E-commerce and product configurator

To this day, customers more and more prefer to customize the items they purchase, so that they can make the product they would like to buy from scratch or by modifying existing models. A product can be customized in so many ways, for example: changing color, modifying certain parts, adding images, logos, lettering, and much more.

Before talking about why to integrate a configurator within e-commerce or website, let’s briefly look at what it is. A product configurator is a software that allows to fully or partially customize products and display them in real-time, is simple to use, can be used in both B2B and B2C, and most importantly brings many benefits to both the company and its customers.

Research conducted by McKinsey Company shows that during the pandemic period, many people have tried different methods of online shopping, and 71% of customers expect to be able to personalize the product they are about to buy. This leads to a higher propensity to spend on the part of the customer. So letting the customer build their own product is the best solution.

The key point about 2D or 3D configurators is that they are software that integrates with e-commerce and websites, so there is no need to remake them.

The advantages of integrating the configurator into your e-commerce are many, for example, some are:

• easy and complete product customization;
• possibility of seeing the product from every angle;
• catalog management;
• accurate and fast quotes (CPQ);
• increased sales and reduced costs;
• improved brand perception.

With the configurator, it is possible to customize the chosen product. The user can view all possible combinations in real time and choose the ones they most prefer. This process makes the customer feel more involved in the decision-making process and increases the probability of purchase.
Any type of product can be configured and customized such as:

• colors;
• materials;
• dimensions;
• insert customizations such as logos or lettering;
• remove or add parts.

The 3D product configurator makes it easy to manage a large product catalog. With this tool, you can view the entire product catalog within the e-commerce. Since it is inside the cloud and not printed, it is easy to edit and keep updated. By doing so, the customer always sees up-to-date products and there is no risk of them going to choose something that is out of stock or out of production.

The configurator not only allows the customization of products and keeps the catalog up-to-date, but also allows the automatization of the calculation of the final price. The configurator calculates a quote, quickly and automatically, also taking into account any current discounts, exceptions or promotions. In this way, the customer is presented with a quote quickly and accurately. For this reason, this type of product is referred to as CPQ.

Since customers can customize the product according to their preferences, there are additional benefits such as:

• increased sales: as a product is customized to one’s liking, one is more likely to spend. Moreover, 73% of consumers are willing to pay a premium for products that can be customized;
• increased ROI: by increasing sales and decreasing costs, ROI (Return On Investment) increases;
• improved user experience: easily customizing the product you want makes the user experience better and encourages customer loyalty. 88% of consumers say that 3D web configurators help them make purchase decisions;
• always-valid configurations: configuration rules and constraints ensure that configurations are always valid, thus preventing misunderstandings with the customer and difficulties in the realization of the final product;
• error and cost reduction: due to customer customization of the product, errors in production are avoided and material usage is optimized, thus reducing waste, preventing misunderstandings with the customer, and decreasing returns.

To enjoy the benefits of the configurator and enable your customers to customize the product they wish to purchase, you need to integrate the product configurator into your website. The software can be easily implemented within your e-commerce and there is no need for its renewal. In addition, the UI of the tool is customizable to the existing website and can be used on any platform such as PCs, tablets and smartphones.

Airlapp is a software house specializing in product configurators. We design the product in 3D for you and integrate it with your e-commerce. Don’t have 3D models? No problem, we take care of all of them!