retail innovation at speed & cost · 2020. 8. 6. · 4 retail innovation at speed & cost...

Retail Innovation at Speed & Cost THE SAAS TECHNOLOGY TRANSFORMATION

2 Retail Innovation at Speed & Cost

Contents

The New Reality for Online Stores3

The Difference Between SaaS and On-Prem4

What SaaS Adoption Means for Online Merchants7

Don’t Get Left Behind9

A Tale of Two Online Stores10

Beware of “Platform as a Service” Claims12

Minimize Time to Market with BigCommerce13


The New Reality for Online Stores

Merchants Are Moving to SaaS Platforms

In 2017, 1.66 billion people purchased goods or services online. This number is expected to

grow to 2.14 billion by 2020. With projections such as this, online merchants might assume

that there’s plenty of opportunity to go around. But as more people buy items online, more

retailers are launching ecommerce sites and strategies, saturating the market and vying for

the attention of an increasingly savvy digital buyer.

Merchants are implementing mobile-responsive designs, integrating commerce across

channels like Instagram, tapping into influencers and affiliates, and customizing their sites

down to the very pixel in order to delight their consumers and remain a step ahead of the

competition. Yet none of these strategic, online selling tactics can happen without the right

ecommerce platform at a store’s core.

Whether you are just starting to evaluate technologies or you are ready (perhaps even

forced) to make a switch, choosing the right ecommerce platform will save you precious

time and money. Merchants who choose SaaS ecommerce platforms over on-prem solutions

launch their sites up to 50% faster, and on BigCommerce, often at one fourth the cost.

It’s time to decide whether you’re going to use a rigid, on-prem platform and business model

that holds you back, or make a game-winning decision to use SaaS to take your business

into the future.


The Difference Between SaaS and On-Prem

A decade ago, most businesses had to download, install, and maintain software on self-

hosted, on-premise, IT hardware. This “on-prem” solution meant that businesses owned and

managed the software themselves, along with all of the infrastructure required to run the

software, including servers, databases, facility space, power and cooling, updates, security

patches, etc. Standing up a new ecommerce site on-prem required an army of specialized

developers.

The SaaS model has since quickly reshaped the landscape of software deployment and has

matured into the mainstream, leaving little reason for businesses to remain on-prem. A study

conducted in 2017 by Forrester states if you are not adopting SaaS broadly across your

business, you may already be falling behind.

WHY BUSINESSES ARE MOVING TO SAAS SOLUTIONS

There are 3 main value propositions contributing to today’s mass migration to SaaS solutions

from the custom-build, on-premise options that were popular a decade ago.

Reducing Time to Market

SaaS solutions require considerably less time to configure and deploy than on-prem

solutions, as they leverage a launch-ready platform which has already been provisioned,

implemented, and tested by the vendor. Many SaaS solutions also come with out-of-the-box

On-Premise Software

Downloaded, installed, and

maintained on self-hosted servers

SaaS Software

On-demand access to turn-key

software on cloud-based servers


integrations to other vital business applications, pre-built templates, and easy-to-configure

customizations that would require ample IT development to implement for an on-prem

deployment.

Even after launch, there is minimal IT dependency for application updates and integrations

for SaaS clients. A SaaS vendor can regularly roll out strategic updates that clients can

choose to take advantage of and get ahead of their competition. As a business grows and

the technology landscape evolves, solutions can be easily scaled up with little time and

effort from IT.

Alternatively, on-prem users are responsible for their own software updates. This ownership

often results in business stakeholders and department heads waiting in line for upgrades,

vying for limited IT manpower to deploy software updates. Changes to any on-prem

instance must be deliberately scheduled and reviewed with ample lead time; weeks, months,

even years can pass in between software updates.

What typically takes months to launch on-prem takes a matter of weeks with SaaS.


Minimizing Costs and Maximizing Profit Margins

Talent is increasingly expensive with today’s shortage of graduating engineers. Even if

businesses manage to hire and nurture IT talent skilled enough to adequately design and

support their on-prem operations, they must also account for the upfront capital costs of the

IT infrastructure itself: servers, facility space, heating/cooling and more. Comparably, there

are no IT capital costs for SaaS business solutions.

Self-hosted servers must be capable of handling peak load times that may last a matter of

minutes or even just seconds, yet often only a fraction of processing capability is utilized

for the remainder of the 8 hour work day, after which they sit idle for another 16 hours.

Moreover, these servers are inherently on the path to obsolescence the day they are

purchased.

Low resource utilization and depreciation, combined with upfront capital and staffing needs,

are how on-prem solutions can cost up to 3.5 times more for implementation and support

than SaaS solutions, a study by Hurwitz and Associates found. On-prem users simply can’t

afford to remain competitive with those who embrace SaaS.

