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Contents

1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................................. 3

2. The Problem – Build vs Buy ………………………….………………………..…………………………………………….……………………………….……….….….. 3

3. Questions to Ask Yourself ………………….………………………………………………….………………………………………………….……….………….….…… 4

3.1 What Resources Do You Have? ……………………………………………………………………………..………………………………………………. 4

3.2 What Do You Want In an eCommerce Solution? ……………..………………………………………………………….…………………....….. 5

3.3 What Systems Do You Already Have? .……….………………….………………………..…………………………………………….………....….. 5

3.4 Development Considerations …………...……….………………….………………………..…………………………………………….………....….. 6

4. The Case to BUILD your Next eCommerce Solution …..……………..…………………………………………………………………………….……..……… 6

4.1 Tailor-Made from the Start …..……………………..………………………………………………………..…………………………….………..…….. 6

4.2 Custom Requirements ………………………………………..………………………………………………..………………………………………….…… 7

4.3 Innovation in Product ……………………………………………………………………………………………..…………………………….………..…….. 7

4.4 Own the IP …………………………………………………………………………………….……………………..…………………………….…………….…… 8

4.5 Developers on Deck ….……………………………………………………..……………………………………..……………………………………..…….. 8

4.6 Software Updates ……………………………………………………………………….……………………….……………………….………………….…… 8

5. The Case to Buy ……………………..……………….…………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………….……. 8

5.1 Save Money ………………………………………………………….….………………………..………………………………………….………………....….. 8

5.2 Get Up and Running (and Stay Running) ………………………………………………....…………………………………………………...……… 9

5.3 Fewer Developers, More Accountability ….………………………………………………………………………………….………………………… 9

5.4 Third-Party Ecosystem ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……….…...…….…… 10

5.5 Rich Features ………………………………………………………………..……………………………….…………………...…………………….………… 10

5.6 Stability …………………………………………………………………………….….…………………………………………..……………………..…….…… 11

5.7 Security ……………………………………………………………………………………….…………………………….………………………………………… 12

5.8 Spend Time Where It Needs to Be Spent .……………………..........................................……….…………………..……….………… 12

5.9 Existing Support and Training …………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………………..……. 12

5.X The Future ………………………………………………………………..…………………………….……………………………….……………..……..…… 12

Chart: Primary Arguments at a Glance ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 13

6. Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…………………………...………………...…..….. 14

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1. Introduction

With the click of a mouse, your potential customer now finds fiercely-competitive vendors from around

the world, all vying for attention.

The web is a hotbed of competition. And if you embrace the digital space, grab your tools, and present

a powerful offer, you too have an opportunity get more and more customers as you separate yourself

from competitors.

Some quick facts:

81% of buyers research a product online before they visit a store.i

Almost 90% of customers prefer a company’s website to research products and find information

that leads to purchase decisions.ii

B2B buyers now go through 60% of the sales process before they ever reach out to a sales

representative.iii

Successful businesses put themselves where customers are, and your customers are online. Whether

your goals are to generate leads, grow awareness of your brand, or make online sales, you need a

software solution to get it done.

Content management, eCommerce, and online marketing platforms are the pillars of e-business, but it

can be uncomfortably intimidating to implement a better eCommerce solution that has the features you

need to compete effectively.

When choosing how to make the best of your online presence, you must weigh your long-term goals

with your short-term budget, and consider the many avenues available. Re-platforming an eCommerce

solution isn’t an easy process, and failure to choose the right software option stagnates your growth.

In this white paper, we’ll examine the arguments, pros and cons, for building your own custom

eCommerce solution or buying one from a proven solutions provider. And we’ll have a suggested

conclusion at the end.

2. The Problem – Build vs Buy

While it would be wonderfully convenient for a perfect eCommerce solution to materialize out of thin

air, we’ve never seen that happen. Your mission then is to find the digital solution for your company,

that helps you achieve business objectives, is within your budget, and best serves your customers.

This leaves you with two options: Build versus Buy Your Next eCommerce Solution.

