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What is Product Configuration?
So, what is product configuration? Product configuration is the process of customizing a product and altering the different components, features, and overall appearance to meet the preferences and demands of customers.
Product configuration can be done by businesses (using engineers, for example), or it can be done by customers, allowing them to customize their products. For a custom products business, customers play a central role in product configuration, choosing the features and options that they want in their products. For instance, product configuration software allows customers to add text, upload images and files, or use live coloring to tailor their products to their personal needs.
Product configuration is a powerful tool that gives customers a say in creating the products they want and need. If you have a custom products business, product configuration is crucial to providing the best customer experience and exceptional products that customers love.
The Benefits of Product Configuration
There are many benefits of product configuration. From increasing your sales to improving the customer experience, well-executed product configuration can catapult your business to higher levels of success. Here are some advantages of product configuration:
Enhance customer satisfaction. It might seem obvious, but by allowing customers to customize a product to their liking, you significantly enhance their satisfaction. When customers have a say in the creation process, the product aligns more with their specific needs and preferences, improving their experience with the product and your brand. Customizing and seeing their products and particular features before buying allows customers to take the driver’s seat and be co-inventors in their product designs.
Related Post: Product Visualization: Enhancing Customer Experience
Reduce inventory costs. Product configuration can be viewed as a “made-to-order” approach that significantly reduces the need to maintain extensive inventories. When customers create the products they want, you will not have to stock a large inventory of products with different variations to try to cater to potential customers’ needs. Instead, you only need to create products as they’re ordered, eliminating the need for large inventory stocks. Product configuration also helps manage inventory more efficiently, as businesses can keep track of every product variant and their respective components.
Boost sales. Offering custom products can be efficient for businesses as customers are generally willing to pay more for custom products, increasing your overall revenue. Customers are willing to pay a premium for customized products, and demand for personalized products continues to grow. According to one study, 49% of adults in the U.S. are interested in buying customized items, and 3% of them are likely to spend over $1,000 on custom products.
Give competitive advantage. Potential buyers often favor customizable products over standard ones, allowing them to translate their personal choices and preferences into the products they purchase. Offering custom options, especially when competitors don’t, provides a distinct advantage over your competitors and potentially attracts more buyers.
Reduce product returns. With product configuration, customers personalize products to meet their needs and wants. This individual customization, guided by established criteria and helped by a live preview, significantly reduces the likelihood of product returns. Customers can make their choices and see detailed product previews in real-time when they have access to an intuitive, easy-to-use product configuration tool. This helps ensure the customer gets exactly what they want, minimizing returns.
What Is a Product Configurator?
Now that we’ve gone over product configuration, you may be wondering how to use this in your business. A product configurator is a tool you can use to offer product configuration for your custom products business.
So, what is a product configurator? A product configurator is a specialized software that assists businesses in offering product customization to their customers to fulfill their individual needs and preferences. This product customization software allows customers to select product features based on their unique needs and preferences. Product configuration software offers the customer an immersive and interactive journey as they choose from a variety of product features and specifications.
Generally, product configurators provide many custom options, such as image upload, text input, live coloring, and more, empowering businesses to elevate their custom offerings to another level. Product configurator software can offer the customers a live rendering of the custom products, ultimately helping them make more informed buying decisions.
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Features of Product Configurators
There is an abundance of product configurators on the market today. Finding the best product configurator to suit your needs can be overwhelming. There are, however, some crucial features that make product configurators excel. Look for these key elements when you’re checking out product configurators:
Ease of use. Given the potential complexity of product configuration, it’s essential to ensure the software you choose is user-friendly and doesn’t require extensive expertise or coding knowledge. Look for a product configurator that is intuitive and user-friendly for the best customer experience.
Integration. As an ecommerce business owner, it’s important to verify that your chosen product configurator is compatible with the ecommerce platform you’re operating on, such as Shopify, Magento, or Wordpress. This compatibility ensures a smoother integration process, eliminating the need for costly and time-intensive custom integrations.
Dynamic pricing. In the customization world, it’s important to note that not all product options come at the same cost. Therefore, the price should flexibly adjust based on customer choices. Dynamic pricing lets your customers see real-time cost updates as they select different product options and features.
Visualization. Customers cannot physically touch or see online products, so a preview visualization is essential. This digital representation not only gives customers a better understanding of what they’re purchasing but also helps build trust and confidence in the product.
Mobile friendliness. As mobile devices become increasingly used in consumers’ shopping habits, investing in software that supports a superior mobile experience is crucial. According to Statista, mobile e-commerce sales reached $2.2 trillion in 2023, making up 60 percent of all e-commerce sales worldwide. A mobile-friendly product configurator is vital to growing in today’s ecommerce space.
Scalability. Choose product configuration software that will grow and expand with your business. Product configurators with unlimited feature options allow your company to change and grow to meet customer demands.
Transparent pricing. Make sure that the product configurator you choose has clear and transparent pricing. Complicated fee structures and variable add-on costs can hinder your business from growing and create unnecessarily high costs. Choose a product configurator that you can afford and offers transparent, predictable pricing so you know how to budget for it.
Best Product Configurators on the Market
If you’re shopping for the best product configurators to help you grow your customer base and sales, here is our comprehensive guide. We are including the main features for each configurator so you know what to expect.
Kickflip
Kickflip stands out in the market for its exceptional value for money, owing to its intuitive interface and extensive customization options. It elevates the customer shopping experience with its well-designed and thoughtfully planned interface, offering customers a superior live preview of their personalized products. Explore all of the features that Kickflip offers with a free trial. Kickflip includes:
Text features: adding text, text effects…
Live coloring
Mobile-friendly and responsive
Multi-components products
Live preview
Customer support: live chat, email, phone.
Clear and transparent pricing
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Configure ID
Configure ID is software that offers a custom shopping experience implementing 3D product visualization. The program includes:
3D product visualization
Text personalization
Upload images
Product bundles
Dynamic pricing
Live coloring
Live rendering
Multi-languages and currencies
Threekit
Threekit is a software expert in 3D product visualization and configuration. Their platform enables customers to engage with products virtually and modify them in real time. Features include:
Augmented Reality
2D and 3D visualizations
Live coloring
Product bundles
Print ready files
Live rendering
Virtual photographer
Logic rules
Combeenation
Combeenation provides a proficient software solution that aids in crafting a customization shopping experience for your customers, made possible through the utilization of these features:
3D and 2D visualizations
Augmented reality
Dynamic pricing
Live rendering
Logic rules
Picture upload
Quote creation
Doogma
Doogma is a product configuration software that offers a wide range of tailor-made options. This allows customers to customize their products, improving their overall shopping experience. Doogma includes:
Live coloring
Upload images
Custom text
Live rendering
3D
Dynamic pricing
Related Post: Product Configurator Software in 2023 - The Definitive Guide
Grow Your Business with Product Configuration
Product configuration is a pivotal element for achieving business success. Product configuration is the process of creating custom products to meet customers' needs. Allowing customers to play a vital role in creating customized products with a product configurator can improve your customer experience, sales, and customer base. Choosing the right product configurator will help your business grow and stand out from the competition.
Get started free with Kickflip for a user-friendly, affordable product configurator with unlimited potential.