Custom ecommerce platforms have been in place since online trading was born in the late nineties and early noughties. Later, off the shelf solutions such as Magento (Adobe Commerce), Hybris, WebSphere, and Demandware (now Salesforce) were launched and became very widespread. In recent years SaaS packages such as Shopify and BigCommerce have emerged as popular choices. And for the past few years we’ve seen the advantages of a headless (or composable) approach, too. But along the way, many businesses still opt for custom packages tailored to their specific wants and needs. Technology agnostic, PureNet caters for businesses using all the approaches outlines above. So, let’s look at custom ecommerce solutions and ask why that might makes sense for an online business.
Customisation and Flexibility
All ecommerce platforms offer a degree of flexibility. That can vary very much on the platform and the ingenuity and skill of the developers. You can also get a lot of functionality out of the box (whether you need it or not) which can be a boon or sometimes a drag on resources.
But the nature of bespoke systems means that there is little predefined functionality (beyond a range of essential core functions and modules as in PureNet’s own bespoke platform, WebPOS) and the complete latitude to build as much or as little as is required and desired.
This offers some very real freedom. For instance, for business-to-business companies there are often processes that have evolved and been fine-tuned that really work, improving efficiency and output. Reflecting these processes can be hard to implement in an off the peg ecommerce package but can be faithfully reproduced with a bespoke build. And with B2C builds, allowing the weird and wonderful as a company USP may hinge on the ability to offer heavily customised web experiences.
Unlike more ‘black box’ SaaS systems you’ll never find the answers “this can’t be done” or “you can achieve this but only doing it the platform’s way”, common responses that can frustrate ecommerce managers. With a custom build, the question will simply be about budgets and timescales, never any technical limitations.
Scalability and Longevity
As a business, and its online operation, grows, adapts, changes and reacts so too does the needs of its website functionality. Different ecommerce platforms can be customised in variable degrees to meet these changes and challenges but only a bespoke build will allow you to tailor your ecommerce platform to reflect every nuance and detail required in an evolving web environment.
Powerful 3rd party tools, such AI driven merchandising, search, data reporting and user experience (UX) systems are also available and increasingly used by ecommerce sites to augment their own innate functionality. Many of these can be as readily integrated into a custom build as they can with an off the shelf package, helping you to beef up functionality and improve performance.
Equally, other than the occasional underlying technical upgrade, you won’t be forced to upgrade or retire your platform if it is deemed ‘end of life’. Many custom platforms will continue performing exceptionally well 3, 5 or even 10 or more years after they have been built delivering real ROI and justifying the additional costs of tailoring it.
Security and Control
Off-the-shelf solutions are far more susceptible to widespread security vulnerabilities. Cybercriminals are far more likely to invest their time finding ways to hack a platform which has thousands of ecommerce sites than one. Having a bespoke ecommerce platform allows you to focus on your cybersecurity in a more focused way, rather than hurriedly react to the latest security update or patch.
With very few agencies demanding proprietary ownership if their code these days, you also get to control your site. No unexpected hikes in fees, no waiting for roadmap functionality or sudden changes in approach. You will own your site and be able to plot your own destiny.
So, when should you seek out custom ecommerce website design?
A custom build is not the solution for everyone. Off the shelf packages usually offer the best route to cost effective online success. PureNet would always look at a client’s needs and ultimate goals and for most an off the shelf system offers the best approach. However, for many, having a bespoke ecommerce website design offers some real advantages that should be explored as part of any platform evaluation.