Satisfied Customizers
Shoppers want to design their own stuff, and businesses are happy to oblige
Don't forget your dentist appointment," your Brookstone Floating Message Alarm Clock announces as you pop up out of your Sleep Number bed, adjusted to your firmness needs. (Your spouse, on the other side of the mattress, chose a softer setting.) You slip into a desert turquoise Polo shirt with a lemon-crush pony, low-rise, boot-cut jeans from Target, and Nike iD sneakers, all of which you designed. You start perusing blogs you've found that pick the news items you're most interested in. Then you glance at the Fossil watch you created and realize, drat, it's time to head to work in your customized car.
The 1970s may have gone down in history as the "me decade," but that was because people had no idea what was coming.
"It used to be consumers wanted something state-of-the-art," says Wharton professor of marketing Barbara Kahn. "Now they want something tailored to them." Indeed, Brand Keys, a research firm that studies customer loyalty, found that customization is 30 percent of what draws a person to a brand today as opposed to a mere 6 percent in 1997.
Getting personal can be pricey, but it doesn't have to be, as Michael Dell discovered when he founded Dell computers in 1984. Instead of assembling computers and then hoping people would want them, the company didn't even order parts until customers said what they wanted. "It changed the computer industry," says Martha Rogers, cofounder of Peppers and Rogers Group, a marketing consulting firm focused on customer relations. "He said, 'We don't have to do it the old way. We might not always sell the same number, but we'll never lose money on computers we've made.' " Dell's success shifted the way many manufacturers operated--they realized they could do away with the stuff that sits on shelves for months and replace it with products that consumers specifically asked for. And with the advent of the Internet and improved factory technologies, reasonably priced customization is everywhere.
Shoes. It seems Nike has been in the customized shoe biz forever with its Nike iD program ($110 and up for a pair of Shox, nike.com )--remember the brouhaha in 2001 when customers tried to get the word sweatshop on their sneakers? With a recent relaunch adding lots of other athletic gear to the mix, Nike iD is the leader of the pack. But plenty of footwear makers are running to catch up. Custom Old Skools and Custom Slip-Ons from Vans ($50-$60, vans.com ) offer patterns such as a skull and crossbones on a pink background. Timberland (timberland.com) has the Build Your Own Boot program that lets shoppers pick colors and a monogram. Over at Converse (converse.com) , the classic Jack Purcells and other models can be made over to your taste ($60-65). For the holidays, you can get velvet and suede options in colors like shiraz and caramel. And over the summer, Puma launched the Mongolian Shoe BBQ tour. Customers set up appointments to pick the colorful parts that are assembled into their kicks ($130). Although it was meant to be a temporary in-store promotion--Boston, Miami, and Washington, D.C., stores are the last on the itinerary (through December 31)--Puma hopes to offer the service on its website, too.
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