Building a solution means employing a team of developers to create your new software application from

scratch. Building a platform on your own, with 100% customization, represents the chance to have

every function and feature as you like. But these solutions are expensive and difficult, especially when

you consider the continuous maintenance. Building a solution is a huge undertaking, no matter the size

of your development team.

Buying “off the shelf” means licensing an existing solution that fits your needs. An existing solution

offers a jumpstart and pre-made features. Buying also gives you peace of mind when you purchase

from a proven vendor (if you do your research into which vendor you buy from!) While a platform-

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based solution does require some customization, some do not scale or customize to your needs.

Another consideration is that you also have to ask which existing solution integrates with systems you

already use.

These options represent two viable paths to grow your business online. You may think you already

know which one fits you best, but as you read this white paper, you will have a moment to reflect, once

again, before you jump in.

Rather than trust your first instinct, this white paper lays out the arguments – both pros and cons - for

building or buying your own solution, so you can make a rational and informed decision for your

business.

Moment of reflection inserted for effect.

3. Questions to Ask Yourself

Before you examine the potential positives and negatives in the build vs buy debate, you should first

assess your own goals.

What is your business objective in building or buying this software application?

How much do you want to leverage eCommerce and sell online?

Do you want to expand your customer base and generate leads using online marketing?

Do you want to give customers self-service options that increase conversions?

Do you want to leverage the data in existing systems (such as an Enterprise Resource Planning

solution) to make more sales and improve the customer experience?

Do you want to use the global reach of the web to expand into new territories?

These are just a few basic questions that should help you decide which features are most important to

your business goals.

3.1 What Resources Do You Have?

As with any business initiative, resources matter. Of course, budget is important, but it’s not the only

factor. Time investment is an often overlooked critical factor. For example, building a solution from the

ground up typically takes substantially longer than buying a proven solution. If you need a solution fast

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or you need to scale up quickly, that’s a huge factor you need to weigh as you determine whether to

build or buy your next eCommerce solution.

Your development resources matter as well. You may have existing staff developers or you may not.

Building and buying require different development resources. Building obviously necessitates

developers, but you will also need developers for additional customizations if you choose to buy a

platform-based solution. You also typically need content managers, frontend designers, implementers,

and others.

It’s important to recognize which resources you have and which you need to hire. If you choose to build

a fully customized solution from scratch, developers with highly specific expertise are harder to find.

And at what cost? These needle-in-a-haystack developers get pretty expensive.

3.2 What Do You Want In an eCommerce Solution?

Before you choose between a custom-built solution and a proven, ready-made solution, you must first

decide which features you need, which ones you want, which would be nice to have, and which are

superfluous. This means you want to prioritize the answers to the questions above.

To help you with your decision, take a look at your competitors. What do they offer their customers?

How do you plan to meet and exceed those expectations? In other words, which features will give you a

competitive advantage over your peers?

There are also features that you can’t tell immediately from looking at the frontend of your competitors.

There’s always something going behind the curtain. Do research into the common backend features and

functionality that is used in your industry.

Once you compile a list of features, rank them in importance. Keep one eye to the future as well. What

are your growth targets? How much are you planning on at minimum? You want to prioritize which

features are most important to reaching your business objectives.

3.3 What Systems Do You Already Use?

The future is important, but we cannot overlook the present. A key question to ask is: What back-office

systems are crucial for your business now?

Do you currently use an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to handle inventory,

business logic, and more?

If so, what type of ERP? Microsoft Dynamics AX, NAV, or something else?

Do you use a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution to manage customer data?

Do you use or plan to use a Product Information Management (PIM) solution to manage data

across various sales and marketing channels?

If you buy an existing solution but that solution is incompatible with the ERP that you already have, then

you’re in serious trouble. If you build a solution but can’t get it to integrate properly, that’s another

problem.

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“What we have here is a failure to integrate.”

3.4 Development Considerations

Building a solution is an investment. When you choose to build, you make the commitment to become a

software developer. Not just now, but into the future, because a custom solution requires ongoing

maintenance including additional features, security updates, and more. So before you propose

marriage to a potential custom eCommerce solution, here are a few other questions to consider:

Can you build a solution fast enough to keep up with current demand and future growth?

