6/14/2019 One size doesn’t fit all: The rise of mass customisation - customisation, machine learning, personalisation, CPQ

ion, CPQ systems, marketing …

One size doesn’t fit all: The rise of mass customisation

Customer demand coupled with the power of software tools, AI and machine learning is seeing mass customisation in everything from
chocolate and soft drink to jeans and sneakers

Rosalyn Page (CMO) 12 June, 2019 07:09

“Any customer can have a car

painted any colour ... so long as it is black”, said Henry Ford. The inventor
was clearly no fan of mass customisation.

While it didn’t hurt Ford’s business - the pioneer of the Model T Ford
scaled production of this car from the thousands to the millions over 20
years until 1926 - today it’s a different matter as brands look to boost their
appeal by increasingly embracing customisation.

Many consumers are keen to stamp their mark on products and have
things styled just for them as a way of expressing personality, beliefs and
values. And we’re long past the time when products were purely
functional.

Take Burger King and its ‘Have it your way’ tagline, used for 40 years from
the 1970s, which encapsulates the shift from one-size-fits-all to consumer-
led marketing. The brand’s current catch phrase, ‘Be your way’, signals an
even more personalised message to its customers.

But it’s not just advertising taglines getting personal. Mass customisation, or producing goods on a large scale and allowing them to be
modified or personalised in some measure by consumers, is a phenomenon across popular brands, from FMCG players to clothing
producers.

Which means there’s a lot to consider for organisations looking to go down this path. Forrester senior B2B analyst, Xiaofeng Wang,
noted different levels of customisation, from product and service-level to packaging and marketing.

“Brands should decide if customisation is needed and on what level based on their business goals, brand positioning, go-to-market
strategies, target audiences and so on,” he told CMO.

That’s because brands just can’t offer carte blanche. The challenge is letting customers make their mark without interfering with the
symbols and qualities that define their products.

VP of sales for customisation software outfit KBMax, Kevin Jackson, said mass customisation and brands are not inherently
complementary.

“Customers want a unique quantity of one, while brands want a consistent appearance, quality, presentation and experience,” he said.
“If you think about customisable products, like Harley Davidson motorcycles, the product can be customised down to a specific type of
muffler, but the end product has to maintain the distinctive sound of the Harley Davidson brand.”

When one size doesn’t fit all

Some of the biggest brands in the world are embracing customisation, from custom-made jeans and eyeglasses to personalised
chocolate and self-styled sports shoes. The trick is creating wide appeal in a large market with a play for individuality.

For example, Levi’s has launched the Lot No. 1 service, allowing customers to create a bespoke pair of jeans starting with the style and
the weight, wash, pockets, thread and leather patches, down to the placement of the rivets. Customers start with a fitting session and
consultation with a master tailor who devotes 16 hours to fashioning the personalised denim. If that’s a little too intense, the iconic

https://www.cmo.com.au/article/print/662730/one-size-doesn-t-fit-all-rise-mass-customisation/ 1/3
6/14/2019 One size doesn’t fit all: The rise of mass customisation - customisation, machine learning, personalisation, CPQ systems, marketing …
denim brand has its Levi’s Tailor Shop service, letting owners add a touch of personalisation to their jeans with patches and customise
the fit and even repair damaged Levi’s.

Not all brands and not all products will suit mass customisation, but it can be a powerful marketing asset. And the effort can resonate
with customers, according to Wang.

“There are more parameters to consider when customising products like jeans than products like chocolate, which means it takes more
effort to customise jeans,” he noted. “But if it’s done well, it may also mean bringing more values to customers.”

Emerging tech opportunities

Perhaps if Ford had the right software platform, he might have been more willing to embrace some variety in car production. And
imagine his surprise to find customisation not only in iconic jeans, but also sneakers.

Nike recently rolled out a new feature in its app that uses augmented reality to calculate someone’s shoe size. By pointing a
smartphone camera at your feet, Nike’s technology measures 13 unique points on your foot, determining the best fit across all its
different styles.

