Deep involvement in customer experiences

People don't want to be passive anymore when buying. They don't want to be told the stories behind the product. Now they want to be deeply involved.

Here the example of 718 cyclery based in Brooklyn. Founded by a former architect, 718 is a shop that offers its customers the possibility to be present at the time when their custom bike gets assembled by a shop staffer. And they even go beyond this. Customers also have the option to build the custom bike themselves in the shop with assistance and guidance form the experts. Talk about a unique experience that no internet can offer.

It is not enough to buy a cookie cutter bike like traditional bike companies (one product fits many).

It is not enough to provide enough options so a unique custom bike is made (one product fits one person).

Nowadays, you have to do all of the above. And on top of that you have to offer the customer the possibility to engage in all the steps of the process and in a meaningful and humanistic way. Nothing transactional or mediated only by technology.

It has to be a human to human relationship mediated by emotions (the feelings involved in building your own custom bike), knowledge (the wisdom and wealth of knowledge behind act of building the bike that makes you feel like the only person who knows your bike's details and secrets), and values (what it means for you to own custom bike as a beautiful symbol of craft).