The Internet is an amazing invention. Not only can you connect to people all over the world, download music, and play videos, but you can also shop from the comfort of your own home!

Shopping via the World Wide Web also comes with perks, like being able to customize your own products such as food and music. Youbars.com is one such site. The brain child of LA-based mother Ava and her son Anthony, a marathon runner, Youbars offers a refreshing alternative to commercially-produced nutrition bars.

By clicking on the Build-A-Bar link, the shopper is redirected to an eight-step ingredient process. First, choose a base: almond, cashew, cashew macadamia, organic peanut, organic dates (fat-free), or organic soynut butter. Next, pick a protein and a selection of nuts and seeds. The fourth step includes fruit and berry selections, the fifth sweeteners, the sixth additions such as chocolate and seasonings, the seventh grains, and the eighth allows the customer to pick from an array of infusions.

A nutrition label on the side bar keeps track of all calorie, fat, and carbohydrate information as the customer gradually builds their very own nutrition bar. At the end of the process a blank box is provided to type in a name for the custom-made bar (think “Goddess Bar” or “Chunky Munky”).

The bars are available in small ($2.89 per bar), medium ($2.99 per bar), and large ($3.19 per bar) packages of 13 bars each that can be shipped to a specified location.

Along with custom-making their own bar, customers can also choose from a list of popular nutrition bars such as the Breakfast Bar, which “combines coffee, cocoa and cinnamon for a mouth watering way to wake up. The Breakfast Bar gives you a convenient, delicious order of cholesterol-free egg whites, fruit and coffee.” Other selections include Honey Cashew and Great Date with Chocolate.

“I had way too much fun adding, removing, re-adding ingredients, and calculating calories. They guarantee the bars…the bars came super-fast, fresh and how cool is make-your-own anything, right?!” one reporter wrote in Melting Mama, November 23, 2007.

“Your company is sooo cool. I told EVERYONE!!! It’s a lifesaver for me!! Thanks!!! And your customer service is GREAT too. I have SOO many food allergies and this is just terrific! I am going to get a whole bunch for X’mas presents for my friends!! Thanks!!!!” wrote Jodi S., a customer from Freehold, NJ.

Protein bars are not the only nutritional item offered by Youbars.com. The site also features Make-A-Shake. Similar to Build-A-Bar, Make-A-Shake allows the customer to design their own custom-made protein shake to fuel them through workouts or unusually hungry afternoons.

The shakes also come in small ($2.89 per shake), medium ($2.99 per shake), and large ($3.19 per shake), with 13 shakes to a box.

Perfectflavor.com offers a similar service. “You might think we named the company Perfect Flavor because we know some secret ice cream recipe for that just-exactly-right flavor. But we don’t. We picked the company name because we want you to create your own ice cream flavor. You know what your own perfect flavor is, not us. We decided we’d swallow our pride, and let you create your own customized ice cream flavor, every time. No matter what crazy ice cream flavor you come up with, even if it’s just pure vanilla, you’ll know that your ice cream was made to order, in a single batch, by hand,” claims the site’s homepage.

Dedicated entirely to ice cream, Perfectflavor guides the customer through an easy, 3-step process when creating their “perfect” ice cream flavor. Step one is to pick a base (the type of ice cream you desire), be it mousse, sweet cream, gelato, yogurt, french custard, or sorbet. The site makes “each one from raw Virginia local milk that we’ve pasteurized and separated into cream, eggs from grass-fed free-range hens, and organic sugar.”

The second step asks for a base flavor with a choice of vanilla, chocolate, coffee, or caramel. “Base flavors usually change the color of the ice cream. For example, a red raspberry base flavor will make the entire batch of ice cream a deep pink.”

Step three is where the customer can become creative with a vast array of flavorful mix-ins including spices, chocolate options, nuts, etc. “We gently fold whatever bits, chunks, hunks and ribbons you choose into your deluxe ice cream base” to create your Perfect Flavor.

Once the customer has completed their Perfect Flavor combo, they can name the new ice cream combination and enter it in the Perfect Flavor contest to win free ice cream. “Once a month, we’ll pick a flavor from the ones you create, crown it a winner, and add it to our list of featured flavors. And to say thanks, we’ll make your flavor up, and send it to you - FREE!”

The ice cream is delivered can be delivered in a package of 4 pints for $119.99, or 8 pints for $149.99, and can be shipped straight to the customer’s home. “The total cost of each package includes 8 pints (full order), or 4 pints (mezzo order) of ice cream, a reusable insulated shipping container, a handwritten note from your ice cream chef, description cards, and dry ice to keep it all cold.”

“This is the best ice cream I’ve ever had!” said satisfied customer Kate S., age 7. To see what others have said about Perfectflavor.com, click here.

It’s not just food sites that are allowing customers to personalize their purchases. Clickmix.com is a fun site where visitors can compose their very own exercise CD by choosing from a database of over 3,000 single 32-count tracks, or by browsing the pre-mixes submitted by previous customers.

Another step-by-step process directs you through choosing the songs, picking the speeds, mixing the selection, and downloading it to your computer. After downloading the new workout mix, the customer can burn it to a CD or an iPod. Instant heart-pumping music to get one through their next workout!

With the internet evolving into a bigger and bigger medium, businesses all over the globe are taking advantage of its ease-of-access by providing new services to customers such as personalizing orders and even letting the customer create their own unique products. Youbars, Perfectflavor, and Clickmix are only a few of the sites springing up on the internet that offer this courtesy.

With so many choices, it’s easy for customers to be overwhelmed. Most of the sites offer “favorite” selections or mixes that are pre-made and ready to order if one finds the decision too much. Of course, taking advantage of the wide selection can be extremely beneficial, and many customers have left satisfied comments on the websites.

Providing a service that allows the customer to build their own product using their own personal preferences as guides is the heralding of a new era in business, one that puts the customers’ needs first. In this time that emphasizes the individual, business is taking advantage of people’s independent needs and placing them before that of conformity within a business’ products.