Case #1 Mass Customization Analysis

Both NIKE and Puma employ extremely creative and individual oriented websites that engage their customers in an experience that is unusual and personal in nature. Both use innovative technologies that affectively create and develop a relationship between the consumer and the provider. I plan to evaluate each company individually, commenting on both their positive and negative qualities, followed by an overall assessment of the superiorly designed website.

The first website I visited was the Puma homepage. Aesthetically, the webpage was appealing but plain. I found that it was a little difficult to navigate around and that some of the links didn’t work. There was a little button labeled the Mongolian Shoe BBQ that gave a little information about custom shoe creation but the link to learn more about the company was inaccessible. I found this a little discouraging from a marketing point of view because I believed that this might delay or prevent traffic to this particular customization website. Initially, I thought the Puma homepage was creative in that they had multiple designers for shoe customization, a small biography on each of these partnering designers, and an elaborate array of site indexes. Some downfalls included slight confusion navigating around the page as well as difficulty launching the links that I clicked on. After searching Google for Mongolian BBQ, I was able to attain the correct link that allowed access to their customized shoe creations.

The first thing I noticed when I accessed the page was the theme that Puma had created. I enjoyed the idea of comparing the creation of a personalized shoe to that of a Mongolian restaurant. On the homepage the small biography of Mongolian BBQ illustrated the idea of creating a “taste for the art of shoemaking and designing your own custom made shoes.” I found this to be an innovative theme that would help to engage the individual. I would have liked to know a little bit more about why they chose this theme, how Mongolian food preparation relates to shoe selection, and more, but no explanation was offered. Still, one of my favorite things about this website is that they used advanced graphic design techniques to ensure that this theme was maintained throughout their site. From a consumer standpoint, I found this to be very sophisticated in its creation and generated a more interactive environment. Once started, I noticed that their initial selection of shoe styles was not large in its variety, but only had two shoes types to choose from. What if the customer doesn’t like those two types of shoes? Were their other choices I hadn’t yet noticed? I found this to be a little discouraging and found, from a marketing point of view, that it might hinder sales results. I hoped that there weren’t more options available that I just didn’t come across because that would also mean the site wasn’t organized properly for easy navigation. The next option allows you to select your gender and shoe size, and then the method of speed at which you explored the site. I thought that this plan was ingenious because many consumers work at different paces, on different schedules, and with different intensities. I believe that creating your website to be time conscious is something that consumers would appreciate, especially with the fast and jam packed schedules that Americans typically undertake. The next option was to select a starting point at which to begin designing your shoe. Your options gave you either a blank shoe or some inspirationally designed shoes at which to start from. When choosing a blank shoe, a box appears that gives advice on your creation. I thought that this was helpful but wordy and perhaps a bit too extensive.

I found the site to be elaborate, interactive, detailed, you could preview your shoe with every addition you made, and the graphic design created a feel as if you truly were ordering Mongolian food from a buffet rather then designing a shoe. This extensive website clearly illustrated the amount of work that was put in to create the best customer experience possible. Some setbacks included the overall organization of the site which tended to get tedious and confusing. Although having a broad range of design techniques after a particular shoe was picked, I felt that the lack of variety in shoe style negatively affected the site.

NIKE’s homepage, I found, was a little easier to navigate through, with clear labels of the specific divisions available and working links to all sites visited. Unlike Puma’s Mongolian BBQ, they did not have a definitive theme rather they relied on their image and reputation of being a leader in their industry when considering the design of their site. I was surprised at the extensive selection of products that were available for modification. In comparison to Puma’s selection, NIKE outshined them with a variety of shoe styles as well as bags and watches that were obtainable for mass customization. This variety set them apart from Puma and was likely to generate a lot of traffic because it marketed to a wider consumer pool. Each product had a short biography with recommendations on what that shoe was constructed and specialized for. This small detail was extremely helpful and showed the knowledge and research that NIKE places on the products they create. This kind of information sets them apart from their competitors, and it is exemplified through their website. Their options for customization resembled Puma’s in a lot of ways including colors for every section of the shoe and logo design. A key factor that really personalized their website and helped to create a truly unique customer experience was the ability of the individual to customize their own id onto the back of their shoes. A buyer has the ability to type out a message that will be displayed on the heel of the shoe, making the product truly distinctive. I found this option even more exciting because it showed NIKE’s dedication to their customers through the idea that they aren’t promoting their NIKE brand as much as they are promoting the individual purchaser. This type of marketing truly caters to the consumer needs and is an example of mass customization at it’s finest. Even more so, after the completion of a shoe, the consumer has the ability to set their design as the wallpaper of their computer as well as fill out a story about the shoe with the opportunity to be entered into the NIKE newsletter or promotions. This generated a great customer experience because the shoe becomes not only important to the individual, but to the company as well. It shows that NIKE respects the business they receive.

In summation, I thought NIKE truly set themselves apart in an effort to create a one of a kind experience for their customers. Their dedication to customization surpasses that of most companies. The website was easy to navigate around, offered a large variety of styles and techniques to choose from, and demonstrated a true knowledge and specialization for the products they were offering. Some downsides included the inability to save without completing all of the required fields when designing the shoes, a less interactive and engaging site, a more elaborate registration process that required the recording of more information then that of Puma, and a lack of a unified theme throughout the site.

In general, I believe that the company that that offered the best approach when offering customization to their customers as well as creating the best customer experience was NIKE. Their experience, reputation, knowledge, dedication, and content exceeded that of Puma’s, despite the obvious effort that was partook in creating Puma’s site. Although Puma’s website was more elaborate graphically, they failed to create a more individualistic experience and even occasionally hindered the buyer’s encounter through a lack of easy in navigation. All of these factors illustrated NIKE as being a true leader in their industry.