Boat configurator for a shipyard

The problem

Selling a boat worth several hundred thousand euros ran on PDF brochures and email. A buyer would ask about a hull colour, wait a day, ask about a teak deck, wait another. Weeks of back and forth to settle a specification neither side could actually picture, and a first render only once the deposit was in. Buyers hesitated, sales staff rebuilt the same price breakdown over and over, and the whole experience sat well below what the boats themselves promised.

What we built

A configurator on the shipyard's own site where the boat is drawn as it is specified. Hull, superstructure, deck finishes, upholstery, engine package and electronics: each choice redraws the boat and moves the price, and options that cannot go together are never offered in the first place. The buyer keeps a running summary and can come back to a saved configuration later. When they are ready, the configuration becomes a specification sheet with the full breakdown, which lands with the sales team as a quote waiting to be signed rather than a request to be processed.

How it went

We spent the first day with the sales director going through recent deals, working out which decisions actually move a buyer and which ones only matter once the boat is being built. Then the configurator itself: the rendering, the option catalogue and its compatibility rules, and the specification sheet generator. Before launch the sales team ran it on live customer configurations, and their corrections shaped the final week. Eight days from first meeting to production.

Today

The configurator is now where most new buyers start. It produces several dozen specification sheets a month, each one precise enough to be quoted without a single clarifying email.