Enhancing the consumer-perceived benefits of a mass-customized product through its online sales configurator. An empirical examination
| Published date | 10 July 2017 |
| Pages | 1295-1315 |
| Date | 10 July 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-05-2016-0185 |
| Author | Enrico Sandrin,Alessio Trentin,Chiara Grosso,Cipriano Forza |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information systems,Data management systems,Knowledge management,Knowledge sharing,Management science & operations,Supply chain management,Supply chain information systems,Logistics,Quality management/systems |
Enhancing the consumer-perceived
benefits of a mass-customized
product through its online
sales configurator
An empirical examination
Enrico Sandrin, Alessio Trentin, Chiara Grosso and Cipriano Forza
Department of Management and Engineering,
Università degli Studi di Padova, Vicenza, Italy
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to focus on online sales configurators (SCs), also known as
mass-customization toolkits, which enable consumers to self-customize their product solutions online.
The paper aims to provide new insights into which characteristics of an online SC increase the
consumer-perceived benefits of possessing a mass-customized product.
Design/methodology/approach –Previous studies on mass customization (MC), sales configuration, and
learning psychology are used to develop the research hypotheses, which are tested by analyzing data from
675 configuration experiences from a convenience sample of potential consumers using 31 real online SCs for
laptops/notebooks, economy cars, and sport shoes/sneakers.
Findings –The paper finds support for the hypotheses that SCs with higher flexible-navigation, focused-
navigation, and easy-comparison capabilities enhance not only the traditionally considered utilitarian benefit
(UT), but also the consumer-perceived uniqueness benefit (UN) and self-expressiveness (SE) benefit (SE).
Furthermore, consistent with the study’s hypotheses, SCs with higher benefit-cost communication and
user-friendly product-space description capabilities are found to improve UT. The hypotheses that these two
capabilities enhance UN and SE, however, are not supported. Post-hoc analyses suggest that the examined
SCs are generally UT-centered and need improvement of their ability to communicate the UN and the SE a
consumer could derive from the purchase of his/her configured product.
Originality/value –While prior research has primarily been concerned with conceptually arguing and
empirically showing that uniqueness and self-expressiveness are two additional sources of consumer value in
business-to-consumer MC, this is the first empirical study that offers insights into which characteristicsonline
SCs should have in order to draw from these two value sources.
Keywords Consumer value, E-commerce websites, Mass customization toolkits,Product self-customization,
Sales configurators
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
The popularity of offering online mass customization (MC) has been growing in both
product and service industries ( Jiang et al., 2015). In its more visionary sense, MC denotes
the ability to profitably provide individually designed products and services to every
customer anytime, anywhere, and any way he/she wants it (da Silveira et al., 2001; Chandra
and Grabis, 2004). More pragmatically, many scholars define MC as the ability to deliver a
wide range of products and services that meet specific needs of individual customers at near
the cost of a mass-production system (da Silveira et al., 2001; Chandra and Grabis, 2004).
MC has become a popular manufacturing paradigm (Lin et al., 2012). One of the major
developments in MC practice over the last few years has been the heavy use of online sales
configurators (SCs) (Fogliatto et al., 2012; Shen et al., 2015), also known as MC toolkits (Franke
et al., 2010). In general, SCs are software applications that support a potential customer, or a
sales-person interacting with a potential customer, to completely and correctly specify a product
solution within a company’s product offerings (Heiskala et al., 2007; Forza and Salvador, 2008).
Industrial Management & Data
Systems
Vol. 117 No. 6, 2017
pp. 1295-1315
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0263-5577
DOI 10.1108/IMDS-05-2016-0185
Received 23 May 2016
Revised 25 November 2016
Accepted 4 January 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0263-5577.htm
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Enhancing
the consumer-
perceived
benefits
Online SCs are SCs that are web-based instead of being offeredasclientsoftwareeitheron
compact discs or as internet downloads (Walcher and Piller, 2012). Due to the developments in
computer and internet technologies, the number of web-based SCs has grown steadily over the
last decade (Walcher and Piller, 2012; Abbasi et al., 2013; Blazek et al., 2015). The fundamental
functions of an online SC include presenting a firm’s product offerings, also known as “product
space”(Tseng and Piller, 2003) or “solution space”(Salvador et al., 2009), and guiding the
potential customer in specifying a complete and valid solution within that space (Franke and
Piller, 2003; Heiskala et al., 2007; Forza and Salvador, 2008). Online SCs may also have an
e-commerce function, meaning that they may enable customers to order customized products
online instead of printing or sending product configurations to retailers where the final
conditions are negotiated personally (Walcher and Piller, 2012).
As successful applications of MC multiply across industries and countries (Fogliatto et al.,
2012; da Silveira et al., 2016), firms adopting this manufacturing paradigm may need to identify
unexploited sources of differentiation advantage over competing mass customizers
( Jiang, 2002). Enhancing the benefits that customers derive from the possession of mass-
customizedproducts can be one way of achievingthis goal. Previous research has shown that
(online) SCs can play a role in increasing consumer-perceived utilitarian benefits (e.g. Randall
et al., 2007), which derive from the closeness of fit between the cu stomers’preferences and
the objective, functional, and/or aesthetic features of the products that customers have
self-customized with an (online) SC (Merle et al., 2010). Previous research has also shown that,
in business-to-consumer (B2C) MC, uniqueness and self-expressiveness are two additional
sources of consumer-perceived benefits(e.g. Merle et al., 2010), which derive from the sy mbolic
qualities ofa product rather than from its objective features. For narcissists,in particular, the
symbolic benefits of a product are likely to be of greater importance than its utilitarian benefits
(Sedikides et al., 2007). With “ever increasing narcissism rates around the globe”(de Bellis
et al., 2016, p. 170), the call for online SCs that enhance consumer-perceived uniqueness and
self-expressiveness benefits (e.g. Franke and Schreier, 2008) is more appropriate than ever.
Enhancingpre-purchase consumer-perceivedbenefits seemseven more pertinent in lightof the
fact that consumers tend to perceive some of the uncertainties involved with any purchase
process as greater while shopping online (Forsythe et al., 2006). Recent studies, however,
suggest that the potential of MC for asserting consumers’personal uniqueness and for
confirming their self-image is largely untapped (de Bellis et al., 2016).
The present paper is the first empirical study that offers insights into which characteristics
(online) SCs should have in order to enhance consumer-perceived uniqueness and self-
expressiveness benefits. Drawing upon previous research on MC, SCs, and learning psychology,
this study developed the hypotheses that not only consumer-perceived utilitarian benefit, but also
consumer-perceived uniqueness and self-expressiveness benefits are enhanced as the (online)
SC with which a product has been configured deploys higher levels of the five (online) SC
capabilities conceptualized and validated by Trentin et al. (2013). These hypotheses were tested
using structural equation modeling (SEM) on data from 675 configuration experiences from a
convenience sample of potential consumers with 31 real online SCs for laptops/notebooks,
economy cars, and sport shoes/sneakers. Path analysis results suggested that focused navigation,
flexible navigation, and easy comparison capabilities have a positive impact on each of the three
considered benefits, while benefit-cost communication and user-friendly product-space
description capabilities have a positive impact only on consumer-perceived utilitarian benefit.
The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, the relevant literature is
reviewed and reasons for the present study are given. Section 3 develops the research
hypotheses, while the method deployed to test them is presented in Section 4. Section 5
reports and discusses the results of the path analysis. Section 6, finally, summarizes the
theoretical contribution and presents the managerial implications of the study as well as its
limitations and the related directions for future research.
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