One-of-a-kind products: Leveraging strict uniqueness in mass customization

Abstract

This research examines product uniqueness in its most pure form—products that are literally one of a kind. It does so in mass customization (MC) settings where consumers configure their own products. Due to extremely large solution spaces that are typically available in MC, a specific product configured by a consumer is often one of a kind in that it has never been produced before. How might firms leverage such strict product uniqueness to enhance consumer value? A natural way of doing so is to simply inform consumers that the product they have configured is one of a kind—through a feedback message that is either present-oriented (e.g., “this specific product has never been produced before”) or future-oriented (e.g., “this product will remain one of a kind in perpetuity”). Evidence from five experiments, including a large-scale field experiment, shows that one-of-a-kind feedback can cause a substantial increase in consumers’ product valuation. This value-enhancing effect of one-of-a-kind feedback specifically occurs in product domains that are primarily matters of subjective taste. By contrast, such feedback tends to reduce consumers’ product valuation in domains that are primarily matters of objective quality. These findings advance our understanding of the concept of product uniqueness, and of how firms can harness the one-of-a-kindness of mass-customized products to unlock consumer value.