Okonkwo Prelims

Chapter 8

Customize me!

‘The one word definition of true luxury in the 21st century will be

“bespoke”.’

Daniele de Winter, CEO, Daniele de Winter Cosmetics, Monaco

Henry Ford, the man who founded the Ford Motors Group and brought auto-

mobile ownership to the masses, famously made a statement in the early

twentieth century about the colour and design choices that his customers

could have of the Ford Model T car. He said:

‘The customer can have any colour as long as it is black.’

His unenthusiastic comment about providing customers with multiple colour

choices of the Ford Model T (all the cars were black) was made mainly from

a technical and manufacturing viewpoint. This is because, at the time, produc-

tion flexibility in terms of multiple colours, designs, styles and other forms of

customization had very high time and monetary costs that would have

increased the prices of the cars substantially. However, Ford’s competitor,

General Motors, came along and by the middle of the 1920s was able to offer

customers multiple colours and annual model changes at no additional cost.

Through this method of product variety, they encroached on the market share

of Ford and soon surpassed Ford in popularity and sales.

Fast forward 90 years to 2006 and, quite startlingly, several business prac-

titioners still think like Henry Ford did in the 1910s, despite the enormous

advancement in technology. It is not uncommon to find executives in the

luxury goods sector that still believe that standardized goods are manufac-

tured at low cost while customized goods are manufactured at high cost. The

same perception is widespread in other sectors.

Now, fast forward again to 2050 and think of what the consumer society

would feel like if we were all treated like the character Tom Cruise played in

the futuristic American movie Minority Report. When he visited a shopping

centre, he was greeted with his first name by digital screens. Computerized

customer services teams were also at his constant service, and while he

strolled around the stores, he was asked if he would like the same product as

the ones he had previously purchased? This implies that a record of his

personal tastes, preferences and shopping habits was kept and consulted for

his benefit. It also shows that the stores understood his needs and applied

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