7 reasons why you should build a custom e-commerce solution

Do you have a brick-and-mortar business that you wish to expand and grow? What if we told you that you don’t have to own or rent more physical space in this internet-savvy world to do so? In fact, it’s an absolute necessity in today’s world that you expand your business online to open the gates of opportunities worldwide. Why? Because almost 68% of the world’s population uses the internet, and by the end of 2022, data shows 2.64 billion people have bought things online. Experts also predict that the number will continue to increase to 2.77 billion by 2025.

Check out the graph below to see how retail sales have increased over the past few years and how experts predict it to grow till 2025:

We’re sure the stats are enough to convince you to hop on the bandwagon of eCommerce to take advantage of these trends. But let us tell you that since the eCommerce industry provides an extensive array of opportunities, it also comes with a highly competitive environment. 

For this reason, you can’t just rely on any off-the-shelf solution to open your online store. We recommend you get a custom e-commerce solution for your business to make the most of this growing industry. In this article, we will give you seven solid reasons why you should opt for custom ecommerce development, so you can scale your business far and wide and beat the competition in the game. 

What is a custom ecommerce solution? 

An eCommerce solution can be a website or an app that lets you sell your products or services online, and a custom ecommerce platform is built to adjust to your and your business’s needs. 

There are plenty of ready-made, off-the-shelf software eCommerce platforms, like Shopify and BigCommerce, but do you really want to blend in with the crowd or stand out as a brand? A ready-made eCommerce platform may seem like a convenient deal as they’re quick and easy to set up a store, but they only offer standard features that don’t make any space for customising your store and catering to the crowd of industry you serve.

Additionally, your store’s future and revenue depend on a third-party platform. If, for some random reason, the eCommerce platform decides to ban or restrict your store, you can no longer operate and sell your commodities to the public.

A custom ecommerce solution solves this and many other problems that merchants face with SaaS eCommerce platforms. If you’re still wondering whether custom ecommerce web development or custom ecommerce app development is the right solution for you, let us give you seven good reasons to bolster this decision. 

7 reasons for having a custom ecommerce solution

1. Own the source code

When you go for custom ecommerce software development, you own the source code. What this means is you’re not tied to any other software development business. When you don’t own your own source code, you become entirely dependent on the platform for availability and have to abide by its rules and regulations. If, for example, their privacy policy suddenly restricts sales of certain items in your catalogue, you may no longer be able to make money out of it. 

2. Strong brand identity 

Shopify has 4.5 million merchants with access to the same tools and giving the same customer experience. So if you open a store with them, standing out from the crowd that big may be a real challenge that can keep you from scaling. With custom ecommerce software development, you can personalise the brand’s tone and visual elements on demand without any restrictions from the platform and maintain a complete control on how your brand presents itself.

3. Customise any kind of features

A custom ecommerce development company can help you build a solution that can give a personalised user experience. How? You can provide countless features that could help you cater to the needs of your industry and target audience. While SaaS ecommerce platforms are constantly evolving and creating various plugins to add features, you’re limited to what they might offer, which doesn’t necessarily satisfy your vision. When you hire a strong custom ecommerce development team, they’re capable enough to help you incorporate and create any feature per your imagination.

4. Increased loyalty

Customers who get a personalised experience will likely stay with you longer. Customers will develop brand loyalty if the shopping experience is consistent with their expectations, which may be achieved with a custom e-commerce platform. Keep in mind that a prospective customer’s impression of your brand is formed gradually over the course of their interactions. And this is possible when you hire an expert in custom ecommerce software development. 

5. Increased revenue

As your business grows online, you will quickly realise the struggle of managing a surge of new customers, their needs, and how you supply in coordination with your vendors. If you go for custom ecommerce website development, you can facilitate order processing with automation where you can quickly scale. This can be done by easing internal business procedures and workflows where each system communicates without your intervention and automates individualised orders, payments, and shipping options.

6. Supports multi-vendor and various shipping needs

Having several carriers and specific delivery requirements becomes more common as you collaborate with more vendors to diversify your supply chain. You may need to adjust your e-commerce platform to accommodate the wide range of demands and operating systems of your vendors so it doesn’t limit your customers, and only a custom ecommerce solution can provide that.

