6 Top Features the Best Product Configurators Offer B2B Users

Restaurant owner browsing the best product configurators for furniture and restaurant decor

An online shopping experience that caters to B2B companies requires a particular mindset. Your customers are in the middle of a busy workday and have certain buying requirements to follow. An online product configurator helps you create shorter sales cycles, builds shopper confidence, and offers an enjoyable shopping experience for B2B customers. 

But if you're an online supplier for B2B companies, you're likely always seeking ways to provide a streamlined process that removes the guesswork and creates loyal clients. When you enhance your product pages with the best product configurators, you can take your B2B customer experience to another level with these features:

1. High-Quality Visuals

Two co-workers designing products through the best product configurators

Increasingly, consumers expect a B2B shopping experience to be equal to B2C purchasing. As online shoppers find more satisfaction in shopping for personal items, they expect the same experience at work. 

With product configurator software, shoppers can abandon a series of static photos in favor of engaging 360-degree product views. User-friendly zoom and rotate features also allow customers to examine crucial details.

From hospitality to healthcare, B2B shoppers have a need to purchase products they can customize with specific functions. A photorealistic WebGL-based renderer creates picture-perfect images for easy sharing. 

When B2B shoppers have transparent views of complex products before checkout, there are no surprises when the final product arrives.

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2. Customization

Well-known B2C companies have utilized customizable products for increased sales with considerable success. From Tesla Design Studio to Nike by You, customers have options to create custom products as unique as they are. 

For businesses, product customization makes even more sense. Brand conformity across locations, longevity in commercial settings, sensitive equipment for specific tasks, and even color are crucial for companies working to maintain brand expectations. 

With a product configurator, your customers can use interactive 3D to customize a product's color, shape, materials, and accessories. Custom changes appear on the screen in real time, alongside pricing adjustments to reflect the changes. 

With this accurate 3D visualization, customers get a streamlined user experience and the end product they expect. As a bonus, customized products with accurate product visualization also provide retailers with increased sales and fewer returns.

Ready to create product visuals that will improve buyer confidence for your B2B customers? Then learn more about Threekit's revolutionary product configuration platform.

3. Simplified Repeat Purchases

Customer loyalty is the goal of every distributor. In the B2B space, repeat purchases can equal large profits for online stores. Consider the opportunity to furnish multiple offices, supply fleets of vehicles, or serve multiple locations. 

The best product configurators help customers avoid mistakes, record materials, and store data. These capabilities make it easy to replicate the exact same configured products without repeating the whole process. 

Threekit's platform stores your product data as individual models, materials, and textures to enable wide-scale repurposing. With central storage, all component pieces, visual representations, and product information are then stored in one place. Once configured, you can automatically generate and export critical manufacturing outputs, including:

  • Production-ready models
  • CAD files
  • Bills of materials
  • Assembly instructions
  • Cut patterns
  • And more

This means repeat purchases are as simple as accessing the original model and using it again and again.

4. Shortened Sales Cycle With Informative Web Pages

Millennials make up the largest group in the labor force. This group is comfortable with the use and convenience of technology, so they expect to carry this experience into the workplace. When online stores can access the technology to create a user experience that matches or exceeds the capabilities of a physical store, shoppers expect it at work just as much as in their consumer lives. 

Why should busy workers leave the comfort of the office and jump on a plane to visit you when they can configure products and receive them faster from another company?

The best product configurators have the capability to display products with photorealistic 3D models and augmented reality to display sizing capabilities and customizable features. The addition of customization options is displayed in real time. 

Also, configure, price, quote (CPQ) software can update pricing changes with each addition. 

In short, product configurator software eliminates the need to slog through pages of information by walking customers through a step-by-step process that literally builds the product before their eyes. With product configuration, the web page takes the place of sales reps, sales teams, and crowded showrooms to automate the sales process. When the sales process is fast and automatic, it improves the customer experience.

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5. Shared Images With Supervisors, Sales Teams, and Customers

Perhaps the biggest difference between B2B clients and individuals making personalized purchases is the need for official approval. The shopper utilizing the platform isn't typically the key decision-maker who must sign off on the final purchase. 

The configuration process allows users to save and share images for future use. Then companies can align key decision-makers on one platform for purchase approvals and change orders.

6. Enable Buyers to Put Your Product in Their Space

When consumers make personal purchases online, buyer confidence is important. It helps customers feel secure that they're making a sound investment in a product they'll enjoy. 

But for B2B customers, the need to have that confidence is multiplied by the number of people affected by a single purchase. While an individual shopper might hesitate to spend hundreds online when shopping for furniture, B2B shoppers often face multi-million dollar contracts that affect an entire company. 

90% of what we process is visual. That's why the best product configurators go beyond 3D imagery of a product to utilize augmented reality in a way that allows customers to put your product in their space. 

AR doesn't just bring customized products to life. Mobile devices also allow your customers to place these products in their space to ensure the product is a perfect fit. The result is increased confidence that allows them to finalize the purchase without fearing disappointment in the end product.

Many of the same features that make the best product configurators popular with individual consumers are even more important to B2B shoppers. B2B purchases often require a bigger investment and include multiple products. Also, they ultimately affect more people. So to complete these purchases confidently, buyers need visual confirmation that products will be a perfect fit.

Ready to provide your B2B customers with a shopping experience that will build confidence and streamline the user experience? Talk to one of the platform experts at Threekit to learn more.