MeasureLabGuide · 8 min read
How to sell made-to-measure blinds and curtains on Shopify
Every window is a different size, so every blind and curtain has its own price: width, drop, fabric, lining, how it opens. Shops either drown in quote emails or simplify their range until it fits Shopify. Here's how to price the real thing on the product page, and how to make sure customers measure right the first time.
How shops price made-to-measure
1. "Contact us for a quote"
The customer emails their sizes and waits for a price. It works, but every quote is your time, and shoppers comparing three stores at 10 pm buy from the one that shows a price.
2. A variant for each standard size
Offering 60, 90, 120 and 150 cm widths as variants is easy to set up, but customers with a 132 cm window either buy the wrong size or leave. Add drops and fabrics and the combinations run into the hundreds.
3. A calculator with your price grid or rate
The customer types width and drop, picks fabric and extras, and sees the price immediately. Most blind suppliers price from a width × drop grid, and a calculator can use exactly that grid, or a price per square metre with a minimum.
A worked example: the price grid
Here's a typical roller blind grid in pounds. Sizes between bands round up to the next band, the fabric band multiplies the price, and a motor adds a fixed amount. Type a size and watch which cell applies:
Fabrics, linings, motors and other extras
- Fabric bands. Group fabrics into bands (A, B, C) that multiply the grid price, so a new fabric only needs a band, not a new grid.
- Linings. Blackout or thermal lining as a choice with its own price, either fixed or a percentage of the blind.
- Operation. Chain side, control length and stacking direction are recorded on the order without changing the price.
- Motors and fittings. A motor, a remote or a cassette top adds a fixed amount.
- Curtains. Price by the fabric used: the track width times the heading's fullness (often 2 to 2.5×), plus making-up and lining.
- Minimum and maximum sizes. Set them per product so nobody can order a blind your mechanism can't hold.
Measuring help that prevents remakes
A remade blind costs you the fabric twice. Most measuring mistakes come from a few causes, and each can be headed off on the product page:
- Recess or exact fit. Ask first whether the blind sits inside the window recess or outside it, because they're measured differently.
- Measure in three places. Recesses are rarely square: ask for the narrowest width.
- Say who makes the deductions. Tell customers to give the exact recess size and that you'll allow for the brackets, so nobody deducts twice.
- Show it, don't just say it. A short measuring guide with pictures, opened from beside the size boxes, answers the question at the moment it comes up.
Setting it up with a calculator
Here's how it looks with MeasureLab, the calculator app we make. The same ideas apply to any calculator app.
- Start from the “Roller & Roman blinds” or “Curtains & drapes” template in MeasureLab, or start blank with Width and Drop inputs.
- Enter your grid: choose the Matrix (size grid) pricing method, set the width and drop bands, and type in the prices from your price list.
- Add the fabric band as a choice that multiplies the price, and linings and motors as choices with their own price.
- Add choices that don't change the price, such as chain side; they still go onto the order.
- Attach a size guide so a “How to measure” link opens beside the size boxes, and set each input's minimum and maximum.
- Publish, then place the calculator block on your product page in the theme editor.
Each order then lists the width, drop, fabric and every choice next to the line, ready for the workshop, and the price is checked again at checkout.
Questions
Should a size between two bands round up?
Yes. The usual rule is to charge the next band up: a blind 132 cm wide is priced in the 150 cm column. Customers expect it, and it covers the extra fabric.
Price grid or price per square metre?
Use a grid if your supplier prices that way or your costs jump in steps (a wider roller tube, a heavier mechanism). Use price per square metre with a minimum charge if your cost really follows the fabric area.
How do I cut down on blinds made to the wrong size?
Ask whether the blind fits inside or outside the window recess, show how to measure each with pictures, and set minimum and maximum sizes so impossible measurements can't be ordered.
Do I charge for choosing the chain side?
Usually not. Choices like chain side or stacking direction are recorded on the order without changing the price; only options that cost you more, such as a motor or blackout lining, add to it.