Custom things always seem to be better, whether it's a pair of one-of-a-kind shoes or a made-to-order car with tailored specifications.
In fact, a recent U.K. study from Deloitte LLP reveals that 71 percent of consumers say they are prepared to pay a premium price for personalized goods and services. Fortunately, technology has made it easier for brands across verticals to offer product customization capabilities - from jewelers offering customers the ability to design their own rings to apparel retailers providing customers the ability to customize the color and design of jackets.
For help finding the right technology for your product customization strategy, take a look at the three companies below that are helping retailers offer both custom experiences and products:
Fluid's on-demand customization platform has been leveraged by many big-name brands, including The North Face and Vans. Fluid's platform enables retailers to offer lifelike visualizations, includes social engagement features and uses real-time data to only display available options. Plus, the platform comes with a robust back-end infrastructure that connects with existing systems, and Fluid works with customers to evaluate and select custom-oriented manufacturer and supply chain processes that scale.
Puma, for instance, partnered with Fluid to offer custom Arsenal Football Club jerseys that enable fans to add their own name and number. Shortly after the launch, the customized jerseys accounted for more than 50 percent of all orders, despite costing 30 percent more than a standard jersey.
"PUMA had been considering adding customization to our digital experience for more than a year, and the launch of the 2015/2016 Arsenal kit presented itself as a perfect opportunity to debut this offering to our fans and customers," said Tom Davis, PUMA's global head of ecommerce. "The easy part for PUMA was working with Fluid and the Demandware Commerce platform to make this product offering come to life. The hardest part was aligning all of the internal resources and teams to be able to execute the back end operations. Fortunately, we literally work #foreverfaster, and making this come to life in 90 days was a true team effort. This initial success reinforces the trend towards customization within the ecommerce space, and I am confident PUMA will consider other ways to let our fans power our products going forward."
Doogma offers product configuration software that has been leveraged by companies like Autonomy Guitars and Candy.com. The product customization solution can be integrated into a merchant's shopping cart and can be deployed within 21 days. Doogma Designer is also responsive and offers social sharing capabilities.
It is important to note that 3dcart and Doogma partnered in 2014 to offer a product customization app for 3dcart merchants. With the app, merchants can include personalization options for their products to provide interactive shopping experiences for site visitors.
"3dcart store owners interested in offering personalized products to their customers can now do so with relative ease," said Gonzalo Gil, CEO at 3dcart. "After signing up for Doogma, 3dcart clients will have the unique ability to offer a full-range of product customization options to their customers."
Artifi Labs offers a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) product customization engine for ecommerce merchants. The solution can be integrated with any ecommerce platform and enables users to visually customize products. What's more, the solution is built with HTML5 and can be leveraged on mobile devices.
According to the company, integration of the solution is quick and the framework is available for a variety of shopping carts, including Magento. The solution is also customizable, offering several different templates or enabling merchants to upload and manage a custom CSS. Additionally, consumers can share their product designs via social and email.