How 3D product configurators simplify your quotations

Suppose you sell sunglasses with different options: colors, shapes, lenses, strengths, mirrored finishes... With a 3D product configurator, you can instantly show those sunglasses to the customer, whatever options they select. In a brick-and-mortar store, it comes down to juggling images and a few real examples. And the quotation or invoice? That becomes a puzzle altogether.

Enter the configurator, where the customer can compose sunglasses, or any other product, entirely to their own taste online or in the showroom and immediately see the price change along with it. Preparing the invoice or quotation? That takes one click.

Configurators first entered through the automotive industry, still very limited at the time and only in a browser environment. The quality was also much lower, and configuring was only possible in the showroom itself, with a powerful PC behind it. That naturally meant losing a lot of customer potential.

In 2020, the pandemic triggered the major shift to online configuration. Not only did working have to be possible from home, shopping did too. The powerful PC behind the configurator is now with the developer, Nanopixel for example, which means you can run a configurator on any computer. Quality also improved significantly, and the visual design became much stronger, a hugely important point for Nanopixel.

E-commerce and configurators are a match made in heaven. For the customer, it is convenient to see the price rise or fall as they add or change options. They immediately see what they are paying for and what result their choice gives.

That product can be sunglasses, but just as easily a tablet, shirt, car or custom-made wardrobe. The configurator at Maatkasten Online, for example, has been taken to the extreme. The custom cabinet is fully configured and paid for before the customer has seen a single screw in real life. That is exactly why visual quality is so important: if the customer sees a sharp and aesthetically pleasing result in front of them, it creates trust. If you present it well enough, you can sell anything.

Where an account manager or salesperson used to enter all the options into an invoice or quotation and adjust them manually, this now happens fully automatically. So you eliminate a great deal of sales and administrative work. And if you also link it to an online payment system, you almost do not need anyone anymore. Where previously a carpenter had to measure your wall, make you wait four weeks for a quotation, ask for a deposit, then come by again...

your custom cabinet is now configured, paid for and put into production in just a few minutes

Anyone talking about the (r)evolution of 3D configuration must of course also talk about the future. The quality of 3D displays will only continue to improve thanks to stronger engines, even moving toward photorealistic settings. We are not completely there yet, but we are certainly heading in that direction. More and more will also be done with streaming. Then, just as you stream a series through Netflix, your configuration will be streamed. A heavy computer will no longer be needed at all. A screen will be enough.

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