One-size-fits-all has gone out the window. Americans have made it clear that they want custom products. In fact, 2015 to 2018 saw interest in customized products grow by 2.4 times, including eCommerce. The people have spoken, and customization is the future and no longer a luxury.
With the demand for customization in mind, let’s look at how a business can attack this issue. There are four approaches to customization, which range from low to high levels of customer involvement. From low to high, they are adaptive, transparent, cosmetic, and collaborative. Adaptive customization has no customer input. It is a standard product designed to accommodate many uses.
Transparent sees manufacturers adjusting the product based on customer data. With this, the function is customized. Cosmetics is when the appearance is changed and is restricted to the final stages of manufacturing. Finally, collaboration creates a truly unique product with both the function and appearance customized.
A product configurator blends high customization with the low cost and high scalability of standard products. A configured product is cost-effective and mass produced, but the customer still gets exactly what they need. It is also available to both large and small businesses. Offering custom products can improve engagement and increase brand loyalty, so investing in a product configurator can greatly improve productivity. Be sure to look for these key features: real-time pricing, customer experience, data available early on, and 360-degree visualization.
One product configurator to look into is eCATALOG solutions by CADENAS. This rules-based product configurator has infinite configurations and works for products, components, and assemblies. eCATALOG solutions also have instantly available data for every product configuration, including downloadable CAD and BIM models, PDF data sheets on each product, tiered pricing based on fixed data, and unique part numbers for easy repeat purchases. Its ideal applications are industrial, architectural, and electronic components.
What do you think of eCommerce? What do you think of customizing eCommerce services? Let us know what you think on our MeWe page by joining the MeWe social network.
