3D configurator: Nice to have or must have?

Author: Klaus Pilsl

What is a 3D configurator?

A 3D configurator is a digital tool with which customers can digitally adapt products to their individual needs, experience them digitally and buy them.

Changed buying behavior

In today's world, the shopping behavior of consumers has changed dramatically. These studies show that online retailing has grown strongly in recent years and will continue to gain in importance in the future.

• Many things that were normal years ago no longer apply today. For example, a study by KPMG showed that around one in two consumers in Austria, Germany and Switzerland changed their online purchasing behavior in the wake of the Corona pandemic.
• In some cases, the pandemic has even forced the shift to e-commerce on consumers. As a result, even more people have come into contact with the new online offerings. Many have learned to love it, and are sticking with it even after the pandemic.
• An analysis by NielsenIQ shows that the growth rate in e-commerce in Germany is 7x higher than the growth rate in traditional offline sales at the lowest rate. In Italy, it is even 16x higher.
   

For which companies is a configurator a "must have"?

Shopping experience

A configurator is a "must have" for all companies that want to sell with emotion. Visual Commerce: Images and visualizations are the be-all and end-all of successful sales. Customers want to have a clear idea of what they are going to buy. They want to be able to predict their future experience with the product or service as accurately as possible. Symbolic representations can no longer keep up with this. After all, it's the emotions that ultimately decide whether customers buy or not.

Sure, you could just run customers through a checklist, but honestly, who wants to do that? It's much better to make the shopping experience part of the product or service. Customers are impatient, and if they are impressed quickly, they will stay longer. That's why it's the first impression that counts. This is the only way to gain more time from your customers, which will allow them to tell you more about their wishes and needs. The more time you give them, the greater their loyalty to the product.

So don't forget: pictures speak louder than a thousand words and emotions are the basis for the decision to buy. So make sure that your shopping experience is unforgettable and inspire your customers right from the start.
 

Consulting

E-commerce is no longer just about online ordering. It's about meeting customer needs and providing the best possible shopping experience. But how can we ensure that customers really get what they need? The answer is simple: through advice. Because customers always have questions. What is the best product for me? Does it fit my lifestyle and needs? Can I rely on the quality?

This is exactly where the configurator comes into play. It is the perfect advisor in e-commerce. It gives them all the information they need to make an informed buying decision. From price to size, from durability to compatibility. The configurator answers all questions and shows customers what the product will look like. And best of all, the configurator doesn't hide this information in the fine print, but presents it exactly when customers need it.

This is the key to a successful e-commerce experience. By providing user-friendly advice, we can ensure that customers are satisfied with their purchase and don't regret any hidden hurdles later. So if you're looking for a solution that puts customer needs at the center, a configurator is the answer.

Cost savings and efficiency

For a long time, the only way for customers to get good quality sales was through physical salespeople. Despite the long journeys, appointments and time investments, competent flesh-and-blood salespeople were gladly sought out.

But things are different today. Customers know that they can increasingly find this quality of advice online. This means that they not only have quick access to it online at any time, but can now also get it for products for which it was not worth the effort offline in the past.

Depending on the product, configurators today can map this high sales quality partially or even entirely digitally, because configurators transport knowledge, the shopping experience, ordering security, and joy. The best thing about it is that there are no bottlenecks and it is quick and easy to use at any time. This leads to maximum efficiency in sales, no matter how much demand fluctuates or customer tastes change. Configurators are cost-effective, make no mistakes and grow with your business without limits.

As a result, since the use of configurators, many companies no longer create quotes, but sell their products online immediately. With the result that closing rates are rising. Why? Customers appreciate speed. The easier and faster it is for customers to reach their goal when making a purchase, and the better the advice they receive, the fewer bounces there are in the buying process. If you want to expand your business and it has the sales characteristics described here, it will become increasingly difficult to compete without a configurator.

Competitiveness

The world around us is changing ever faster. Companies must be able to identify trends early on and respond quickly to changes in order to remain competitive. In times of digitalization, adjustments and changes are implemented faster today than ever before. This also means that customers today have ever higher expectations and are used to faster results.

But the companies themselves must also be able to act more quickly today. In the past, product news and price lists were published every quarter at most, as the printing and costs for price lists and product documents were very high. With modern configurators, however, companies can now make changes quickly and easily every day, be it to prices, colors, functions, product improvements, etc.

Configurators are therefore indispensable for companies that sell products online. Customers can find out about the product online, put it together themselves, and take their own needs and preferences into account. This not only increases sales, but also makes production more efficient and customers more enthusiastic.

But configurators are not only beneficial for purely functional products. Lifestyle products, which primarily convince through their emotional impact, also benefit from interactive sales tools such as a configurator. The ability to visualize and personalize the product in different environments and contexts turns the shopping experience for the customer into an emotional experience that will be remembered for a long time.

In short, in a world that is becoming ever faster and more digital, configurators are indispensable tools for companies to meet customer needs and hold their own against the competition.

When a configurator is a "nice to have".

Sometimes it's just nice to buy a product right off the shelf and use it exactly as is. No playing around with configurators, no interactive customizing, and no waiting for delivery. In cases like this, speed is key. So why waste time unnecessarily by artificially increasing the solution space?

In this case, a configurator can be a nice addition, but not a "must have". It allows customers to visualize the product interactively and enhance the buying experience. So it's a nice gimmick that grabs the customer's attention and offers them a great customer experience. But it's important to note: A configurator is not absolutely necessary here.

So all in all, we can say that when it comes to products that don't need to be customized, or hardly at all, a configurator is a nice extra, but not a must. Ordering and delivery can be quick and uncomplicated without a configurator slowing down the process unnecessarily. This is the case, for example, with simple products such as batteries or raw materials. Here, it might be sufficient to offer the individual variants as stock items.

Excursus Megatrend

One megatrend in e-commerce is the increasing personalization of shopping experiences. More and more companies are relying on personalized recommendations and offers tailored to the individual behavior, interests and preferences of their customers. These personalized shopping experiences help customers feel more comfortable and therefore more inclined to shop with the company again.
 

Conclusion: Is a 3D configurator suitable for every company?

Configurators enable companies to offer a memorable shopping experience by providing real-time visualization of the product and user-friendly advice. This leads to higher customer satisfaction and sales efficiency. Companies that use configurators can respond to changes faster and are more competitive. Therefore, companies that want to expand their business and have the aforementioned sales characteristics should consider a configurator to increase their competitiveness and satisfy their customers.