eCommerce Shopping Gets Personal [Infographic]

Brian Wallace February 23, 2021

Today’s shoppers has choices online and it is up to the companies behind the products to serve the personalized eCommerce needs in the modern marketplace. While shopping, 71 percent of consumers were frustrated that their experience was impersonal. But scaling customization to a large scale is challenging. Product Configurators may be the solution.

Between 2015-2018, the desire for customized products grew by 2.4 times. It seems like customization is the way to go. Breaking it down, there are four approaches to customization.

1. Adaptive. This is standardized products designed to fit many uses.
2. Transparent. This is when manufacturers adjust the product based on customer data.
3. Cosmetic. For this, customer choices are restricted to the final stages of production.
4. Collaborative. This creates a truly unique product based on customer preferences.

With this in mind, 42 percent of consumers want the brand to decide what their options are. They want configurable products. On one end of the spectrum there are standard products—when all the products are exactly the same. With this method, the cost is low, but if the product does not work, then there are no other options. The other end is bespoke products, where the product is wholly unique. The customers have a high level of creative power, but the costs are a lot higher. By combining these two, you get configured products. This is a cost-effective, mass produced customization.

A product configurator is powered by rules such as: What are the features and functions of each part? How do products work together within assemblies? These rules work to prevent misconfigurations.

Companies with product configurators see an improvement in engagement, profits and revenues, and brand loyalty. Key features to look for in configurators are 360 degree visualization, real-time pricing, customer experience, and data available early on.

Check out the following deep dive on the technology that goes into product configuration and the tech behind scalable customization below:

Infographic Source: PARTsolutions

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