Consumers' appetite for customised products continues to grow with personalised jars of Nutella the surprise top-selling item at Myer this Christmas.
Customisation is a huge trend in retail although the concept has been around for hundreds of years in the form of tailormade suits and monogrammed luggage.
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The difference is that advancements in technology and logistics now enable customisation for the mass market rather than just luxury consumers.
Now you can customise your shoes at Shoes of Prey, muesli at Muesli for Me, handbags at The Daily Edited and surfboards at Disrupt Surfing.
![The Daily Edited's Alyce Tran at her pop-up shop in David Jones.](/web/20160923021221im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/m/g/y/u/o/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gnjehk.png/1458524330734.jpg)
In the era of mass production, choice was often dictated by manufacturers and producers but mass customisation responds to consumer's demands for greater control over the products they buy.
Making customisation affordable
Alyce Tran was one of those consumers. Working as a lawyer she wanted to buy a clutch or laptop bag mongrammed with her initials but high-end luxury brands were out of her reach.
"It was something that I actually wanted," Tran says. "I wanted it for myself and you can't order just one so I ordered 50 and I thought I don't care if they don't sell as I will just give them to my friends for Christmas."
What started off as a blog and that first order is now The Daily Edited a custom leather accessories business with turnover of $5 million a year.
"Personalisation isn't new," Tran says. "It has been around on leather accessories for a long time, trunks made by Louis Vuitton had the monogram on them."
Tran says she felt many people wanted the level of customisation that is available at the luxury end of the market but couldn't afford it.
"I thought 'Why can't we do it on something that is affordable?' Tran says. "It was all very organic in that way."
Tran says the customisation available at The Daily Edited is now part of a larger global trend.
When people have a personal connection to it and making it their own, the product resonates with them more.
Alyce Tran
"When people have a personal connection to it and making it their own, the product resonates with them more," she says.
Tran spoke on this topic at the Online Retailer Conference at Melbourne on the weekend.
Growing demand
Gary Elphick, founder of customised surfboard maker Disrupt Surfing says demand for customised products continues to grow.
![Disrupt Surfing customers can get their own customised surfboard.](http://web.archive.org./web/20160923021221im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/u/h/v/i/image.imgtype.articleLeadwide.620x349.png/1458497323889.png)
Disrupt Surfing customers can get their own customised surfboard.
Disrupt Surfing is opening an office in the United States this year and expanding its range of products to include skate boards and yoga mats.
"It's technology thats facilitating it and people are demanding things that are a bit more personalised to them," Elphick says.
The former surfboard and snowboard instructor started Disrupt Surfing in 2014 after getting frustrated seeing people turn up to lessons with the wrong equipment because it was all that was available in store.
"People would just give up on the sport," Elphick says. "People want to be able to design stuff but don't have the means to do it. I thought you should be able to use retail to get exactly what you want and you need."
Elphick boot-strapped Disrupt Surfing with "a few thousand dollars", before winning $40,000 in seed capital from Telstra and the business now turns over about $1 million a year selling 1500 surfboard last year at an average price of $550 to $750.
"We try to focus on helping localised manufacturers," Elphick says. "They are amazingly talented but they just can't compete on price with mass produced stuff coming out of China so we can help there with technology to make the price more affordable."
Tapping into concerns about waste and compromise
Elphick has had some good advice on getting his business up and running from Jodie Fox, co-founder of Australian startup Shoes of Prey, a worldwide leader in customised manufacturing.
![Jodie Fox, co-founder of Shoes Of Prey](http://web.archive.org./web/20160923021221im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/f/3/z/8/image.imgtype.articleLeadwide.620x349.png/1458497364160.png)
Jodie Fox, co-founder of Shoes Of Prey Photo: Supplied
Its technology allows customers to design their own shoes down to the last detail including colour, materials and heel height.
Shoes of Prey's success has led the startup to strike a deal with United States retail giant Nordstrom last year for Shoes of Prey concession stores and Fox has relocated stateside to drive the business there.
"Getting Nordstrom on board validates not only the idea but it's also pretty extraordinary to have that sort of retailer get behind you," Fox says.
She says there are several trends driving the increased interest in customised products.
"There's not needing to compromise anymore and not wanting to be the same as everyone else," Fox says. "The consumer need is evolving when you hear people say 'I couldn't find the colour, they didn't find my size', these [problems] can all be solved."
Fox says there growing concern about waste in manufacturing and improvements in technology are also key.
"We see a lot of discounting of product that has been made but nobody wants, but on-demand manufacturing helps solve those dilemmas," she says. "Technology is also huge as well. We need to make sure each of those orders is made perfectly so the logistical side of it is enormous."
Fox says having bricks-and-mortar concession stores in David Jones in Australia and Nordstrom in the United States has helped customers understand the possibilities of on-demand manufacturing.
"There is still a lot of excitement around the idea of designing your own shoes but I also believe that we are also ahead of the game in that space," she says. "Customers still very much need to see the physical product and relate to the physical product in that way. We need to translate it in a much more seamless way."
Fox says until now Shoes of Prey has been focused on proving its concept but it can now concentrate on improving processes.
"The lesson we have learnt is that understanding the manufacturing side of it is mission-critical to the business operating well and being able to scale," she says.
According to Fox increased competition in the customised retail space is a good thing for Shoes of Prey.
"We still have a long way to go with this and we have an exciting opportunity to take a swing at it," she says. "The more of us putting our heads together on this the more chance we have of bringing this to the consumer in a meaningful way."
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