Benefits of Mass Customization
- items cost more than mass-produced counterparts
- still generally less expensive than luxury goods,
- minimal start-up costs (Rob Adler, Babson College)
- In most cases, custom businesses can operate exclusively online
- leasing or buying a brick-and-mortar
- We don’t have to make anything in advance (Nick LaCava, Chocomize.com)
What about Venture Capital
- Dace Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm: increase in entrepreneurs
- We one new venture focused on customization out of thousands a year
- Now we see several per month. That’s a major shift.
- Invested in Panraven Inc., a three-year-old custom photo-scrapbooking business
Custom Mattress from -Â www.create-a-mattress.com
- self designed
- including inner springs
- layer of latex
- Priced: Â $1,250
- start-up founded by former Dial-A-Mattress executive Evan Saks. Mr. Galloway
- business-trend: increasing consumer and entrepreneurial interest in customized goods
- interest is ranging from specially made toilet paper to one-of-a-kind pet food.
CustomMade.com Directory – www.custommade.com
- an online directory of custom home-furnishings businesses
- currently has more than 1,000 listings
- up from just 300 in 2009,
- He projects that the businesses listed on CustomMade will earn a combined $20 million in 2010
- up from the $8 million they reported to have earned this way in 2009
Customized goods Customers
- appeal to younger customers
- personalized ring tones
- avatars and the like, businesses say
- “It’s almost a base expectation that a product should be tailored to one’s personality
RepublicBike.com – www.republicbike.com
- the two-year-old company’s bikes
- cost between $400 and $500
- three styles
- 10 colors for parts such as tires, grips and saddles
SlantShackJerky.com – www.slantshackjerky.com
- Designing a product online from scratch is a highly interactive experience
- something young consumers are used to
- Customers can choose from
- two types of beef
- two marinades
- four rubs
- two glazes
- up to 60 combinations
- costing a minimum of $12.50 for a quarter pound
- “We wanted to take something pretty simple and boring and add a level of excitement to it,” says Mr. Kace, who has seven business partners.
HeroBuilders.com – www.heroBuilders.com
- added custom products to their existing catalogs of mass-produced goods
- hand-made action figures
- celebrities and politicians launched nine years ago
- customers later began requesting dolls made to look like themselves
- family and friends,
- custom dolls, cost around $375
- sell an average 500 a year
Frecklebox – www.frecklebox.com
- there consumers aren’t always happy with the end result and go to waste
- “We’ve had customers misspell their own child’s name
- storybooks that feature a child’s name on the cover and throughout the story line.
DNA11.com – www.dna11.com
- “You’re working on each individual order separately
- five-year-old business that creates artistic portraits of consumers’ DNA
- fingerprints and lips
- starting at $200 each
- Pets’ DNA portraits are also for sale
- You can’t just click a button and create 10,000 orders
- 16-employee business
- $2 million in annual revenue
- People want to stand out in a world that’s increasingly cookie cutter
- And there’s nothing more personal than your DNA.”
Notes on the WSJ Article on Demand and Made to Order Goods:
