The purchasing preferences of customers are progressively skewed towards e-commerce, and with that, buyers need an interactive shopping experience that leads to purchasing confidence.
The average return rate of online purchases has come up to 20.8% in the last few years, indicating that there is a need to use a product to enter the audience for making the purchasing decision. This is when the product configurator comes in quite handy.
These configurations have been proven as a solution for the changing landscape of digital shopping and online shoppers' expectations. So, what is it? And what are the types of product configuration? Will it help my e-store?
If these are the questions that are bombarding your mind, then let’s delve into the details of 3D configurations here:
What is Product Configuration: How it Helps Businesses, its Features and Benefits
Over the years, several industries have opted to leverage the power of 3D marketing. If you are thinking about how to use 3D marketing in your sales, then utilizing the product configuration strategy can work best for your e-store.
Nowadays, different types of product configurations are used by brands to enhance customer experience. But the question is: What is it, and how does it work?
A product configuration is a process that offers a wide range of customizing options for products and services to meet the needs and requirements of the customers. The process involves selection from a wide range of features and components to create a solution that is personalized. A configuration is used by businesses in their e-store to fulfil the specific needs of the customers.
A product configurator is a type of software that allows customers to configure and customize the product as per their preferences. This software includes a plethora of selection options from sizes, features, patterns, textures, materials, etc., providing the customers with an enticing 3D visualization of your product.
Product Configuration Benefits and Features
When we talk about product configuration benefits and features, there are several advantages of using product configuration software in any business. Implementing a product configuration tool can:
- Increase operational efficiency.
- Provide customer satisfaction with customization.
- Manage and support the complexity of complex product offerings.
- Help in staying responsive to changing market scenarios.
- Offer a competitive edge with highly customizable options for the products.
With this technology, customers can select a product as per their exact specifications, leading to improved satisfaction rates. The sellers, on the other hand, get a competitive edge along with customer retention, streamlined operations, boosted efficiency, simplicity in offering complex products to customers, and the ability to adapt to market changes.
There are several key features that a product configuration offers, such as:
- A wide range of customization options
- Integration capabilities of the configurator
- 3D visualization and real-time pricing
- Flexibility and compatibility checks
- Multi-language support for seamless operations and more.
By utilizing a 3D Product Configurator, your brand can showcase accurate visualizations of the products, entice customers to convert, and reduce return rates while increasing the sales rate.
Types of Product Configuration
Product configuration has become a staple for several businesses and is one of the most important 3D strategies for any e-store.
Every brand has different requirements, so there are types of product configurations that one can opt for offering customized options to the customers. Some of the types include:
Pick-to-Order
A Pick-to-Order configurator helps customers select items from unlimited options of selection rules that eventually affect the availability of another component.
Select-to-Order
A Select-to-Order configurator allows the customer to select from all the individual components that are available for the product. In these, the components are not dependent on each other, and the selection of a part does not affect the availability of other parts.
Make-to-Order
The most used configurator in the 3D manufacturing process is the MTO model, in which a business makes a product only after the customer places an order. This model stores individual parts and begins the production process after receiving the order.
Assemble-to-Order
Another name on the list of types of product configuration is ATO, in which a business produces components individually based on the demand focus, and it doesn’t produce the final product before receiving the customized order.
Configure-to-Order
A configurator used by manufacturing industries is the CTO configurator, which helps customers select from a wide range of components based on the module system, which they can configure in a variety of ways catering to the needs of different customers.
Engineer-to-Order
Several industries use the ETO model by creating new parts and production rules, specially manufacturing individual components, and it involves an independent production process.
Product Configuration Examples
Have companies really benefited from product configuration? Over the past years, several sellers have started utilizing 3D services for Amazon and other platforms to boost their sales. Similarly, product configuration has also become a must strategy for any business vertical.
Some of the popular examples from brands that have utilized product configurations to boost their sales are:
Adidas
A popular product configuration example is the Adidas brand, which used configuration software to enable shoppers to customize their designs on the online shopping platform before making a purchase.
For example, a customer who wants to buy footwear from the online store Adidas can go through the item with a product configurator that shows multiple angles of the shoe and also offers several options such as multiple colors, sizes, and other customization options. After the customization part, the shoppers can click on the link to the product and add it to the cart.
Siemens
A well-known manufacturer of equipment for industrial automation and healthcare applications, Siemens has also utilized the product configurator software tool to enable customers to configure different kinds of components such as converters, motors, drive systems, etc. These configurations allow the customers to view the products in billions of possible configurations.
IKEA
Another notable example is the popular brand IKEA. With the help of its kitchen tool planner, a configurator tool, the consumers can design their dream kitchen, select from a range of countertop materials, select cabinet styles and appliance placements, and give users a complete vision of the kitchen in real-time.
Get Customized Product Configuration for Your Business
Adapt to the ever-shifting market conditions with ease by leveraging the services of the top Product Configuration Specialist - Advertflair.
Whether you are a B2B manufacturer or work in the consumer goods domain, we are here to integrate product configuration seamlessly into your business model so that you can cater to your customers' desires seamlessly.
We help companies manage, create, and optimize their products in one platform, allowing them to offer their customers 3D product models for an interactive and immersive shopping experience.
We offer you a custom product configurator that allows you to showcase the products to the customers in customized settings to meet their exact expectations.
Empower your customers with improved user experience and customer satisfaction, and be sure to increase your conversion and get competitive in the domain! Get in touch with us and see your scale skyrocket!
