When it comes to technology, the hot debate for many ecommerce businesses is “buy vs build.” You’ve probably lost at least a prospect or two to Shopify or another big ecommerce SaaS company because “buy” seemed like the safer choice.
But what if the dichotomy wasn’t limited to buy or build? What if the options for clients weren’t either buying Shopify Plus or hiring a CTO? What if there was a third way?
In this talk, we’ll explore the idea of agencies becoming that third way in ecommerce tech — offering brands the flexibility and unique fit of custom software without the overhead of hiring an internal tech team to support it or the constraints and long-term costs of off-the-shelf solutions. It’s possible, if we think beyond our typical project-to-project approach. By rethinking how we work with clients, we can increase their lifetime value while potentially saving them years and millions of dollars in sunk technology and personnel costs.
We’ll discuss how, by thinking beyond “buy vs build,” we in the Craft Commerce community are in a great position to give our clients and the ecommerce world a compelling alternative to the industry tech gorillas. We’ll cover the benefits and implications of this alternative model in the areas of billing, agency infrastructure, culture, and mindset.