Personalization or customization is quickly becoming the best way to sell products and draw a large and loyal consumer base. This trend has seen a major spike over the past few months. Now we have personalization seeping into all aspects of online commerce.
Chief among the categories of personalization is product personalization. This specifically refers to the alternations and customizations companies can make in products for specific clients on a mass level.
A recent survey was conducted by a reputed global business consulting firm on a set of 1000 online shoppers. The survey found that below 10% had actually tried out online product personalization. This is by no means a big number. However, the survey also revealed that more than 25% are willing to try it. Even if we take 25 % as a base number and apply it to a personal product category like apparel or footwear, then the market implications are huge.
With the growing demand for personalization in all aspects of commerce, foreseeing a product personalization boom is not outlandish at all. Companies that can dive into this domain early stand to make major profits. There are a lot of product decoration companies that offer product decor with the help of pad printing equipment.
But there are a number of considerations to be made here before any such move is made. All of them revolve around the product personalization platform because that will ultimately determine the popularity and retentiveness of this client niche for your business. So, here are the biggest factors you need to consider when thinking of product personalization platforms.
The Big 5 of Product Design Software
- Be Sure of Your Goals
Product personalization is still a prototype in the e-commerce world. So, many companies like to dip their toe in the water first. If you are such a company, then you need a product design software that serves basic needs but can also scale when required. Most eCommerce platforms Prestashop, Magento, and Shopify have picked up on this demand so you can get a basic online product design software on your website and test it out.
- Be Sure of How Much Customization to Offer
When thinking about customization, you must consider to what degree. There are companies that allow clients to build things from scratch. Custom gaming stations are one such domain. On the other hand, some companies opt for a midway approach and provide basic templates where customizations can help personalize the cosmetic aspects of the product. So, before you get that HTML 5 product design software module, you need to be sure how much customization you can actually afford and reasonably provide to clients.
- Be Sure of Clearly Defining Product Personalization Templates
Companies need to understand that customers are not designers. So, they need to provide a basic template to them through which they can exercise their personalizations. A blank canvas will not work for most customers. So, your Prestashop product designer tool should have preloaded templates that offer a specific set of customization options to clients.
- Be Sure to Implement a Reliable Returns Policy
Product personalization is lucrative. But it comes with its own risk. According to the survey, customers would want a reasonable returns policy even on personalized products. If this is not offered, then the personalization demand drops drastically. So, before you invest in a Magento product design tool for the client-side, you should sort out a returns policy as well. Otherwise, you might find your precious new module remaining unused for weeks.
- Be Sure You Have a Branding and Marketing Strategy to Go Along
The whole point of offering personalization is to build brand loyalty. A company can further capitalize on any such purchase by incentivizing sharing of the client’s designs online and on social media. This is a marketing opportunity just begging to be availed. In fact, you can have this feature built right into your Shopify product designer tool. Also, adding some nifty discount feature for future product designs, multiple products etc. when the client shares their designs on social media is a smart way to market organically.
Conclusion
Product personalization has tremendous potential for all end user-centric industries. Though the idea is still relatively nascent, you can find many e-commerce platforms like Prestashop, Magento, Shopify, etc. offering these modules. If you have a custom design e-commerce platform, then you might need a custom designed HTML 5 product design software to tap into this market.
Given the rising demand and prevalence of personalization and the enhanced personalization cost the goes with it, even a small business segment can net a substantial revenue stream. However, companies need to be aware of all important factors associated with this domain before they make a decisive commitment.
David has completed his education in IT and started working in web to print research & development segment at Design’N’Buy. He is having more than 5 years of experience in web to print, Print commerce & product customization software development. Fond of writing about print commerce and related industry.