Mass custom over the Internet is not sustainable say past 2012? It’s going to be copied and margins will go to zero. Asia will be king of mass custom for jewelry on the Internet, that is if the US dollar stays king.

What I have heard and taken to heart is for mass custom to work in an independent retail store:

1.) You need the relationship.
2.) You need to build the local community
3.) The business needs to be sustainable.

How do you do mass custom in an independent store and fits these rules? I’m not sure. Maybe a creation and teaching studio where people design their own mass custom items? They would use jewelry CAD software that outputs a simple finished model. It would be a social event with small classes (3-6 people). The computers would have to be taken away from time to time. I have thought about maybe a U shaped table that has the screens under the table so people can see each other and not the back of a computer display. Then there would be a main display for teaching. It would have to be about people collaborating, not people starting at screens.

Heck one could have foo foo drinks. Now this sounds like a Tupperware party or the “Jewelry Design Café”. Now it sounds like a hobby and not a business….

I think there could be a take home version of the software. Sure it could incorporate a website some how, maybe the model sharing database, but the real communication would take place at the store.

Also I see people using this store to make jewelry for their organization. It might be a hobby for them, or they might take advantage of discount pricing and have a little hobby business of their own.

I see this like how people get together in stores and do scrapbook crafting or bead work, except higher end. I am talking about designs that are very simple. A ring with names and symbols. A chain, pendant, or key chain that was build with 3D profile “clip art” that built into the software. Simple, Simple, Simple models.

I think kiosks for mass custom design in the retail store are a slippery slop. They are going to show up in the chain stores, Wal*Mart and such. But how do kiosks build a relationship with the customer? I have some very cool ideas about using hardware buttons and sliders for a kiosk in a store. It’s pretty easy/low cost to integrate hardware these days. More cool that practical, but Sensible Claytools fits into that category.

You could also have such a system scan stock forms for 2D or 2 1/2D model building. You could use this to put the customers handwriting and basic art work on the jewelry automatically. And of course you can incorporate 3D scanning into the mass custom system, like kids handprints and such. Somewhere there has to be a way to do mass customization and fit these 3 rules I have laid out. I really think something like “Build a Bear” for jewelry has huge potential, even if it’s not on the Internet.

I’m sure such a store would have different types of customers. In the experiments I have done I have had a few people interested in affirmations. These are spiritual in nature, or goals, or general loving reminders, or what ever. I can see such a store teaching goals or offering personal couching services and selling jewelry tokens to cast the goals and affirmations into store (well metal).

Really if you look at these ideas such a store is not selling jewelry. It sells experiences. It sells tickets to the jewelry design Disneyland.

Paul Krush

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