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We invite you to listen to another episode of our WM Talks podcast, where we discuss technology and business topics related to the IT industry.
Szymon: Hi, welcome to the latest episode of WebMakers Talks. Today we're going to talk about product configurators and conversion in e-commerce sales.
Today I'm joined by Damian. Damian Maślanka, CTO of WebMakers, so welcome Damian.
Damian: Hi.
Szymon: And from my side - I'm Szymon Kubala.
I have the pleasure of hosting this podcast and talking today a bit about configurators. Okay Damian, so that we don't bore anyone, drag things out or get distracted, I'd like to start with a fairly general question, which is: what actually is a product configurator to you and how should we understand it? Not only geeks or technical people are listening to us, but probably also people who are either considering configurators or who have absolutely no idea what they are. So how do you see it?
Damian: For me, a product configurator is a kind of natural extension of the product page, where apart from the basic information and photos showing what the product looks like, we get a powerful tool that allows us to personalise that product. It's not about modifying it in any completely arbitrary way, but even simple configurations such as changing the colour, changing the variant or changing the shape. Thanks to that, from a single product we can actually create many different variants, which a regular standard product page simply doesn't offer.
Szymon: And how does it work with those variants, colours and products? Is it defined in advance, or is it somehow generated? Who is actually behind it?
Damian: It all really depends. In most cases it's actually a predefined set of options that are also dependent on each other.
Szymon: Something like filters?
Damian: Yes, exactly. Just like when we search in an online store - we can choose filters and depending on them, specific products are displayed. Here it works in a similar way. There is a kind of set of filters or attributes and by modifying them, by setting their values appropriately, we can influence the final result of the product.
Szymon: Okay, we have the final version of the product, but in what form? Because I've heard there are 2D configurators, 3D configurators, and something that has recently become quite popular called AR. Could you shed some light on that?
Damian: Yes, in general there is quite a wide range of configurators. As you mentioned, there are very simple ones where there is actually no visualisation at all - we can only set parameters somewhere. In practice we don't see what is happening, but we still influence what the final product will look like.
Szymon: So something like a form?
Damian: Yes, a form where we click through options. It could even be called more of a calculator, where we modify different options. Depending on them, the product price changes, or the price stays fixed but we influence how the final product will look. This is the simplest type of configurator.
Szymon: I recently saw something like that on a neon sign website - I think it was called something like Neon Factory. You enter your text, choose a few colours and that's basically it. But in this case the difference was that the text actually appeared and there was some glow or colour applied to it.
Damian: We need to consider that if there is no visual layer, then we don't really see the final effect. That's why 2D configurators were created. They show some kind of projection of the product and we can see in real time how our attribute choices affect the final shape of the product.
There are also 3D configurators, where we have a three-dimensional model and we can rotate the product 360 degrees, observe it from every side and see how the parameters influence its appearance. And there are also the most advanced configurators - AR. With them, using a QR code we can launch a visual layer that places the product in the space around us. A good example is car rims. We can configure a rim and then see how it would look on our own car. We launch the AR model on our smartphone, place it on the car and see how the car looks with those rims.
Szymon: That's great. So not long ago we had Pokémon Go and people walking around the streets looking for Pokémon, and now we have AR models that let us check products live on our cars - and probably not only cars. What other industries are leading when it comes to configurators?
Damian: First of all the furniture industry. As you know, it's often difficult to visualise how a wardrobe, table or shelf will look in a room. With AR we can place the object directly in our space and see how it will look. We can take a screenshot, save a photo and then decide which wardrobe type or colour will work best in the room.
Szymon: Great, it's actually a very extensive topic. I'd like to ask a bit more about the 3D configurators you mentioned earlier. You said we have several models placed somewhere in space and we can view them from every side. But I wanted to ask about the quality of those models, because they are models after all, right? As someone who sometimes looks at such configurators, I notice that many of them online are, well, I'd say rather poor quality. The colours look faded, they don't look like they do in reality, so in the end I don't feel very confident making a decision based on that. And I'd rather just go to the store. So how does it look in practice? Is there any development in this area?
Damian: Yes, well you're probably a gamer and play different games. There is a huge gap there as well. There are games created by a single studio that have rather simple graphics. And there are games where your eyes light up immediately and you think, wow, the graphics are amazing. It's similar with these models. The more resources and time we invest in refining a model, the better it will look.
Of course, you can also create simpler models that, as you said, don't fully reflect the real product. But everything comes down to detail. The more time and attention we dedicate to building models for our products, the better they will look.
Szymon: That's great, because when you mentioned games it reminded me of the recent boom around Unreal Engine 5, where many models are very photorealistic. Smoke behaves in a very realistic way, and so on. So if we already have this in games, how far are we from having the same thing in sales, where money flows faster, so to speak.
Okay, I have a few more interesting questions for you. First of all, I'd like to ask how configurators influence purchasing decisions. Does it increase decision-making? Do we actually see it in sales that when customers have the possibility to choose, they are more willing to buy from a particular store? Or are we still following a less personalised path?
