11 benefits of a custom online store

In today’s competitive global market, ecommerce is fast becoming a vital element in the future growth of business-to-consumer (B2C) companies. With an estimated 20.1% increase in B2C sales, the total global ecommerce sales will reach $1.5 trillion (U.S.) in 2014.

A large part of this expansion is in the Asian-Pacific region where ecommerce sales are expected to overtake North American sales for the first time in 2014. With a $525.2 billion slice of the global ecommerce sales, the Asian-Pacific market is a clear opportunity for Australian businesses.

The benefits of an ecommerce site

An ecommerce site enables a business to expand into the global marketplace at minimal cost, provides access to customers not limited by geographic location and is easy to setup and manage. However, the question remains: should you opt for a generic off-the-shelf ecommerce site by a hosted service such as Shopify or Big Cartel; or invest in a customised online store that you own and manage?

The benefits of a bespoke ecommerce site

There are many benefits to developing your own online store with an experienced web developer, as opposed to using a generic template from a hosted ecommerce service, including:

1. A web developer can customise your ecommerce site so that it is unique and stands out from the competition.
2. The design of your site is limited only by your imagination – the selection of generic templates is limited and can result in a design that does not reflect your company’s philosophy.
3. A web developer can create customised features specifically for your business that are not available with generic templates.
4. Many features that exist in generic templates, such as a blog page, have limited functionality – a web developer can design the functionality of your ecommerce site to exactly match your needs.
5. A generic ecommerce site involves ongoing fees for the life of the site – as opposed to a one-off fee with a web development company.
6. Hosting support staff deal with hundreds of customers daily, but lack a deep understanding of your business. Compare this to your web developer who will have an intimate knowledge of your website and your business goals, and can fix any problems quickly.
7. If you don’t like some of the features on a generic template you can’t simply change them, whereas a bespoke ecommerce site is created specifically to fit within your design parameters.
8. Generic templates only have limited shipping and payment options, and extra fees are often payable to upgrade, whereas your customised site will have full functionality included in the costs.
9. If you want face-to-face training or support, that is very unlikely to be available with a hosted ecommerce service, whereas your web development company will fully support and train you – usually face to face.
10. If you decide to use a different platform in the future, it is easy to transport a customised ecommerce site – but very difficult to do this with from a hosted ecommerce service.
11. With a hosted service you may not even own the website. With a bespoke ecommerce site designed by an experienced developer, you own the right outright.

For more information on a customised ecommerce site for your business, please phone (07) 3333 2932 or request a free quote now.