Free-text notes
Configuration arriving as an unstructured note means a human re-reads every order. It works at ten orders a day and collapses at a hundred.
BUILD-YOUR-OWN AND PERSONALISED PRODUCTS
Shopify product configurators and personalisation
Build-your-own product flows that produce a real, fulfillable order. Trunki customers configure custom one-off designs; Moonglow customers enter a date and the store renders that moon phase, which drives the personalised product they buy.
IN SHORT
- A configurator is only finished when the warehouse can act on the order without phoning anyone.
- Configuration travels as line item properties through cart, order and fulfilment, so it survives the whole journey.
- Moonglow customers enter a date and the store renders that moon phase, which drives the personalised product they buy.
- Trunki customers configure custom one-off ride-on designs as part of the store we migrated to Shopify Plus.
- Configurator code loads only on the templates that need it, so personalisation does not slow the whole catalogue.
The test a configurator has to pass
Most configurator projects are judged on the front end. Does the preview look good, is the flow smooth, does it feel premium. Fair questions, and the wrong test.
The real test is at the other end of the process: can the person making the product act on the order without phoning anyone? A beautiful configurator that produces an order line reading “Custom — see notes” has moved the work from the customer to your operations team, and it will keep doing that on every order forever.
So we design backwards from fulfilment. What does the order need to say for it to be made correctly? Everything else is built to produce that.
Two we have built
Trunki and Moonglow
Trunki sells ride-on children’s suitcases, including custom one-off designs. The configurator is part of the store we migrated from Magento to Shopify Plus, and it has to produce something the production process can act on.
Moonglow sells jewellery set to the moon phase of a date that matters to you. The customer enters a date of birth or another significant date, the store renders the moon phase for that date, and that drives the personalised product. It launched in the US, then Australia, then further markets — the configuration travelling with it each time.
How we build one
Six stages, designed backwards from what fulfilment needs.
- 01
Define the option model
What can vary, what depends on what, and which combinations are impossible. Getting the dependency rules written down early is what stops customers configuring something you cannot make.
- 02
Design the preview
The customer has to see what they are buying. That may be a rendered image, a composed layout or a plain summary — the requirement is accuracy, not sophistication.
- 03
Carry the state
Configuration travels as line item properties into the cart and through to the order, so nothing is reconstructed or guessed at a later step.
- 04
Make it legible to fulfilment
The order has to tell the person making the product exactly what to make. This is where most configurators fail, and it is the stage we design backwards from.
- 05
Keep rules editable
Options, pricing and dependency rules live in data your team can change, not constants that need a developer and a deploy.
- 06
Scope the performance
Configurator code loads only on templates that need it, so a personalisation feature does not tax every page on the site.
What has to survive the journey
- The exact configuration, as structured data rather than a free-text note
- A preview the customer saw and can be shown again in confirmation emails
- Pricing that reflects the configuration, including option-dependent pricing
- Component-level detail where inventory decrements per component
- Production instructions legible to whoever makes it
- Enough data to handle a return or remake without asking the customer to re-specify
Where configurators go wrong
Impossible combinations
Without dependency rules, customers configure things you cannot make, and you find out at fulfilment rather than at checkout.
Sitewide performance cost
Configurator libraries loaded on every page, taxing a catalogue where most products are not configurable.
Rules locked in code
Options and pricing as constants means every seasonal change is a developer ticket and a deploy.
Brands running configurators
Trunki
Trunki moved from Magento to Shopify Plus, with a configurator for the custom, one-off ride-on designs the brand is known for. We have managed the store since.
Moonglow
Moonglow sells jewellery set to the moon phase of a date that matters to you. We built Find Your Moon: the customer enters a date of birth or other significant date, the store renders that moon phase, and it drives the personalised product.
Who we have done this for
Clients from the roster whose work this page describes. Each links to what we actually built.
GANT
GANT came to Shopify with internal systems already in place. We migrated the store and connected those systems, including integrations with individual local stores.
Tayst Coffee
A guided bundle builder for a coffee subscription: the customer answers what they drink, how many drinkers there are, which roast they want and how many cups, picks their cups, and the built bundle is handed straight to Recharge.
Eat Cake Today
A cake marketplace connecting customers to vendors across Malaysia. We built the back end that decides what can actually be delivered: each vendor has a daily capacity and each cake a lead time, and together they determine which dates and time slots a customer is offered at checkout.
Trunki
Trunki moved from Magento to Shopify Plus, with a configurator for the custom, one-off ride-on designs the brand is known for. We have managed the store since.
Moonglow
Moonglow sells jewellery set to the moon phase of a date that matters to you. We built Find Your Moon: the customer enters a date of birth or other significant date, the store renders that moon phase, and it drives the personalised product.
Configurator questions
Can Shopify handle personalised or made-to-order products?
Yes, with line item properties and custom cart logic. The harder part is making the personalisation legible to whoever fulfils the order, which is where most configurators fall down.
Does a configurator hurt page speed?
Only if it loads for every visitor. We load configurator code on the templates that need it, not sitewide.
Can Shopify handle personalised or made-to-order products?
Yes, using line item properties and custom cart logic. The technical part is well understood; the harder part is making the personalisation legible to whoever fulfils the order, which is where most configurators fall down.
Should we use a product options app or build custom?
An options app is fine for simple variations — a text engraving, a colour choice. Build custom when options depend on each other, when pricing changes with the configuration, or when fulfilment needs structured data rather than a free-text note.
How do configurators affect inventory?
It depends whether you are assembling from stocked components or making to order. Component-based configurators need inventory decremented per component, which is an integration question as much as a storefront one.
Related
ERP & Internal Systems
Shopify connected to the systems a business already runs on, down to integrations with individual local stores.
Subscriptions & Recharge
Bundle builders and subscription logic that hand off cleanly to Recharge, as built for Tayst Coffee.
Custom Apps & Back Ends
When the logic does not fit an app: vendor capacity, delivery scheduling, made-to-order queues.
Configured subscriptions are a related but distinct problem — see subscriptions and Recharge. Component inventory usually needs ERP integration.
NEXT STEP
Scope a custom build
Vendor capacity engines, bundle builders and configurators are the work we are asked for most. Tell us the rule set.