Competing on Customer Intimacy

There are five requirements for any customisation supply chain strategy to succeed: 

1. 𝐂𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 – the experience must be unique to each customer. 

2. 𝐅𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 – the personalised nature of the experience must adapt to the changing needs of the customer and the environment, including product configuration and flexible delivery capability.

3. 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐲 – the customer must feel that he or she is getting something special, and it must increase the brand awareness. 

4. 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 – the customisation aspect must not be a burden on the customer and is ideally invisible. 

5. 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐝 – delivery must be fast; the customer should not have to wait longer for a personalised solution than for a normal purchase.

Tesco spent £1 billion in cash giveaways between 1995 and 2002 on the programme, and it claims to have increased profits by 100 times that.
A guest staying at the Ritz Carlton who asks for a hypo-allergenic pillow will never have to ask for it again. The Ritz does not even tell the guest that it has memorised the preference; it gives the guest the same pillow next time he or she stays there.

The individuals who touch the customer should be involved in the analysis of the data to improve the delivery mechanism, which inevitably involves stepping back in the supply chain to remedy problems.