My experience with NIKEiD

I wrote some time ago about the trend for mass customisation. That is - having systems and processes in place so that a product can be adapted to more closely meet the needs of the specific, individual customer. The main example I used was M&S and dress shirts: M&S custom shirts
M&S are just one company trying to more accurately match the wants and needs of their customers. Another company being innovative in this area in Nike. They call their system NIKEiD.

Find it here: store.nike.com

Although not applicable to the whole range of products, NIKEiD allows a customer to select a base model of [say] a training shoe and then customise it. There is flexibility in respect of materials used - suede or leather - and especially in regards of colour. The customer takes each element of the shoe and makes a selection from the options available. Typically there are 10-12 components. Laces, midsole, sole, accents and of course the famous Nike-swoosh logo.

Once all the components have been selected and adjusted the customer can pay for the shoe and wait four weeks for delivery. Alternatively they can look at designs by other NIKEiD users - and there are thousands of customer designed models to look at.

Rather than doing this at home, I decided to try the experience at the local Nike store in the centre of Glasgow.

Naturally a good proportion of the customer-service staff were current or ex-students of mine - or at another local college or University. This meant I felt free to interrogate them about some of the details of the system that a normal customer would not have known or cared about.

Where are the shoes made?

China or Italy - dependent on model. Most of the time between ordering and delivery is not taken up with manufacture but with shipping.

Do Nike use the customer-generated data in their evolution of their range of designs and colours? Also, do popular combinations make it into mass, standardised production?

Possibly. Certainly Nike HQ is tracking customer use of the system.

What proportion of shoes the store sells are designed using NIKEiD instore?

A small minority. Across categories, football boots are much more likely to be customised than streetwear style shoes.

Do you notice any patterns in the choices customer make?

Almost half of the football boots are in green and white. Most of the remainder are in blue. A match for the local football teams, Celtic and Rangers. Some customers don't want to make so many choices.

How careful do you have to be when using the system to co-produce a pair of shoes with a customer?

The system automatically detects swear words and copyright issues. So to use the text 'Rooney' wouldn't be allowed as that is protected. Ditto for text critical of Nike. Local knowledge is key for text and number combinations that might be regarded as obscene or hateful. A global company wouldn't know the significance of the local culture to that extent.

When a customer designs a shoe are you trained to say it looks good - even if you think it is appalling?

No, we're allowed to give an honest opinion. Of course we tend to be polite or silent, or lie.

Have you ever been tempted to ask if the customer was colour blind?

No.

So - here is my design. Quite a simple one.

Four weeks to wait!

The NIKEiD system will be one of the very many new cases and examples used in the second edition of Marketing: An Introduction - due for publication around May 2012.