In the case of customization and consumer involvement, making your own personal photo book online is a good example which is nowadays very popular. Create your own photo book, online or with software which can be downloaded, is a well-known business application offered by a vast number of suppliers (e.g. Albelli, Fotoalbum.nl, Blokker, Kruidvat, HEMA) in the Netherlands. However, it is very popular and many consumers wants to save their beautiful memories (e.g. holidays, family reunions, weddings, birthdays) in personal photo books, on canvasprints, calendars and many other products.

Albelli is a known supplier in the Netherlands and beyond, and the company is a subsidiary of Albumprinter BV, one of the largest photo books suppliers active in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France and the United Kingdom[1]. Albelli is in the top 3 best photo book suppliers[2], which is based on an independent comparison test among 17 different photo book suppliers.

How it works
You can create a photo book online or download a free photo book creator software for your computer. When you choose to download this kind of mass customization tool (MC tool), people have unlimited access to design options and the full range of photo books. After selecting the preferred format and size of the photo book, you can decide if you’d like to create your book with some help (automatically or ‘Autofill’) or without help. ‘Autofill’ is a kind of mass default and this is the fastest option where the software fill the pages of the book automatically with the uploaded photos. Than you can choose out of many creative options, adding text and finally when the book is ready, order it. When the company has received the payment for the photo book, the book will be printed and delivered within 7 working days.

Features of customization
When you look at the corporate website of Albelli, you’ll find three reasons why you have to choose for Albelli, namely 100% satisfaction guarantee, user friendly features and best customer care. Albelli provides a 100% satisfaction guarantee, which represents a customer intimacy strategy. Satisfaction is an important key performance indicator and they ensure the consumers that they are 100% satisfied with the quality of the chosen item. If not, Albelli will reprint the item or offer the customer a full refund. A good feature of the mass customization toolkit is the user friendliness. Albelli wants everyone to be able to make a photo book and everyone to be satisfied with the result. Their goal is to offer as many features as possible while keeping the toolkit user-friendly. Improvement of the MC toolkit is very important and the company collaborate with it customers to get feedback and sharing new ideas. Another good feature of the MC tookit is that the company shows peer input and reviews at their web based MC tool. According to Franke, Keinz and Schreier (2008)[3], peer input from other customers is beneficial to the individual customer and her self-design process.

Albelli works for and together with its customers. The company creates value through good customer care, listening to the needs of the customers and by offering a user-friendly MC toolkit.

Gerson van Stuijvenberg
363300