As consumers, we want everything immediately and to meet our every need. We expect to be able to personalise our experiences and the products we can purchase and businesses adhering to these expectations have seen success – just look at Not on the High Street, who recently celebrated its 10th birthday and is earning millions.
So, yes, you could say customisation is the key to product success. The food industry has jumped on this bandwagon, Subway has always allowed you to curate your perfect sandwich and as result has thousands of franchises now throughout the country. Burger King’s motto was once ‘have it your way’, allowing customers to pick and choose elements of their meals and pizza places have always enjoyed this opportunity with the toppings you choose.
Card sites such as Moonpig and Funky Pigeon allow customers a unique experience creating their own custom cards and etsy sellers offer personalised jewellery, can turn kid’s drawings into stuffed toys and will etch the names of a newly married couple into a chopping board for their home. Customisation is definitely predominantly online, because people expect to wait but is not readily available on the general high street yet.
Bloggers have changed how we view products too. We see them opening up packages featuring items customised to their tastes and emblazoned with their name and we want that too. We want businesses to care what we think, understand what we like and cater to us and those that do are seeing more and more success.
Even products such as debit and credit cards have tried to cash in on the concept of customisation. For example Barclays allows you to upload a photo to be used on your debit card free of charge so you can ‘cherish those memories’ – there are, of course, guidelines around the sort of image you can use though!
DIY is another way people are customising their purchases and companies who offer the components of a customisation project are reaping the benefits. Even those businesses you might not have considered, such as Tente Castors who sell wheels to be fitted on furniture and chairs in the home, are enjoying sales from people looking to personalise their stuff.
It’s good to note though that businesses are still able to tailor what they offer the customer, as those buying from them can only choose from a set list of variables (such as colours, sizes or uploading an image into a set space) ensuring they can still meet the demands of the consumer.
Customisation is key for the future when it comes to products and the success of a business and this concept can surely only get stronger over time.
