Globalization is the process of implementing the same marketing strategies across all of the company’s operations in the international market. Despite the fact that the customers’ cultures, preferences, and environments are different, globalization makes everything almost the same. However, customization is the opposite process as it builds separate marketing strategies for various marketing environments. Researchers note that customization is defined “as the consideration of the specific customer needs and preferences determined by the economic, cultural, legal, social and competitive environment” (Ilan et al., 2019, p.7). In other words, this process recognizes that people’s needs and preferences vary, and the customers should have an opportunity of choosing, making the products they want to buy unique.
One of the companies which have a principle of recognizing customers’ differences is Amazon. This company chooses customization as a way of working, and probably this is the reason it is so successful and famous among people. Amazon says that shoppers customize the products “with their text, images, or logos—or from a list of options” provided (“Sell customizable products,” 2020, para. 2). In other words, Amazon provides the customers with three customization types: text, image, and product configuration, in order to let them adjust the product as they want to. Text customization is for painting, printing, embroidery, and engraving by adding text to the products using various font and color options. Image customization provides customers with the opportunity of uploading their own images and even add text to display on them (“Sell customizable products,” 2020). The third type, product configuration, lets customers “create a series of drop-down options through Seller Central that customers can use to build their own product” (“Sell customizable products,” 2020, para. 5). These are the measures Amazon has taken to recognize that offerings should be adapted to local preferences and conditions.
References
Ilan, A., Virvilaite, R., & Seinauskiene, B. (2019). Psychic distance, marketing strategy adaptation and export performance: The role of international experience. European Journal of International Management, 1(1), 1-35.
Sell customizable products for all of life’s moments. (2020). Web.