Offering customizable, configurable products is no longer just an option — it’s a necessity. Customers increasingly expect personalized experiences, and Shopify, as a leading e-commerce platform, provides a great foundation for creating online stores. But when it comes to offering complex product configurations, Shopify’s out-of-the-box options can feel limited. That’s where advanced solutions, such as CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote), come into play.
In this blog, we’ll walk through how to create configurable products on Shopify, the limitations of its native features, and how using a CPQ solution can enhance your store’s product configuration capabilities.
CPQ software is designed to manage complex product configurations, automate pricing adjustments, and streamline the quoting process. CPQ systems allow businesses to offer dynamic, customizable products by automating various aspects of product selection and pricing based on customer inputs.
For Shopify merchants, CPQ is particularly useful if you offer products with multiple configuration options (like customizable bundles, specific features, or conditional add-ons) or if you need to manage complex pricing rules. Shopify’s built-in product variant features work well for basic configurations, but when your product requires advanced logic — such as conditional pricing based on specific selections or bundling — Shopify’s native capabilities can quickly fall short. CPQ software fills this gap by allowing businesses to offer configurable products with advanced rules and automation, while still using Shopify as their e-commerce platform.
Integrating a CPQ solution with Shopify unlocks several key benefits that can improve how you manage and sell complex products:
CPQ software makes it easier for customers to navigate complex product options and configure products that meet their specific needs. Instead of using Shopify’s basic variant system, a CPQ tool allows for advanced conditional logic. For example, if a customer selects a specific feature, other dependent options (like pricing or availability) can be automatically updated in real time.
When products have multiple configuration options, manually adjusting prices can lead to errors or inconsistencies. With a CPQ system, pricing is automatically calculated based on the specific configurations chosen by the customer, ensuring accuracy without manual updates. This also saves time and reduces the likelihood of pricing errors.
CPQ not only helps with product configuration and pricing but also generates accurate quotes instantly. For merchants with B2B customers or high-value items, this is essential. Instead of waiting for a manual price quote, customers can get an accurate quote directly from the product page, improving the overall buying experience and shortening the sales cycle.
By automating product configuration and pricing, you make the shopping process much smoother for your customers. They can see price changes in real time, explore different configurations, and immediately understand the impact of their selections. This clarity can reduce friction in the buying process and increase customer satisfaction.
A configurable product allows customers to personalize items based on their preferences, choosing from various options such as size, color, material, and other custom attributes. This type of product is especially popular in industries like fashion, electronics, and home furnishings, where customers value choice and customization.
By offering configurable products, you can deliver a more personalized shopping experience, increasing customer satisfaction and boosting sales. However, managing these configurations can quickly become complex if done manually, especially when it involves intricate pricing models, conditional logic, or multiple product dependencies.
Shopify provides a basic method for configuring products through its variant feature. You can define variants for products, allowing customers to choose different versions of an item — for example, selecting a shirt’s size and color.
Here’s how Shopify’s native configuration works:
While these features work for simpler product offerings, they have limitations:
To overcome these challenges, businesses that offer complex or customizable products often turn to advanced product configuration solutions like CPQ.
CPQ is a solution designed to simplify the process of configuring complex products, automating pricing, and generating quotes. It is particularly useful when Shopify’s standard variant options can’t handle the level of complexity you require.
For example, imagine selling a configurable laptop where customers choose not only the color and size but also specific hardware options (RAM, storage, processor). Each choice might affect the price dynamically, and certain options could be available only if others are selected.
Without a CPQ solution, managing these configurations manually can lead to errors, inconsistencies, and a poor customer experience. That’s why businesses turn to tools like Logik.io to supercharge Shopify’s configuration abilities.
Let’s break down how to create a configurable product on Shopify, step by step:
Before diving into Shopify, it’s crucial to outline what kind of configurations you need for your product:
Having a clear understanding of these needs will guide you through selecting the right setup and tools.
Shopify’s native variant system can handle basic configurations, but for more complex needs, you’ll need to integrate a third-party app or a CPQ tool like Logik.io.
To get started, you can set up basic variants within Shopify by:
If you’re using Logik.io or another product configurator, you’ll integrate the app here to handle more advanced configurations.
Once integrated, use Logik.io to:
After everything is set up, thoroughly test the configuration:
Logik.io offers a cutting-edge CPQ solution that enhances Shopify’s product configuration capabilities. With Logik.io, you can:
For businesses looking to go beyond Shopify’s native product variant limitations, Logik.io is a powerful solution that streamlines the configuration process, enabling you to offer customizable products with ease.