The perks of Electronic Product Catalog
The perks of Electronic Product Catalog An electronic product catalog is a comprehensive list of all your products in a digital publication. Unlike paper catalogs, electronic product catalogs are easier to navigate and maintain regularly. The primary objective of the electronic product catalog is to facilitate product availability and information to customers, thereby pushing sales. In Computer-Aided Design (CAD), such a digital product catalog consists of a list of CAD products readily available to the customers and other prospects. An increasing number of companies resort to electronic product catalogs with information about CAD products available to their customers and prospects. The reason behind this points towards a handful of benefits that electronic product catalogs bring, they are as follows: An excellent electronic product catalog requires some planning and decisions to be perfect for your requirement. Here are the few areas you need to consider and make decisions on: The Product: The first and foremost task is to decide which products you wish to include in the catalog and how you wish to portray them. You may have dozens or even hundreds of products in your portfolio. You could apply the 80-20 rule and decide on a set of products that gives you maximum coverage. Remember to not flood a single page with the bulk of your products, as that kills the purpose of a smooth customer experience. It would help if you also determined how you group your products. Righ grouping results in a better surfing experience. The Platform: Choose the preferred platform to house your product catalog. The most obvious choice is to make it available on your website. However, you could choose to make a Phone App or create a DVD (if you have a vast number of products). You can also go for a host website that works solely to monitor and maintain your catalog. A particular advantage of host websites is their inventory of pre-existing design features, tools, and templates. It saves a lot of brainstorming. The Data format: Decide what data you wish to make available. You can have a plethora of data, and including all of them will mess up your platform. Visual appeal is a must, and you must carefully decide which one to prefer, be it 2D data vs. 3D data, GA or schematic vs. to the scale drawings, dumb 3D models vs. parametric models, etc. The Technology: At a high level, there are two main approaches to solving this: Pre-Cooked and On- The-Fly. In the Pre-Cooked method, data for all configurations of your products are kept in the repository and are delivered on-demand. This option is suitable if your products’ unique configurations are on the lower side, say up to a few hundred. The On-The-Fly method generates the necessary data in real-time using specific master models. It can very easily handle any number of unique product configurations that you may have. Pricing and tax: Pricing and hidden tax rates are crucial if you want a business-friendly e-catalog. You have to decide the price of your products, and they need to be market-specific. Tax and other charges (shipping charges) contribute to the overall cost of a product, and you must make sure they are reflected under the product description or payment gateway. Links and CTAs: Electronic product catalogs work best with links inside. Links are a great way to point buyers to your shop. Alongside links, we have call-to-action (CTA) buttons short text on buttons prompting the customer to take the next step. CTA buttons alongside links are an excellent tool to boost sales. So it is up to you to decide how you want to enhance your catalog. Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Since your e-catalog will be published online for the public to see, you need a robust SEO strategy to ensure your catalog platform is readily available in the search engines. For that, you will need marketing SEO expertise to help you go through SEO objectives. Electronic product catalogs are a fantastic way to showcase your inventory and make sales. Make sure you have ticked off all the necessary do’s and dont’s before launching your e-catalog.
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Mass Customization: Why “built-to-order” is a healthy step for your business
Product Configurators Mass Customization as a brilliant strategy Nowadays, there is a trend where businesses and consumers opt for more personalized products and services. When scaled appropriately, this trend, called Mass Customization, combines the Customization and flexibility of built-to-order products with low production costs. Mass Customization is the practice of providing products and services built or modified as per a customer’s requirements. In other words, mass Customization involves your blueprint mixed with a professional’s expertise and necessary tools to make the perfect product of your desire, which is uniquely yours. Mass Customization is also called built-to-order or made-to-order. Mass Customization facilitates customized product features while keeping in sync with low unit costs of mass production. Sometimes, mass Customization also involves the modularity of product components. Such flexibility allows effective mix-and-match to build a customized final commodity. Mass Customization has been well adopted in retail, software development, financial services & fintech, and modular home builders. Utilizing such business practices provides an edge over your competitors. With every individual looking for a custom product designed especially for them, more and more companies are now offering Mass Customization to satisfy the needs of their customers. In his book, Mass Customization: The New Frontier in Business Competition, B. Joseph Pine II talks about four mass customization types. They are: CollaborativeCustomization AdaptiveCustomization TransparentCustomization CosmeticCustomization companies collaborate with customers to offer products uniquely crafted to each client companies deliver products based on one standard but customizable by the end-user companies provide personalized products to individual clients without overtly disclosing that they are customized companies build single standard products but deliver them in different ways as per other customer demands Works great in fashion, apparel, & retail businesses It fits good in the lighting, luxury bath fittings sector E-commerce brands and OTT platforms are good examples Applies to textile, food & beverage industry Product Configurators In CAD software development and services, mass Customization is achieved by using web-based tools like Product Configurators which achieves Customization yet results in savings in cost. Software developers apply personalized product configurators that allow end-users to add, change, modify, or tweak certain features & functions of a core product. Don’t miss out your chance to have a customized product configurator today Prescient Technology’s robust IT team can build personalized configurators specifically curated for your business needs. If you have any query, feel free to get in touch with us today. From the top of the pyramid, mass customization can be categorized into two broad areas: Since mass Customization essentially means offering customers according to their orders rather than generic products, it creates a massive differentiator in the minds of both B2B and B2C customers. Let us have a look at how built-to-order personalization works: Configure: The Product Configurators present a simple user interface for customers to try out various options by changing parameters and selecting different options to suit their specific requirements. Once they are satisfied, they can often preview their selections in the form of a 3D model. Instant Quote: The quote generation system is linked to the Product Configurator, helping customers with instant quotes for the selections that they make. Ready to Manufacture: The Product Configurator can generate all the details like manufacturing drawings required by the manufacturing/assembly team without manual intervention. Such innovative manufacturing processes enable the production of interchangeable parts that can be shuffled differently to build a cost-effective product that fulfills client requirements. The levels of automation depend on the complexity of the product and the nature of the sales cycle. It can be autonomous for simple products (typically B2C), and for complex products (typically B2B), it can be semi-autonomous. Even for B2B products, the semi-automatic process dramatically improves the productivity of the sales team and the design team. Product configurators are found at a B2B level across diverse industries ranging from Cranes & Hoists, Material Handling and Storage, Pumps, Valves, Bearings, etc. The benefits are: At a B2C level, product configurators are found across various sectors like laptops, apparel, shoes, jewelry, houses, furniture, etc. The benefits are: Mass Customization as a brilliant strategy There is a term known as “product differentiation,” and mass customization allows manufacturers to postpone product differentiation till the end phase of manufacturing. Customized features are more likely to engage consumers since they get to make many decisions about the operation and makeup. The ability to tweak a product based on personal preference has a high possibility of swinging a client’s choice towards what you have to offer than your competitor. Mass Customization also helps you with excess inventory expenses. A JIT (just-in-time) approach can prevent flooding of inventory unnecessarily. Mass Customization can be used as a part of a marketing strategy where your ability to produce personalized products or provide tailor-made services at a market standard price is used as a lucrative branding of your product. If there is no compromise on quality, on-time delivery, you have a good chance of driving sales, churning profits, and attracting customer loyalty. Prescient Technologes has hands-on experience in creating client-centric, on-demand product config and software solutions and we will be glad to assist you with your needs or queries.
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