SaaS Ecommerce Unleashes Affordable Flexibility

Technology. Access. Convenience. Demographic. These are the primary drivers that explain the exponential growth of ecommerce.

Improved internet access, mobile devices and secure payment methods gave consumers the ability to shop anywhere, anytime and the confidence that their information is safe. The vast population burst globally, opening the doors to cross-border trade and easier access to international products. Digital Natives, the growing segment of people who have only known life with internet access, prefer online shopping.

The stage was set for the next phase of growth: SaaS-based ecommerce. 

SaaS (software-as-a-service) has been growing steadily over the last ten years and is expected to reach $295 billion in market value in the US by 2025.

The growth of ecommerce websites and the rise of SaaS ecommerce platforms go hand in hand. Cost, convenience and operational savings are the main drivers that explain why SaaS ecommerce software adoption is riding this wave. The pay-as-you-go model is affordable for customers and represents a constant revenue stream for technology companies.

It's a win-win.

Let’s explain why.

What is SaaS ecommerce?

SaaS ecommerce is a software solution delivered over the internet and often hosted in the cloud. The SaaS provider hosts and maintains the platform and charges a monthly or yearly recurring fee. It's a way for businesses to set up an online store with fewer technology hurdles. SaaS ecommerce platforms come with pre-designed themes and templates and pre-installed add-ons. These website builders reduce infrastructure and maintenance costs, reducing start-up costs considerably. 

Benefits of SaaS ecommerce solutions

Simply put, SaaS ecommerce solutions empower business owners by letting the SaaS company handle the heavy lifting. The store owner leverages others' investments for a reliable monthly subscription fee. This arrangement lets others manage the software product and infrastructure costs, giving you the flexibility to upgrade or downgrade product features on your timetable, and the confidence that your business is in good hands.

Fast setup.

Ecommerce SaaS platforms can help brands get to market quickly, with some platforms including more functionality than others. If launch speed is a priority, choose the platform that can manage that. SaaS platforms also typically have user-friendly interfaces and pre-built themes that can speed you up and running, making you more efficient and productive.

Low upfront costs.

Since SaaS software is subscription-based, it offers a fixed monthly expense to budget and minimizes upfront costs. A monthly subscription is cost-effective and can ease early growing pains.

Ease of use.

SaaS ecommerce solutions are typically more straightforward to use and manage than traditional software, requiring less technical knowledge to set up (although that's not always the case.)

Security.

When you subscribe to a SaaS ecommerce solution, you also buy peace of mind because the vendor ensures that your customers' credit card and personal information is safe with regular updates. Most SaaS platforms also provide PCI compliance, so it's one less thing to worry about.

Scalability.

Cloud-based SaaS solutions don't require expert installers so your business can be up and running as soon as you upload and configure the software. There's no hardware to install or limit new users or features. You subscribe to the plan that meets your immediate business needs, making SaaS ecommerce highly scalable.

Customer support.

SaaS platforms generally include support as part of the package. For example, BigCommerce offers 24/7 live agent support, and most merchants can connect to a live support specialist in under two minutes.

Customization with headless commerce.

BigCommerce offers the flexibility to customize your website or scale your business later with its headless capabilities. Online business owners can create differentiated shopping experiences on the frontend while the platform runs the commerce engine on the backend.

Third-party application integrations.

SaaS solutions allow businesses to integrate with various third-party applications, allowing the enterprise to extend their ecommerce sites' functionality and create a more seamless customer experience.

For example, companies can incorporate their SaaS ecommerce solution with their marketing automation software for targeted campaigns, real-time inventory management for accurate stock levels, order management for streamlined processes, CRM for customer relationship management, POS for in-store sales, and ERP for comprehensive business management.

Open SaaS vs. open source ecommerce

With open-source ecommerce platforms, users can directly access the code and change, extend or modify it. On the other hand, Open SaaS leverages APIs to provide flexibility and customization. It aims to make SaaS platforms as open and adaptable as open source alternatives, allowing for customization and integration with third-party applications.

Many SaaS providers offer limited openness and rely solely upon on-premise software or offer SaaS ecommerce solutions with restricted customization options.

Cost.

While open source software is free to download and use, you must also factor in the costs of hosting, development, customizations, security and compliance, and integrations and maintenance. For businesses on a budget, these expenses can add up.

On the other hand, SaaS ecommerce platforms typically operate on a yearly or monthly subscription basis. You pay a fee for as long as you want to use the platform, and your SaaS provider takes care of all the ecommerce functionality, such as product updates, security, web hosting and PCI compliance. Non-technical types can focus on core business activities rather than worry about the upkeep of their website.

