E-commerce has been growing for years, and the 2020 crisis accelerated its penetration among consumers even further, turning it into a buying habit. E-commerce has revolutionized the way we sell, and it can adapt to every kind of sector.
This is a reality and a digital culture that every kind of company, whatever its size, has to adapt to in order to survive in the market. In that sense, many companies have, or would like to have, an online store where they can offer their products or services.
There are two ways to have an online store: on one hand, building your own site with a team of developers; on the other, creating a store on a pre-designed platform. Depending on each company’s needs, one approach or the other will make more sense, but let’s look in more detail at the pros and cons of each option.
Building your brand. Stand out or fit in?
There are many e-commerce store platforms where a company can choose one of the available designs from a catalog and make only minimal visual changes to adapt it to its needs. This saves time on building the site, but the result is a site with the same features and functionality as the vast majority of those on the web.
On the other hand, if you build your own e-commerce site with a team of designers and developers, the result will be a 100% customized site, strategically designed to reflect each brand’s values and identity. It will not only let you sell products and services, but also include other features, such as an e-learning section, a blog, user subscriptions, newsletters and more.
Independence or dependence?
Another important aspect to consider is cost. Depending on the company’s capacity, it may make sense to choose a ready-made online store platform, where you build the site for a fixed monthly fee and the platform may take a percentage of the final amount on each sale; or your own site, where the investment is a one-time cost at the start, with no commissions or fixed monthly fees.
Given this, if your project is in the early stages of development, it may make sense to start selling on a platform, but if your sales projections are high, your best option will undoubtedly be to design a custom site to avoid high commission costs.
In addition, the big benefit of building your own site is the freedom to make changes to the code and not depend on the rules or agreements set by the platform in question.
Deciding strategically
Finally, we consider it essential to carry out an integrated marketing strategy, with clearly defined strategies and an action plan to reach the goals you’ve set.
These days, having an online store and a presence on social media is not enough. Every action a company takes must be strategically thought out to capture the attention of the target audience through a combination of channels, delivering a consistent brand experience to the user.
That’s why choosing one approach over the other should not be a random decision, but one carefully analyzed against the brand’s goals.
If you have an idea or a project in mind, contact us and we’ll advise you to find your best option.
