Blame it on Starbucks. Our students in the millennial group (18-39 years old) seem to be looking for ways to customize everything they buy, according to the Chicago Tribune (Feb.26,2011). And it’s not just picking apps for their phones, IDs for their Nike shoes, or music for their iPods.
Now Kraft, the food giant, with its first new brand since the DiGiorno pizzas of 1995, has just introduced MiO, a $3.99 squeeze bottle of flavoring. Consumers can customize their water with flavors like pomegranate or strawberry. Not only will Kraft begin a TV marketing blitz in 3 weeks, but it will give away 100,000 samples through its Facebook page.
Northwestern prof. Alex Chernev points out that consumers derive “additional utility” in doing something themselves. He calls it the “Ikea effect” because buyers got to assemble their own furniture. In the old days, manufacturers made products to meet consumer tastes, he adds. Now they outsource the customization to consumers themselves.
Experts trace the mass customization rage to Starbucks’ success, which pioneered modifiers like “no-whip”, “double-shot”, and “nonfat” to the masses in the 1990’s, removing the stigma of complex orders. (My local Starbucks already knows I only get a “grande decaf iced-mocha with 2 pumps and a dollop of whipped cream”)!
So when you teach mass customization in Chapter 7, consider the quote from a 23-year-old student at Roosevelt U. in Chicago: “Our generation has this sense of entitlement. It’s not only ‘the customer is always right’ but ‘I’m always right’ “.
Discussion questions:
1. What other mass customizations are taking place among products?
2. Why is this an important issue to retailers and manufacturers?