Giving customers what they want is an essential factor for success in business, but knowing what they want is not an easy problem to solve.  Customers do not always want the same thing; they may not even have a clear idea of what they want.  With current business to customer (B2C) mass customization tools and technology, high levels of customization are possible, however, as psychologist Barry Schwartz has pointed out, too much choice can be overwhelming.  Schwartz calls this phenomenon the paradox of choice.

Author: Michal Piasecki
Author: Sean Hanna

Publication: Design Computing Cognition Conference Proceedings 2010

Year: 2010

While business to customer (B2C) mass customization has been discussed mainly from the producers’ perspective, researchers have reported a lack of sufficient literature examining the topic from customers’ perspective. This paper provides a review of configurators with user experience in mind. We first discuss terms such as: personalization, customization, optimization, design and innovation. We then use these terms to discuss definitions of configurators’ features such as: solution space, type of customers’ input, linearity, product visualization method and types of recommendations.

Author: Michal Piasecki
Author: Sean Hanna

Publication: World Conference on Mass Customization & Personalization 2009

Year: 2009