“I'll do it for myself”: Enhancing customer value through online product customization experience

Abstract

Increasingly, many brands are enabling consumers to customize products and services to their specific needs and tastes. Little is known about the contributions of immersive customer experience on value creation throughout an online product customization journey. Using the flow theory framework and its correlated constructs, this research aims to analyze the influence of the online product customization experience on the perceived value as well as the impact of this perceived value on the behavioral outcomes regarding the customized product and the online store. Two hundred seventeen (N = 217) participants were recruited to customize shoes on Converse.com and then complete a self-administered online questionnaire. The study reveals three major findings. First, interactivity and telepresence heighten the customer's flow throughout the online product customization process. Second, interactivity and flow directly enhance the perceived value of the online product customization experience. Simultaneously, flow mediates the effect of interactivity and telepresence on the perceived value of the product customization experience. Third, the value of the product customization experience influences the intention of purchasing the customized product, revisiting the online store, and increasing Word-of-Mouth. These findings provide potential implications for digital marketing managers, e-store designers, and mass-customization providers interested in delivering value-focused mass-customization experiences that yield meaningful transactional outcomes.