3D Configuration

The year 2020 was a critical flashpoint in the history of civilization due to the pandemic. Everyone will look back and know exactly what they were doing the first time they heard of the pandemic. The coronavirus changed the dynamic between vendor and buyer. The widespread lockdowns forced businesses to migrate their brick-and-mortar stores online. As a result, e-commerce revenues were higher than ever. For instance, online retail sales would reach nearly $840 billion in 2020. The figure represented a 40.3% improvement against the same period in 2019. It is only expected to grow as the pandemic drastically changed consumer spending habits. In terms of brand awareness, WooCommerce lags behind Shopify, Magento, and BigCommerce. But WooCommerce is quickly gaining a foothold in the e-commerce platform market, with a market share of over 28% in 2020. In comparison, Shopify only managed a measly 10.98%. Indeed, 2020 saw an increase in e-commerce activity. However, you cannot hope to piggyback on the trend without enhancing your website. But you do not have to overhaul your entire website and miss precious time when it is not yet live. One simple solution is to add a 3D Product Configuration tool that integrates into your website seamlessly. Benefits of 3D Configurator for WooCommerce Here are five reasons to add the 3D Configuration tool to your WooCommerce site: Avoid buyer’s remorse — Among the top reasons why customers ship back an item is dissatisfaction. They feel that the image displayed on the online shop is much different than the item they receive. So, reality does not match the expectation. E-commerce has a higher return rate compared to the brick-and-mortar store, and it is somewhere around 20% against the 8-10%, respectively. In the same manner, it will also reduce their pre-purchase worries. Full customization option — The buyer can quickly take ownership of the product that they can personalize. AR tools and 3D technology allow them to do this. They can add engraved texts, change the product colour, and modify the item to make it unique.The feature makes an excellent value proposition to your customers. It also gives you an edge over the millions of online stores offering cookie-cutter items. Cuts sales cycle — Customization will also direct your customers to your sales funnel more rapidly. It will shorten the sales cycle as the potential buyer gets to interact with the product at their own pace. They can make an informed decision right away without having to read voluminous texts. Bridging digital and physical experience — One advantage of shopping at the brick-and-mortar store is the ability to touch and inspect the product personally. That is one limitation that the digital store has yet to surmount. However, you can give the customer the next best thing. Using 3D Configuration, they can interact with the product better than any static images can provide. Boost customer confidence —  Gartner Research points out the rising insecurity issues among customers who second-guess their buying decision-making. With 3D rendering, Customers can inspect the item more carefully by viewing it from different angles and zooming in to view the minute details. Customize Intuitively and Quickly The Zakeke 3D configurator is a software tool to customize products on your e-commerce website quickly. You can render multiple product models, allowing customers to experiment with colours, shapes, texts, and more.

Although online shopping is skyrocketing, there is still one aspect that may seem like a check: the lack of touch and feel experience. How to solve? An alternative is represented by the 2D and 3D visualization. What is the difference? Which is better? Having a product that meets customers’ needs and expectations is a challenge. Once this challenge is overcome, there is another bigger one: to gain customer trust. Online retailers focus heavily on marketing to build a relationship of trust with their customers. However, trust is not enough to be sure that the products exactly meet the buyer needs. A limitation that becomes even greater when it comes to buying products that can be customized, such as luxury bags, high jewelry or furniture. And that is where 2D and 3D visualization comes into play. It offers the buyer the opportunity to see the object in the most realistic way. The 2D visualization is made of static images (in two dimensions, in fact) that make the visualization partial for the customer. On the other hand, the 3D preview is much more realistic and shows the 360 degrees product. Several tests have shown that 3D modeling can positively improve product involvement, limiting the errors that could occur with the use of 2D images. 2D configurators work with image overlays so you need to have the image for each option. The 3D model is only one and it is possible to select the various options for the single model. As always, the difference is the product you are selling. A 2D configurator is the perfect solution for all products that have a low number of variants. On the contrary, a 3D configurator is the perfect solution for items that offer numerous variations and that even in real life offer a 360-degree view. Just some examples. Think of a brochure or a business card. In this case, 3D is not necessary. On the contrary, 3D is perfect for a cup or a lamp. Advantages Having a 3D product configurator has significant advantages. Give users what they want. Show what they want, and you will have their trust. By rendering 3D products, brands can quickly make changes to product models to meet the needs of emerging customers. Personalization is proving to be a winning move in an increasingly homogeneous market. What are the advantages of a 3D Configurator in your online store? Greater customer interaction: customers are willing to interact with the product and, in this way, they become more involved and can be pushed to look for more product information, which ultimately increases the desire to buy on the e-commerce platform. Product Understanding: The visual elements help customers understand the product. Even more if it is a complex product. They have the potential to engage and guide a user emotions. In the case of interactive visual elements, users can have a complete vision of the product, a factor that profoundly influences their decisions. Using 3D models, customers can explore and interact with the products as they wish. They can play with the product, zoom out, zoom in, rotate and view it from all angles. The full view will have a positive impact on their purchasing decisions because customers will have a greater understanding of the attributes, characteristics and functions of that product. Light and easy to implement: Often, the brands that want to offer personalization produce many photos trying to cover all possible attributes: dimensions, textures, colors, etc. But this method requires a large amount of funds and such a heavy load of images could reduce the speed of the web page and therefore spoil the shopping experience. Unlimited number of possible configurations: 3D configurators are flexible and allow customers to customize a single product with unlimited choices. A simple product line may not recognize the importance of 3D configuration. Use of Augmented Reality: AR is one of the main trends in the e-commerce world and beyond. AR consolidates customer engagement by offering a personalized experience. It is a solution halfway between physical contact, typical of face-to-face selling, and online shopping, where the seller-customer relationship is almost nonexistent. You can learn more about AR in Product Customization here. Lead quality: We have noticed that our customers using a configurator have a higher conversion rate and have increased the quality of leads. This is because potential customers learn about the product you would like to buy and buy it without any doubt on features. Last but not the least, you will be in step with the times.

