Why Build Custom Marketplace Today and Tomorrow

When it comes to eCommerce development process options remain similar: using ready solutions for a marketplace or going a custom way.

Modern online retail is all about service personalization - not just for customers but for vendors too. Only by ensuring the required level of flexibility both can adjust to the changes of such a vibrant market.

But these requirements aren’t just for marketing campaigns or pricing politics. Such an approach is better to take from the very first open step - online appearance. To emerge as an online retailer you need to choose what platform to use for the presentation of your goods.

There are three most common options for business in eCommerce:

To sell on Amazon, eBay, etc.

In other words, to take advantage of boxed-in tools for business development.

Pros: easy to set up your business and access to a wide audience from the start.

Cons: high dependency on a platform and its restrictions (fees and growth limitations).

To adjust one of open-source eCommerce development platforms

To select solutions for online retail from Magento, Shopify, Demandware, etc. to create own store.

Pros: guided custom store implementation with diverse add-ons including PWA.

Cons: quite a complex customization for not overall affordable pricing.

To build a marketplace from scratch

Put in more efforts, time and funds to provide a truly custom experience.

Pros: tailor-made scalable web or mobile solution for your business present and future.

Cons: time-consuming setup, specific maintenance, and pricey development.

The toughest decision is always between the last two options. You’ll have to decide what’s more vital at the moment: unique customer experience or sticking to set budget and timeframe which are crucial resources especially for startups and the SME sector.

This situation often pushes towards an affordable solution. Although in some cases it’s the only way around you should always at least consider custom implementation by one of eCommerce development agencies to ensure that your choice will satisfy your store/brand needs in a long perspective.

Custom eCommerce development benefits

If forgetting about numbers which ultimate readings might be quite comparable with bills coming from platforms subscription plans you’ll see the evident advantages of relying on from-scratch marketplace implementation.

You get exactly what you need

All open-source options are made for the needs of an average vendor. Therefore you can actually overpay for something you’ll never use and still lack some necessary features. The custom approach to development allows creating a complex system with diverse solution integration to build a marketplace according to your vision.

Additionally, you can decide what changes to bring to your store workflow and design to raise sales and other important metrics with no limits. By establishing a collaboration with a reliable tech partner you receive also long-term personalized maintenance of your marketplace, unlike script-based customer support you get from platform providers.

You choose what eCommerce development stack empowers your store

High speed and smooth performance are the basis of establishing customer engagement for a long run. A few extra loading seconds or some compatibility issues can also negatively affect a retention rate. With ready solutions, you should make the best of what you’ve been given.

With from-scratch eCommerce app development possibilities you get a wide selection to define what technology will be a proper basis for seamless customer experience. Surely to choose a tech stack is challenging but you can always request a consultancy from tech experts to take all the benefits of this approach.

You can provide unique multi-platform experience

It’s all about omnichannel in digital marketing, isn’t it? mCommerce segment is growing every year and there’s no way to disregard the establishment of mobile store access. With ready-made solutions, you have only one fast option - to connect a PWA storefront.

Despite all of its benefits including offline access progressive web apps functionality doesn’t allow taking advantage of all mobile platform specifics even if you build PWA from scratch.

Custom eCommerce application development allows you to focus initially on mobile experience. You can initially establish an appropriate basis for simpler app creation with native mobile experience and diverse complex features using cross-platform frameworks.

You can establish a suitable workflow for your store

You don’t have to focus just on providing goods or services to customers. With custom development, you can create a full-functioned system that comprises CRM, inventory management, shipping integration and other routine processes including control of multiple online stores.

You can request custom dashboards to track necessary metrics and get specific reporting. You can ensure the required level of security and choose a reliable web hosting that by the way open-source platform rarely provides anyway.

Building a custom marketplace: what to consider

Despite all the listed benefits, as already stated, custom eCommerce development framework, it’s not an option for everyone. It’s a serious step that can bring additional complications, especially for startups unless the creation and delivery model is chosen correctly.

You shouldn’t blindly rely on the experience of a marketplace development company. Before you start looking for a tech partner you need to establish at least the range for the appropriate readings of the following factors:

Budget

Ecommerce app development cost whether for web or mobile is a decisive factor of multiple aspects: complexity, quality and development speed. To estimate what you can afford you should research the market to ensure that you won’t sacrifice other aspects in favor of customization. Open-source solutions sometimes can be a more cost-efficient option for MVP building.

Time

From scratch development depending on the store complexity can take minimum few months that’s why you shouldn’t delay the decision if your goal is a fast market entrance. Excessive rush can affect the quality of the result and harm engagement establishment with the first clients.

Vision

A tech partner is primarily an executive that surely can bring a certain amount of creativity to the initial project outline. But this outline should exist. The lack of a clear model for eCommerce web development or mobile app creation significantly prolongs the implementation process. It makes related expenses unpredictable.as well as the result that can’t possibly meet your expectations.

It also should concern your vision of the market, competitor’s strategies and customer needs. Simply relying on general assumptions and intuition can be a too big financial risk considering the price of quality custom development and even open-source solutions. Nowadays it’s all about a consistent approach, scrupulous research, and thoughtful management.

eCommerce development accelerates every year, making it the most growing data-driven markets. It influences further digital transformation in the supply chain in general and its links like logistics and retail in particular. Focus on customers and personalization of their experience stimulates business owners to select custom solutions to follow no longer optional trends.

Springs as a top-rated eCommerce web development company can guide you through the building of your custom marketplace during a discovery phase and provide the additional required consultations on-demand.