Why eCommerce is Better with 3D Models

If you’re an online retailer, one of your biggest challenges is that your customers cannot try your products as they would in a physical store.

Before a customer makes the decision to make a purchase, she or he usually wants to see a product, try it, and eventually fall in love with it. A 3D strategy will not only help you meet these needs, but it will also allow customers to configure products to their exact desires.

Here is how:

Most eCommerce sites make exploring the contours of a product extremely difficult.

Often, you will have to scroll through dozens of photos to find the angle you’re curious about – if that photo exists at all – and then struggle to zoom to the required detail.

Using a 3D model gives customers a far more holistic view of the product than simple static images. It allows your customers to experience and explore your product in more detail: they can zoom in, zoom out, rotate and explore the product from all angles.

You are actually experiencing a digital twin of the product, the closest you can get to the actual thing. And you can engage with it even before deciding to buy it.

Annotations are also a great way to add interactivity and more details about your product.

Usually brands produce standard products with limited customization options hoping to engage their customers with pre-selected configurations.

With a Sketchfab 3D configurator you can reverse that strategy: produce customized products with the attributes and colors specified by the customer.

Your customers will have the possibility to personalize – in real time – almost everything for a truly unique product: colors, textures, sizes…The possibilities are endless!

This new strategy will allow you to produce only what consumers need and to avoid producing unsold products.

This configurator from Zodiac Nautic allows users to customize all elements and to see the associated pricing as they configure their dream boat. Once they’re happy with their model they can share it on social media. It’s a thoroughly modern approach that creates much greater engagement than static images.

This Sketchfab 3D configurator has proven to be easily and quickly adopted by Zodiac’s customers: 50% of their sales of the N-ZO are now made with configured boats. Zodiac increased its sales of this model by 50% in just 2 years.

Product descriptions are critical for customers when considering an online purchase. Providing your customers with more details and contextual information can help your customers understand your products and their features.

You can see how Adidas helps their customers make better and faster decisions using 3D annotations.

3D is a novel way to interact with products on the web.

3D configurators make it possible to explore a physical object from all angles, using just one master asset and configure – in real-time – any element to create a truly unique product. This is much more efficient and inherently engaging for the user. It is a fully interactive three-dimensional internet of the future.

Now what?!

You may not be clear on where to start, this blog post on “Getting started with Sketchfab” will help you take the first step.

You can also visit our dedicated page about 3D eCommerce here.