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

1.0 Introduction
This dissertation will investigate <strong>consumers</strong> attitudes <strong>to</strong> Mass Cus<strong>to</strong>misation (MC) and
collaboration for new product <strong>design</strong> conducted within a Virtual Community (VC).
Research in this thesis is centered on the online virtual community of the online t-shirt
business Threadless.com. Threadless is an ongoing <strong>design</strong> competition in which users are
invited <strong>to</strong> submit a t-shirt <strong>design</strong> <strong>to</strong> the Virtual Community. Any registered members can
rate the <strong>design</strong> out of five and can also provide qualitative feedback <strong>to</strong> the <strong>design</strong>er,
usually in the form of modification suggestions or positive/negative written feedback. A
number of the highest rated t-shirts are then produced in short production runs and sold
on the site.
To follow is a critique of available literature in this area, followed by a discussion of the
findings from a questionnaire completed by members of the Threadless VC and
ethnographic research of messageboard communication. Conclusions are followed by
recommendations for further research in this area.
1.1 Mass Cus<strong>to</strong>misation (MC)
The definition of MC adopted by this paper is Hart (1995) who said MC was:
“The use of flexible process and organizational structures <strong>to</strong> produce varied and
often individually cus<strong>to</strong>mized <strong>products</strong> and services at the low cost of a standardized,
Adam Fletcher – Do <strong>consumers</strong> <strong>want</strong> <strong>to</strong> <strong>design</strong> <strong>unique</strong> product on the internet.
2006
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