E-Commerce stores – sales solutions
For the purpose of this article, we have singled out three main technical approaches to e-Commerce. Based on the above key elements that support sales, you probably recognize that the ability to strongly interfere with the various elements of the store is extremely important, so when selecting your solution, you need to analyze it from multiple angles.
SaaS online store
SaaS is a ready-made online store in the form of a subscription payment. By paying a certain amount (in a monthly subscription or in advance for a longer period) you get a store ready to publish on the web. You don’t worry about the cost of its creation or maintenance (SaaS provides full support in this area), software updates, security issues. These factors are taken care of by the SaaS provider. You only pay for access to the platform and focus your resources on sales issues.
It’s not as colorful as you think
The entry threshold for SaaS is very low, but in return we have to accept numerous limitations, high maintenance costs (subscription in the long run is a fixed cost), limited possibility to interfere with the system itself or little possibility to optimize the store.
In our opinion, this type of solution is ideal for testing a business idea. For any company that is convinced that it wants to develop its store in the perspective of many years, we recommend creating a website “on its own”.
WooCommerce
If you’re even a little bit in the topic of e-Commerce already, you’ve probably heard about this technology. It’s one of the most popular online store solutions on the market. WooCommerce itself is a plugin that installs into the WordPress system. With a few clicks you can add a store to your website, starting to sell online.
WooCommerce is based on templates exactly the same as in WordPress, so tampering with individual elements can be done with a visual editor, while more advanced adjustments can be outsourced to a programmer.
However, compared to SaaS, WooCommerce allows you to use the full potential of e-commerce. All thanks to the possibility of almost complete interference with the system, e.g. to introduce a feature to our store that the competition has not yet come up with!
What are the disadvantages of WooCommerce?
The threshold for entry into this technology is much higher than for a SaaS solution. In this case, either basic technical knowledge or hiring an agency is required. The implementation of the website itself is the selection or design of graphics, followed by a series of implementation works. Typically, the implementation of a basic proprietary store based on the WooCommerce engine is a one-time cost of a minimum of several thousand zlotys, while we then owe no subscription to anyone.
For more complicated changes, the help of a programmer may be necessary. This is the price we pay for a fully efficient and functional store tailored to our needs.
Dedicated solution
For companies that want to realize the full potential of e-commerce, we recommend dedicated solutions created for a specific sales problem. This is an investment that novice sellers often cannot afford. However, by choosing to order a “tailor-made” store, in return we get a powerful tool to support the sale of products online, thanks to which we will be ahead of our competitors.
Price not for everyone
When deciding on this solution, we have to reckon with costs reaching several-digit amounts. Dedicated solutions will work especially well for companies that already have a tested business model and generate a lot of sales, so they want to take their store to the next level.
On what to base the decision to choose a solution?
The decision to choose the right solution is something that must be supported by a strong analysis of your own business and its needs. It must not be a random “shot”, but a rational decision based on real data. Between the approaches described above, we have a whole spectrum of other technologies that will work for even the most demanding customers.
Professional advice
As a software house, we advise companies on technology. We combine the aspect of modern technology with the entrepreneur’s point of view. If you are considering the implementation or development of e-commerce in your company, contact us and get professional advice in this area. We will get to know your needs and then propose the best solutions for your business.
E-Commerce stores – summary
The e-commerce market continues to grow, and that’s not going to change any time soon. Choosing the right technology at the initial stage will result in increasing sales and saving money in the following years of your business operation. Remember that you should make all your online sales decisions while being aware of the entire spectrum of solutions, and a trusted technology partner will prove useful in this. Feel free to contact us!