Product Configurator & eCommerce – A Perfect Match

As a result of the continuous growth of eCommerce, providers are looking for any avenue to capture a larger share of customers. Providing a tailored, personalized experience to customers has emerged as a very popular practice, and product configurators have risen as the #1 instrument of delivering it.

A product configurator, an interface where a user can customize a product model to their liking, is a perfect choice for the eCommerce industry and has a proven track record. Whether you are just now learning about a product configurator for eCommerce or want more in-depth information about how it can be implemented in your business, this article has all the information you need.

As a company that knows the ins and outs of creating a custom product configurator (having done so many times in the past), we will be relying on our expertise and the best practices in the industry.

Why use Product Configurator?

Studies reveal that consumers prioritize superior experiences, with a majority expressing a willingness to switch to competitors for better service. Additionally, there's a growing expectation for eCommerce platforms to minimize returns by offering accurate product configurator information. Clear images and detailed descriptions play a significant role in reducing return rates.

Optimizing customer experience is crucial for sustained business success, involving the reduction of friction and meeting customer expectations. Among other reasons to use product configurators are:

• Enhanced digital footprint and improved engagement on eCommerce platforms
• Higher conversion rates as customers are more likely to make purchases
• Reduced return rates due to clearer product builder eCommerce visualization
• Ability to showcase individual product configurator components, offering design flexibility
• Appeal to millennials and Gen-Z consumers through Augmented Reality experiences

Ensure that the solutions you select can adapt to the market's dynamic nature. Assess the technology's modularity and capacity to seamlessly integrate with existing ecosystems without disrupting ongoing operations.

Regardless of the chosen solution, one essential aspect must be prioritized. Implementing an effective mass customization strategy requires establishing a flexible workflow and product configurator functionality that can be accessed at any stage of its lifecycle.

Benefits of a Product Configurator in ECommerce

For over a decade, the traditional approach to eCommerce has been “just put your inventory up on the website and let the customers choose.” However, this approach is flawed and does not fulfill the total needs of the customer or the business. To get a better sense of it, let’s examine how a 3D product configurator is superior.

1. Higher client satisfaction
   
   Customers love freedom, and giving them a broader choice of product builds works wonders in satisfying their needs and wants. They no longer need to settle for less or grudgingly select a product configurator eCommerce version that partially meets their expectations but doesn’t quite get there.
2. Better client-product-brand engagement
   
   Through the interaction process, customers form an emotional bond with your product. They will be much more motivated to purchase a product after spending minutes (rather than the usual seconds) choosing it. This extra time with the product also helps them learn more about it and get acquainted with your brand.
3. Useful analytics
   
   You can tell which product versions are most popular based on their sales, but customization takes this to a whole new level. Based on user choices in the product configurator for eCommerce, you can get much more detailed and insightful information about the colors, accessories, performance specs, and other aspects that customers like, even when other features do not get the same response.
4. Helps sales teams be more efficient
   
   Configurators are usually designed to be much more than a visual reference. Many have a built-in order system that quickly takes them from seeing a product configurator for the first time to choosing their design and paying for it. This tendency towards autonomy helps sales teams spend less time educating and consulting clients and focus on other matters, such as securing bulk sales.
5. Prestige
   
   Building an in-house customization solution is something that grabs attention and, accordingly, can be used to garner good press. Even creating something that your competitors do not have can generate months of good publicity and push you to the front of the pack, at least in the eyes of the public.

What are the 2 Key Types of Product Configurators?

If we look at how configurators are presented and provide their customization features, we can single out two distinct types deployed on websites and other platforms – static and dynamic.

Static

Static configurators are all about taking you from one place to another. The order of things happening goes like this: you see one product configuration -> you select a new customization option -> a new visual representation of the product configurator loads. Static configurators are a legacy type, usually using photos to visualize a product and deployed through a website with hundreds of links and pages, with a single page ready to load based on user choice.

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Example: Urban Ladder

Urban Ladder is a primary online furniture provider that mainly customizes furniture aspects, like color and material. They mainly visualize products through photos, and selecting any customization option causes a new page to load.

Dynamic

Real-time configurators offer a seamless experience. This means that when you select a customization option, you don’t have to wait for a new page to load, and everything happens in front of your eyes in a fraction of a second. Usually, the content is preloaded as soon as a user launches the configuration app and is normally presented in 3D form. Sometimes, an eCommerce product builder eCommerce will have a whole catalog of products you can switch between effortlessly.

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Example: FashionTek

FashionTek is an emerging clothing brand that decided to create a product configurator in the format of a dressing room. Program-Ace built this software, featuring digital avatars for shoppers and dozens of clothing items they could customize and try on their avatars.

Check Out the Case Study

Best Practices for Building a Product Configurator

Obviously, the information needed to create this kind of solution can’t be condensed into a handful of tips, but we want to help you with two critical aspects of the planning process – choosing how to deliver the product configurator to customers (platform), and what you want to include in it (features).

Choosing a platform

Choosing application features

• Rotation/zoom

  (Look around and see a product from all angles. Sometimes even from within)

• Animation

  (Demonstrating how the object works and how it should be used safely)

• Text hints

  (Contain key information about product builds and specific customization options)

• Payment gateway

  (Customers can place an order right after choosing a build they like)

• Environmental simulation

  (3D products are visualized in a realistic environment, sometimes based on captures of a user’s surroundings)

FYI, the five features above hardly represent the full scope of functionality you can implement in the software. Still, they are the most popular beyond the core features of product variety selection and update. You are welcome to think outside the box and devise other ways to make your product configurator solution valuable and unique. For example, a manufacturing product configurator eCommerce may need a bulk order option.

How to Build 3D Product Configurator ECommerce Software

Once you build your configurator, you must consider how you’ll go about the process – building everything in-house or delegating some work to a partner.

Independently

If you choose to craft a configurator, you will need software developers. They will be responsible for creating the interface and functionality of your solution and integrating it with your existing services, whether this means implementing it on your website or packaging it into a separate application and releasing it on your marketplace of choice.

Unfortunately, most eCommerce providers don’t have such experts and need to hire them, which sometimes takes weeks or months. Learning or teaching to code will probably be out of the question since it takes months to learn how to make even the most straightforward app.

The other challenging aspect of development will be asset creation. If you go with a simple configurator, you can just use some photos and videos as visual assets, but for all other situations, you’ll need 3D models, which 3D artists typically create. The talent and hiring situation here is similar to the one with developers.

With a partner

Working with a partner is an ideal solution for companies that lack the resources to get their project off the ground. This will usually be a company with plenty of experts available to handle project work.

Ideally, you should find somebody with a good combination of experience and cost, a large team available, and a flexible attitude towards your project (being ready to adapt to changing circumstances and requirements). As for the matter of product configurator cost, you can get a great price by pulling a team from a region with a thriving IT talent market full of educated specialists.

Program-Ace is a provider ready to give you the best of both worlds. Building configurators is one of our greatest strengths; we have multiple successful cases to prove it. Our company has a large team with all the specialists you need – developers, 2D/3D artists, QA engineers, business analysts, and many more. Thus, we are more than ready to help with your project. Let's work together, contact us.