Implementation Guidelines for Mass Customization: A Researcher-Oriented View

Self Cite

The growing adoption of social web technologies such as social software (SSW) in online configuration environments has enabled the possibility of supporting configurator users in interacting digitally with real people while they are shopping for customized products. Previous research has identified that online sales configurators (OSCs) are currently connected to SSW with different modalities to provide configurator users with a variety of options to digitally interact with real people. Enriching the configuration environment with social-interaction tools has engendered the phenomenon of socialproduct customization. Recent studies considered the social product-customization by investigating the impact that community feedback and social comparisons has on configurator user. However, the OSCs users' need to interact with different referents during their configuration process, and whether the SSW-OSCs connections respond to this need are still unsearched. To address this gap, the present study explores (a) whether users experience the need to interact with different referents while shopping via OSCs and (b) which interaction modalities users are looking for. By considering 943 configuration experiences from 189 users of 378 OSCs for various consumer goods, the present study finds that the need for social interaction by OSC users is highly relevant. Moreover, OSC users perceive the need to interact with different referents during different stages of the configuration process, and, depending on the referent with whom they wish to interact, they are interested in different interaction modalities in terms of how and where those interactions take place. These findings imply that mass customizers may leverage their customers' need to interact with real people while shopping online via OSCs in order to better engage their actual and potential customers.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Users’ Social-interaction Needs While Shopping via Online Sales Configurators

Grosso¹,

Forza²

2019

Self Cite

“…refs. [3,20,21]). The search was conducted in three relevant databases (Scopus, ISI Web of Science, and Science Direct), in December 2017.…”

Section: Abstract a R T I C L E I N F Omentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Data searching and selection procedures adopted (constructed by the authors with support of ref. [21]) [21]. Only review articles published in peer-reviewed journals in English language were selected, resulting in 78 publications.…”

Section: Abstract a R T I C L E I N F Omentioning

confidence: 99%

Product-service systems benefits and barriers: an overview of literature review papers

Moro¹,

Cauchick-Migue²,

Mendes³

2020

Product-Service Systems (PSS) were proposed by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in the late 1990s. Publications on the subject began to emerge after the release of the report "Product Service systems, Ecological and Economic Basics" [1], which was written to stimulate discussion on the subject, being commissioned by the Dutch Ministries of Environment and Economic Affairs. PSS is offered as an integrated package of products and services [2,3] with the aim to deliver an outcome, functionality, or a system's availability [4]. While providing solutions that can meet the needs of end customers, PSS contributes to reducing resource consumption and environmental impact [5]. Therefore, PSS may help to manage the sustainability of organizations [6], by providing a 'triple-win' wrapping economic, environmental, and social requirements [7]. One example of PSS is Riversimple that offers hydrogen-powered cars that customers can rent by paying a monthly fee to covers car use, maintenance, insurance, and fuel [8]. Bike-sharing systems such as the French Velib', and the growing start-up Yellow are another example of PSS, offering bicycle rent for a limit amount of time. In business-to-business (B2B) market, examples are numerous [9]. More recently and influenced by the digitaliza-Product-Service Systems (PSS) appears as an emergent subject, gaining the attention of many researchers, and an increasing interest of organizations. As many literature reviews have been conducted in PSS-related field, this paper aims to overview publications from 2006 to 2018 by highlighting PSS benefits and barriers. Content analysis was used to codify data collected in the publications. The main characteristics of the literature reviews are provided as well as a set of 36 PSS benefits and 24 barriers organized in categories and sub-categories. Analyzing PSS-related review papers allows identifying future research opportunities which can foster the design and implementation of PSS business models.

“…Researchers confirm that MC is a noteworthy research area [6,7], as it is one of the most important competitive strategies [8] and one of the most relevant production trends in developed countries [9], which is also becoming more diffused in developing countries [10]. One trend in MC is to offer interactive, web-based sales-configurators that allow customizing the product [7,11,12]. Typically, such a configurator guides the user in generating or searching for product configurations, supplies information in real time on the customization feasibility, price and other technical details, and generates a sales offer [13], which then may be accepted by the final consumer.…”

Section: Review Of the Literature And Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Perceived Advertising Creativity on Behavioural Intentions and Quality Perceptions in Mass Customization

Aichner¹,

Shaltoni²

2019

This is the first article to study the influence of perceived advertising creativity on behavioural intentions and perceived product quality in mass customization. Through an online survey, 300 Saudi participants evaluated one of three fictitious miadidas sneakers advertisements, which were manipulated through the use of different product configurations. These product configurations had different levels of perceived creativity, which consequently influenced the perceived advertising creativity of the overall advertisement. The results show that perceived advertising creativity is an excellent predictor for behavioural intentions such as the customer's willingness to visit the advertiser's website and to try out customizing the product using a web-based sales-configurator. The more creative the advertisement is perceived by the customer, the higher is his or her behavioural intention. In contrast, the correlation between perceived advertising creativity and perceived product quality is weak and negative.