At Spectrum, we take great pride in offering functional as well as aesthetic customization as a key feature of our platform. This convergence of aesthetic and product feature customization is highly beneficial to the outdoor category, where self-expression with performance features are highly sought. We make full product customization a reality for our clients, including many in the outdoor industry, including Benchmade, Leatherman, Gerber, Hydro Flask and more, affording us a deep lens into industry trends, consumer desires and KPIs that drive each brand’s custom offering.
A key hallmark of outdoor enthusiasts is their joy in forging their own path. The independence they seek in the outdoors directly aligns nicely with the opportunity for them for product customization. In fact, outdoor enthusiasts customize products up to 40-60% of the time, higher than any other industry. Tapping into this sense of independence and passion should be done cautiously, however. As mentioned above, form cannot be at the expense of function. Customization options should be chosen carefully, with specific emphasis on options that won’t compromise the product’s integrity and performance. In our experience, these types of options vary widely from product to product, but can include:
- Alternative handle colors and laser engraving for knives
- Personalized text and custom artwork plus accessories for water bottles
- Custom image upload with built-in moderation for multi-tools
The customization experience must inspire your audience to invest their valuable time in personalizing products. A seamless branded experience with best-in-class 3D visualizations provides confidence in your users that the product they have designed will be exactly what they receive. How important is that seamless, branded experience? Done well, across multiple industries, our clients generally see nearly a 200% increase in conversion of custom SKU’s vs stock. As their final step, the consumer completes their purchase with confidence, feeling confident the factory will receive, produce and deliver the exact product they’ve ordered.
For the user, factory contact is the last step. By contrast, this is the Spectrum team’s first area of focus. We work directly with our client’s in-house teams and facilities to develop a factory integration solution first. Prioritizing factory integration has resulted in our 100% client integration rate and in-turn, building our team’s unique experience. We are able to provide multiple levels of support for fast rapid production, serving 75+ countries with 65+ independently-sourced factory partners to help provide the best custom production solutions. Read more about our factory integration efforts here.