ABSTRACT
As mass customization enabled the first provisioning of individual products and services on a large scale, more recent advances of product configuration have been driven by allowing even greater tailoring to user needs. Moving on from mass customization, several organizations are now taking advantage of the ability to offer large-scale post-purchase personalization of products and services. Whereas the type of mass customization exemplified by Dell during the 1990s enabled customers to specify the product or service that they would receive from the factory, shop or garage, the most recent advances in allowing individual tailoring of products have been focused on post-acquisition – after the purchase has been completed and the product delivered or service activated. No longer is customization restricted to what happens before the product reaches the customer or a service is activated. Today the prospect of unique products and services configurable by, and centred on, the user is finally becoming a reality.
