Benefits of Custom Software Development for an E-Commerce Business

The e-commerce sector is showing unprecedented growth and in such a competitive market, capturing customers’ attention is a highly competitive challenge. To meet the ever-increasing demands of their customers and ensure a flawless customer experience, e-commerce companies invest in custom solutions.

It might be difficult for a business owner to decide whether to use an off-the-shelf platform or to invest in custom e-commerce software. Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. For some companies, an off-the-shelf platform may work perfectly fine, while others need a bespoke solution that can be entirely customized to meet their unique business needs.

Why E-Commerce Companies May Need Custom Software?

2020’s COVID-19 outbreak caused an increase in online purchases. According to Statista, 87 percent of UK households made online purchases within the preceding 12 months, making this the highest online purchase penetration rate in the country in the past 11 years. In these market conditions, online retailers must ensure an exclusive shopping experience to keep up with competitors, and custom e-commerce development can serve this goal. Still, there are other reasons that may drive e-commerce companies to build custom software:

• Total control of your platform. With custom software development, you can have total control over the platform and manage every feature, which means you can adjust its functionality to accord with your current business needs.
• Handling unique processes. Many e-commerce companies face the need to deal with operations that must be carried out in very precise ways, be it verifying customers before they can make orders or processing their returns. A custom e-commerce platform can manage such processes swiftly and efficiently.
• Unique shipping options. Online retailers work with multiple vendors which offer different shipping options. Unfortunately, most off-the-shelf e-commerce platforms are not able to manage highly specific operations, so custom software is a must in such cases.
• Offering custom coupons and discount rules. Out-of-the-box e-commerce solutions may have functionality for generating coupon codes, but they may be limited in their capabilities. For instance, if vendors want to restrict the usage of promo codes for a certain number of items, they would need a customized solution as not every off-the-shelf e-commerce platform has this option.
• Integration with other systems. Integration of all systems is a common challenge for e-commerce businesses. For example, you may need to connect an e-commerce website with an inventory management system. Depending on the system complexity, it may take a good deal of work, so building custom software may prevent unwanted problems if integration is complicated.
• The need for unique analytics and reports. Consumers may want to generate a report that reflects all their orders, or retailers may need to create analytics reports based on unique metrics. Such processes require customization but most out-of-the-box platforms can’t be customized to perform such tasks.
• Integration with other business systems. For the website to function effectively, it’s necessary to have integrations between the e-commerce platform and business systems. A customized e-commerce platform can be easily integrated with other systems and platforms and tailored to your needs.
• The need for the implementation of unique features. Most ready-made e-commerce platforms offer standardized features that won’t help retailers provide a unique shopping experience for their consumers. That’s why if you want to implement unique features, you need to consider custom software development.

Finally, businesses often outgrow their off-the-shelf solutions. When using out-of-the-box solutions, companies realize at a certain point that they are no longer able to meet all their needs. For example, they may need to create custom-specific analytics modules. In fact, when an e-commerce business grows, the platform needs scaling which is not about out-of-the-box software.

Benefits of Custom Software vs. Off-The-Shelf Solutions

Customized to unique business processes

Addressing business challenges is the key value that e-commerce companies strive to add when building a software solution. Custom software allows retailers to overcome their individual obstacles, and it’s worth investing in. However, with off-the-shelf solutions, businesses may have to adjust their processes to make the solution work for them.

Integration with other business systems

When searching for another solution, e-commerce companies may want to connect them with other business management systems such as ERP, marketing platforms, CRMs, etc. A customized solution will let you design the system in such a way that will work smoothly with your existing technology stack. As mentioned above, with out-of-the-box solutions, you may need to adapt your processes to standardized patterns.

Better scalability

To support your business growth, you need an e-commerce platform that allows scaling. If you hire a custom software development company, they will build a solution that is easy to scale and can be adjusted to your evolving needs.

Increased security

The biggest drawback of off-the-shelf e-commerce solutions is the issue of security. In fact, many businesses find it nearly impossible to provide robust security using out-of-the-box e-commerce solutions while managing their web hosting and hosting all of their data. The advantage of having a bespoke solution built just for you is that it makes your e-commerce platform more secure and manageable.

Competitive advantage

Many companies don’t realize that a custom e-commerce solution designed personally for their business goals is an advantage that will help them stand out from competitors. Still, if your business relies on an off-the-shelf solution, your competitors will be able to gain the same benefits that go along with that solution.

Conclusion

Every e-commerce company has unique goals, needs, customer expectations, and resources. They need unique solutions tailored to work with their specific processes and systems. Building a custom software solution has clear benefits compared to using an off-the-shelf product that can only satisfy standardized market needs.

Today bespoke e-commerce software solutions give companies a competitive advantage as well as guarantee better scalability to adapt to the evolving market. With custom software, e-commerce companies can ensure the security of their business along with providing a unique shopping experience to their customers, thus standing out in the market.

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