What is the difference between Customizer and Configurator? This is a recurring question. The two words may seem synonymous, but they are not. They have the same goal in Zakeke: let the customer customize the product he wants to buy. Despite this, they are different. Throughout this article, we will explain what is the difference between Product Customizer and 3D Product Configurator. Customization is important in eCommerce Zakeke offers two different tools: Product Customizer and 3D Product Configurator. Both are based on the belief that on the way to eCommerce success there is the product customization. eCommerce business is characterized by fierce competition. Giving potential customers the opportunity to purchase exactly what they want as they want proves to be a winning card. Therefore, the secret is the product customization. Now let’s look at the differences and key features of Zakeke tools: Product Customizer and 3D Product Configurator. Product Customizer Product Customizer is designed for all those sellers who want to offer an online product customization experience. Customers will have the opportunity to customize any item of your eCommerce and with the Realtime 3D View function they will always know exactly what they are going to buy. It is the ideal tool for the web-to-print world. Zakeke does not make the final product. Zakeke creates the print files that contain the design chosen by the customer. Let’s give you an example. If you sell cups and you allow the user to insert sentences or images, the Product Customizer is for you. To better understand what we are talking about, you can try our demo and customize the product through Product Customizer here. There are many features and they vary depending on the plan you choose. Among these, there are: Text customization: your customer can change font, colors, dimensions, orientation, rotation and curvature with a cutting-edge tool Image customization: you can upload a catalog of pre-selected images or let customer upload the photo he wants Realtime 3D View: your customer can see a 360° realistic model of the product after customizing it Augmented Reality: your customer can see the customized product in real world via smartphone 3D Product Configurator 3D Product Configurator is the tool that that transforms customers into creators. It is dedicated to sellers who sell a modular product. What does it mean? Think of a shoe. The customer can customize the shoe by choosing the material and / or the color of the upper, the shape and / or the color of the laces, hide or not the seams, etc. In other words, every single area of your product you let customers personalize. It is the customer who literally creates the object he will purchase, depending on the available options. Everything takes place in a 3D environment. Only and exclusively in 3D. Again, you can try our demo and create the product via 3D Product Configurator here. The 3D environment of the Product Configurator is different from the Realtime 3D Preview of the Product Customizer. In the first case, the customer personalizes the product in a 3D environment and everything takes place in 3D. In the second case, the customer sees the product in a three-dimensional way after personalizing it. In short, they are two tools designed for two different needs. Product Customizer is aimed at sellers who have a product that can be customized but not composed. 3D Product Configurator is aimed at sellers who have a product that can be customized and even composed. Scenarios Now two scenarios to better explain the differences between Product Customizer and 3D Product Configurator. Scenario 1 I sell wooden and steel watches and I want to sell wooden or steel watches that the customer can customize by entering his name on the case –> I choose Product Customizer Scenario 2 I sell watches and I want that customers can create their own watches by choosing: Steel or silicone strap Dial Image With or without bezel Strap color Case in steel or in other material I want to offer online the same “product creation experience” than offline –> I choose 3D Product Configurator The customization options are endless. For example, you can decide that the strap is only in silicone and leave the user the option to select only the color. You decide which customization options to offer to the customer. We hope this article has been helpful to understand the difference between Product Customizer and 3D Product Configurator. DISCOVER ZAKEKE START A FREE TRIAL   Stay up to date and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram