As introduced in the previous post Co-Design: Innovation at the intersection, hyper-consumption and hyper-individualism enabled by technology in the phygital arena are offering customers infinite choices. It´s the long tail of brands and products that create the long tail of customers (from a mass/cebra target to YOU).
Nowadays, some leading companies are already segmenting their customers not by group but individually. How? Experts call it Curated Merchandise Orchestration (IDC. 2017) meaning a curated value chain (design, buying, assortment, localization) aligned to a continuous understanding of inventory levels, the phygital environment and real-time demand. This, enabled by real-time data, analytics and machine learning/AI. Therefore, a customer visiting a best-in-class omnichannel retailer will receive a specific offer, in a specific color, size and price, and even, with the possibility of customizing it.
Scent Creator Kit
An interesting output of co-creation that follows the hyper-customization trend is The Alchemist Atelier at-home Scent Creator. This is the result of a partnership between Puig (fashion and fragrance company) and BSH (the largest manufacturer of home appliances in Europe).
Scent Creator permits to customize perfumes from home. A Discovery Kit offers the full range of bases (34x3ml scent blotters) including bergamot citrus, rose floral or red fruits. An app will help to learn and explore about perfumes, helping customers to blend ingredients and create a new formula in minutes. Expert perfumers give support too.
The Alchemist Atelier has its own physical space called Atelier in Paris, close to Jardin du Palais Royal. Visitors can ask for a Discovery Workshop or even create their own fragrance.
The Atelier, 36 rue Étienne Marcel, Paris
Scent Creator merges many of the trends we commented in previous articles:
- Customer-centricity and customization (create your own perfume)
- Experience (multi-sensory, blend ingredients, explore, create. Attend to workshops)
- Sustainability (customization as opposite to mass-market / high volume production)
- Phygital (a physical “store” in Paris and a website where you can virtually visit the store)
Back to the co-creation success, I copy what Thomas Garbe (BSH´s Corporate Innovations department) commented about the joint venture with Puig. “A joint venture company offers a win win situation: It combines the advantages of a startup, being lean, flexible, fast and agile, with the expertise and professionalism of mother companies. Furthermore, we wanted to allow the market to invest into this new business model and to develop it further. If the business model becomes successful, we can generate revenue without sharing the risks – either through product sales or by selling more of our shares to Puig, if they are interested” (06/28/2019 via BSH Home Appliances Group).
This is about value creation and taking advantage of an ecosystem where each player brings expertise but the sum is greater than its parts.
Images from Scent Creator are captures from The Alchemist Atelier site
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