The strategy of mass customisation is mainly used by companies who are operating in a highly competitive market, trying to find a way to differentiate their products. Mass customization allows customers to feel more involved in the production side of the product, making the product feel more personalised and unique. They are able to satisfy the diverse needs in their market segment while trying not increase the cost of production (Winsor, R. (2008)). By having the ability to better match the consumers need, they are able to reduce the amount of stock unsold which in turn reduces their wastage costs (Dabholkar, P et al. (2009)). However they need to ensure that their customer market segment are interested and want this type of variety otherwise it will be a waste of resources and time.
For a company’s product to either be considered by potential customers, it is essential that the company fulfils the order qualifiers (OQ’s) that the customer expects. It will be the order winning (OW’s) factors which will help persuade the customer to complete the purchase. Cost, quality, flexibility, dependability and speed are the five internal performance objectives that will help the company achieve their OQ’s and OQ’s. The main one which applies to Mass Customisation is the company’s flexibility; the ability to produce a large volume of new and existing products, which can be modified to suit the customer. The use of OQ and OW factors can be seen through Nikeid. With their OQ’s being able to buy any standard design of trainer, however it the OW factors of being able to customise the design with a variety of different colours and features which will persuade the customer to complete the purchase. These OQ’s and OW’s are likely to change over time, however mass customisation enables them to increase their customer knowledge; learn what they want, what are popular features and identify emerging trends. Therefore they can see what OW’s are becoming