Inside the app is a recording of the interior size and volume of every shoe in every size as well as other things affecting size such as
material, stitching and lacing. Using machine learning, the app recommends an ideal size in a chosen sneaker. It also allows the user to
confirm the suggested size so the system can learn how certain shoes fit and how an individual’s preferred fit in sneakers, too.

It’s not the first time Nike has embraced personalisation. The sportswear giant has a service called Nike By You that allows customers
to choose a base shoe model, such as the Internationalist or Air Max, then select shoe material, colours, the style of Nike branding and
even add initials or characters to shoes.

For Wang, it’s a simple numbers game when it comes to the complexity and success of customisation. Consider the number of different
parts that make up a product, for instance.

“When it comes to products like cars, planes and trains, there are nearly infinite combinations of different customisable parts. In this
case, a company needs a solution that allows the customer and salesperson to keep track of all the different customised elements that
can have a big effect on the price,” Jackson commented. “The more a product is able to be customised, the more important a CPQ
[configure, price, quote] solution will be to help deliver the final product efficiently.”

Up next: How Coca-Cola does mass customisation, plus how AR and VR should shake-up the personalisation game further

Page Break

Iconic but still unique

It’s not an understatement to label Coke an iconic brand – the brand has become shorthand for cola soft drinks. Yet surprisingly, it too
has felt the need or the opportunity to embrace customisation too.

Take Coca-Cola Freestyle, based on freestanding soda mixing machines using a touchscreen-operated dispenser and ‘micro-dosing’
technology to create nearly 200 drink options. The list includes 100 varieties that can’t be found anywhere else in a can or bottle.

“When we introduced Freestyle, it was truly a disruptive innovation,” said the offering’s vice-president and general manager, Chris
Hellmann. More than 50,000 Coca-Cola Freestyle units pour 14 million drinks per day in restaurants, cinemas, convenience stores,
amusement parks and other locations across the US and a handful of other countries.

Coke has since gone one step further, linking an app and Bluetooth smartphone connectivity into the Freestyle offering so customers
can queue up a drink or create a new mix when they’re in a Freestyle location.

“Choice and customisation are not fads, they're here to stay,” Hellmann claimed. “So we're focused on making sure the Coca-Cola
Freestyle platform stays current and contemporary and that we continue to offer more beverages people want.”

Machines boosting individualism

In a similar vein, character-driven chocolate brand, M&Ms, lets customers stamp their mark on tiny chocolate buds in the US and the
UK. The list doesn’t end there. Think Hallmark recordable story books, customised clothing through Blank Label, personalised design t-
shirts through Spreadshirt, personalised blends of breakfast with MyMuesli and mix-your-own snack boxes with Graze.

This might just represent a new, virtual production line of customisation as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) give rise
to personalisation at scale. These emerging technologies give more brands more parameters and therefore opportunity for tweaking
products.

“AI-powered solutions can automatically discover and generate thousands of discrete segments to evaluate exponentially more
permutations of data, rules and treatments,” Wang said. Which means the next frontier could be personalisation on steroids, he
https://www.cmo.com.au/article/print/662730/one-size-doesn-t-fit-all-rise-mass-customisation/ 2/3
6/14/2019 One size doesn’t fit all: The rise of mass customisation - customisation, machine learning, personalisation, CPQ systems, marketing …
predicted.

“Hyper-personalisation takes personalisation a step further by leveraging AI and real-time data to deliver more relevant content, product
and service information to each user. We see use cases in marketing and product recommendation for example,” he said.

And with augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) giving further power to customisation, brands can even allow customers to
really see a personalised product before they buy it.

“It’s never a good experience when you order a customised product online and it shows up looking nothing like you expected. The
ability to take this visualisation of mass customised options and the desire to see before buying will quickly extend into AR and VR as
the technology catches up to provide that feature for customers,” Jackson added.

Follow CMO on Twitter: @CMOAustralia, take part in the CMO conversation on LinkedIn: CMO ANZ, follow our regular updates via
CMO Australia's Linkedin company page, or join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CMOAustralia.

Copyright 2019 IDG Communications. ABN 14 001 592 650. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of IDG Communications is
prohibited.

https://www.cmo.com.au/article/print/662730/one-size-doesn-t-fit-all-rise-mass-customisation/ 3/3