Can Shopify sell made to measure curtains?

Can Shopify sell made to measure curtains?

Yes. Shopify on its own sells products at fixed prices and fixed sizes, so it needs a calculator app to sell made to measure curtains. The app asks the customer for the track or pole width and the drop, lets them choose the fabric, heading and lining, works out the fabric widths and the price, and puts every measurement on the order. The customer pays like any other Shopify order, and your workroom gets a job it can make from. Modern Curtains, a UK store we built, sells made to measure wave curtains this way.

Why Shopify cannot do it on its own

Shopify products have variants: a few sizes and colours, each with a price. That works for ready-made curtains in three sizes. It does not work for a curtain made to any width and drop, in any of forty fabrics, with a choice of headings and linings. The price has to be worked out from the sizes when the customer types them.

What the calculator has to do

• Ask for the track or pole width and the finished drop, with a clear measuring guide next to the boxes.
• Apply the fullness for the heading the customer picks, pencil pleat, pinch pleat or wave.
• Work out the number of fabric widths from the fabric's width, and round up.
• Add the allowances and the pattern repeat to the cut drop.
• Price the fabric, lining and making, and add the track or pole if the customer wants one.
• Write the width, drop, heading, lining and fabric onto the order, so nobody has to ring the customer back.

Curtain and Blind Calculator does this with rules and tables you set once. You do not write any code.

Things to sort out before you launch

• Samples. Most people order fabric samples before they buy curtains. Sell samples as their own product, free or at a small price.
• Measuring help. A short guide or video beside the size boxes cuts measuring mistakes more than anything else.
• Size limits. Set the smallest and largest widths and drops you make, so the page refuses a size you cannot make.
• Returns. In the UK, goods made to the customer's own measurements are not covered by the usual 14-day right to cancel. Say so clearly on the product page and at checkout.

What it costs

Curtain and Blind Calculator is $99 a month on Shopify, about £79, with a 7-day free trial. If you would rather have the whole store built, we do that as a fixed-price project.

Next step

Install Curtain and Blind Calculator from the Shopify App Store, or ask us to set up your first curtain with your own fabrics and making charges.

First published on the InterioApp blog.