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Wise Company: a 2D deck designer for pontoon renovations
The Wise Company, Inc·
The Wise Company, Inc is one of the largest manufacturers of pleasure boat seating and interiors in the United States. They set out to build a product configurator that would simplify the order experience for pontoon renovation projects.
Unlike most projects on this site, the right answer here was not 3D. A pontoon deck layout is a plan-view problem, and the tool had to run on whatever browser or tablet a distributor happened to have.
What the client needed
A flexible 2D configurator
They searched for flexible online 2D product configurator software with the possibility of integrating with Shopify.
Two versions of the app
A no-price version for lead generation through quote requests, and a price version integrated with Shopify to finalise orders.
Distributable to dealers
The company needed a way to distribute the configurator to their distributors, to finalise orders or collect leads.
Broad device support
A mandatory requirement was that the configurator load on most internet browsers, Android tablets and iPads.
The solution
The implementation used the SEL platform from Simplio3D, which contains a pre-built 2D visualisation module developed with a JavaScript-based canvas — chosen specifically so that most internet browsers would have no difficulty loading the renderings and their features.
The 2D module supports drag-and-drop, snapping and viewport editing such as rotate and delete, on both regular browsers and touchscreen devices.
An equally important part was the back-end administrator, where the company and its distributors manage the product catalogue. Admin users can generate iframe code to share unique configurator versions based on distributor attributes.
How the deck designer works
Lay out the deck
Seating and components are placed on the pontoon plan with drag-and-drop, with snapping to keep the layout aligned.
Edit in the viewport
Items can be rotated or deleted directly in the viewport, on a desktop browser or by touch on a tablet.
Choose the version
A no-price version collects quote requests for lead generation; the price version integrates with Shopify to finalise the order.
Distribute to dealers
The admin generates iframe code for unique configurator versions based on distributor attributes, so each dealer gets an appropriate build.
The configurator
Results
A faster sales process
The company significantly improved the sales process from both the online and distributor perspectives.
No manual CAD drafting
Proposals can be made in a few clicks, eliminating the cost of manually drafting CAD drawings for each one.
Trackable leads
The company can track customer leads, reduce design consultation time and improve conversion rates.
A new marketing channel
Deck Designer contributes to brand awareness and created new marketing channels and ideas for promoting their products.
In the client’s words
They did a great job of understanding our needs as an outsider from the industries they’re accustomed to. There was no drop off in communication given that we’re a US manufacturer and they’re a European developer.
Matt WoodE-Commerce Project Manager · Wise Company
What a project like this would add today
The description above reflects what was actually implemented at the time. A team starting the same project now would also have these options available:
- Build a starting point with AI. Simplio3D can generate a working configurator from a product description, and its AI assistant can audit an existing project for option coverage and gaps in conditional logic.
- Connect an AI agent over MCP. The MCP server lets an assistant such as Claude connect with a scoped token and inspect real projects — introspecting a model, evaluating conditional logic or calculating a price — under a controlled-write model that proposes changes before applying them.
Neither was part of the original implementation.
Selling through Shopify?
The Shopify integration now supports cart links, Draft Orders with price overrides and SKU-matched multi-line carts.
Build, deploy and scale 3D commerce.
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