Security.

A key aspect of building an online store is managing customer data, such as addresses, credit card information and transaction histories. Your top priority is ensuring the safety and security of personally identifiable information.

If you opt for an open-source platform, remember that it will be your responsibility to meet PCI compliance standards and maintain the security of your site. You'll need to ensure that your security firewall is bug-free and choose a trustworthy security tool to protect your site from hackers. 

With SaaS ecommerce software, your service provider manages your site's security and PCI compliance. Many SaaS providers will update your site automatically with new security features when needed.

Installation.

Open source software is free to install, even for beginners, but setting up and managing your online store requires other expenses (mentioned above.)

SaaS providers typically offer a free trial, allowing users to test the platform before buying the paid version. Once you have set up your site, you won't have to worry about starting from scratch since the platform provider handles many backend processes.

Customization.

The most significant differences between open source and Open SaaS are flexibility and customization.

Since the user can control the source code, open source ecommerce solutions are highly customizable — from the product page and themes to the checkout experience. 

With no restrictions, users can completely modify the website to meet their business needs and create a unique customer experience. Unfortunately, open source platforms are also very complex, and for any technical changes it's best for a web developer certified in the platform to handle changes.

With an Open SaaS platform, customization comes with some tradeoffs. Since the service provider controls the source code, the user may have less freedom to customize their site than with an open source platform.

However, by leveraging APIs, Open SaaS ecommerce software enables extensive customization and integration with third-party solutions. This allows merchants to tailor the platform to their needs and leverage existing systems. Complex enterprises with unique requirements may find this beneficial and prefer not to be locked into a suite's predefined functionalities. 

And let's remember the flexibility of BigCommerce's headless functionality, which is usable with any CMS, DXP, or custom frontend.

Maintenance and Support.

Security, maintenance and ongoing support are the user's responsibility with open source software. Since you control the software, you manage the infrastructure, updates, and any issues.

SaaS platforms are a better choice if you don't want to spend time or resources on maintenance. The platform hosts your website and handles all the technical details like server management, security and performance optimization.

Challenges of SaaS ecommerce solutions

With all technology, there's a learning curve. No perfect solution exists. When you weigh the pros and cons of SaaS ecommerce solutions, buyers must be clear about their business goals. From there, you can make an informed decision while searching for the ideal platform provider.

Customization.

A significant challenge for SaaS ecommerce platforms, particularly for enterprise-level customers, lies in balancing customization with platform stability. While the ease of use and pre-built framework of SaaS solutions are attractive, large businesses often need substantial customizations to align the platform with their existing workflows, specific branding requirements, and unique customer journey expectations.

Customizations implemented by the customer can also be challenging, resulting in performance issues unrelated to the platform itself, said Brent Bellm, BigCommerce’s former CEO, on the latest episode of The Ecommerce Toolbox podcast. 

This reality underscores the importance of meticulous planning, investing in skilled development teams, and conducting thorough testing during the customization process to prevent unintended consequences that could impact the platform's stability. 

Lack of choice.

Some SaaS platforms can lock you into using certain apps or features, making it difficult to choose the best ecommerce solution for your business. 

For example, Shopify has a proprietary payment provider. They charge additional transaction fees of up to 2% of each sale when using other payment gateways, and you lose access to certain features like multi-currency. 

If freedom of choice is important to your ecommerce business, you should choose a SaaS platform that integrates your preferred solutions.

Best SaaS ecommerce solutions

If you're considering SaaS for your business, discover these SaaS providers offering solutions for everything from solopreneurs and startups to enterprises.

BigCommerce.

BigCommerce is a leading Open SaaS ecommerce platform for mid-market and enterprise brands. It has all the benefits associated with multi-tenant SaaS — hosting on behalf of businesses, lower total cost of ownership and faster go-to-market time — coupled with platform-wide APIs that enable companies to customize their sites and integrate with external applications and services. 

The platform's drag-and-drop PageBuilder makes it user-friendly to edit without coding, and both B2B and B2C companies across 150 countries and numerous industries use BigCommerce to create beautiful, engaging ecommerce stores.

Shopify.

Shopify offers many themes, simplifying the process of launching a store quickly. There, one million plus merchants have found a home. Retailers choose this vendor because of its hundreds of templates, drag-and-drop store builder, abandoned shopping cart recovery, payment processing and shipping integrations.

Volusion.

