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Target Components has redesigned and rebuilt it’s free-to-use custom PC Builder for a mobile-friendly experience.
Following feedback from customers, the distributor improved its PC configurator to now be more intuitive and easier to use on smartphones, tablets and laptops, with new features, more products and more compatibility checks in place.
Launched in 2013, Target’s Custom PC Builder allows users to start with any component and build their PC around it, with all compatibility checked during the design process. The finished design is then ordered and either built by Target’s engineers, or delivered as parts. On launch, Target estimated the number of available configurations to be in excess of 309 trillion.
The redesign of the Custom PC Builder improves on the original ‘click and select’ graphical interface with a new look and drop down lists of components, all of which now include images and product information. Any components incompatible with the build are unselectable and any components required to complete the build are highlighted. This new version also includes recommendations for additional, performance-enhancing accessories like improved cooling for processors.
Architect of the Custom PC Builder, and Target’s Product Marketing Executive, Cory Lees, explained the redesign: “Whilst the Custom PC Builder has proved extremely successful, we have always strived to improve it. Feedback from our customers has highlighted some opportunities on how we might do that, and one that kept coming up was making it mobile-friendly so our customers can visit end-users at home or in their businesses and provide quotes straight away.”
“This version is the first that has been built ‘mobile up’ where we designed the mobile site first, then adapted it for desktop. The result is a much smoother experience for the user in both formats. It looks better, it’s more intuitive and provides more information and product options, including accessories that have typically seen a 20% increase in ASP for the reseller over selling the PC alone. Adding more upsell opportunities allows them to increase that further.”
Lees continued, “And we added a lot more to the new Custom PC Builder, both in terms of products and compatibility checks. For example, you can now add multiple M.2 drives where a motherboard has slots available and you can replace the prefitted PSUs in cases with a different one. It will even calculate the airflow required to keep the CPU cool and suggest alternative cooling options if applicable.”
“The list of available components and accessories now includes 360mm liquid coolers, VR headsets and an extended range of monitors. And the new system will even determine if the monitor you have selected is compatible with monitor arms, which have also been included as margin-adding opportunities.”
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