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.
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.
Posted by: leafar | June 11, 2009 at 12:11 PM
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.
Posted by: Jamie Murray Wells | June 12, 2009 at 04:39 PM
congratulations again by the way :-)
Posted by: Jamie Murray Wells | June 12, 2009 at 04:40 PM
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.
Posted by: Hank Heyming | June 14, 2009 at 03:45 AM
What about http://www.ShirtsMyWay.com?
Posted by: Tim | June 16, 2009 at 02:22 AM
http://www.soleenvie.com and http://www.blank-label.com are great mass personalization sites too
Posted by: Jon Kikel | November 13, 2009 at 08:49 AM