Whether you manufacture custom parts or thousands of standard components, you need a way to conveniently sell your products to your customer. The main challenge when trying to sell your products online is finding the simplest way to sell countless combinations and customizations of parts. In the industrial marketplace, configurators are powerful web components which help clients choose custom parts all online through a streamlined and heavily automated process.
Product configurators, when built correctly, ensure your manufactured products are accurately represented to your customers. A configurator leads your customer through the ecommerce or RFQ process on your website to help them build or select the correct part. After a part is built or selected for purchase, a custom part number is created for the client's own purposes.
A useful application of a configurator is for companies that manufacture custom parts. Buying a custom part online can be a daunting task if a user can not view the actual part they will be purchasing. This type of configurator works by creating an online representation of a custom part for the shopper to see before checkout. In this configuration process, a custom part is created for your customer as they select the options they need. In the custom part creation, your online shopper enters in dimensions, shapes, angles, and sizes of the part they need. As they select each set of numbers, the product is built on screen. This on-screen representation of the part allows a visitor to see what they receive before placing a final order. A virtual part can help close a sale by instilling confidence in the final purchase. With a configurator, most often the quality of the drawings is superb and the client can see exactly what they are creating.
Another application for a configurator on your site is handling orders when your company manufactures thousands of standardized products. Although all the parts are standard, the high number of parts available can overwhelm a customer. A configurator can help by steering the shopper toward the best product for the consumer's application. By using a product configurator, through a series of questions, the client is guided towards the items they need. Questions in the product configuration process are detailed and specific in wording so that the customer can choose the product that best fits their application. An example of this process would be in the sale of plastic tubing. A configurator will ask what will be transferred through the tubing, and direct you based on the response. Additional questions follow until the configurator has directed the user toward the most appropriate standardized part. The cart will be able to direct your clients through the material, length, and size of the tubing. So, what once was an overwhelming catalog of standardized parts is now an easily navigating shopping process.
