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Customization not only expands markets but also allows businesses to charge more. Take Branches Hockey in Osceola, Wis. In April, 2001, the stickmaker launched a service that lets consumers order customized products. Players pick from 26 options, including the length of a stick, blade patterns, and curve patterns for the blade. Branches plugs the data into its digital cutting equipment and cranks out a custom stick in five days. The company charges 39% more for custom sticks. Branches says the online offering has increased revenues for the entire business by as much as 25% in the past year.

Companies that turn to customization can offer services that wouldn't work without the Web. Catalog clothing company Lands' End Inc. (LE ), which only has a handful of outlet stores, introduced customized chinos online a year ago and jeans early this year. Now, custom orders make up 40% of chinos and jeans sold online. In November, Lands' End introduced made-to-order twill pants and dress shirts.

This is welcome news for shoppers who spend hours in mall changing rooms, hunting for the elusive fit. Christine Hobbs, a 33-year-old database marketing manager in Costa Mesa, Calif., has always had a hard time finding pants to fit her 5-ft.-11-in. frame. It got worse after she turned 30. "As you get older, your body turns into shapes you never predicted," says Hobbs. So she was happy to pay $54 for a pair of brown chinos--$19 more than the off-the-rack equivalent. Lands' End has to charge more to cover the higher cost of making customized clothing. But the company is hoping that as the custom operation picks up steam, higher-capacity manufacturing processes will lower the cost per unit, boosting profit on the premium line.

For shoppers, buying tailor-made clothing online requires a little work and an honest look in the mirror. Hobbs typed in her measurements and had to answer a series of questions about the shape of her body. Yet all this effort works to the advantage of the e-merchant. Once shoppers have laboriously created profiles at one e-merchant, they are far more likely to revisit the same site than to repeat the process with a competitor.

This is leading more apparel retailers to hurry into the market. Bob's Stores, based in Meriden, Conn., is experimenting with Web kiosks in a couple of its casual-wear stores in the Northeast. Casual Male Big & Tall in Canton, Mass., also plans an online system by next year. "We think we can attract new customers who can't fit into our traditional sizes," ranging from a 44-inch waist up to 80 inches, says CEO David Levin.