The customer buys a 100 cm unit online for a bathroom they have not measured properly, it arrives, it does not fit next to the radiator and they send it back. Another one asks on the chat whether the oak is lighter than in the photo. Selling bathroom furniture at a distance means selling a size and a colour nobody has seen.
“Will the 80 fit if the door opens inwards?” That is the seventh time that question has reached the online shop's chat this morning, in different words. The online sales manager answers what she can: measure the gap, remember the 45 cm depth, think about the skirting and the trap. While she is typing, the carrier leaves a returned pallet in the warehouse: a 100 cm wall-hung unit in oak, with the packaging opened and a note saying “does not fit with the radiator”.
Your catalogue has five widths, two ways of fitting, two types of basin, six finishes and three handles. On the website that becomes dozens of product pages with almost identical photos, or a single page with drop-downs the customer does not understand. The photos are studio shots, with a light no bathroom has, and the walnut looks like oak depending on the screen. So the customer buys gloss white, the one that feels safest.
And what would best complete the order almost never makes it into the basket. The lit anti-fog mirror, the side column or the lower shelf are on another page, in another category, and the customer cannot picture the set. They buy the unit on its own and look for the mirror in another shop. Every order for a lone unit is a delivery with its own carriage, its packaging and its risk of return, for less money than it could have been.
Between the toilet, the door and the radiator there are 85 centimetres, and the customer hesitates between the 60 and the 80. On a product page the measurements are numbers in a table; nobody sees how much space a 45 cm deep unit really takes up in a narrow bathroom, or whether the door catches as it opens.
What it costs youReturns with carriage both ways and units that do not always come back in a saleable state.
Gloss white, grey, sage green, matt black, oak and walnut, with a white, matt black or stone basin and a chrome, black or gold tap. In studio photos the wood finishes blur into each other and the customer is afraid of getting it wrong. They ask on the chat, request a sample, or go straight to white.
What it costs youSales that go to the safest finish or to another shop.
Five widths, wall-hung or floor-standing, one or two drawers, integrated or countertop basin, six finishes and three handles. Multiplied out, that is hundreds of combinations that cannot be photographed one by one. The website shows ten and the customer has to imagine the rest, or settle for what they can see.
What it costs youWhat sells is what has been photographed, not what you make.
The LED-lit anti-fog mirror, the side column and the lower shelf are what complete the bathroom and what raises the value of every order. But they live in other categories of the website and the customer does not see them next to their unit. They take the unit on its own and buy the rest elsewhere, sometimes in another colour and at another height that do not match.
What it costs youSmaller orders with the same delivery cost.
Depth, basin height, whether the trap fits behind the drawer, whether the wall-hung unit can go on a plasterboard partition. Every question is reasonable and every one is answered by hand, sometimes out of hours. While the customer waits for the reply, they have three other shops open in their browser.
What it costs youSupport hours that cannot keep up when the website's traffic goes up.
Put in your own figures for returns by size or by finish. The example is only a starting point; the chat time and the mirrors that never get sold are separate.
€ a month
The values are an example: replace them with yours. The calculation is a simple multiplication and does not come from any study.
They choose the width, from 60 to 140 cm, and see it in 3D with a person beside it to understand the scale and with the dimensions in view. Then they place it at real size in their bathroom in augmented reality from their phone and check whether there is room next to the toilet or the radiator, with nothing to install.
Dimensions, a person for scale and augmented reality
Oak against walnut, grey against sage green: the customer changes the finish, the basin colour and the tap on the unit in 3D and turns it as they like. If they are unsure, they save up to three versions and compare them side by side with the differences highlighted and the indicative price of each.
Finishes in 3D and a comparison of 3 optionsWidth, fitting, drawers, basin, finish and handle combine in a single flow, and every combination appears in 3D with its indicative price. What you make can be sold even if you have never photographed it, and each configuration is saved as an image to show or to order from.
A full configuration in 3D with an indicative price
The LED-lit mirror, the anti-fog feature, the lower shelf and the side column are offered while the customer is configuring their unit, and appear in place in the set with their price added on. The customer sees the complete bathroom and decides within the same order, without going off to another category.
Accessories switched on over the 3D
Size, depth, number of bowls and basin height appear in the summary, and the details are pointed out on the 3D itself. At the end, the order comes out with every reference: unit, basin, tap and mirror. If we connect it to your ERP, it goes in without anyone typing it, and the chat is left for the questions that really need a person.
Technical summary and order sheetChoose the 80 cm wall-hung unit, switch it to walnut, turn on the lit mirror and look at it next to the reference figure; then, with the QR code, place it in a real bathroom from your phone.
An open demo, with no registration, with example products and prices. It is designed for manufacturers, dealers and installers: private customers are welcome to try it, but we do not sell the product.
Send us the data sheet for one model with its widths, finishes and accessories, and in a 20-minute demo you will see how it would fit into your online shop.
Most projects for manufacturers fall between €14,500 and €35,000, depending on the catalogue, the manufacturing rules and the integrations. Maintenance and hosting from €190 a month. We start from a base that already works: you are not paying for development from scratch.
Would you rather talk it through? Call 662 061 421 or write to grup3d@grup3d.es.
There are more short answers in frequently asked questions about 3D configurators and who we are in 3D configurator company.
The configurator is a web page, so it is linked from your shop or from each model's product page. What the customer configures comes out with its references on the order sheet and, as part of the development, it can be connected to your ERP so the order does not have to be typed in by hand.
It helps the customer buy knowing how much space the unit takes: they see it with a person for scale, with its dimensions and at real size in their bathroom in augmented reality. It does not replace measuring the gap, but it turns a table of numbers into something you can grasp at a glance before paying.
No. It opens in the browser on a phone, a tablet or a computer. If the customer is on a computer, they scan a QR code and open it on their phone; from there they can place the unit in their bathroom in augmented reality, turn it round and see it at real size with nothing to download.
For a configurator like the one in the demo, with your catalogue: developments start from €6,500 for a visual configurator of one product family; most projects for manufacturers fall between €14,500 and €35,000, depending on the catalogue, the rules and the integrations, plus maintenance from €190 a month. What moves the figure is the number of models, widths, finishes and accessories, and whether the order has to go straight into your ERP or you want to give access to the shops that sell for you. Once we have seen how you sell today, we send you a fixed figure.
Yes. The development is done with your models, widths, finishes, basins, taps, handles and accessories, and with your rules: which basin goes with which width, which handle each front takes or which column matches each range. What you do not make cannot be configured, so impossible orders never arrive.
Yes. As well as on your website, each shop can have its own login with its margin and its brand and show it in the showroom, where all the combinations do not fit either. If you would rather some sales were closed by a shop, the requests coming in through the website are shared out by area.
See all the bathroom configurators → · See all the 3D configurators by sector →
Kitchen and bathroom, to the millimetre
See page →Inside and outside · litres in seconds
See page →Bathroom, kitchen, living room or terrace
See page →Which bathroom unit fits the space: how to measure width, depth and height, wall-hung or floor-standing, which mirror goes with each width, what to decide before ordering and mistakes to avoid.
Read the guide (in Spanish) →