Damian: There are two main factors when it comes to configurators. The first one is simply that they are an exciting feature. Customers appreciate that a store offers something like that. It immediately looks more serious. You can see it's not just a basic store with static products, but that someone actually invested in it and takes the business seriously. That's the first factor.
The second factor is psychological. When we start personalising a product, changing parameters and options, we feel like we are co-creating it, that we are actually creating something individual specifically for ourselves. It's a psychological mechanism that makes it much harder to abandon the purchase once we have already engaged in the personalisation process.
Studies show that as many as three quarters of customers shopping in stores value the option of personalisation. Other research indicates that the sales effectiveness of a product can increase by around 40% if the user engages in the personalisation process.
Szymon: Recently I read an article where Rafał Brzoska said that we are entering an era where stores without personalisation simply stop making sense. I don't remember the entire article, but that was roughly the idea behind what he said. But when it comes to purchases through configurators themselves, how does it look from the perspective of sales? We are living in a time where fewer and fewer people want to talk to salespeople or even pick up the phone. More and more we want to do everything online. How does that influence the work of salespeople? How does it influence people working in sales, including B2B? Does it speed up their work or maybe even replace it? How does it look from your perspective?
Damian: You could even say that a configurator is basically a salesperson. Imagine a situation where we sell something in a store and the customer isn't sure whether the product is available in another colour. What do they do? They either call the store, write an email, or leave the website and search for another store where they can find the product in that colour. When there is a configurator, it becomes an instant answer. The customer doesn't have to write an email. They simply see that they can change the colour. In a way, it's similar to being in a physical store and asking if the product is available in another colour. The salesperson would say yes and either show it or bring it from the back. With a configurator, this process is automated. So a configurator can definitely be strong support for sales. It reduces the number of routine and basic questions and at the same time decreases the distance between customer service and the customer, because the customer essentially serves themselves by selecting the appropriate variants.
Create your product configurator with us.
Szymon: And also the time between when we get the effect, when we see that for example we changed something, or we can compare it is definitely shorter than when a human is serving us, right? It is important, especially in times where, to watch one video, we still need to launch Subway Surfer on the second screen.
Okay, listen, when you simply implement configurators, right? We are in fact a company that has not been making these configurators since yesterday. We have several implementations, so I would like to ask, what reactions of clients to the implementation of such a configurator do you observe?
Damian: Yes, first of all such a first point is fear. The client is usually afraid that it may be an expensive process, a complicated process. But here we always approach it in such a way that can be said to be a bit iterative. First of all one has to ask oneself such a question, Is a configurator definitely for my store? - because not every store, product assortment is actually suitable to be configured. An example may be some very simple products. Obviously, with very simple products it is difficult here to have any personalisation. And in turn a store that has a large set of products, one has to ask oneself which categories of products are actually worth personalising and start with that. In fact not to go broad, that we give a configurator here for every possible product, but to think where that configurator makes the greatest sense. Even start from a simple configurator. Even if it is an ordinary calculator, or precisely such a 2D layer. Verify it with your clients, whether it actually has a good response. We see that we have fewer emails in customer service, because clients click it out for themselves somewhere. We see that sales are growing, then we can simply gradually, one increase the number of these configurators in our store, and two be tempted to further develop it, that is move to 3D models, move to AR and gradually in fact raising this budget, raising this kind of involvement in creating these configurators, transform our store into such a modern store tailored, one could say, to the 21st century, where the client has full influence here on what they buy.
Szymon: I saw precisely "Mobelix" - I do not know how to pronounce this name - there is a company that deals with sales both in Austria and in Slovakia. And they did precisely what you said, that is they have a huge assortment, but they use only a configurator related to sofas. Apparently sofas simply must have sold for them the most and there was the greatest number of questions with them, left corner sofa, right one and so on. Therefore simply such a decision, so absolutely yes. However after what time do the first effects of implementing such a configurator on the website usually become visible?
Damian: The effects are very fast. Simply suddenly from day to day our clients get a new tool, so it is easy to compare what was happening there up to that point, what the average was, and what the average is from the moment of implementing this configurator.
Here already immediately at this moment there is a completely different purchasing process. This configurator enters. Here the client gets a powerful tool for personalisation. We are able to quickly check how it was before implementation and after implementation. What growth rate of sales we have. How other indicators changed too. Just as I was mentioning, even such customer service. We see this reduction of time, that we do not have to devote so much time to answering tickets, so here there are very fast results that we can tangibly see.
Szymon: So then to what stores would you advise it, I am not speaking here about a specific industry, only about the number of products, or the number of categories. What is such a kind of indicator that yes, this is a good moment to implement a configurator?
Damian: Go into the email inbox and look at messages from clients. If some questions often appear, whether this product is available in this colour, whether there is the possibility for example of changing something in this product. Make yourself statistics on which products we most often receive this type of inquiries for, where clients have some doubts how it should ultimately look. Well then that is such a first signal that it is worth focusing on this product and creating a configurator for it, because this will already kind of cut off this whole one process for us and later go with the blow and with subsequent products.
