The interactive online buying experience is becoming a part of our day to day purchasing experiences. Car manufacturers have been relying on this interactive; “build your model” feature for quite some time. Another early adopter of this technology was the fast food pizza industry. When was the last time that you actually called your local store to order a pizza? As consumers, we have been introduced and adopted the “build your own” retail experience.
These innovative ways to shop on a personal level are slowly influencing the manufacturing industry.
We have been able to build cars to our specification as consumers for years. The online build experience has been the jumping off point for many consumer automobile purchases. As manufacturers adopt the CPQ (Consumer Price Quote) technology to increase product sales, it will only add to customer satisfaction and profitability.
The ability to answer questions and research a product, and its specifications online is the latest innovation within the manufacturing industry aimed at increasing revenue. Not only are the product specifications available for the consumer, CPQ bases this information on the manufacturers specific production rules. In other words, the consumer cannot build a product online that cannot be completed in production. These specific guidelines not only add to the customer’s experience, they decrease production errors, raw material waste, and assist in production planning.
Like many technologies that have been utilized and created for personal use, CPQ is evolving and finding its way into the manufacturing realm. Even more, companies are accelerating their sales efforts with the pricing & quoting features. Beyond just configuration, CPQ can deliver a fully automated experience from start to finish complete with professional proposals, spec sheets, and other technical information delivered seamlessly based on the customer-driven configuration. CPQ is useful for end-users, field sales reps, vendors, suppliers, and inside sales.
For more information or to schedule a demo visit http://cpq-configurepricequote.com/