Start a business - custom made

Customisation to individual needs
Some years ago business owners competed on the basis of a totally different mantra. Businesses produced goods and services in mass products and services were simply commodities. As time passed, more and more businesses started to produce the same uniform commodities. Business owners found in order to successfully compete they would need to differentiate their products and services. Along came the marketing gurus who gave birth to the age of “branding”. Marketing gurus showed the business owners how they could create and develop strong powerful brands to emotional entice the consumer. They created powerful marketing strategies tapping into the consumer’s psyche. We saw celebrities and sports start endorse a range of products and services.

The consumer of today has evolved, providing the budding entrepreneur the prefer opportunity to start their own business. The dawning of the individual and the need for customisation is fast approaching if it’s not already upon us. We simply know too much, we have unprecedented access to information. Consequently consumers have become far more savvy. In the coming years more and more consumers will prefer to purchase products and services that cater to there individual needs. Commercial and mass produced products and services will be a thing of the past. To remain competitive businesses will need to focus on the individual needs of the customer, customising products and services accordingly. Mass production of identical products and services will be replaced by the flexible production of customised products.

The consumers desire for customisation has far greater implications. It is predicted many consumers will if they have not already turn “anti brand”. This new trend will see many large well branded companies ducking for cover, their challenges will include finding new ways to build customer relationships and provide genuine individual customer service. Consumers are seeking more than just a product or service they demand an experience that pertains to them. Large corporates will need to find new ways to satisfy the customer’s individual needs. Due to their size, smaller businesses have a greater opportunity to personally engage their consumers by better understanding the consumers needs and developing product and services accordingly. Due to their size and scale larger businesses will find it difficult to create the personalised touches and experiences desired by the new age consumers.

Consider the many products and services, people consume on a daily basis, how many of these products or services do customers wish were more tailored to their individual needs. What opportunities does customisation bring?

Lets look at some examples of how some innovative businesses who have found great success catering to the consumer’s individual needs;

Mymuseli – made to order breakfast cereal www.mymuseli.com

My museli provides their customers with the opportunity to mix and match up to 70 different ingredients, to create your very own unique breakfast cereal.

Evlove Intimates – made to order intimate lingerie www.evloveintimates.com

Evlove offer customers the opportunity to create personalized lingerie products, through a direct selling distribution model. Customers design their own lingerie by selecting from a number of designs, samples, fabrics, appliqué, accessories and so forth.

Vuru – made to order vitamins www.vuru.com

Vuru produces custom ordered nutritional supplements. Customers have the opportunity to select from up to 2,000 supplements and vitamins, packed in packs according to the quantity ordered, this is usually related to the number of days worth. Each daily does is packed into its own sachet. Customers receive a convenient packet containing their own daily dosage of vitamins, to cover a nominated period of time.

myShape www.myshape.com

myShape.com, is an online retail store where women can find clothing matched to their measurements and body shape. The founders of My Shape, were inspired by a common problem shared by women of all ages and sizes “finding clothes that both fit well and flatter the various body shapes”.

Nikeid – made to order shoes www.Nikeid.com

Even the large corporate companies such as Nike have identified the opportunities provided by customisation. NIKEiD provides the customer with the means to create their own custom made shoe. The customer begins with a blank product and allows the customer to add colour, a personal i.d. The final creation is made to order, sent within 4 weeks or order.

ANZ – customised credit card www.designmycard.com.au

ANZ have allowed customers the opportunity to personalise the face of their own credit card. ANZ are the first Australian bank to introduce designmycard, providing their customers a fun way to customise their ANZ credit with an image of their choice (subject to the ANZ designmycard image guidelines).

Suga – customised lollies www.suga.com.au

Suga is a 100% Australian owned confectionary company. Suga make boiled lollies (hand made), which can be personalised with a customers name and or a short inscription. Suga cater for corporates and weddings.

Build a Bear www.buildabear.com.au

Build-A-Bear Workshop™ is a teddy bear-themed experience retail store, providing children of all ages the opportunity to create their very own personal custom-made bear. There is a wide variety plus toys to select, complemented by a vast assortment of clothes and accessories designed and updated regularly to reflect current fashion trends. Orginally founded in the US, there are six stores established in Australia.