On-Premise Solution

• Requires costly IT talent to manage

• Upfront capital costs

• Under-utilization of self-hosted IT infrastructure

Cost

Risk

Time to Market

• Uptime, data security, compliance, and

backups must be managed in-house

• Requires provisioning, implementing and

testing prior to launch

• Updates are subject to availability of IT

resource and manpower

• Miinimizes necessary IT staffing

• No capital costs

• IT infrastructure provided on-demand

• Uptime, data security, compliance, and backups

are ensured by the SaaS vendor

• Launch-ready platform

• Software updated provided routinely and

automatically by SaaS vendor

SaaS Solution


Lowering Risk

Uptime, data security, compliance, and backups are huge concerns for practically any

business. Those who choose to host their applications on-prem must fortify their operations

with custom, fault-tolerant architectures, maximum redundancies, disaster recovery plans,

routine testing, and more. These overly-customized solutions become more difficult

to evolve and adapt to the opportunities and threats of a rapidly evolving technology

landscape.

On the other hand, a SaaS provider takes on all of these responsibilities and can specialize

in providing uptime, security, and redundancy at-scale. Only companies that operate within

highly-regulated industries, such as finance or health care, find it feasible to take on these

responsibilities in-house.

For everyone else, it’s naive to believe they can adapt to and manage risk better than a SaaS

vendor. The latter has more visibility, more use cases, more infrastructure, and quite simply,

more practice anticipating and managing vulnerabilities.


What SaaS Adoption Means for Online Merchants

Innovation at Speed and Cost

Online commerce is in a perpetual state of rapid change: more and more merchants are

bringing their products and services online, digital shoppers are becoming more savvy,

and disruptive technologies such as mobile and voice-command are constantly adding

complexity to marketing channels. Merchants need speed and agility in order to remain a

step ahead of these changes, which is why more merchants are migrating their stores to

SaaS solutions from their legacy on-prem platforms.

Migrate and Launch Your Store Faster

Merchants who choose SaaS ecommerce platforms reap benefits immediately and upfront.

Rather than spending months evaluating, configuring, and testing hardware and software,

they have access to launch-ready infrastructure. Combined with useful, out-of-the-box

shopping functionality and comprehensive APIs, merchants can configure their stores

quickly and easily without a dedicated IT team or extensive development knowledge, cutting

launch times in half when compared to on-prem solutions. Existing ecommerce sites running

on-prem can be migrated to a SaaS solution in a matter of days.

Expand Your Business Faster

With ecommerce software available on-demand, merchants can quickly add instances to

launch sub-brands, stand up sale sites, expand into international markets and more without

disrupting their main operations or architecture. On-prem users face growth challenges

because their self-hosted, custom solution has them locked in place until IT teams can make

updates or changes.


Go to Market Faster

Growing retailers need their ecommerce platform to evolve along with rapidly changing

digital technologies. Ecommerce SaaS providers are more capable of anticipating

disruptive changes and can develop or update APIs faster than in-house IT teams, helping

their merchants embrace new opportunities and go to market faster than their on-prem

competitors.

For instance, Instagram worked directly with BigCommerce, a SaaS ecommerce provider,

to test new Instagram Shopping functionality that would make shopping easier for its

billions of users. Instagram conducted a limited release with a trusted partner, getting

quality feedback and usage data before a wide release, while BigCommerce provided

advance access to new, game-changing features to its users through a simple software

update. Merchants could showcase their products to customers in a place not yet flooded

with activity from other competitors with little risk and high reward, an outcome virtually

impossible for on-prem users.

A SaaS provider can help anticipate traffic spikes and increase bandwidth as needed, which can become especially useful when running flash sales or during holiday shopping waves.


Don’t Get Left Behind

More companies choose to look outside their walls for IT infrastructure on-demand because

it allows them to focus their attention, efforts, and resources on the business tactics that

actually produce competitive advantages. Fewer companies waste time on managing their

own email servers or developing their own CRM because a SaaS provider can do it better

and cheaper.

The same should apply with your ecommerce software. Spend less time and resource

on running custom, bespoke ecommerce technology and instead, focus your energy on

figuring out how to build awareness for your brand, generate targeted web traffic, capture

quality leads, convert prospects into paying customers and nurture relationships with loyal

influencers and advocates. In other words, let a SaaS ecommerce provider help you so you

can focus the things that really matter.


A Tale of Two Online Stores

Two case studies of SaaS vs On-Prem

BULK APOTHECARY

Founded in 2010, Bulk Apothecary

is one of the nation’s largest online

suppliers of natural ingredients and

essential oils. In 2014, with rising

demand from both consumers

and large corporations, the Bulk

Apothecary team knew they needed

a reliable, long-term home for their

The company opted to use an on-premise ecommerce solution. After 10 months working to customize the platform, they had spent tens of thousands of dollars only to deal with frequent performance issues, frustrating glitches and unreliable integrations.


growing online store. Their new ecommerce platform had to be reliable, support aggressive

revenue targets and enable the business to continue scaling.

