Commerce & Product Customization
When an Ecommerce Product Isn't Finished Until the Customer Orders It
Most ecommerce starts with a finished product.
The item already exists. The customer chooses a quantity, perhaps selects a size or color, and buys it.
Print and promotional products can work differently.
The product shown in the store may still need artwork. A name may need to change. A location may need its own information. The buyer may have to upload a file. A promotional item may have several variants, and the exact one selected needs to make its way to the supplier.
The catalog item is real.
It just isn't always finished yet.
The order can contain part of the product
Think about a business card.
The store can show the approved design, paper and format. But the actual piece cannot be produced until the employee's name, title, phone number or other information is supplied.
A piece of signage might use the same approved template for every location while changing an address or contact detail.
A promotional product may have a fixed design but still require the buyer to choose the correct color, size or other variant.
Ordering is doing more than choosing something from a catalog in these cases. It is collecting information that production or fulfillment will need later.
Personalization needs boundaries
Giving a customer the ability to customize something does not necessarily mean giving them a blank canvas.
Often the product is in a company store precisely because it belongs to an approved program.
The logo may stay fixed. Brand colors may be predetermined. Some text can change while other elements cannot. An image may be replaceable only within the space designed for it.
Commerce supports customizable items using CHILI, a document-customization tool that lets variable fields appear alongside a live document preview. Buyers can change the information made available to them, review the resulting piece and move it into the order.
The buyer gets enough control to complete the item without having to rebuild the design.
Sometimes the missing piece is a file
Not every customized product needs an online editor.
Sometimes the distributor simply needs something from the customer before the item can move forward: artwork, a spreadsheet, a presentation, a PDF or another production file.
Current Commerce allows files to be attached directly to certain static print-on-demand (POD) items from the item-detail page. The distributor can make the upload optional or required, and the uploaded files stay with the item as it moves into the order.
That last part matters.
An upload box does not help much if someone later has to search through email to work out which file belongs to which order line.
The file needs to arrive with the work it supports.
A variant is not just something the shopper sees
Color and size choices look simple from the storefront.
Downstream, the distinction can become much more important.
Suppose a promotional product has a base item with several variants. The customer sees the available choices and selects one.
The supplier needs to know exactly which one was ordered.
Commerce can transmit the specific promotional variant item code in vendor print-order email and XML workflows rather than relying only on the base item code.
Where that option is used, the choice made in the storefront can remain specific when the order reaches the supplier.
The choice the customer made needs to survive the trip from storefront to supplier.
Proofing gives the buyer a chance to see their version
A standard product image shows the shopper what they are buying.
A customizable product has another question to answer:
What will my version look like?
Commerce CHILI workflows can provide a live preview as information changes and allow the buyer to view a proof during customization.
That gives the buyer a chance to inspect the version they created before adding it to the order.
A proof does not guarantee that every possible production issue has disappeared. It gives the person ordering a clearer view of what they have actually created.
The information has to stay with the item
Once the buyer finishes, someone or something has to act on what they supplied.
Production may need the personalized document.
A supplier may need the exact promotional variant.
An order line may need an attached file.
If that information separates from the item after checkout, the distributor has gained a polished ordering experience and created a manual job putting the pieces back together.
For a broader look at what happens around the storefront after an order is submitted, see B2B Ecommerce for Print & Promo Distributors.
Give the customer the control the product actually needs
A stocked promotional item may only need a quantity.
Another item may need a variant.
A printed piece may need a file.
A templated document may need several controlled fields and a proof.
The amount of customization should follow the product and the program.
If the customer cannot provide information the item genuinely requires, the missing details move into email and follow-up.
If a simple product asks the shopper to make unnecessary decisions, ordering becomes harder for no useful reason.
Commerce supports standard, promotional, print-on-demand and customizable ordering experiences for print and promotional products programs.