What is mass customization and what advantages does a producer benefit from if they can realize it?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Mass customization is the ability of a producer to produce on demand a wide variety of customized services or products at reasonably low costs. The three important advantages are:
Managing Customer Relationships. Mass customization requires detailed inputs from customers so that the ideal service or product can be produced. The firm can learn a lot about its customers from the data it receives. Once customers are in the database, the firm can keep track of them over time. A significant competitive advantage is realized through these close customer relationships based on a strategy of mass customization.
Eliminating Finished Goods Inventory. Producing to a customer's order is more efficient than producing to a forecast because forecasts are not perfect. The trick is to have everything you need to produce the order quickly.
Increasing Perceived Value of Services or Products. With mass customization, customers can have it their way. In general, mass customization often has a higher value in the mind of the customer than it actually costs to produce. This perception allows firms to charge prices that provide a nice margin.