How do I sell made to measure outdoor shade beyond awnings on Shopify, such as zip screens, pergola covers and shade sails?

Global Market Insights valued the shade sails market at USD 1.84 billion in 2023 and expects USD 3.51 billion by 2032. It puts the wider outdoor living structure market at USD 2.5 billion in 2025, with pergolas and patio covers making up 35.0% of it. For a shop that already makes awnings, these are close cousins, but each one is measured and priced a little differently.

How do I sell made to measure outdoor shade beyond awnings on Shopify, such as zip screens, pergola covers and shade sails?

Price each product the way your workshop already prices it. Zip screens and other outdoor blinds work well in a grid by width and height. Pergola covers and square or rectangular sails can take a price per square metre, or a grid if your costs jump at certain sizes. Triangles and parasols sold in set sizes take one price per item with extras. Set the smallest and largest size for each product. Inchy takes all four kinds of price list. It draws awnings and t-shirts; for other products it shows your own photo for each option.

Four kinds of price list cover most of an outdoor shade range. Options such as the fabric or a motor sit on top of any of them.

Which price rule fits which product?

Start from your own price list, not from the app. If you already price a product from a table, keep the table.

• Zip screens and other outdoor blinds. Two measurements, the width and the drop, and costs that tend to move in steps rather than by the centimetre. A grid by width and height lets you put in the price you already charge for each size band.

• Pergola covers. The price follows the area of the roof. A price per square metre does the sum for you: a 4 × 3 m cover is 12 square metres, so it costs 12 times your rate. If small covers cost you more per square metre, use a grid instead.

• Square and rectangular shade sails. The same as a pergola cover: two sides, so a price per square metre or a grid.

• Triangular sails and parasols. Two measurements do not describe every triangle, so sell triangles in set sizes with one price per item, and add the extras on top. A made to measure triangle is a job for the quote form; how to handle quote requests for big jobs covers that.

On any of these, an option can add a fixed amount, an amount per metre or square metre, or a percentage. A heavier fabric can add an amount per square metre, a frame colour a fixed amount, and a motor a fixed amount whatever the size. How to price add-ons like a motor or a winter cover goes through the same thinking for awnings.

Where does the price grid come from?

From your spreadsheet. Inchy takes a grid pasted straight in: one measurement across the top, the other down the side, a price in each box. The customer's size goes up to the next column and the next row. Below is the demo awning's grid. For a zip screen the layout is the same, with the drop down the side instead of the projection.

What does the shopper see when there is no drawing?

Be clear about this with yourself before you set it up. Inchy draws awnings and t-shirts: the awning is redrawn at the shopper's size, and the shirt shows their logo. Zip screens, pergola covers and shade sails are not drawn. For those, the builder shows your own photo for each option, so a shopper who picks charcoal mesh sees your charcoal mesh.

That puts the weight on your photos. Use pictures of jobs you have fitted, one per fabric or colour, taken in daylight from the same spot so the only thing that changes is the option. Everything else works as it does on the awning: the size fields, the limits, the price for the exact size, the breakdown and the total on the button.

How should sizes and limits be set?

Let shoppers measure in the units they use. Sizes can be set in centimetres, millimetres or inches, and the demo awning switches between centimetres and inches on the page: 437 × 280 cm reads as 172.05 × 110.24 inches, and the limits change with it.

Set the smallest and largest size you make for each product. A sail has a largest size your fixings can hold, and a zip screen has a widest size your cassette allows. Anything outside is stopped before payment and offered a quote instead.

Put your measuring advice right under the size fields, as the demo awning does with its "How to measure" link. A zip screen needs a note about measuring the drop; a sail needs one about the fixing points. And because the checkout works the price out again from your rules, the shopper pays exactly what the page showed, as why checkout prices can differ from the product page explains.

Questions and answers

Does Inchy draw zip screens, pergolas or shade sails?

No. It draws awnings and t-shirts. Other products show your own photo for each option, with the same size fields, limits and exact price.

Can I price by the square metre?

Yes. Prices can come from a grid by width and projection or height, a price per square metre, a price per metre, or one price per item with extras.

Can I start from the awning template?

Yes. Start from the closest template or from scratch. For any product with sizes and options the price works the same way.

Do I pay more for more products?

No. The Made to measure plan, $99 a month, covers unlimited products, billed by Shopify with no fee per order.

Who makes Inchy?

InterioApp. We have priced and sold made to measure products since 2011, in our own shop first, and our quoting software and calculators are used by made to measure businesses in the UK, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

Paste in the price list for one of your outdoor shade products and see it priced on your own product page. See Inchy and try the live builder. Start the 7-day free trial on the Shopify App Store.

Sources

• Global Market Insights, Shade sails market: USD 1.84 billion in 2023, USD 3.51 billion forecast for 2032.

• Global Market Insights, Outdoor living structure market: USD 2.5 billion in 2025; pergolas and patio covers 35.0% in 2025.

• Inchy website and live demo: price rules, templates, own photo for each option, size limits, the inch conversion and sample UK prices, read on 21 October 2026. Area worked out from the example size.

Written with AI. Every figure is checked against the sources listed above.