Do you have the experience to build a great solution with the functionality you need? Both for

the frontend and the backend? (There is a big difference between one-off requests and a

standard software roadmap.)

Are you committed to supporting your solution (on your own) with new versions, secure

compatibility, a feature roadmap, security updates, and continuous data integration?

What is the best use of your resources? Building a customized solution from scratch or

optimizing an existing solution with shared data, insights, and analytics across your online

platform and existing systems?

These are the questions to keep in mind as we now dig into the actual pros and cons of building or

buying your new eCommerce solution.

4. The Case to BUILD your Next eCommerce solution

4.1 Tailor-Made from the Start

The number one reason to build a customized solution is because you need a solution 100% tailor-made

for your business. If no other platforms offer the features you need at the cost you’re willing to pay,

then you may choose to build. And when you build your own solution, you ensure you have these

features from the start.

The phrase “from the start” is important. Building puts the benefits right up front. When building, the

first year of your new solution is sometimes less expensive than buying, due to vendor license costs and

vendor implementation. The second year, third year, and beyond, however, become more expensive as

you maintain the solution and add features. If you don’t plan on much growth or expansion for your

business, then being perfect from the start may be good enough.

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4.2 Custom Requirements

In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the most iconic line reads, “Every animal is equal, but some animals are

more equal than others.” Well, every business is unique, but some have more unique processes than

others.

Some businesses simply fit outside the norms of the market. For example, is this a family-run business

for more than a quarter-century with internal processes that don’t conform to a pre-packaged solution?

The problem for those businesses is finding a solution that works for them.

Building a customized solution may be the correct option if you have:

Unique business processes

One-of-a-kind market requirements

Complex distribution methods

Additionally, you should look at the back-office systems that are crucial for your business success. A

good platform-based solution will integrate with more commonly used ERPs, such as Dynamics AX and

NAV, as well as CRMs, such as Dynamics CRM. But what if you don’t use those? What if you also use a

unique back-office system?

For more unconventional systems, customization lets you integrate with whatever existing systems you

already use. If you were to try to fully customize a pre-existing solution to this degree, the platform

would end up completely unrecognizable! So if you use an unfamiliar or esoteric system in the normal

course of business, then you may need to build a fully-customized online solution.

4.3 Innovation in Product

If you sell products that are within the normal scope of a given industry, then many proven solutions

already have what you need to be successful online. But if you have an off-the-wall, totally-new idea

that is so crazy it just might work, then you may need to customize your eCommerce solution to match

what’s needed to sell your product.

What is this brilliant idea? Well, if we knew that, we’d sell it ourselves!

This may require a customized solution.

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4.4 Own the IP

When you buy a solution from an existing vendor, you owe them a software license fee to use their

application. When you pay to build a solution on your own, however, there is no license fee because

you actually own the intellectual property (IP) of the solution. This includes the source-code for the

software.

If you have plans to sell your eCommerce-based business itself, there are no third-party contracts or

conflicts to worry about. Well-made custom software is an asset to a company much like machinery.

Ownership of this software may increase your company’s valuation.

4.5 Developers on Deck

If you have a large IT organization with lots of developers on hand, you want to best utilize the resources

you already have. Especially if your army of developers is idle, waiting for tasks. Working with a large

team of developers often involves hiring and releasing staff as the project enters new phases and nears

completion. It’s important that, should you take this path, you have the appropriate legal, financial, and

organization authority and safeguards in place to alter the size of your team.

4.6 Software Updates

Solution vendors tend to push out regular updates to respond to changing markets and new security

threats. Similar to how you have to update the operating system on your phone or computer if you

want to keep up with current applications. These software updates are generally seen as a positive

because they keep your business up-to-date. Some businesses, however, may see software updates as

an imposition.

Any change to the software necessarily affects all customers on the platform. A universal update may

reduce your ability to customize certain aspects of the platform, and ultimately results in less control. If

your business strategy requires significantly more control for customization compared to the needs of

the general market, then you may need to build your own solution.

5. The Case to BUY your Next eCommerce solution

5.1 Save Money

Here’s the big one: Despite its name, buying saves money.

