The real value of custom website development

Potential clients often ask why they should choose custom digital commerce development. The value of choosing a custom solution isn’t always straightforward.

This article aims to illuminate why a company should choose custom development over proprietary software options.

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The value of investing in custom website development

Unique branding

Your website is the online window to your brand. It is the first place people go for information on your products or services, and if it doesn’t reflect your brand identity, what’s the point?

A templated approach will give your website a run-of-the-mill look and feel. It may not reflect the real-life interactions that your customers get when they work with your company or use your products.

This is where the right development agency can help. By bringing together a powerful CMS, a robust design system and a responsive, headless front end, you have complete control over how your brand is seen, no matter what channel you push your message to. 

Improved user experience

User experience is becoming the key differentiator in the online space, no matter your industry. Most pre-packaged, or SaaS, ecommerce options are not configurable for complex products or user journeys.

Custom development using open-source technology can remove those handcuffs. 

• Search options that work
• Customized product pages that display every aspect of your product
• Configurable purchasing options for complex products
• Integrated chat and customer service functions

Flexibility & scalability

One of the biggest pain points we hear about from clients who are moving away from the Shopify, Wix and WooCommerce of the world is how they cannot get the platform to scale. Rather than growing with their business, the commerce platform is throwing up roadblocks.

Due to proprietary code restrictions, platforms not built on open-source technology, or custom code, are rigid and hard to work with. They don’t always integrate nicely with enterprise-level software like ERPs, PIMS or CRMs. This lack of flexibility means companies often add manual processes to their operations to process orders from digital channels.

At Acro Commerce, our bread and butter are commerce integrations. We live and breathe this stuff. Creating a commerce architecture that is flexible and scalable gets us excited. We get goosebumps thinking about automating manual workflows and connecting systems to reduce errors and labour. And we do most of this through, you got, custom development.

Complex customizations

In line with flexibility, we think it is important to discuss customization. In a closed, proprietary system (meaning the source code cannot be accessed by anyone outside of the company that sells the software), complex customization is generally not possible. 

This lack of customizability isn’t a big deal if your ecommerce needs are as simple as selling a t-shirt. Or even an entire line of clothing. But, if your product has multiple variants or requires more than a few drop-down options, most ecommerce platforms will not work for you.

They also won’t work for a multi-site experience, where you need a different site for each country you serve, but you need them all to connect to a centralized inventory system outside the commerce platform. Custom development is the only way you can get that sophistication in your digital commerce setup.

Security & control

The biggest unsung benefit is the added security and control you gain with custom development.

You are not at the mercy of a big company if you encounter a bug. Another organization does not control the gold mine, which is your customer data. Custom development often eliminates security issues when your website is built on a templated platform.

For example, let’s say you have a website built on WordPress using one of their standard themes. These themes usually come with plugins that help extend the theme’s (and your site’s) functionality. Those plugins can represent a weak point, leading to gaps in your overall website security.

As for control, custom development gives your company the flexibility to grow at your own pace. At Acro Commerce, we wholeheartedly believe in incremental development, getting clients to their end goal through a meticulous continuous development and innovation plan. Instead of having to do things the way a Saas platform wants you to do it, you are in control of your entire build and can build a step-by-step roadmap that gets you where you want to go.

The best ecommerce website development is custom

• Companies want to show off their personality and stand out in the crowd.
  Custom development does that.
• Leading businesses know they need to proved seamless, effortless user experiences.
  Custom development does that.
• Growing organizations need flexibility, not constraints.
  Custom development does that.
• Larger operations have complex needs and connected systems.
  Custom development does that.
• Security and control are more important than ever.
  Custom development does that.

If you are ready to talk about building, upgrading or redesigning a website for your company, talk to our experts about why custom digital commerce development could be the right choice.