Customised goods, collected & reviewed

From mens’ pants to muesli, we’ve featured dozens of companies that encourage shoppers to design or tweak before they buy. Helping consumers find their way through the customisation maze, Milk or Sugar has started aggregating what’s on offer. The site lists products in a wide variety of categories, outlining pricing, delivery area and payment types to give visitors an idea of the possibilities. Orders aren’t made through Milk or Sugar: if users like what they see, they click through and order directly from the retailer or manufacturer. Launched in August 2009 by Dutch design agency ILUMY, the site’s reviews are written by the Milk or Sugar team. Users’ suggestions are welcomed, and functionality will soon be added to let them rate sites on factors such as creativity and service, along with uploading pictures of the products they’ve had customised. Categories will also continue to expand—customised fire extinguisher, anyone? Given the length of the internet’s long tail, there are definitely opportunities for consolidating categories and offering an at-a-glance understanding of how they work. There are so many product and service niches crying out to be streamlined using a portal of this type—time to make overwhelmed web users forever indebted to you?