Response on Kate’s Blog Post of “Customization”
Nov 13th, 2012 by Shawn Li
Just as my classmate Kate has indicated in her blog post, customization is a brilliant marketing strategy that businesses are adopting nowadays to increase the uniqueness of their products which hopefully will contribute to an ultimate rise in sales of the firms.
It is true that customization does not only satisfy customers but also benefit the company. However, what I am concerning is what degree of customization is acceptable and the problems involved when business lose its originality because of over-customization.
It may seem interesting that customers are able to design their own drink by mixing several Coke-Cola products. However, is it a real selling point that can last long? Mixing several drinks may come up with thousands of new varieties of drinks, but after all people will still stick with either Coke or Sprite. Customers purchase certain goods from a business because of the originality that product has with the brand. If a customer can customize a whole new good with the company, then why doesn’t he/she just DIY on his/her own? It’s cheaper.
In my opinion, a limitation to customization is needed for all businesses that tend to carry out this strategy. Many businesses are already aware of the importance of limited customization. For example, Louis Vuitton only allows customers to embed their names on bags rather than customizing designs; Timberland only authorizes purchasers to customize the body and bottom of their boots with limited combinations of color. None of these brands allow customers to customize the original design of the products because that’s what they are selling for.
To conclude, customization can be an additional advantage of a company. But it should not become the main selling base of the products of a business.