One can also look, if the competition has configurators, then also look at how they function and for which products they implemented the configurator.
Szymon: Okay. What in your opinion then is the future of configurators? I mean in which direction will they develop? Because we have already talked both about graphics, where as you said there is this gaming industry and it is developing quite dynamically and probably in a moment it will jump to configurators and sales. However, do you imagine such a world where I do not know in 5, 10 years all stores will have configurators, and there will be no salespeople at all anymore? I mean I would like to know your opinion on this, what the world will look like in 5 years, where we have both AI and precisely these configurators also entering quite broadly. What is your feeling about this?
Damian: You can check reports from many well-known companies that analyse trends, for example Deloitte. They indicate that there is a constant trend where the configurator market grows by around 20-30% every year. So you can clearly see that this is a rapidly developing segment and that it is already growing faster than the entire e-commerce market. At some point it will naturally become something that every online store will need to implement, because the market is moving in that direction.
First of all, younger generations now demand that their products be personalised, that they are unique in some way. And the only real answer to that is configurators, because it is difficult to solve this need in any other way. So over the next five years, as many reports indicate, this market will continue to grow by about 20-30% every year. That is also a signal that the whole market will move towards personalisation.
Szymon: So something like either you grow or you disappear.
Damian: Exactly. If you look at it, e-commerce has changed drastically over the last 20 years. Stores that were created 20 years ago and stores today - the difference is huge. And this process will not stop. As an online store owner you constantly have to keep up with the market. Right now there is a strong trend towards configurators. And when AR or VR technologies become more mainstream, sales experiences will naturally move in that direction as well.
Szymon: I have already heard about some VR showrooms where a customer is invited into a small room, puts on VR goggles and walks around a huge furniture showroom, checking and exploring everything around them. We are still missing things like touch or smell, but the first ideas are already there and the required space is much smaller. Okay, so to finish this conversation I would like to ask what advice you would give to someone who wants to implement a configurator for the first time in their life? A client comes to you - probably not for the first time - and they are a bit lost. They do not know whether it is right for them, whether it is the right moment to implement a configurator or whether their store is even suitable for it. As an expert, what would you tell them?
Damian: What I mentioned earlier still applies. First check your sales tickets and customer inquiries. If you notice a pattern where customers often ask about personalisation, then it is the right time to move in this direction. Because if you do not do it, your competitors will. And in that case you may lose customers who previously liked buying from you but had to ask questions first. If they see that with a competitor the process is shorter and they can simply configure the product themselves without asking anyone, then you lose that advantage. So the key is observing the market, observing your competitors and observing your customers. What they write, what they ask for, what kind of personalisation they want - that is the signal that it is the right moment to start thinking about a product configurator.
Szymon: Great. Okay, thank you very much Damian for explaining everything about configurators. Thank you to the viewers for watching this episode of WebMakers Talks and see you in the next podcast.
Damian: Thanks everyone.
Thank you for listening to this episode. For more interesting content, visit our blog at www.webmakers.expert.
FAQ
A product configurator is an extension of the product page in an online store that allows customers to personalise a product by changing its parameters, such as colour, variant or shape. This makes it possible to create many different configurations from a single product that cannot be presented on a standard product page.
A configurator is based on a predefined set of options and attributes. The customer selects available product variants, and changing them affects the final configuration result. The mechanism works similarly to filters in an online store - specific parameter settings lead to a particular product variant.
An AR configurator allows users to see a product in real space. A user can launch a product model, for example via a QR code, and view it using a smartphone in their surroundings, such as checking how a selected car rim looks on their vehicle.
Configurators are especially useful in industries where products require customisation to individual needs. A good example is the furniture industry, where customers can check how a specific piece of furniture will look in their room and choose the appropriate product variant.
The quality of 3D models depends on the time and resources invested in creating them. The more work put into the details and visual representation of the model, the more realistic the product will appear in the configurator.
A configurator increases user engagement in the buying process. When customers personalise a product, they feel they are co-creating it, which psychologically makes it harder to abandon the purchase and encourages transaction completion.
Research shows that around 75% of customers value the ability to personalise products. Additionally, sales effectiveness can increase by up to around 40% when users engage in the product configuration process.
A configurator can act as a virtual salesperson. It allows customers to independently check available product variants without sending inquiries to the store, which reduces the number of basic questions directed to customer support.
It is worth analysing customer inquiries. If questions about changing colour, variant or other product features appear frequently, it may be a signal that a configurator will make purchasing easier for customers and shorten the decision-making process.
The effects can appear very quickly because the purchasing process changes after the configurator is implemented. Sales results and other indicators can then be easily compared before and after the solution is introduced.
According to market reports, the configurator segment is growing by around 20-30% annually and is developing faster than the entire e-commerce market. Increasing customer expectations regarding product personalisation make configurators an increasingly important element of online sales.
