CUSTOMIZED OR CUSTOMIZABLE: A TRADE-OFF?

Businesses, then, clearly have two options when it comes to producing and marketing a product or service: either customize the marketing mix instruments themselves or let the customers do it. The choice depends on several considerations.

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Customizable solutions may be appropriate for customers whose needs and expectations change from time to time. This is most obvious at the product level. A customizable lighting system with user-controlled light effects may be used in different ways, depending on the occasion: a business meeting, a romantic dinner, an hour of reading. Similarly, a customizable communication network such as the Web allows users to select which information they need at a certain time. People who are primarily looking for user guidelines in the beginning may become interested in new information topics--upgrading, new applications, and so on--as they gain more experience. Companies that develop well-structured Web sites, containing separate information sections for beginners and experienced users, stand to gain.

An important moderating factor, then, is the buyer's knowledge and experience. Customizable solutions are more suitable for savvy or experienced customers than for neophytes. People may lack the experience and skills for dealing with customizable solutions properly. They may not know how to design their own products from a component menu, or how to select the information they need from a company's Web site.

A firm should also evaluate the cost and profitability implications of the different customizing options. What are the inventory requirements in the case of product customization by the manufacturer rather than by the buyer? What is the cost of using an interactive logistics network such as EDI? Should different customization options be combined?

Security might also be a consideration. Can certain information be provided over the Internet for customers to use? Or is it so confidential that the company needs to customize the product itself?

Finally, a firm must consider the independencies and interdependencies of its marketing mix decisions. Can it offer customized final products while offering a customizable information network for after-sales communication? Does price customizability result from product customizability? Can experienced computer users design their own PCs from a menu of standard components at a price that seems acceptable to them? Will customizing methods of distribution affect price?

With marketing practices in such flux, companies are ever looking for new solutions to customize their ways of providing products and services. Using the framework provided here allows marketing practitioners to evaluate different customization options for their marketing mix instruments. But some caveats are in order.

When a firm chooses to customize the marketing mix on its own, it should take care to ensure that its marketing policy is transparent and unambiguous to customers. Offering inconsistent solutions to different people may be seen as giving special treatment to some while slighting or discriminating against others. And offering inexperienced customers a "do-it-yourself" customizable product or service could result in confusion, dissatisfaction, or even disaster. Along with advances in technology that facilitate both customization and customizability come a new array of challenges. But careful decisions based on a proper framework for evaluating the options can result in a marketing mix that comes close to providing everything to every customer.