Savings potential configurator - how to save time and costs

Author: Elisabeth Sonnleitner

You have a tight marketing budget and want to invest in a configurator? Are you worried about the associated costs? We can understand your concerns, but it's important to note that every investment can be offset by potential savings. For example, it can reduce returns and optimize processes. Thus, investing in a configurator can prove successful in the long run and help you use your marketing budget more effectively.

In this article, we will take a closer look at the savings potential of configurators and show you what options are available.
 

Savings potential marketing costs

Configurators enable unprecedented product presentation in 2D and 3D. Your customers can view, rotate and, so to speak, experience a product in real time as if it were actually physically standing in front of them. This makes every marketing heart beat faster. Let's be honest: the monthly costs for the configurator and the one-time creation of the 3D data do not lead to any savings, but in the long run, the configurator can save catalog and photography costs. What does this mean in concrete terms for the marketing department?

• Flexibility: With 3D visualization, you can create and present different product variants without having to produce and photograph physical products every time. This gives you greater flexibility in presenting your product portfolio. 
• Error prevention: Anyone who has ever created a catalog knows how easy it is to make mistakes, such as typos or incorrect product images. With a configurator, such errors and changes can be corrected in just a few clicks without having to dispose of numerous catalogs.
• Time: Photography can be very complex and expensive. Please close your eyes and think of your products in all colors, shapes and forms. If you have to take a photo for every possible product combination, how long would it take you? How much would it cost? You can apply the same principle to creating catalogs. How many weeks does it usually take your graphics department to create a catalog?

And now for the costs. The production of a 40-page catalog usually costs between 10,000-20,000 euros, depending on the effort involved. This depends largely on the level of detail of the information, the nature of the images and many other factors. For the printing you can calculate with an edition of 10,000 pieces again about 5,000 euros. This is a lot of money that can be saved in part or in whole by using a configurator. It is also important to note that catalog and photography costs are not one-time costs, but recurring costs.

Avoid returns

According to a study, Germany is the European champion when it comes to returns. Almost every fourth parcel is returned, resulting in an estimated 530 million returned parcels last year. Returns not only have a negative environmental impact, but also economic consequences. Nearly four percent of returned products are disposed of, resulting in high costs for retailers. These costs are in addition to lost sales, as returned goods are not paid for.

Now the configurator comes into play. How can it contribute to the savings potential? Configurators help to avoid returns by enabling customers to visualize the desired product in advance and design it according to their wishes before they make the purchase. The product is presented in real terms and can be experienced. The more detailed the product representation, the less likely it is that the product will have to be returned. Augmented reality goes one step further. Customers can even use their smartphone to put their favorite product in the room before they buy it. For example, they can virtually place the sofa they want in their living room to see how it will look later.

Configurators avoid high economic costs for your companies and, besides, contribute significantly to the reduction of environmental impact.

Savings potential consulting time

Customers of today and tomorrow are more impatient than ever. Thanks to the Internet, they are used to receiving data, offers and information in just a few seconds. Often, the bid is accepted by the provider who simply delivers the offer the fastest.

How can the configurator reduce costs here?

• Products without the need for consulting: A configurator guides your customers through the buying process by offering a variety of options and features to customize the product to their needs. Configurators never have a bad day and always offer all possible alternatives. No matter what time of day it is and no matter where your customers are. They don't need a salesperson and can complete the purchase on their own.
• Products requiring consulting: You have products that need some explanation? This often requires many emails or phone calls between customers and companies to coordinate the specific requirements and details. This can be very inefficient and time-consuming. Configurators can also be integrated well into the sales process here. Either on site in a face-to-face meeting or during online consultation appointments. At the end of the conversation, a quote can be generated in seconds at the push of a button.

Do you consciously take time and consider how many consultation meetings are held in your company every day? Consultations are important, no question, but in how many cases could they be replaced or at least supported by a configurator at least as well?

Configurators thus offer a great way to save time and labor costs while increasing customer service and satisfaction.
 

Savings potential order preparation

Did you know that configurators can also automatically generate bills of materials and forward them to production? In addition to reducing lead times, this also guarantees error-free data transfer. In this context, we would like to mention that Combeenation configurators offer interfaces to store, PIM, and ERP systems - for smooth and error-free data exchange. Fiddling around with Excel lists and complex mails is thus a thing of the past.

Excursus: Employees - living databases

Who knows it? Long-standing employees have an enormous amount of knowledge, but this knowledge is not documented anywhere. Quite often we hear that employees - mainly in production companies - are a living database. The following questions can be answered by these colleagues off the cuff:

• Does component A match component B?
• Is product XY available in the color gray?
• Can model Z in variant Y be combined with any component?
• ...

What happens when these employees retire or leave the company? This usually leads to high costs because the knowledge is completely lost or has to be laboriously passed on to new colleagues. Have you ever thought about storing this knowledge in a configurator? In this way, you no longer simply document your knowledge on paper, but in a configurator - a form that is quickly and easily accessible to everyone at all times. You no longer have to worry about losing knowledge due to upcoming retirements, fluctuations,...etc.
 

Conclusion: Savings potential configurator

There are many ways that a configurator can help generate savings. The areas are:

• Marketing costs (photography, catalog,..)
• Avoidance of returns
• Consulting time
• Order preparation

Please remember, however, that the concrete savings potential of a configurator always depends on the specific requirements and processes of your company.

You would like to talk about a possible configurator with experts?
Please feel free to contact us for a no-obligation discussion. We are ready.