Mass Personalisation At Scale
One of the questions you sometimes get as an investor is, "what areas do you see as interesting at the moment?"
(Interesting as in; interesting areas to invest).
My answer to this usually includes some reference to "hyper-personalisation".
"What's that?", I get in response.
My view is that there are a number of technological trends converging that provide new opportunities in eCommerce such as;
- on demand production of goods
- drop shipping
- mobile phone contextual data (e.g. location)
- 3D printing
- new delivery systems
- machine learning
- the internet of things
- augmented reality
This trend was also identified by Constellation Research's 2014 Outlook On Digital Disruption
They say,
"Mass personalization at scale drives relevancy and context. Systems of engagement shift to systems of mass personalization at scale that deliver relevancy. The shift from analog to transactional systems led to a wave of automation-driven efficiencies in the past century.
Today, engagement systems move toward experiential systems that deliver massive contextual relevancy at scale, create role-tailored communication styles, deliver bionic user experiences, and move at the right time and scale. The shift to systems that deliver mass personalization at scale is now underway... These systems start with an outcome-driven design point, solve delivery of massive individual scale, craft personalized conversations, interface with human APIs and enable people-to-people networks. Key technologies include 3D printers, ad technologies, augmented reality, context engines, crypto currencies, identity systems, facial recognition, payment technologies, digital wallets and personal clouds."
We're living through an era of change whereby we're seeing the gradual death of mass market products.
What can be personalised will be personalised.
Relevancy is the new currency of success.