These challenges not only slowed growth, but limited the team’s ability to invest in effective

sales and marketing initiatives.

With expenses mounting and website troubleshooting becoming a liability, Bulk Apothecary

decided to move to a SaaS solution, BigCommerce Enterprise. The storefront was replicated

on the BigCommerce platform in just four weeks, a significant improvement compared to the

10 months spent trying to create a robust shopping experience on the on-prem platform.

“With Magento (an on-prem solution) there were so many moving pieces and the cost of

development was going to be astronomical,” said Van. With this in mind, he opted to go with

a SaaS platform.

SPORTBIKE TRACK GEAR

In 2014, owner Bike Van of Sportbike

Track Gear faced a similar decision

about the future of his growing

online business. His ecommerce

provider was was going out of

business, and Van needed to

evaluate other solutions.


“We are so much more efficient now,” said Van. “With our previous platform, our staff was

constantly overtaxed, which led to mistakes. Simply processing orders was becoming costly.

Now it’s much easier. My staff is happier, and we have time to explore new opportunities to

grow our business.”

Van moved to BigCommerce in less than three months, roughly half the time required to switch to Magento, while saving approximately $100,000 in development and hosting costs.

Minimize Time to Market with BigCommerce

The Simplicity of SaaS, Plus Some

Adopting a SaaS platform can reduce the complexity of implementing your ecommerce

software and get you market faster. BigCommerce takes things one step further by

combining with the simplicity of a SaaS platform with highly-customizable software that

helps you create the perfect online shopping experience more easily and quickly than any

other website builder.

Don’t just reduce your time to market; minimize it altogether.

Out-of-the-box features and a library of customizable templates allow you to quickly

design a unique, beautiful, mobile-ready store instead of coding and configuring from

scratch. Merchants can import and manage products, add and edit pages, set up sales and


promotions, all within a matter of clicks; no additional software or development needed.

Built-in, omni-channel integrations allow you to effortlessly extend your shopping

experience beyond your website to high-traffic marketplaces like eBay and Amazon, social

media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, and point-of-sale (POS) solutions like Square.

Easily engage with and sell to your potential customers anywhere and everywhere.

BigCommerce is also built to connect with other powerful applications that help you run a

successful retail business. Communicate effectively with customers by integrating your email

marketing and automation software, automate shipping by connecting online orders directly

with shipping providers, and build long-lasting relationships with customers by integrating

your CRM software. All of these enterprise connections and more can be configured within

minutes without writing a single line of code.

Keep in mind, simplicity for the sake of agility doesn’t mean your site has to be simple. The

BigCommerce Checkout Software Development Kit (SDK) gives agencies, developers and

brands unparalleled end-to-end cart and checkout customization capabilities, increasing

the possibilities of a SaaS platform. The SDK handles the complex business logic powering

ecommerce checkout, removing the headaches of PCI compliance, tax collection, remittance

and more, to allow brands to focus on creating a custom look, feel and shopper experience.

BigCommerce does the heavy lifting when it comes to building, maintaining,

supporting, and hosting its ecommerce engine. All that’s left for our team is

theme design, development, and customization—aka, the fun stuff.

Open-source solutions—like Magento—can be great if you have a large,

dedicated team of developers on hand to own every line of your ecommerce

code and manage your store’s servers. But by delegating ecommerce platform

development to the specialists like BigCommerce, you get to focus on what you

do best—running your business. - Courtenay Adams, efelle creative

About efelle creative

efelle is Seattle’s top web design

firm. As an Elite BigCommerce

Partner with more than 20 projects

together, they work to accelerate

their clients’ revenue via effective

digital marketing.


JOIN THE PRODUCT TOUR

About BigCommerce

BigCommerce is the world’s leading cloud ecommerce platform for established and

rapidly-growing businesses. Combining enterprise functionality, an open architecture

and app ecosystem, and market-leading performance, BigCommerce enables businesses

to grow online sales with 80% less cost, time and complexity than on-premise software.

BigCommerce powers B2B and B2C ecommerce for industry-leading brands, including

Assurant, Ben & Jerry’s, Paul Mitchell, Sony and Toyota.

Want to see agile commerce in action? Save your spot on the BigCommerce Product Tour,

where our ecommerce experts will show you how powerful a SaaS solution can be.

https://grow.bigcommerce.com/weekly-product-tour-webinar.html?utm_medium=content&utm_source=agility&utm_campaign=compm2&utm_term=cta&utm_content=productour

retail innovation at speed & cost · 2020. 8. 6. · 4 retail innovation at speed & cost...

Documents