“Do consumers want to design unique products on the internet? A ...

unsurprising that many <strong>consumers</strong> would say they would be prepared <strong>to</strong> pay a premium
for this experience. However, without experience in <strong>design</strong>ing <strong>products</strong> online cus<strong>to</strong>mers
may not be aware of the challenges in articulating what they <strong>want</strong>, a number of sources
suggest on the whole <strong>consumers</strong> find it almost impossible <strong>to</strong> do this (Berger et al 2005;
Zipkin 2001; Von Hippel 2005). They may also be unaware of the amount of time and
involvement required in this process (Piller & Muller 2003). It is suggested that if these
respondents were asked again after they had attempted <strong>to</strong> cus<strong>to</strong>mise a product, the
number of people who said they would be interested and prepared <strong>to</strong> pay a premium
would be reduced. There is no guarantee that even with additional help provided by the
manufacturer <strong>to</strong> provide the technical information in a format understandable <strong>to</strong> the
cus<strong>to</strong>mer (sticky information, see Von Hippel 1998 for an overview), the consumer is
able <strong>to</strong> produce something that meets their desires. As Expectation Disconfirmation
theory suggests this is only made harder as increased cus<strong>to</strong>mers involvement will
incrementally increase cus<strong>to</strong>mer expectations. It is for precisely these reasons that studies
proclaiming cus<strong>to</strong>mers desire <strong>to</strong> MC and pay a premium for the privilege are met with
skepticism.
The willingness <strong>to</strong> pay a premium will also be dependent on the type of industry and
product. It’s not overly surprising that the one study which did not find any evidence of a
link between willingness <strong>to</strong> pay and cus<strong>to</strong>misation was Jiang (2002). This study looked at
<strong>consumers</strong> willingness <strong>to</strong> pay a premium <strong>to</strong> cus<strong>to</strong>mise a lap<strong>to</strong>p computer. However in a
market dominated by Dell which offers advanced cus<strong>to</strong>misation as standard why would a
consumer be willing <strong>to</strong> pay more for the privilege? Cus<strong>to</strong>misation is no longer a
Adam Fletcher – Do <strong>consumers</strong> <strong>want</strong> <strong>to</strong> <strong>design</strong> <strong>unique</strong> product on the internet.
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