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“Is the best product a unique product? A case study exploring alternatives to MassCustomisation with the online VirtualCommunity of Threadless”.
By Adam Fletchere-mail:adamfletcher@gmail.commore at:http://www.thezig.co.uk Originally June 2006 (Updated March 2008)
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Abstract
Mass Customisation has been portrayed as the ultimate form of marketing and the “businessopportunity of the next millennium”. This paper presents the results of a case study undertaken with theonline t-shirt manufacturer Threadless and its Virtual Community. The literary assumption thatconsumers want unique products, following recent renewed interest in Mass Customisation hasprompted this research. The aim of this study was to look at an industry where it is technically possibleto deliver a “pure” Mass Customisation experience and then to look at businesses adopting differentapproaches to see what they offer the consumer. Threadless’ business model aggregates opinions of user submitted designs and manufacturers the most popular into limited t-shirts. This studies looks atwhy this model is an attractive proposition for customers, community members and for Threadless.The results challenge a number of assumptions which can be found in the wider MC literature.Respondents at Threadless are willing to accept a product which they did not create and is not unique.This is providing that the product is at least limited, and that they have had involvement in its creation.The other key finding is that whilst Internet may offer enabling technologies which reduce the cost of individualisation, these same technologies may also reduce the cost of aggregation. This allowsbusinesses to group and manufacture for ever smaller markets of customers sharing the same needs.The author rejects the notion that a unique product created by its purchaser is the definitive product,calling for businesses to look for ways to combine both involvement and exclusivity in productcreation utilizing these aggregation opportunities.
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1.0 Introduction
This paper will investigate consumers' attitudes to Mass Customisation (MC) and collaboration for newproduct design conducted within a Virtual Community (VC).Research in this paper is centered on the virtual community of the online t-shirt business Threadless.com.Threadless is an ongoing design competition in which users are invited to submit a design to the VirtualCommunity. Any registered members can rate the design out of five and can also provide qualitativefeedback to the designer, usually in the form of modification suggestions or positive/negative writtenfeedback. A number of the highest rated design are then produced as t-shirts in short production runs andsold on the site.To follow is a critique of available literature in this area, followed by a discussion of the findings from aquestionnaire completed by members of the Threadless VC and ethnographic research of messageboardcommunication. Conclusions are followed by recommendations for further research in this area.
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