The decision that can transform your business: a standard or custom eCommerce platform

Wholesalers and brand manufacturers have certain needs that they like to translate into their eCommerce environment. But how to choose the right eCommerce platform? After all, your needs must match the functionalities that are available. When do you opt for an eCommerce platform with standard features and when for customization? And is customization really necessary? In this blog we list the pros and cons of customization and standard solutions.

The development of a custom eCommerce platform is focused on meeting the specific requirements and complex needs of an organization. This can offer advantages in terms of flexibility and the implementation of unique functionalities. A standard eCommerce platform on the other hand offers a commonly available solution that is widely applicable to various organizations. Each standard solution offers different functionalities. It is therefore important to delve into all available options in order to make a good comparison.

Customization: a lot of flexibility, little scalability

Many companies opt for a custom eCommerce platform because it is easier to align with internal processes and to integrate with their own systems. This offers a lot of flexibility. With customization you also have full control over the functionalities and the webshop can perform better, for example with faster loading times. By opting for a tailor-made solution, companies have the idea they are unique and ahead of the competition.

Against these advantages there are a number of caveats that make the choice for customization less attractive than it initially seems.

• Limited scalability. A custom eCommerce platform often has limited scalability. This is, for example, due to the longer development time, technical limitations and complexity with updates. A custom solution is therefore in many cases not very future-proof.
• Not standard new functionalities. You depend on the developer to design and implement new functionalities. They develop and integrate new functionalities individually. This makes it less easy to respond to trends in the market and your platform is quickly outdated.
• Dependence on multiple parties. Different parts of your eCommerce platform are possibly managed by different parties, such as payment options or maintenance. This increases the complexity in management and coordination between all parties.
• High cost. A custom eCommerce platform is costly due to the complexity of development, unique business needs, and costs to maintain and support.

Due to these limitations, a custom eCommerce platform requires a lot of time, resources, and technical expertise. 

Standard: automatic development, less control

With a standard eCommerce platform, you benefit from proven functionalities, minimizing the risk of technical problems. In addition, a standard solution offers even more advantages.

• High reliability. The functionalities of a standard solution have been thoroughly tested and used by many different companies. This ensures reliable operation of the platform.
• Lower costs than with a custom solution. This applies to the initial investment as well as to maintenance and support costs. Standard solutions have already gone through a streamlined development process, making them faster and more cost-effective to implement.
• Automatic development, support and updates. The continuous support from the developer saves you a lot of time. You do depend on the supplier to implement these updates and it is not possible to make changes to the back-end of the platform. So you have a little less control.
• Lots of scalability options. Standard eCommerce platforms are designed to grow with your organization. It is easy to open an extra webshop for a specific target group, or an extra brand or language.

Suppliers of standard eCommerce platforms often make valuable documentation available, making it easy to share knowledge about the platform within your organization. You also need less technical knowledge to work with the platform. It may take longer to implement the platform within the organization. For example, it may be possible that you have to adjust internal processes to work with the system.

Choose between customization and a standard eCommerce platform

Whether you opt for a custom eCommerce platform or a standard solution: both options have advantages and disadvantages. Although a custom solution can meet the specific and complex needs of your organization, customization is not always necessary. The perception is often that functionalities that are available in a custom solution are not possible in a standard solution. But usually you can solve the lack of functionality in a standard solution in a different way.

When choosing between customization and standard, you must determine which functionalities have the most added value or are indispensable for your organization. It is therefore a matter of estimating: is this functionality a must to make your eCommerce a success? Think carefully about the (future) needs of your organization, the budget, the timeline and the desired degree of flexibility and scalability. This way you make the best choice for your B2B eCommerce platform.