Recent research has shown a considerable growth in consumer engagement and contribution towards both marketing and product development among fashion brands. According to WGSN (2012), the trend towards greater consumer involvement has been triggered by the considerable changes in technology, consumer sophistication, and regulatory environments. Nayyan (2010), confirms that as conspicuous consumption within the fashion industry is growing; brands need people to take a leadership role. Moreover, Nayyan (2010) asserts that in order to maintain a sustainable consumption, brands need to give the power to the consumers themselves. Trendwatching (2013), in fact has also identified that consumers value the experiences of being shared contributors to their favourite fashion brands. In the past customers were passive “receivers” of relationship activities as well as brand messages and the company had control over the brand development process (Libai et al., 2010). Today, customers can increasingly integrate and act as co-creators and multipliers of brand messages and products (Kozinets et al., 2010). Mass customisation has emerged as an effective approach to customer centricity; Marketing 3.0, i.e. to regard customers as individuals, to proactively develop products and services according to the individual customer’s preferences, and to efficiently produce and distribute these offerings. In other words, the goal of mass customisation is to efficiently provide customers what they want, when they want it. Moreover, Chamberlin (1962) mentions that mass customisation is a differentiation strategy, giving brands a favourable edge. The mass customisation today finds its full implementation through the method of crowdsourcing by which a company or a brand relies on the design, construction or development of a project to a group of people not previously organised. This process is facilitated by tools that provide the web 3 as the mechanism of the open call that is made available through the portals located on the Internet.
Crowdsourcing in Fashion: Is Mass Customisation the Power to Consumer Engagement?
PASSARO, PIERLUIGI
2014-01-01
Abstract
Recent research has shown a considerable growth in consumer engagement and contribution towards both marketing and product development among fashion brands. According to WGSN (2012), the trend towards greater consumer involvement has been triggered by the considerable changes in technology, consumer sophistication, and regulatory environments. Nayyan (2010), confirms that as conspicuous consumption within the fashion industry is growing; brands need people to take a leadership role. Moreover, Nayyan (2010) asserts that in order to maintain a sustainable consumption, brands need to give the power to the consumers themselves. Trendwatching (2013), in fact has also identified that consumers value the experiences of being shared contributors to their favourite fashion brands. In the past customers were passive “receivers” of relationship activities as well as brand messages and the company had control over the brand development process (Libai et al., 2010). Today, customers can increasingly integrate and act as co-creators and multipliers of brand messages and products (Kozinets et al., 2010). Mass customisation has emerged as an effective approach to customer centricity; Marketing 3.0, i.e. to regard customers as individuals, to proactively develop products and services according to the individual customer’s preferences, and to efficiently produce and distribute these offerings. In other words, the goal of mass customisation is to efficiently provide customers what they want, when they want it. Moreover, Chamberlin (1962) mentions that mass customisation is a differentiation strategy, giving brands a favourable edge. The mass customisation today finds its full implementation through the method of crowdsourcing by which a company or a brand relies on the design, construction or development of a project to a group of people not previously organised. This process is facilitated by tools that provide the web 3 as the mechanism of the open call that is made available through the portals located on the Internet.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
