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This paper addresses the issue of mass‐customisation from the point of view of consumer demand. It aims to develop a framework to examine the demand side of the mass‐customisation equation which will allow researchers to identify whether a market of customers who are ready for mass‐customised products exists. In doing so it considers in particular three “inconveniences” of mass‐customisation: the increased price of customised products; the delay in receipt of custom‐made products; and the need for customers to invest time in specifying their preferences before the product can be produced.

This paper examines the concept of mass customisation from the point of view of the customer. Although the theory of mass customisation has received considerable attention in recent years, the emphasis has been on identifying and classifying the ways in which mass customisation can be implemented efficiently and effectively. There appears to have been no empirical evidence to support the notion that customers are indeed ready for this approach. The aim of this study is to examine how far customers are “ready” for mass‐customised products, using the UK new car market as its basis for analysis. A framework is developed and results presented which suggest that a sizeable section of the market is ready to accept the “inconveniences” of mass‐customised products. However, the main inconvenience of mass customisation is identified as increased price, even for “ready” customers. It would seem, therefore, that both global standardisation and mass customisation strategies are appropriate in this market.

A successful implementation of mass customization and customer‐order‐driven production can bring numerous benefits to automakers. However, the transition from mass production to mass customization is difficult. Most of the previous studies focus on mature markets, leaving emerging markets untouched. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the necessity of making the strategic transition to mass customization in an emerging market.

This research is based on an extensive field study. A multi‐method approach (including semi‐structured interviews, document examination and plant tours) was used to collect the data at different levels in five commercial vehicle manufacturers.

The respective advantages and disadvantages of these two manufacturing strategies are analyzed based on the findings and a framework is established. The drivers of the transition to mass customization have been recognized and the obstacles of transition are identified. The specific benefits of a successful mass customization implementation are listed. According to the empirical evidence, this paper concludes that customer‐order‐driven production is a promising direction in a rapidly changing market such as China.

This study makes a contribution in two aspects. First, the evidence of mass customization fills a gap in the empirical literature and the findings of mass production help cross validate the drawbacks reported in other studies. Second, this study presents a transition model to facilitate automakers to analyze the complex phenomena in a systematic way when they embark upon the strategic transition to mass customization.

The process of fashion design varies between market segments, yet these variations have not yet been properly explored. This study aims to examine the fashion design process as practised at the mass-market level, as this is the most vibrant and the largest market segment in terms of production volumes and sales.

It is observed that 15 semi-structured interviews were conducted with mass-market fashion designers. Key activities of the mass-market design process were identified and a comparative analysis was conducted with the general design process.

The mass-market design process is found to prioritise profits rather than aesthetic aspects, with the buyer exercising more power than the designer. This hinders creativity, which, in turn, may impede a move towards more environmentally benign designs.

The clothing industry is responsible for high environmental impacts and many of these impacts arise through decisions made in the design stage. In particular, the mass-market for clothing because of its high volume of sales and fast throughput, accounts for a great deal of the impact. However, little is understood about the design process that is practised in the mass-fashion market. This paper fills the gap by developing a framework that describes the mass-market design process. Understanding the design process will enable progress to be made towards achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production.

In this paper, it is argued that the concept of mass customization should not be treated as an alternative strategy to market segmentation. It should be seen as an integral part of market segmentation theory which offers the best way to satisfy individual consumer’s unique needs and wants while yielding profits to companies. Though the overall objective of the concept of mass customization is to recognize individual differences among customers and modify the offerings accordingly, by using the logic of the segmentation theory, this paper argues that mass customization is also not simply equal to segmenting‐to‐one. If all the relevant variables that affect buyer behavior are taken into account, the result is an untenably large number of market segments (finally segment of one). However, practically, creating separate marketing programs for each individual in most circumstances will become extremely difficult, even not feasible, and less profitable. In response to this dilemma, this paper proposes a new concept of “Segment‐based mass customization”. The basic idea behind this concept is that, mass customization is the efforts of reaching a segment unit efficiently and profitably. The efficiency and profitability will be determined by whether the mass customization is based on an optimal segment size, which is subject to the market situation and company resources. Finally, this paper comes up with a series of propositions which are relevant to developing a good customization strategy.

Mass customization has yet to fulfill its original purpose as established by marketing researchers to become an alternative to mass production, largely due to its inability to achieve mass market levels of efficiency. The purpose of this study is to survey consumer's perceptions, willingness and capabilities of participating in a mass customization system, and understand the implications of its findings related to an alternative production system, generative customization.

After an extensive literature review of mass customization, consumer behavior, complex adaptive systems and generative design, a survey was conducted across US and Swedish consumers relative to their willingness and perceptions regarding mass customization, with hypotheses based upon extant research standards.

