The online shop has a product called "Made-to-measure pergola". It has a width option with three values, 3, 4 and 5 m, and under it a line: "Other sizes on request". The customer picks 4 m, pays, and writes in the order note: "4.35 m please".
The shop is fine. Cart, payments, delivery and invoices all work, and customers know them. What isn't fine is a made-to-measure product squeezing into it through variants that can't do centimetres, so the real brief ends up in a note.
Whether the shop runs on WooCommerce, Shopify or Shoptet, a 3D product configurator gets into it in one of three ways: as a page that ends in an enquiry, as an add-on that puts an item with the calculated price into the cart, or through an API that creates an order. The 3D itself is the easy part. The harder part is getting a price the shop doesn't know into the cart, and deciding whether the customer pays now or after the site survey.
A pergola in the cart like a T-shirt
- Variants can't do centimetres. Shops count on a finite list of combinations. Shopify, for example, allows at most 2,048 variants and three options per product (Shopify Help Center). Width to the centimetre, colour and add-ons don't fit into that.
- The size lives in a note. The shop charges for 4 m, production has to make 4.35 m, and someone evens out the difference by hand. If they spot the note.
- The price belongs to another product. The amount paid matches the variant the customer picked. The one they actually want isn't in the shop.
- The order has to be cancelled. When the size turns out to be unbuildable, a refund, a credit note and some explaining follow.
Nobody is doing anything wrong here. Variants were built for T-shirts in five sizes, and for those they work very well. A pergola just has more sizes than anyone can list.
Three ways to get a 3D configurator into an online shop
In all three the configurator calculates the price from your rules. They differ in where the configuration ends.
A configurator page ends in an enquiry
The configurator is embedded in a page of the website or shop, in WordPress for example with a Custom HTML block or a shortcode. Or it runs at its own address and the product in the shop links to it. The customer builds the product and sends an enquiry with dimensions, choices and contact details. The cart doesn't change, and the salesperson prepares a quote after the site survey. It is the simplest route, and for most products that need installation the most natural one.
An add-on puts an item with the calculated price into the cart
In WooCommerce a small plugin can attach the configuration to the cart item and set its price from the calculation, even when the product in the catalogue has only a base price. Dimensions, material and a link to the 3D preview are saved with the order as item metadata. In Shopify a similar route goes through a variant with line item properties or through a draft order. Overriding the price directly in the cart (Cart Transform) is available only on Shopify Plus and in development stores.
An API creates the order
The configuration can create the order directly through the shop's interface. In Shoptet with an item, a price and an external code: the private API needs the Premium plan, and without it the connection is built as an add-on installed in the shop. In WooCommerce through the REST API with the status Pending payment, so the customer gets a payment link once the salesperson has checked the measurements.
Which route fits your shop depends on the platform, the plan and the version. We design each shop connection individually, according to its interface, version and the agreed fields; there is no catalogue of ready-made connectors. The details per platform are on the integration pages, for example WooCommerce and Shoptet.
The server has to recalculate the price
The price the customer sees in the configurator is calculated in their browser. It can also be changed there, with a little skill and the browser's developer tools. So only the list of choices goes into the cart and the order. The server recalculates the final price from them, using the price list it holds.
That applies to all three routes. When choosing a solution, it is the first question worth asking.
Cart or enquiry
This decision is commercial; the technology only carries it out. It is about when the customer pays:
- Paying straight away suits a product that can be made without a site survey and whose rules the configurator knows in full, for example fence panels for self-installation.
- An enquiry suits a product with installation where the site survey decides: a pergola against a house wall, a veranda or a carport on uneven ground.
- In between is an order that waits for payment. The customer has the price, pays after the survey, and the salesperson doesn't retype anything.
When not to connect the configurator to the cart
Not every shop needs it. In these situations a configurator that ends in an enquiry, or the shop on its own, is enough:
- Every job goes through a site survey. If nobody ever pays before the survey, a cart connection speeds nothing up. An enquiry with dimensions is enough.
- The product has a few ready-made variants. Three widths in two colours make six variants. The shop handles that on its own, and a configurator would be an expensive ornament.
- You sell through dealers. If orders come from dealers rather than through your cart, the configuration needs to go to them. The cart will never see it.
If you didn't recognise yourself in any of these, carry on.
A five-minute test: is it time?
Open your shop's admin and answer four questions:
- How many orders did you cancel or redo last month because of a size? Each one means a refund and an extra phone call.
- Does your customer pay before the site survey or after it? The answer chooses between the cart and the enquiry.
- Who copies the size from the order note into production? If it's one person, every made-to-measure job depends on them.
- Which plan and version does the shop run on, and who has admin access? Without that, a connection can't even be assessed.
The first step takes five minutes and doesn't need us: count last month's orders with a size in the note. That is the number of jobs your shop can't record today.
Frequently asked questions
Can a 3D configurator be connected to Shoptet?
The configurator can run on a page the shop links to and end in an enquiry. If the configuration has to create an order, that goes through the Shoptet API: the private API needs the Premium plan, and without it the connection is built as an add-on installed in the shop.
Do I need WooCommerce for a product configurator if my site runs on WordPress?
Not for an enquiry; WordPress on its own is enough. WooCommerce comes in only when you want to sell with payment in the cart.
Do I have to move to Shopify Plus for a configurator?
Not necessarily. Without Plus, you can work with variants and line item properties, or with a draft order. Plus adds overriding the price directly in the cart.
Will a 3D configurator slow the shop down?
The other pages don't change; the 3D loads only where the configurator is embedded. During deployment, it can be set to start only when the page with it is displayed.
What now
And the note "4.35 m please"? The size the customer writes in a note today can arrive as a field in the order or the enquiry, with a price the server has recalculated.
If you want to know which of the three routes fits your shop, see the pricing or tell us which platform and plan your shop runs on. We will assess it before we quote.
