Okonkwo Prelims

company’s internal processes and activities that contribute to the creation of
value to customers and competitive advantage to the company.
The impact of the method of customizing standardized products and
producing customizable products on the value chain of the average luxury
brand is illustrated in Figures 8.3 and 8.4.

Method 2 point of delivery customization

Products and services can also be customized at the point of sale or delivery.
This can be done in the physical retail store or through the online boutique.
This method is most efficient through rapid and quick modification of prod-
ucts and services. Examples include personalized packaging choices, printing
and delivery of personalized ‘thank-you’ notes to customers at the payment
point and the already cited Customer Relations letter, which could be person-
alized instead of the classical mistake of addressing consumers as ‘Dear
Customer’.
On the product level, goods can be modified according to individual tastes
at the time of ordering, the point of payment and the point of delivery. In this
case, the products are manufactured with the view of possible alteration
during the ‘fast’ customization process. These products would normally have
a feature that can easily be modified to turn them into customized finished
products. The feature could be an aspect of apparel such as attachments like
buttons, sequins, pockets and message prints; an accessory such as eyeglasses
lenses; external attachments to leather goods such as straps and logo-ed hard-
ware; timepiece straps; charms for bracelets and pendants (Figure 8.6) and
earring attachments, among many others.
A noteworthy example of the effective application of point-of-delivery
customization is not surprisingly outside the luxury fashion sector. Computer
technology software company Apple provides online customers with the

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customize me!

Development

Customizable

products and

services

Production

Standardized

products and

services to be

customized

Retailing

Customizable

products and

services

Delivery

Standardized

but customizable

products and

services

Figure 8.4 The changes that occur in the value chain during the creation of
customizable products and services
Source: As Figure 8.3.
Note: Coloured areas indicate changes.