Brew Topia www.brewtopia.com.au

Brewtopia was established in 2002, by three Australian blokes, keen to brew their own beer. Brewtopia allows customers the opportunity to design their own beer for themselves. In the words of the founders as per their site “We accidentally stumbled on what we believe is best way to run a business - give the customers the reins”. Brewtopia also allow their customers to personally brand their beer, providing the customer with the ability to design their own custom label and bottle tops, including bottled, branded bubbly!

Australia Post www.austpost.com.au

Australia post have also capitalised on the opportunities provided by customisation. Australia Post provides their customers with the opportunity to design their own stamps, personalising stamps to celebrate particular occasions such as weddings, births, milestone birthdays and so on.

Some possible industries and products suited to customisation:
•   Fragrances
•   Cosmetics
•   Skincare creams
•   Clothing
•   Cards and gift wrapping
•   Hand crafted personal diaries
•   Photos albums

Imagine starting a business that provides the customer with greater choice to accommodate their personal and individual needs. What services and or products could you customise to start your own homebased business?

Lets look at two examples of how following this trend could lead you to start your own business:

1. Personalised Christmas Ornaments

Personalised Christmas ornaments and or decorations are very special as they are like keep sakes that can adorn the Christmas tree at a wonderfully special time of the year. They can be handed down through the generations, and serve as a reminder of the family tree / heritage as they hang on the Christmas tree.

For those who have not seen personalised Christmas ornaments, they are basically Christmas tree decorations with a persons name on the decoration. There are a couple of ways you could source the stock for this business. If you are crafty you may know of a way to make wonderful Christmas ornaments and or decorations, which can be personalised. Alternatively you could source the decorations from a supplier and personalise the decorations yourself, as you receive orders. You would need to be sure the surface of the decoration would allow you to personalise it. It would be devastating to your business if you sold decorations where the personalised name rubbed off, over a period of time.

This business would be best operated either on line or through an order form system, i.e. direct mail. This business would be seasonal as unfortunately Christmas is only once a year however this does not mean the potential success of the business is limited by its seasonality. If this business is operated on line you can effectively target the worldwide market for Christmas decorations and or ornaments.

Your business could stock 10 or so different types / kinds of decorations the customer could select just one or three different ornaments each ornament personalised with a different name, or with the same name. You could even provide package deals, a family pack of decorations i.e. five decorations with each name of a family member personalised on one of the decorations.

To promote this business you could use the services of a direct marketing company. Who could under take a bulk email campaign, to promote your business on your behalf. It is very important to take time to think about where you promote this business. Start by considering what types pof publications and magazines are typically read by parents and or other groups belonging to your target market. You could approach these magazines about the possibility of including a brochure/ mail order catalogue promoting your business.

Please note I have made reference to “parents” as I believe parents will make up a substantial amount of your target market. Parents of children aged between 5 -13 generally speaking really indulge in the Christmas spirit, since between the ages 5-13 Christmas is still believable and a day of magical fantasy.

You could also consider contacting large corporate businesses, preferably with 100 - 200 plus employees and or clients. You could offer your personalised decorations as the ideal gift solution for the company who believes in gifting a little something to their staff or clients at Christmas time.

Besides Christmas decorations for the Christmas tree you could extend your product range to include; Personalised, Santa Bags, Christmas lollies, table settings, napkins ... the list is unlimited. However you would need to undertake a great deal of research on:

• Where you could source quality stock and
• How you can effectively personalise this stock yourself or

2. An transformational clothing range

Perhaps you are handy with a sewing machine? If you decide you are capable of professionally designing and producing your own clothing range, you could enter the market providing limited edition clothing. This idea works best through a website. The idea involves starting a business that creates a range of limited items of clothing sold online. Each week or fortnight you would need to create and promote a prototype, of three to four items of clothing, perhaps a skirt and matching top, pants and or shirt. These items are available for one week only, (you could allow two weeks). Orders are taken and fulfilled over the following week. When the cut off has passed the orders are collated and filled.

One of the positive features of this idea is you only need to purchase the raw materials based on the orders received. There is little room for wastage as you will know exactly what is required to make up the previous weeks orders.

It is important your website provide visitors an opportunity to submit their details, to sign up for the weekly notification newsletter so you can advertise the weekly specials. You may need to use the services of an email marketing service provider (such as Constant Contact, www.constantcontact.com.au) to help manage your database and the weekly newsletter. Your web designer will be able to assist in this area. For the target market this product has particular appeal, the product is of a limited basis, the consumer is getting a unique piece of clothing unlike the mass produced items in department stores.

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