insight

How 3D product configurators simplify your quoting process

Go for detailed quotes without the calculation headaches

The way people shop has changed drastically over the past decade. The introduction of 3D configurators is contributing to this shift, creating a new — and increasingly online — shopping experience. Where customers once had to rely on their imagination and/or static images, 3D configurators offer a dynamic and interactive way to personalize and visualize products before purchasing. This speeds up not only the customer's decision-making process, but also the way you put together a quote.

A quote in one click

Imagine you sell sunglasses with various options: colors, shapes, lenses, prescriptions, mirroring… With a 3D product configurator, you can make that pair of sunglasses instantly visible to the customer, whatever options they select. In a brick-and-mortar store, you're fumbling around with images and a handful of physical samples. And the quote or invoice? That becomes a puzzle entirely.

Enter the configurator, where the customer - online or in the showroom - can fully customize a pair of sunglasses (or any other product) to their taste and see the price update in real time. Drawing up the invoice or quote? That takes one click.

The origins of configurators

Configurators made their entrance through the automotive industry, initially very limited and only available in a browser environment. The quality was considerably lower and configuration was only possible in the showroom itself, backed by a powerful PC. That naturally means losing a significant portion of your potential customers.

In 2020, the pandemic brought about the major shift to online configuration. Not only did work need to happen from home, so did shopping. The powerful PC behind the configurator now sits with the developer (Nanopixel for example), meaning a configurator can run on any computer. Quality improved significantly and the visual design became stronger, an enormously important point for Nanopixel.

Configurators <3 e-commerce

E-commerce and configurators are a match made in heaven. For the customer, it's convenient to see the price rise or fall as they add or change options. They immediately see what they're paying for and what their choices will look like.

That product might be a pair of sunglasses, but equally a tablet, shirt, car or custom-built wardrobe. The configurator at Maatkasten Online, for example, is taken to the extreme. The custom wardrobe is fully configured and paid for before the customer has seen a single screw in real life. That's precisely why visual quality is so important: when a customer sees a sharp, aesthetically pleasing result in front of them, it builds trust. Present it beautifully enough, and you can sell anything.

Where an account manager or salesperson once had to enter all the options into an invoice or quote and adjust them manually, this now happens entirely automatically. You eliminate a substantial amount of sales and administrative work. Couple that with an online payment system, and you barely need anyone at all. Where a carpenter once had to measure your wall, make you wait four weeks for a quote, ask for a deposit, come back again… your custom wardrobe is now configured, paid for and in production within minutes.

The future of configuration

Any discussion of the evolution of 3D configuration must also look to the future. The quality of 3D rendering will only improve as engines grow more powerful, reaching even photorealistic settings. We're not quite there yet, but we're certainly heading in that direction. Streaming will also play an increasingly important role. Just as you stream a series via Netflix, your configuration will be streamed. Meaning a powerful computer is no longer needed at all. A screen will be enough.

3D configuration will become a standard first step in the purchase of more and more products. Along with online shopping, it will become second nature.

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