The survey results found that consumers are ambivalent toward mass customization in mass markets, and a conceptual alternative (generative customization) appears to achieve, at least conceptually, the necessary objectives relative to product design conceptualization and fulfillment that mass customization cannot achieve.

A lack of significant findings from extant research regarding consumer perceptions and tolerances regarding mass customization in mass markets is a limitation to this study. The discussion of a new concept (generative customization) as a viable alternative to mass customization as a result of the survey findings needs to be validated empirically in future research.

The paper empirically validates a definition of mass customization as a complementary rather than an alternative to mass production. It also introduces and develops the concept of generative customization as viable alternative to mass production, albeit one that must be empirically validated in future research.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate four of Alderson's key concepts to show how they explain mass customization and extend traditional consumer goods classifications. The four concepts are: heterogeneous markets, transvections, the principle of postponement, and routinized transactions.

In this exploratory paper, Alderson's main concepts are compared and contrasted with today's marketing phenomena and are used for updating traditional consumer goods categorizations.

The main concepts of Aldersonian theory discussed in the paper – heterogeneous markets, transvections, postponement and routinized transactions – are a remarkably good fit with today's “mass customization” and logically lead to an enhanced of definition of consumer goods classifications.

This is a conceptual paper meant to emphasize the apparent explanatory power of Alderson's concepts to today's marketing phenomena. Formal propositions have not been developed and tested.

Traditional classifications of goods no longer accurately explain marketing phenomena arising from the growth of the internet and mass customization. Alderson's concepts provide an effective framework for explaining current phenomena and extending outmoded models.

The four main Alderson concepts evaluated in this paper have not been emphasized as a group before, nor have they been utilized to help explain mass customization and extend traditional consumer goods classifications.

To examine customers' readiness for mass‐customised products in two European countries, Turkey and the UK.

Examines the demand side of the market and begins to explore whether mass‐customisation can be implemented as an international product strategy. A questionnaire was developed, pre‐tested and administered in the UK and (after translation) in Turkey to potential new car buyers.

A large proportion of customers from both countries would be willing to pay extra to own a product which exactly meets their needs and preferences. However, more respondents in the Turkish sample were willing to do so than in the UK sample. Additionally, Turkish respondents were keen to update the features of their car over time, which favours mass‐customisation.

This study is exploratory and limited in terms of research sample. Consequently further research is needed to verify the findings. Second, how far the organisation is ready to adopt a mass‐customised approach is a further question to be answered requiring further research. Future research in contexts other than new cars should also be undertaken. Finally, we have focused on “readiness” for mass‐customisation and do not attempt to provide any link between this “readiness” and behavioural intentions.

There may be a viable market of customers for mass‐customised cars, in both the UK and Turkey. Producers now need to examine the price that would be acceptable to both customers and themselves.

This is the first systematic research study to address the demand side of mass‐customisation in two European countries.

Uses a large sample survey of businesses to demonstrate that a critical mass threshold exists for their use of business support organization services. This critical mass threshold is very marked for the two organizations examined: British case studies of chambers of commerce and government‐supported business training and advice bodies. Beyond this threshold, managers of chambers of commerce can achieve nonlinear returns to scale, while returns to scale for government‐supported bodies are almost exactly linear. Infers that this results from the very different motives of commercially based chambers and their members, compared to government‐supported bodies, which allow the benefits of service bundling for chambers while managers of government bodies have to deal with multiple discrete programmes offering few synergies. Also examines the effects of external economies of agglomeration and shows that these increase market penetration and hence reduce the catchment sizes necessary to reach critical mass only in the case of the most agglomerated urban and industrial centres.

Mass customisation, defined as the mass production of individually customised goods and services, aims at providing products and services that are more suited to the needs or desires of today’s fragmented consumer markets. Mass customisers should identify how needs or desires of the fragmented market shape the customisation of not just the product and service, but also the mass customisation experience. Towards this end, the authors examined whether an individual’s preferred level for environmental stimulation defined as optimum stimulation level (OSL) was associated with the types of products, services and experiences desired from mass customisation of apparel. As the authors hypothesised, OSL had significant positive correlations with willingness to use co‐design services to create a unique design, trying co‐design as an exciting experience, overall commitment to using co‐design, and trying body scanning as an exciting experience. OSL did not have significant correlations with the more banal willingness to use body scanning services for better fitting products or overall commitment to using body scanning. There was also a significant positive correlation between OSL and interest in customising experiential products, but not between OSL and interest in customising utilitarian products, as hypothesised. Results support research of the influence of OSL on consumer behaviour. Implications for the industry include considering experience aspects and environmental stimulation when developing a mass customisation programme.