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Outdoor kitchens have become a key part of the trend for outdoor living. Many homeowners are looking to transform their backyards into a functional extension of their home, creating a stylish area for cooking, entertaining and spending time with family.
As the demand for outdoor kitchens has increased, it has uncovered the need for a better way to design and purchase them. A typical outdoor kitchen range can feature a limitless amount of cabinet layouts, cooking appliances options, accessories and materials. This creates a complex process for retailers to explain the options to potential customers, calculate pricing, create 3D renders and capture accurate specifications.
Whether it’s a relaxed weekend barbecue or a fun gathering with friends, an outdoor kitchen creates a seamless outdoor living experience, that elevates everyday life.
An outdoor kitchen configurator is the solution and has become an invaluable tool for manufacturers and retailers in the industry. Salespeople no longer need to rely on static brochures and a limited selection of images to explain their options. Featuring ultra-realistic 3D visuals and drag & drop functionality that everyone is familiar with, outdoor kitchen configurators have created a new benchmark for the industry. They have empowered customers to build, visualise and purchase any outdoor kitchen configuration from the comfort of their home.
Let’s dive further into the top 10 ways an outdoor kitchen configurator benefits retailers and manufacturers.
1. Enhanced Purchase Confidence through Visualisation
One of the biggest obstacles in outdoor kitchen sales is purchase hesitation. This can occur when customers are unable to visualise their layout. With so many options available, it can be difficult for customers to make a purchase without seeing the final design and end up as a lost sale.
Some retailers have been able to counter this by manually creating 3D renders on request. However, this is a time consuming and resource intensive process, that is not not scalable for a large volume of enquiries.
An outdoor kitchen configurator will solve this problem, enabling customers to build their own layouts and instantly export a high quality 3D render. Intuitive drag & drop functionality allows them to design a fully customised outdoor kitchen in minutes, easily changing options with the tap of a button.
Many outdoor kitchen configurators also feature Augmented Reality (AR), which allows customers to visualise a realistic version of their outdoor kitchen in their back yard. This can display their layout with accurate sizing and materials, further increasing purchase confidence.
2. Higher Conversion Rates & Shorter Sales Cycles
A traditional outdoor kitchen sales cycle can involve many staff consultations to discuss available options, capture specifications, create quotes and select materials. This could involve multiple staff members and salespeople without any guarantee of a sale.
An outdoor kitchen builder completely streamlines the process, with customers able to access a 24/7 web-based solution and submit enquiries once they have selected their options. Salespeople can jump into the process at any time, guiding customers through the options or making contact at the end.
An outdoor kitchen configurator automates every step of the process, ensuring valid configurations can be built and calculating accurate pricing. Each feature is designed to speed up the sales cycle and generate greater revenue.
3. Increased Accuracy & Reduced Errors
With 100’s of unique combinations, outdoor kitchens have many specifications that need to be accurately recorded via the ordering process. If requirements are updated, these also need to flow through to the sales and production team, to ensure everyone has the most up to date information.
An outdoor kitchen configurator automatically captures specifications when a customer builds a configuration. This ensures the requirements are 100% correct and always up to date. Accurate 3D renders of the final design can be exported in real-time and a quote instantly generated. These built-in features significantly reduce the potential for errors, as mistakes in the process can be costly for production, logistics and installation.
4. Greater Engagement and Improved Customer Experience
An outdoor kitchen configurator can provide a fun and creative experience, that keeps your customers engaged while interacting with your product range. Rather than simply browsing a static website or brochure, customers can actively design their dream outdoor kitchen, using high quality 3D visuals. This hands-on design process can also deepen their emotional connection with your brand and make it a stand-out customer experience.
Outdoor kitchen configurators can increase the time customers spend on your website, leading to greater conversions and a distinct competitive advantage. Customers also have the ability to save and retrieve their design, which will bring them back to your website and create a new lead for your sales team to follow up.
5. Unrivalled Scalability & Lead Generation
An outdoor kitchen configurator frees up your sales and customer service team, handling an unlimited amount of customers and speeding up the design process. Every process a configurator automates, gives your team more time to focus on closing sales.
An outdoor kitchen tool can also be an effective way to market your new product range, enabling customers to engage with your products during the build. New sales leads can be swiftly acquired when customers save their designs and make direct enquiries.
An outdoor kitchen configurator scales with your business and allows you to enter new markets with minimal overhead. This can be especially valuable for manufacturers who sell products through different retailers and across multiple regions.
6. Instant Quotations & Real-Time Pricing
Generating outdoor kitchen quotations can be a time consuming and complex process, due to the amount of options. Maintaining accuracy is incredibly important and closely related to how effectively specifications are captured by your team.
An outdoor kitchen configurator transforms this process, automatically generating a quotation as customers build their layout. Pricing can be synced directly from your website and further integrated with your shopping cart, to provide seamless ecommerce experience.
Real-time pricing allows customers to better understand how the final price is calculated and this builds confidence in completing the purchase. Your sales team can feel confident customers are aware of the cost and expectations are better aligned. Your sales staff can also leverage the configurator as an interactive sales tool and guide customers through the options.
8. Better Data and Customer Insights
Every layout a customer builds can provide valuable sales and marketing information for your team. An outdoor kitchen configurator will capture extremely beneficial analytics such as which cabinets or appliances are most popular, material combinations commonly requested and the layouts frequently built.
Outdoor kitchen builders may also record customer engagement data, such as the steps they undertake to build their configuration and the time spent creating a layout. Overall, customer data assists retailers and manufacturers to generate more effective marketing strategies, plan future products and forecast stock levels.
9. Competitive Differentiation & Customer Satisfaction
An advanced outdoor kitchen configurator will help your brand stand out from competitors. It positions your company as highly innovative, customer-focused and creates a shopping experience that customers will remember. In the highly competitive outdoor kitchen industry, having a digital advantage can potentially win customers before your competitor is able to provide a quote.
When customers have visualised and designed their outdoor kitchen, their expectations are better aligned with the final result. This can lead to fewer misunderstandings, reduces the amount of change requests and strengthens customer satisfaction.
10. Improves Partnerships With Retailers & Distributors
For manufacturers selling through dealer networks, an outdoor kitchen configurator helps partners sell more efficiently and effectively.
Partners can easily sell your outdoor kitchen range in their country and integrate a configurator seamlessly into their website. The interface and product range can be translated into their local language and pricing sourced from their website. If they have specific requirements, such as a unique product range or country-specific features, the outdoor kitchen builder can be further customised to suit their needs.
An outdoor kitchen configurator ensures that your partner’s sales team always sells compliant outdoor kitchens and reduces reliance on the head office to answer questions. It accelerates onboarding and improves channel performance, without requiring additional resources.
Outdoor kitchens are more than just cooking spaces and have become lifestyle investments. By combining interactivity and ecommerce, an outdoor kitchen configurator creates a better buying experience.
This translates to greater customer confidence, accelerates the sales cycle and helps your outdoor kitchen brand deliver a premium experience. For manufacturers and retailers, a configurator is more than just a technology upgrade, it’s the smartest way forward and the new benchmark for the industry.
Why Retailers and Manufacturers Choose INHAABIT
INHAABIT’s Outdoor Kitchen Configurator platform is designed specifically for complex, modular products. It combines advanced configuration logic with high-quality 3D visualisation and seamless ecommerce integration.
