136 Int. J. Business Information Systems, Vol. 7, No. 2, 2011 Copyright © 2011 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. IT enabled mass customisation as a tool for bond building – an Indian case study Sita Mishra* and Susmi Routray Institute of Management Technology Ghaziabad, Post Box No. 137, Raj Nagar, Ghaziabad, India E-mail: smishra@imt.edu E-mail: sitamish@gmail.com E-mail: sroutray@imt.edu *Corresponding author Abstract: Today, almost all organisations recognise the need to provide outstanding services to consumers. Globally, companies are embracing mass customisation as a tool for providing unique value to their customers in an efficient manner. Worldwide, many companies have built sustained and lasting relationships with their customers through mass customisation. There is growing evidence that mass customisation strategy is transforming into a mass personalisation strategy and as a result it is redefining marketing and business strategies. However, to be successful, companies in the business of mass customisation must also offer a highly personalised experience to the customers at an affordable and competitive price. In India, congregating personalisation with mass customisation is a novel approach, and can be used for building relationships. In this paper, we have analysed a new business model which makes mass personalisation realisable using IT tools as an enabler, by means of a case study approach. Keywords: mass customisation; personalisation; personalised gifts; India. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Mishra, S. and Routray, S. (2011) ‘IT enabled mass customisation as a tool for bond building – an Indian case study’, Int. J. Business Information Systems, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp.136–148. Biographical notes: Sita Mishra is a strong proponent of andragogy as a prerequisite for developing educational leadership through efficient academic delivery. She has more than 13 years of experience in industry as well as academics. At present, she is working as Associate Professor in IMT, Ghaziabad. In her previous stint, she also worked in Marketing Division of Steel Company thereby helping herself in her endeavour to impart an even better learning experience to her students. She has qualified for the National Eligibility Test for Faculty (NET), conducted by University Grants Commission (UGC), Government of India, New Delhi, 1993 and is also a Junior Research Scholarship holder, granted by UGC. Her research interests include consumer behaviour, marketing communication, retail marketing and brand management. She has published more than 30 research papers in international/national journals/book chapters and presented papers in international/national conferences. Susmi Routray received her PhD from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi and an MCA from Barkatullah University, Bhopal, India. She has over 12 years of experience in teaching, research and consultancy. She has published many research papers in international/national journals and presented