A large store on SaaS? It can be done!

The premium trend in SaaS models is proving that they are not only suitable for startups and small businesses. Platforms such as Shopify and Shoper have introduced a service that competes with dedicated e-stores.

Suppliers of software for e-commerce stores in the form of a subscription-paid service (Software as a Service) often have to fight the myth that their solutions are good only for start-ups and small businesses. As an argument attesting to this opinion, the limitations that the platform imposes on e-commerce - the lack of possibility to introduce customized solutions, to adapt the chosen software to the needs of a particular business - are cited. Meanwhile, if this were really the case, in the currently highly competitive market of platforms their customers would quickly say goodbye to them. The SaaS model obliges the software provider to follow e-commerce trends, respond to customers' needs and bet on development much more strongly than each individual store. And the industry is evolving rapidly, with new big players joining in and needing more advanced solutions.

Shopify, a leader in global e-commerce, in 2014 introduced a new service dedicated to large and fast-growing e-commerce stores. Shopify Plus was created for large brands entering e-commerce or looking for more convenient solutions, as well as for customers who used the platform and grew rapidly. By switching to the higher version, they gained store support without limits and dedicated support around the clock. In 2016, the number of stores using Shopify Plus rose to 2,500, among them Red Bull, Wikipedia, Los Angeles Lakers or Tesla.

The Shoper platform has made a similar move in the past year. Shoper Premium customers can count on customization of the software and comprehensive migration from another system. At the same time, they gain access to the experience of experts who conduct the entire implementation analysis and advise on the best solutions for specific needs. They work on a fast and smooth implementation and remain available whenever the client needs technical support.

Shoper Premium is currently used by, among others, the Krugermatz.com store. The company was already working on the Shoper platform software, but now the store was moved to the premium service and gained a dedicated hotline and personalized technical support. - We decided on the SaaS model because this solution seemed the most reasonable to us, given the needs and requirements of our company. In addition to stable operation, it gives us access to constantly developed applications, and at the same time it is a much more attractively priced model compared to available alternatives. As for the impact of running an e-store on sales results, comparing revenues from 2015-2016, one can see that profits coming from the online store have doubled. During these months, we significantly expanded our brand's offerings, but the increase in revenue was certainly influenced by the transfer of the store to the Shoper platform. In the coming years, we will strive for further growth by introducing new products," comments Hubert Zadrożny, Krüger&Matz IT Manager.

Stores using the premium version have more processing power at their disposal, so they gain performance and are able to handle more traffic. During commercials aired on TV, the Kruger&Matz store's website recorded nine thousand page views per minute (150 per second) while running smoothly. - The performance of premium customers' stores is ensured by using a mechanism to save all the content of the store's web pages in RAM. Visitors do not load the page from scratch but load it just from memory, which takes much less time, even 10 ms. In comparison, standard page generation takes 200-300 ms. Thanks to this, the store is able to withstand very large and rapid traffic spikes, such as thousands of simultaneous visits during TV commercials or social media marketing actions coordinated for a specific hour," explains Grzegorz Sadłoń, who leads the Shoper Premium project.

The new services that SaaS platforms are introducing are part of the DIFM (Do-It-For-Me, or do it for me) revolution. After more than a dozen years of the proliferation of software as a service, this model is entering the next stage, where it is no longer just software that matters. In parallel with automation and technology, companies are beginning to offer reliable know-how and their own work. The customer thus gains comprehensive support and can devote himself entirely to developing the business.

By Tomasz Tybon, director of marketing and sales at Dreamcommerce, provider of Shoper online store software