Mass Customisation – The Latest Buzz in the Print Industry

Mass customization is the latest buzzword in the print industry. So what exactly is mass customization? It is the process of producing products for an extensive market but is customized to meet customers’ specific needs. It is a manufacturing process that creates large-scale customized products at the same time keeping low unit cost to provide built-to-order products to the mass. Customers get what they desire at a lower price. This way the customers are not only able to change features of their products but also get their products at a cost close to the value of the mass-produced item. That is all made possible because of the web to print which can be installed in the online stores to give users an engaging shopping experience. It enables customers to create a semi-custom version of the core product.

Customers Can Create Customized Product:

The actual cost of a customized product will not show initially. Customers create and customize the product; price will be sum as per the design elements. That gives complete control to the customers where they decide either add or subtract customized features from the product to get the final item as per their need and which fits their budget. Although it is called made to order it is not just a customized item because most companies provide pre-defined templates that facilitate firms to keep the costs lower and as close as possible to the original price.

For example, if a furniture company provides mass customization, it will offer customization on components such as the change in material used, modular pieces, additional designs, designed furniture legs, etc. This is just an example of the many modular home builders who offer customization options to modify the base home model. It acts as a partnership between the company and the individual customer as both agree on how the end product will look like and how much it will cost. The good news for the customer is that they get what they need and businesses, on the other hand, make a profit.

Types of Customizations:

In ‘Adaptive Customization’ companies create a general product that is standard across all types and consumers are allowed to customize as per their needs. There’s another concept called ‘Transparent Customization’ in which companies offer customers with unique products without explicitly letting them know that they are providing customized items. There is another concept called ‘Cosmetic Customization’ in which companies offer a general product but market it to their targeted customers in different ways.

B. Joseph Pine II initially dreamed of the idea of creating a product that has multiple interchangeable pieces which will come together in various ways to create multiple iterations of the same product. The concept was initially conceived to reduce production cost, while at the same time serve customers with mass customized product. And customers get to decide how the individual pieces would come together for the final product. This eventually offers to be a win-win scenario for both the businesses and customers. On the bright side, customers get the high level of satisfaction which is gold to the companies.