we have seen the drastic drop in the cost and time required to develop a platform to offer customization option. Also, there are ready to use fashion design software available in the market, which is easy to integrate to existing ecommerce website or store to offer customization services.
• As the mass customization empowering many industries, we can witness the revolutionary upgrade in the software industry as well. There are numerous software available like apparel design software for clothes designing, shoe design software for customized shoes, and much more that enables customers to design their own items.
Mass Customization is For All
Though mass customization is still trying to find its place in many categories, some leading categories such as clothing and footwear, customizable service is mounting. As per the recent study, around 80% of customers are likely to buy from an organization that offers personalized experiences. Nowadays, customers are looking for a platform to customize their products or an online store where they can purchase build-to-order products, and even they are ready to spend extra bucks for the same. Considering the demand for personalized products, the mass customization is going to be here for a longer period and have a huge scope. The “I Designed It Myself Impact” has a huge contribution to the popularity of mass customization, where consumers feel a sense of accomplishment.
Knowing Your Customers Better and Recommending Products Accordingly
Customer loyalty plays a huge role in the success of any business, and to achieve that knowing your customers and creating a personalized recommendation list is a must. In this digital era, it is important for retailers to understand their customers as individuals, so that it becomes easy to predict the feature combinations best suited for them and which will grab the attention of the consumers. This can be achieved by integrating data science and AI to your website to monitor customers’ shopping behavior and taste to create a recommendations list accordingly.
Apart from changing the way users deal with brands and products, mass customization will be having a huge impact on a company’s revenue. Personalization approaches to reach users to meet customer’s expectations. If you are also looking to take your business to the next level with the assistance of product customization, you can contact iDesigniBuy to get a tailor-made software to meet your business requirements and serve your customers better.
Source- http://customerthink.com/how-customization-can-change-the-game-for-apparel-players/