Why
Customers Value Self-Designed Products: The Importance of Process Effort and Enjoyment
This
article is about a study that analyzes factors that prompts customers to show
value to products that they create using mass-customization (MC) toolkit. The reason why I think this article is
important is because it allows an individual to come up with list what he or
she wants in this product and how can he or she achieve it. A product design requires creativity and lot
of thought process. Hard work put by an
individual to achieve desired results will always add sentimental value towards
that product. However if desired results
are not achieved then failure tends to motivate to gain more understanding and
be more innovative.
In
this article writers have tested the hypothesis on 186 participants who designs
their own scarves by using MC toolkit. At the end of the testing finding are
that customers are willing to pay more for products designed by them. This
research also indicates that if the process was fun then it would add more
value toward that product. The process enjoyment is defined as a “positive
affective reaction elicited by the process of self-designing the product and
perceived process effort as the subjective perception of the time and mental
energy invested in designing the product.” As I mentioned earlier if an
individual achieves desired results and enjoys the process, then it will add
more value for that product.
Big
companies like Nike and Adidas are using this toolkit to gain customer
satisfactions. I think this idea is an
ideal way to make others appreciate the work it requires for one to get the job
done. For the practicing managers, I
would suggest to implement similar style in working environment which will
allow other members to learn and be aware of your efforts.
Franke,
Nikolaus; Schreier, Martin. Journal of Product Innovation Management. Dec2010,
Vol. 27 Issue 7, p1020-1031. 12p. 3 Charts, 3 Graphs.
I agree with the use of this type of tool. Your customers are your best resource for input on a product. If you can a tool in their hands and extract feedback from it, that is priceless.
ReplyDeleteMC toolkit, really interesting. I have never heard about it. Put value in every single product sounds really "cheesy", but it is totally right with economic trend, hand-made, home-made creation. Most of products are handmade before they are able to be put in mass production. It saves more time to produce it and also show customers its own value that comes from a creator. For example, Shark Tank show on TV is really interesting, people can see the creators with their own children, their products. They are so amazing to take their time to have those kind of ideas and cleverness in every details, every products.
ReplyDeleteI like this idea. However, from my experience with products that you can customize yourself, I have noticed they are a lot more expensive than the products readily available on the shelves. It is a great marketing idea, but in today's economy I believe the consumer is trying to save as much as possible, rather than spend extra money on products that can be customized.
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