Beaten by tepid sales at outlets, home appliance makers enable consumers to decide color, design and functions

For long, 'Customer is king' sounded like a clich??d lie, but not any more, if makers of home appliances in China are to be believed. Welcome to the world of bespoke products. Customer, it seems, is the buyer, king and emperor all rolled into one.

Or, in the words of Li Shubin, general manager of TCL's air-conditioner department, far from being a passive buyer with no say in any aspect of the product, a consumer can now enjoy multiple identities: Product designer, supervisor of the manufacturing process and beneficiary of technology.