Scaling Up Your eCommerce Business with Incredible 3D Configuration

Have you thought about scaling up your business, taking it to new heights? The competition has never been fiercer in the eCommerce world. According to Forbes, the pandemic was responsible for a 50% increase in online sales but the number of eBusinesses also boomed exponentially.

It’s more difficult to scale up innovatively and stand out from the online babel. 3D configuration can be a differential factor for you, but first, let’s go through some of the basics.

What is scalability in eCommerce?

There are many definitions when it comes to scalability since it affects several sectors, from logistics to management.

In logistics, for example, scalability means being able to support operations at their lowest or highest volumes, and everything in between.

In eCommerce management, scaling up a business can mean accommodating the needs of your business’s online growth or diversifying your offer. This diversification can happen geographically (expanding to a different market) or in product development (coming up with different product designs).

At the end of the day, scalability in eCommerce is closely related to growth and how a company can increase its revenue, audience, and market share.

There are two ways a company can grow or scale, stay tuned to know more.

Vertical vs horizontal growth

 

Vertical growth

Scaling up vertically is a traditional strategy adopted by many small businesses with growth potential. It essentially represents a way of scaling up your product within the existing core business.

Practically you can consider that your company is vertically growing when you dive deeper into your market or increase the demand for your product. How to do it? A good strategy is to add new features or capabilities to your existing products.

One of the best examples of vertical growth is Instagram. It started as a normal photo-sharing app that then evolved into a more complex business by introducing the smartphone camera into its proposition.

Instagram’s growth strategy has been focused on developing its core product, adding new features regularly such as photo filters, chat, stories, and business accounts.

Horizontal growth

This growth is usually observed in bigger companies since it means expanding to new markets and/or including entirely new products/services.

How to scale horizontally?

1. Expand your business to new markets
2. Expand your product range (for example, going from an only-jewelry brand to a full fashion brand)
3. Upscale your product so it can serve other industry needs

A great horizontal growth example is Uber. Uber started in one US city and is now present in 72 countries. Besides that, it took advantage of its capabilities and expanded to new domains such as UberEats, a food delivery app.

Horizontal growth is usually harder to implement. Why? There are challenges in upscaling your business to other markets such as localization, shipment, and market-specific problems, which is why a vertical growth strategy is typically more lucrative and can result in a better Return on Investment (ROI).

Can scalable software help your company grow?

Yes!

As you can probably tell scaling up is no easy deed. Just to mention a few of the required steps, you have to have a strong and clear value proposition, study the market, define an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and have a solid product and sampling strategy.

If you don’t have a scalable website or if you don’t have scalable software, then it’s going to be trickier for you to expand both vertically and horizontally.

Why is 3D configuration the best scalable solution for online businesses?

A 3D configurator uses 3D models (duh!) of your products and allows you to control their features, empowering personalization and customization. How?

Using a visual interface, your customers will be able to change product attributes. For example, when buying a car, it could include modifying its color, upgrading the wheels, or adding internal features such as a new stereo or touchscreen.

It enhances the customer experience and allows shoppers to get a real “feel” of an online product.

How can you use a 3D product configurator in the process of scaling up your eCommerce business?

 

For vertical growth, you can

1. Add new features to your products – once you have the initial 3D models, you can easily create new ones with thousands of permutations by editing a few settings.
2. Know what your customers are creating – instead of customers saying what they want, you can see what they want, and that’s incredibly powerful.
3. Use the data on the platform to create new products that follow your business line – by having access to what your clients are creating, you can find a way to integrate those configured products into your online shop.

For horizontal growth, you can

1. Reduce sampling costs – with 3D configurators the process of creating, adding, and removing content is simpler. Instead of creating a new model, one can just edit settings. This is helpful if you are trying to expand to new markets and you want less fuss.
2. Go to new markets by having a translated configurator – by translating a configurator you upscale your business to new markets without having to create new imagery and without needing employees who speak your original language.
3. Make manufacturing simpler – expanding can be difficult and more demand can be a problem for manufacturers. However, by having a 3D configuration platform, you can make sure that your manufacturers have a complete bill of materials (aka BOM is a list of the raw materials, sub-assemblies, intermediate assemblies, sub-components, parts, and the correspondent quantities needed to manufacture a product).
4. Expand your core domain – once you have the configurator, it’s easier to try and expand your business by creating new products or solutions. Maybe you work in the lighting business and you decide to upscale to home hardware, with a 3D configurator that process is simplified.

3D configuration also has beneficial effects that are independent of the growth strategy. These include:

1. Fewer production mistakes – a 3D configurator allows your clients to personalize your product’s characteristics taking into account their own needs. Associated with a BOM, this option will result in fewer production mistakes.
2. Fewer product returns – this is directly related to the previous topic. Fewer mistakes mean fewer returns. Fewer returns mean less shipping expenses. By empowering customers to create their own customized products, you are specifically targeting their needs, which results in less product dissatisfaction.
3. Staying ahead of the curve – normal product imagery isn’t what it used to be. To stay ahead of the curve, online businesses have to innovate. If you provide a better customer experience you will be differentiating yourself from the competition.
4. Making personalization easier – with a 3D configurator, personalization and customization are easy to achieve. Customers want it. In fact, 80% of consumers are more likely to purchase from a brand that provides a truly personalized experience.

Scaling up your business with Expivi

There are a few 3D configuration platforms out there, but why Expivi?

Well, Expivi is tested to perform with all popular eCommerce platforms, including:

• SAP (Hybris)
• Salesforce
• Magento
• WooCommerce
• Shopify

The process doesn’t require any coding, which makes things easier.

At the same time, Expivi offers augmented reality (AR) tech. This means that besides allowing better product visualization, personalization, and customization, you’ll also be empowering your customer to place the product in their context (for example a sofa in their living room).

Expivi’s 3D configuration platform is a CPQ (Custom, Price, Quote) software. All process unfolds in real-time, meaning that the client will be able to see the final pricing as the features are changed or customized. Impressive, right? The manufacturers also have access to the platform and immediately see the products ordered and have access to the BOM. Everything in the same platform.

Scaling up with 3D configuration works for customers, sellers, and manufacturers.

Are there doubts about the usefulness of a 3D configurator in scaling up online businesses? Hopefully not, but if so, our team would be more than glad to talk to you about it.

 

Did you like “Scaling Up Your eCommerce Business with 3D Configuration”? Then read about how companies are using augmented reality to upscale their businesses.