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.