Mass Personalisation and Venture Capital: not just 3D Printers.

One of my Investment themes at Advent is Personalisation.

Why?

eCommerce is clearly one of the few bright spots right now and we’re still in the realm of simple investment stories around backing companies selling stuff online. The Chemist Direct  investment thesis?  The “Superdrug”  of tomorrow.  ASOS?  The Arcadia of tomorrow.  ChainReaction (my personal favourite) is the Halfords of tomorrow. Vente Privee the TKMaxx of tommorrow.  Etc etc.

So we’re getting better and better at selling standard product online.

However, there’s an interesting batch of companies who’ve been funded which I expect to see more and more money chasing: Retailers selling product SKUs of 1. A product that personalised and unique to each purchasers.

How can this stack up?

The web is one low-cost route to market and can be leveraged to offer everyone the tools to create their own products.  The challenge for businesses is getting the back-end right to be able to manufacture and fulfill.

On “simple personalisation” Europe has some excellent first-wave companies.  Spreadhshirt and personalised t-shirts, still growing nicely. Moo.com and cards. Graze.com and healthy food boxes.

What interests me is the second wave of far more complex manufacture & fulfilment or completely new products.  GlassesDirect is a great example: something made specifically for me. Not to mention the operational ball-ache of made to order glasses and the drop shipping challenges of fulfillment.

Tailorstore is another great example: We all want tailored shirts but here’s something made in Asia, and delivered to the UK via Germany, from a business based in Sweden.

There is real innovation here: at the technical, operational, manufacturing and financial level. This is a great playground for die-hard entrepreneurs: intellectual challenges, people saying “it can’t be done”, creative solutions and grinding out deals.

I would love to meet more companies in this sector.

There is also a level beyond this: companies coming up with products that are not currently available.  I love the idea of being able to design a new car online specifically for me or design a new gadget and get it made by a 3d printer.  It’s just I’m not yet convinced this is en-masse right now.  Tell me if I am wrong.

Comments

[leafar]

I wish you were. I would build strange analog camera.
I nevertheless have seen a company at the Paris opencoffee presenting price statue for BtoB market. It's small but a begining.

PS: would love to have a follow the reply by email button to see if someone answer this question.

[Jamie Murray Wells]

leftfootcompany.com is interesting Paul - where a one-off real-world chore provides the data to allow you to get personalised product all your life.

[Jamie Murray Wells]

congratulations again by the way :-)

[Hank Heyming]

Great topic -- one that I have been thinking about a lot recently. Mass customization is a sector that has the potential to bring about some real disruption. In the states we have similar companies doing tailoring (www.jhilburn.com) and gift items (www.zazzle.com and www.cafepress.com). But I agree with you that what is really interesting is companies in the more complex industries. I think this is definitely a space to watch.

[Tim]

What about http://www.ShirtsMyWay.com?

[Jon Kikel]

http://www.soleenvie.com and http://www.blank-label.com are great mass personalization sites too

[anthony]

What I like about small business owners is that they are not afraid to take huge risks and lay it all on the line. But, I agree they do need a lot of help with their marketing. I think having them go the social media and email route is not only the least expensive but its also the most effective. Thanks for the stats!
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[Allie]

These companies may be coming up with good ideas, but what about quality and ethics. Cafepress is an excellent idea but when I ordered a t-shirt with my company logo on it I didn't like the quality of the t-shirt and have not purchased from them since.

Recently I found out the terrible crimes committed against women in Africa because tribes/army want control of a mineral used in mobile phones. I haven't touched my mobile since and feel sick everytime I use a computer.

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