7. Better Management

While regular eCommerce platforms also have good management as they’re constantly working on adapting to the needs of their users, it doesn’t specifically cater to your sole needs. With a custom ecommerce solution, an expert team from a custom ecommerce website development company is constantly working on the smooth functioning of your store only. They back you and your services up by rolling out necessary new features, automating and enhancing internal processes, updating systems, etc.

Over several years of experience as a custom ecommerce development company, we’ve realised that only a custom ecommerce platform can cater to certain requirements. If you’re bringing the business online with the hope of establishing a name brand and want to take advantage of the above-mentioned benefits, custom ecommerce development is the right choice. Let’s understand who should specifically consider a custom ecommerce platform for their business.

Who should consider a custom ecommerce solution? 

Some businesses may prefer an off-the-shelf solution if they’re just starting out with an online store simply as a side gig and earning some extra income. Usually, ambitious entrepreneurs who’re ready to grow an online business without a glass ceiling opt for a custom ecommerce platform since it demands a good chunk of effort and dedication. 

In any case, custom ecommerce development can be the right choice for all kinds of ecommerce businesses, especially those:

• Who have established stores and wish to scale them online
• Who looks for complete control over their eCommerce strategy
• Who want to provide products or services that require unique maintenance
• Who has a customer base with unique requirements and needs to incorporate features unavailable in SaaS ecommerce platforms
• Who wants customised analytics to improve their services and enhance marketing efforts 

Since off-the-shelf solutions can only cater to merchants with standard requirements of the eCommerce industry, they may not be able to provide you with the personalised business experience that an entrepreneur may need to provide his/her services. And without that, scaling gets a bit difficult. 

How can Anglara help?

By now, you already know how hiring a custom ecommerce development company can help you take your regular brick-and-mortar store online and bring buyers worldwide. To reap maximum benefits from your investment in a custom ecommerce solution, you must choose your custom ecommerce development service provider wisely. 

With over five years of extensive experience in custom software development, experts of Anglara are equipped to build an ecommerce solution that delivers incredible user experience and support. We understand that choosing the right solution and an adept expert is difficult. Let us help you by offering you a 30-minute free consultation call where we can clear all your doubts and queries. Fill up this form, and we’d be more than happy to get back to you! 

FAQs  

What are the advantages of developing a bespoke e-commerce solution?

A custom ecommerce platform can provide various benefits to your business, including enhanced accessibility for your buyers, a personalised experience, integrated analytics, and much more that can help you create a strong brand and win customer loyalty. 

How can custom ecommerce development benefit your business?

Custom eCommerce development builds a solution that is specifically for your business and its consumer base. It is a great choice for a scaling business as it provides the following benefits:

• You Own the source code
• Create a strong brand identity
• Provide Personalized experience
• Offer custom promos
• Get increased customer loyalty
• Get increased revenue
• Accommodate the needs of your industry
• Supports multi-vendor and various shipping needs
• Get better Management
• Provide personalised customer service

What is custom ecommerce?

An eCommerce platform built specifically for your company is called a custom ecommerce platform.  A custom ecommerce development company may take preexisting code and modify it to better suit your company’s requirements and provide you with unique features that provide a great user experience.

How much does a custom ecommerce website cost?

The cost of a custom ecommerce website depends on your requirements, the features you wish to integrate, the expertise you get, and the tech stack involved in the process. We’d be more than happy to give you a quote on the project over a free 30-minute consultation call where we can discuss your requirements and budget.

What are the best tools to develop a custom ecommerce platform?

Every custom ecommerce development company has its own preferred tools to work with. Anglara works with the best tools in the market for custom ecommerce development, such as the ones mentioned below: 

• Design: Figma and Adobe XD
• Back end – Firebase, Node.Js, and Laravel
• Front end – Next.Js and Nuxt.Js
• Cross-platform – Flutter and ionic

Want to know more about the tools used for ecommerce app development? Read our article Best Platforms to Develop an eCommerce app 2023.

What is the best approach to building a custom e-commerce platform?

Every custom ecommerce development company follows the approach of custom ecommerce website development or custom ecommerce app development that works to provide efficiency in the process. Over the years, we’ve developed a simple 6-step approach in the order given below:

• Research the market and audience
• Plan and determine the right features
• Work on the User Interface
• Develop MVP and test
• Get user feedback
• Launch