A bought, platform-based eCommerce solution has cost predictability, especially if you know which

features you need now and into the future. If you purchase your solution, that solution already fits your

industry standards and is ready for industry trends. When you build a solution, any features or

modifications you add later on come with a hefty price tag. And because these costs are unknown, it’s

difficult to plan ahead.

A platform-based solution, even one with a license fee, can save money in the long-run. This is because

an eCommerce platform, with a large enough installed base, continuously updates its software code to

prevent exploits and regularly adds new features that benefit its many users.

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Buying simply does not require the costly dedicated resources that building does. Operating costs,

solution maintenance, organizational needs, and initial and ongoing development all cost time and

money. These costs become more unpredictable over time. Once you’ve decided to build and maintain

a solution on your own, you’ve made a commitment that locks you in for years.

When you buy a solution, the vendor is accountable to meet your agreed-upon deadlines and

timetables. Don’t minimize how important it is to have accountability. Too many companies

underestimate the time it takes to build their own solution, and they end up with missed deadlines,

extra costs, and a never-ending project

5.2 Get Up and Running (and Stay Running)

Buying a ready-made platform also satisfies the need for speed. The concept may be self-evident, but

when you purchase a solution, you are buying software that already exists. You don’t have to create

something from nothing. A platform-based solution lets you jump into both basic and advanced

functionalities with built-in logic.

Implementation of an existing solution is simply much faster than starting from zero, especially if the

platform-based solution easily integrates with your backend systems. By contrast, building custom-

made proprietary software is a time-eating, arduous process if you want to get it right.

Markets also change quickly, and when that happens, you want your eCommerce solution to adapt just

as fast. The vendors of proven solutions have an incentive to push out updates that keep pace with the

market. It’s in their best interest to serve you with the application features that your business needs to

be successful. After all, you are their customer.

When you build, you may not be able to keep up with the pace of innovation and progress in your given

industry. Adding feature after feature is a responsibility you may not have the budget or organization to

take on. So if you need your website up and running quickly or if you have concerns about the speed of

development in the future, then you want to buy.

5.3 Fewer Developers, More Accountability

Let’s talk developers. If you want to build a solution and don’t have a team of developers on staff, then

you have to go out and hire developers. And pay them.

Even if you have a team of developers just waiting for their next project, they still may not be ready to

build the exact custom solution you would want. If you choose to build, your team may need additional

training, which adds more cost and extends development time.

Buying an eCommerce solution does often require developers for various customizations on a platform-

based solution, but these development resources are fewer than if you build your own solution from the

ground up. Additionally, the types of developers needed to support and implement an existing

platform-based solution are easier to find than those required to build a custom solution.

And what if you don’t have a staff of developers but decide to build anyway? If you hire developers

from outside your organization to construct a custom solution, accountability becomes an issue. When

something goes wrong (and Murphy’s Law suggests that something will go wrong), who is accountable?

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Does the team answer to you? Does everything get fixed immediately? How is responsibility handled

and how much does it cost to fix problems (likely a variable amount)?

One important benefit of buying a platform-based solution is that the vendor is accountable to you.

Which is also why it’s necessary to do your research and find a great, trustworthy vendor. The team you

work with to implement your solution is a key factor in your success.

Fortunately, this guy bought from a vendor.

5.4. Third-Party Ecosystem

Earlier in this white paper, we suggested a number of questions for you to ask yourself as you conduct

your evaluation. One of the most critical questions is: What systems do you use?

If you want to leverage the full power of your back-office systems, such as your ERP and CRM, then you

need seamless integration with your eCommerce solution. Integration is how your online solution

handles real-time updates, shared data, marketing automation, and how your solution saves you from

tons of manual data entry.

When you buy a proven solution from a vendor, there’s a great chance it integrates with the backend

systems that are common to your industry. Such common systems include Dynamics AX, NAV, Great

Plains, and Dynamics CRM. These are the systems that handle your inventory, business logic, orders,

customer data, and more.

