The demand for custom products is skyrocketing. Manufacturers are under huge pressure to extend their product catalogs for including hundreds, thousands, or even millions of configurable product variants.
But this also creates a dilemma: how to offer such a huge product choice without an increased complexity that goes with more options and parts?
Furthermore, how can manufacturers expect experienced sales reps, let alone customers themselves, to configure heavily technical products with so many options without designing suboptimal ones and making errors?
This is where a 3D product configurator steps in.
In this one, we explore:
What is a 3D product configurator
How a 3D product configurator works as a visual CPQ software part
Why an online product configurator is the ultimate eCommerce solution
What is a 3D Product Configurator?
A 3D product configurator is an interface through which users can configure their products. The user points, clicks, drags and then drops for interacting with lifelike 3D products on the screen. Depending on the concerned product, they can change the product colors, dimensions, spacing, parts, and more. Anything’s possible.
As the user interacts with the configurator, their selection and change get reflected back to them instantly on the screen. They gain a deep understanding of the various product choices on offer and form a solid emotional connection with the configuration created.
Product Rules in a 3D Product Configurator
A robust 3D product configurator provides users with immense freedom to create products when needed. But obviously, there have to be certain limitations in place. If users have carte blanche, they are likely to design something that looks good on-screen but will not function properly in the real world.
Product rules built into the back-end of the configurator consist of the logic needed to design fault-free configurations every time. If the user does something invalid, the configurator won’t let them. Conversely, some CPQ tools provide visual cues that help guide users towards optimal choices.
Creating product rules sounds complicated, but it doesn’t have to be. The 3D product configurator from KBMax has a no-code rules engine called Snap. Like Google’s Blockly language, users just drag blocks of ready code around and ‘snap’ them together to form logic statements that are guaranteed to be correct.
With a rules engine like Snap, even non-technical users can set up and continue product rules with their choice of CPQ tools. This means a manufacturer can perform everything in-house rather than pay a third party whenever a new product gets launched. This saves a huge amount of time and money.
A 3D Product Configurator is at the Focus of Visual CPQ
As the name suggests, CPQ software automates three of the most crucial stages of the made-to-order manufacturing process–configuring, pricing, and quoting. The 3D product configurator is crucial to the first stage: product configuration. Let’s have a look at the future steps.
Stage 1: Configure: See above.
Stage 2: Price: Visual CPQ software automatically brings about the calculation of prices for configurable products. The best visual CPQ solutions calculate prices in real-time at the time of product configuration. As users configure their products, prices get updated live on-screen. This helps drive on-point purchases.
Stage 3: Quote: Visual CPQ makes the use of the product and pricing information collected during the configuration stage and then uses it to auto-generate a quote, more of that as a Word document or PDF. The ability to create quotes with just a click, combined with huge time savings previously discussed, means that many engineer-to-order manufacturers are able to reduce their sales cycle from days to just a few seconds.
Bonus Stage 4: CAD Design Automation: The best visual CPQ solutions can easily create more than just your everyday quotes–they can also generate all those documents that are required by customers, engineering, and then also the shop floor. This encompasses everything from technical drawings, bill of materials, assembly guidance, as well as different CNC cut sheets. However, the ability to auto-generate CAD files is usually the most significant win, saving a lot of valuable engineering time and clearing engineering bottlenecks for good!
Why Online Product Configurators Are the Ultimate eCommerce Solutions
In 2020, the global B2B e-commerce market size was estimated at USD 6.64 trillion. That’s huge, but the growth shows no signs of fading any time soon. The market is estimated to expand at a CAGR of 18.7%, from 2021 to 2028. Manufacturers failing to prioritize eCommerce risk being behind an advancing global pack.
What’s governing this trend?
Demographic shift. Buyers of decision-making roles are now more likely to be Gen Y (Millennials). These Millennials have grown up with the internet and now feel perfectly comfortable with spending large sums of money online. It comes naturally to them, while personal sales can often feel very pushed or forced.
B2Cs have changed the way we buy. Amazon sets a standard against which all different buying experiences are judged. B2Bs have been behind their B2C counterparts for years. Buyers look for instant gratification from various online purchases.
Technology has become better! A few years ago, the 3D, AR, VR, and then mixed reality technology going into the best 3D product configurators would have been supremely costly.
Covid has changed the way work happens. Buyers are still working remotely and no longer willing to travel for personal meetings. They work flexible hours in different timezones, so that they can buy any time, any place, through absolutely any device.
Manufacturers looking to supercharge their online purchase experiences can simply embed their 3D product configurator into their eCommerce website and empower buyers to configure, price, and quote complex products on their own.
Advanced product rules negate the need for engineering input in the design process. Guided selling and intelligent product recommendations mean there’s no sales rep required. A global market of buyers can visit your website to learn about your products at their own pace, and you can drive sales and capture valuable customer data as they do.
