Unlock Hybrid Selling: How to Offer Quote-Only and Buy-Now Products on Shopify
Hey there, fellow store owners and ops pros! Ever found yourself in a situation where you sell a mix of products – some ready for immediate purchase, others requiring a custom quote or consultation? It’s a common scenario, especially for businesses with diverse catalogs, like those dealing in both small parts and large machinery.
This exact challenge popped up in a recent community discussion, and it sparked some fantastic insights. The original poster runs an agricultural parts and machinery store on Shopify. They wanted customers to buy parts and consumables online as usual, but for big-ticket items like trailers, tankers, and attachments, they needed a different approach: no price displayed, no ‘Add to Cart’ button, just an ‘Enquire Now’ option leading to a simple contact form. Sound familiar?
The Hybrid Selling Challenge: Mixing Transactional and Consultative Sales
Many of us face this. Imagine you’re selling industrial equipment. You might have filters and spare parts that are standard, easy buys. But a custom-built combine harvester attachment? That needs a conversation, a personalized quote, and likely a deeper understanding of the customer's specific needs. Simply slapping a price on it and an ‘Add to Cart’ button just doesn’t make sense.
The good news, as the community quickly confirmed, is that this is absolutely achievable on platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, Wix, BigCommerce, or PrestaShop. The core idea revolves around using custom product templates and a bit of thoughtful configuration.
The Community's Solution: Custom Product Templates to the Rescue
The consensus from our expert community was clear: custom product templates are your best friend here. One respondent put it perfectly, stating it's 'very doable' by adding a metafield to identify enquiry-only products and then editing the theme's product template to conditionally hide prices and cart buttons, replacing them with a form. Another community member provided a brilliant step-by-step guide for Shopify users, which we’ve distilled for you here:
Step-by-Step Guide for Setting Up Quote-Only Products on Shopify
- Create a New Product Template:
- From your Shopify admin, navigate to Online Store > Themes.
- Click Customize on your active theme.
- At the top of the customizer, use the dropdown menu (usually showing 'Home page') and select Products.
- Click Create template. Give it a descriptive name, like "Quote Only" or "Enquiry Product". This is crucial for maintaining a clean Shopify catalog enrichment strategy, ensuring your diverse product types are presented appropriately.
- Customize the New Template:
- While viewing your newly created template in the customizer, you'll see sections like 'Product Information'.
- Look for blocks related to 'Price' and 'Buy Buttons'. Hide or delete these blocks from this specific template. Don't worry, your default product template will remain unchanged.
- Add Your Enquiry Mechanism:
- Click Add block within the 'Product Information' section.
- Search for a 'Custom Liquid' block or a 'Contact Form' block (if your theme includes one natively for product pages).
- If using a 'Custom Liquid' block, you can paste simple HTML for an enquiry button that links to a dedicated contact page, or even embed a short form directly. For example, a simple button might look like:
Enquire Now. - If your theme offers a 'Contact Form' block, simply add it and configure its settings.
- Save and Assign:
- Save your changes to the new template.
- Now, go to the backend product pages for your large items (trailers, tankers, machinery).
- In the 'Online Store' section of each product, change the 'Theme template' from 'Default product' to your new "Quote Only" template.
Crafting the Right Call to Action
A great point brought up in the discussion was about the text on your enquiry button and the form itself. Instead of just a generic 'Contact Us', one smart suggestion for machinery was to go with something more direct like "Get a Quote" or "Request Pricing." If availability is a factor, "Check Availability" also works wonders. The key here is clarity and managing expectations.
For the enquiry form, keep it short and sweet. As one expert mentioned, fewer fields mean more people actually fill it out. Name, email, and maybe a dropdown to specify the product they're interested in (if your form isn't product-specific) are often enough to start the conversation.
EShopSet Team Comment
The community's approach of leveraging custom product templates is robust and highly effective for creating a hybrid selling model. It's a fantastic example of using native platform capabilities to solve complex merchandising needs without immediately resorting to apps. For store owners looking to scale this, or to manage the incoming enquiries more efficiently, an app from the integrations-tools category could further streamline the process, offering more advanced form builders or direct CRM integrations for seamless follow-up workflows. This method truly enhances your product presentation and customer journey.
Beyond the Setup: The Impact on Your Operations
Implementing this hybrid approach does more than just change a button; it refines your sales process. For high-value items, it ensures you're engaging with genuinely interested customers, allowing your sales team to provide personalized service and build stronger relationships. For your standard products, the seamless 'Add to Cart' experience remains, catering to immediate purchasing needs.
Whether you're on Shopify, WooCommerce, or any other platform, the principle remains the same: understand your product types, segment your customer journeys, and customize your storefront to match. It’s about creating an intuitive, efficient experience for both your customers and your operations team.
Happy selling!