If you have an ecosystem integrates with third-party solutions to address most concerns for sales and

marketing, then there’s no reason to build an expensive stitched-together Frankenstein’s monster of a

comprehensive eCommerce solution. Instead, if you find a solution that seamlessly integrates with your

existing systems and the systems you plan to use in the future, then go ahead and buy into that

platform.

5.5 Rich Features

Customers today have high demands. Overall and according to consistent research, the customer

experience is even more important than the price of your products. Customers are willing to pay up to

30% more for a superior buying experience.iv

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In order to compete on the battlegrounds of customer experience, you have to stay ahead of your

competitors. This means keeping up with the pace of innovation in eCommerce, particularly in areas of

mobile/tablet support, integrated online marketing, and management of bills/payments/shipping/etc.

Consider features such as content personalization, guided selling, email marketing, and behavioral

targeting. These are features that customers want, and they’re also the types of features that are best

delivered by a company solely devoted to releasing a software product.

(Read the 7 tips that help you build a great customer experience with our white paper “Experiencing the

Experiential: 7 Keys to Creating the Best Online Customer Experience Possible.”)

If delivering the highest quality online features to customers isn’t your area of expertise, then don’t

build. Buy your solution ready-made. You have to ask yourself: Do you know what you need? Do you

have the experience to build an entire software roadmap? Do you even know what you don’t know?

If you build, you’re on your own, for the life of the entire solution. If you buy a solution that has the

capacity to deliver a great experience for your customers, you only need to be an expert in selecting the

right vendor.

5.6 Stability

Imagine your ideal scenario of online business. Lots of traffic, eCommerce products flying off the virtual

shelves, and fully automated so you just have to sit back and watch as your sales rise. And then,

suddenly, your online solution crashes. The integration and connection between systems is lost.

Even if your platform is only down for a day, this is a catastrophic DEFCON 2 situation. Yes, you will lose

the immediate sales, but it’s worse than that. With the growing importance of customer experience,

volatile systems lose customers forever.

A proven solution from a vendor is more likely to stable. The platform has been tested and used before,

by others. We even recommend that you ask around and get references before you make a purchase,

so you ensure that you buy a stable application.

By contrast, a custom-built solution has more unknowns in its stability. You built it, and you’re the first

to use it. Consider the risks of stability when deciding whether to build or to buy.

This tower is custom-built.

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5.7 Security

Security is an unfortunate concern in the age of identity and credit card theft. We’ve seen huge

companies such as Sony and Target suffer from breaches in online security. You must be protective of

your own information as well as that of your customers.

As with any software, weaknesses that can be exploited by hackers must be repaired in the code to

prevent unauthorized access. When you buy a platform-based solution from a trusted vendor, these

repairs are often identified quickly and repaired through regular updates.

Custom-built applications, however, are developed in a specific programming language. Patching up the

holes in security is often done as a reactionary effort compared to the more proactive nature of regular

software updates. A pre-packaged solution offers this distinct advantage in protecting your business.

5.8 Spend Time Where It Needs To Be Spent

Build vs buy is not a simple argument of “customization” vs “as is.” It is more nuanced than that. There

will almost always be a need for some customization when buying a ready-made solution. Data

integration, analytics, online marketing and engagement tools, etc. usually require some customization

to make them fit smoothly with your needs.

When you buy a ready-made solution, you get to spend your time customizing the extra features you

want and need. With a custom-built application, you start from scratch. Before you decide to build or

buy, ask yourself this question: Where do you want to spend your time?

Do you want to expend valuable resources to develop and architect a solution from the ground up? Or

should you instead purchase a proven solution and spend your time on aspects that provide additional

value and increase competitive advantage?

5.9 Existing Support and Training

When you purchase a pre-packaged solution, the existing knowledge about that solution helps you get

past technical hurdles and onto the important task of using your eCommerce and digital marketing

solution to grow your business. The advantage of buying a ready-made solution is that many other

companies have used it and you can reference their satisfaction. They’ve worked with it, and they’ve

made it work for their needs.

And this usage results in accumulated knowledge that comes in many forms. Resources include existing

documentation, training programs, support teams, and online community forums that all help you

utilize your new solution to its (and your) full potential.

