Shoe configurators: A comparative analysis of capabilities and benefits

Mass customizers (MCs) increasingly sell their products on the web through web-based sales configurators (WBSCs). This selling approach has proved beneficial to both MCs and their customers because, on the one hand, it facilitates the customization process and, on the other hand, it provides a real-time preview of the customized product. However, selling through WBSCs is challenging. Different WBSCs have different capabilities and, consequently, customers perceive different levels of benefits from both the configured products and the customization experience. The present work performs an analysis of state-of-the-art WBSCs for shoes and compares them with other fashion WBSCs in order to help companies and researchers to adopt or develop innovative approaches to enhancing WBSCs.