customization

customization

the adaption of a good or service to meet the particular requirements of a specific customer or group of customers. Extreme customization involves the design, and production of a different product for each customer, which tends to be expensive. In order to achieve cost savings associated with ECONOMIES OF SCALE firms may prefer to produce a limited range of standardized products (see STANDARDIZATION). As a compromise firms often seek to produce a single standardized product which can then be varied slightly through customization to meet broadly the requirements of different groups of buyers. See MARKET SEGMENTATION, PRODUCT RANGE.

Collins Dictionary of Business, 3rd ed. © 2002, 2005 C Pass, B Lowes, A Pendleton, L Chadwick, D O’Reilly and M Afferson