How do I price blinds by width and drop on Shopify?

To price blinds by width and drop on Shopify, you need two things: a price grid and a calculator app that reads it. Shopify on its own sells each size as a fixed variant, so it cannot price a blind the customer has measured to the centimetre. With a calculator app, the customer types the width and drop on the product page, the app finds the right cell in your grid, adds any options and shows the price before the blind goes in the basket. The work on your side is getting the grid right.

Why variants do not work

A Shopify variant is one choice with one price, such as "120 x 150 cm, white". A blind grid with 10 widths and 10 drops is already 100 prices for one fabric. Add fabric groups and colours and it can no longer be managed. It also makes the customer pick a size from a list, when what they have is a tape measure reading such as 137 x 162 cm.

What a width and drop grid looks like

Widths run across the top, drops down the side, and each cell holds the price for a blind up to that size. Here is a small grid with example figures for one fabric group. Use your own prices.

Drop	Width up to 60 cm	Up to 90 cm	Up to 120 cm	Up to 150 cm	Up to 180 cm
Up to 100 cm	£38	£44	£51	£58	£66
Up to 150 cm	£45	£53	£62	£71	£81
Up to 200 cm	£52	£62	£73	£84	£96

A blind 112 cm wide with a 140 cm drop is priced in the 120 cm column and the 150 cm row, so £62. Always go up to the next band, never to the nearest one, or every size in between loses you money.

Getting your grid ready

Start from your supplier's grid. Most blind suppliers already send their prices this way. Either add your margin to each cell in a spreadsheet, or keep the supplier's price and add the margin as one rule, whichever matches how you price in the shop.
Make one grid per price group, not per colour. Fabrics are usually sold in groups, A, B, C and so on. Each colour then uses the grid of its group.
Keep your bands the same as your supplier's. If the supplier's price steps up at 150 cm and yours steps up at 160 cm, some blinds will be sold below cost.
Set the smallest and largest sizes. The first and last bands are your limits. A size outside them should be refused on the page, not guessed.
Save it as a CSV file. The app gives you a sample file to copy.

Options go on top of the grid

The grid holds the price of the blind itself. Everything else is added on top, so you do not need a separate grid for every choice:

A fixed amount, such as a cassette headrail.
An amount that only applies above a certain width, such as a motor.
No charge, but written on the order, such as the chain side or whether the blind fits inside or outside the recess.

Check it before you go live

Pick five sizes: the smallest you make, the largest, one exactly on a band, one just over a band, and a common size such as 120 x 150 cm. Price each one by hand from your paper grid, then on the product page. If any of the five disagree, fix the grid before a customer finds it. Then place one test order and check that the width, the drop and every option are on the order in Shopify, because that is what the blind will be made from.

What it costs

Curtain and Blind Calculator reads your grid, shows the price on your Shopify product page as the customer types the sizes, and puts the measurements on the order. It is $99 a month on Shopify, about £79, with a 7-day free trial.

Next step

Install Curtain and Blind Calculator from the Shopify App Store, or ask us to set up your first product with your supplier's grid.

First published on the InterioApp blog.