With a simple onboarding process and affordable pricing plans, Volusion represents an excellent option for small businesses and entrepreneurs. Starting at $35 per month, Volusion offers built-in features like customer relationship management (CRM), search engine optimization (SEO) and marketing tools to help increase site rankings, drive more organic traffic and keep customers coming back.

For those who want to publish long-form content, Volusion doesn't offer a blog option. In addition, if you want to expand internationally or sell overseas, Volusion Payments are unavailable to merchants outside the US.

Squarespace.

At its core, Squarespace is a content management system primarily used by the creative community. While less robust than other platforms, Squarespace offers various templates to showcase art, video or music products. 

Squarespace Commerce removes friction for omnichannel businesses selling both online and in-person, providing automation for email marketing and integrating with social media channels.

While Squarespace does have an app marketplace called "Squarespace Extensions," it offers a limited number of apps, and its payment methods are limited to Stripe, PayPal and Square.

Wix.

Wix's ease of use attracts small businesses primarily. The platform allows users to create and customize websites using a drag-and-drop interface without coding skills. While Wix offers ecommerce and multi-channel selling, this seems to be secondary.

Users experience challenges with significant design changes due to the limitations of the interface, difficulties with mobile version editing, slow website loading speed, and the need to upgrade to higher-priced plans for advanced features.

BigCommerce is a flexible Open SaaS ecommerce platform

BigCommerce represents an adaptable ecommerce platform that caters to the needs of complex businesses. Our foundation is grounded in out-of-the-box flexibility and the managed security you've come to expect from SaaS ecommerce software. Yet our Open SaaS philosophy gives customers the full customization innovative ecommerce businesses need to thrive and grow.

Open SaaS aims to provide the same openness and flexibility in open source software within a SaaS framework. Traditionally, open source platforms like Magento let users own and modify the source code, while SaaS platforms limit this access. 

BigCommerce overcomes this by using APIs to allow third parties, customers and partners to customize and extend its platform, offering flexibility similar to open source solutions.

Legacy enterprise competitors, rooted in on-premise software like IBM, Oracle, SAP, and Magento, lag in openness. While some SaaS platforms like Demandware offer some openness, they don't match BigCommerce's API-driven approach.

Resource efficiency. 

Streamlined integrations, reduced administrative overhead, and simplified support processes, including reliable security and hosting (with 99.98% uptime), contribute to greater operational efficiency. 

The introduction of BigCommerce's Catalyst architecture and MakeSwift visual editor offers significant resource efficiency benefits for business users. This streamlined tech stack empowers non-technical users to manage content and store layouts, reducing reliance on developers and freeing up valuable technical resources for other tasks.

Agile growth.

BigCommerce's focus on a best-in-breed approach, rather than a closed suite of solutions, enhances its agility and that of its customers. By partnering with leading providers in different categories, BigCommerce can quickly adopt the most advanced solutions without developing them in-house, allowing for rapid evolution of the platform's capabilities. 

Our early adoption and continuous development of composable commerce, with a strong emphasis on headless architecture, allows merchants to quickly adapt their storefronts into new sales channels and customer experiences without being constrained by the limitations of a traditional monolithic platform.

Flexibility without friction.

BigCommerce's extensive use of APIs is the cornerstone of its customization capabilities. This open architecture allows merchants, agencies and technology partners to integrate with and extend the platform's core functionalities in countless ways.

Our focus on seamlessly integrating with leading third-party providers in various categories, such as payments, shipping, point-of-sale and marketing automation, gives customers the freedom to choose the solutions that best align with their specific needs and existing workflows, resulting in a truly customized and integrated technology stack.

Support at every step.

Integrating with specialized third-party solutions can streamline support processes for customers. BigCommerce's partnership with Noibu highlights how strategic partnerships can improve customer support. Noibu helps identify the root cause of issues, allowing BigCommerce's support team to quickly determine whether a problem lies with the core platform or a third-party integration. This saves time and resources investigating issues outside BigCommerce's control.

Last but not least is our world-class customer support. Our dedicated experts guide you through every step of your store buildout to create a custom multi-channel shopping experience. Don't take our word for it — read what our customers say.

The final word

SaaS ecommerce platforms have emerged as a powerful solution for businesses looking to establish and grow their online presence. These platforms offer numerous benefits, including fast setup, low upfront costs, ease of use, enhanced security, scalability and robust customer support.

While there are challenges, such as customization limitations and potential vendor lock-in, the advantages often outweigh the drawbacks for many businesses.

FAQs about SaaS ecommerce