5.X The Future

The most important question is not how your solution treats you in the first week, but how it treats you

in the months and years to come. There are usually growing pains when you implement a new system

into your established way of doing business. When you decide between build vs buy, it’s important to

know which solution most sets you up for success in the future.

When you buy a solution, you have the flexibility to add new features and scale as you grow. A scalable

platform-based solution gives you a rapid response to market changes with both updates and the

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benefits of customization. Regular updates help keep you secure and up-to-date with new

advancements in technology.

On the other hand, once you commit to build a solution, it can be like quicksand. The initial financial

investment has been made, and the site is established. If you need to build customizations and

additional features, you end up spending more. More time. More development resources. More

money. And as you spend more and more to fix problems, you become more and more invested. That

makes it harder to get out. Much like quicksand, the more you struggle, the deeper you sink.

If you build, you may have the money to support the solution now, but what about the future? Can you

afford to keep building customizations and to adapt the solution as new needs arise? If you don’t have

the resources to maintain your system far into the future, then your answer is to buy a platform-based

solution to keep your head high above sand.

Primary Arguments at a Glance

BUY BUILD

If you plan to expand your business and offer additional features as customer expectations continue to rise.

If you need full customization from the start, without much growth planned for the future.

If you need your eCommerce solution up-and-running ASAP with swift adaptations to the changing market.

If you use unique back-office systems that require special integrations.

If you want a vendor with a proven, stable solution to be accountable to you.

If your product exists outside industry norms and requires a one-of-a-kind solution

If your resources, time, and money are better spent optimizing the customer experience, integrating systems, and analyzing data, rather than starting from scratch.

If you have a full staff of trained developers ready to build and maintain a solution for the life of your eCommerce site.

If you want regular updates to keep your eCommerce site current with new technology, features, and security protection.

If you require complete control over the entire platform and regular software and security updates would jeopardize your potential customizations.

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6. Conclusion

To build or to buy your next eCommerce solution? That is the question. The decision you make has

critical consequences, not only for your online initiatives, but for your profitability and your business as

a whole.

If you decide on a fully-customizable eCommerce solution, building one is more expensive in the long

run, but your solution is likely to address your specific needs like a glove. Building a unique solution

provides benefits for one-of-a-kind companies that utilize esoteric processes or highly-customized

systems. Also, if you plan to become a long-term software developer or sell your own website solution,

then building is the option for you.

Buying provides an advantage for companies that sell products in existing markets, whether those

markets are niche or broad. A ready-made solution gets your online presence up and running faster.

And when you buy a scalable and flexible solution, buying saves you money when you decide to add

features later on.

The best solution is to have scalability and customization within a platform that combines online

marketing, eCommerce, and content management. These pillars of e-business empower you to tap

into the vast amount of potential customers that research and purchase products online. And the

integration of these features in an all-in-one platform and with your existing back-office systems, saves

you the costs of time and money associated with the hassle of constant add-ons.

What does a scalable, customizable combined platform look like? We offer Dynamicweb’s All-In-One

CMS, eCommerce, and online marketing as “an advanced starting point.” Dynamicweb provides a great

foundation for your eCommerce site from Day One, so the project team can focus on making your

website the competitive advantage it should be. You want to treat your time as the valuable resource it

is and create a great experience for your customers on the web.

i GE Capital and Rothstein Tauber. “Major Purchase Shopper Study.” http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130712005396/en/GE-Capital-Retail-Bank%E2%80%99s-Annual-Shopper-Study. 2013. ii GetSatisfaction and Incyte Group. “Investing In Facebook, Twitter & Pinterest Isn’t Paying Off For Brands.“

https://getsatisfaction.com/corp/about/press-releases/read/investing-in-facebook-twitter-pinterest-isnt-paying-

off-for-brands/ 2012.

iii Aberdeen Group. “Configure-Price-Quote: Best-in-Class Deployments that Speed the Sale.“ http://aberdeen.com/research/8532/rb-configure-price-quote/content.aspx 2013. iv Avanade. “Global Survey: B2B is the New B2C.“ https://www.avanade.com/~/media/asset/research/the-new-customer-journey-global-study.pdf 2013.