How do you step out of the box and grow your e-store?

The e-commerce market is growing every day. Customers are increasing, and an e-store's offerings can target the whole world. For entrepreneurs, this is an ideal situation. However, what to do in case there are too many customers periodically? The store cannot suddenly stop operating. The owner of drogerix.pl faced such a challenge - choose a good program or a stable server?

Dynamic growth is not just a problem for small stores. E-commerce veterans, who know exactly how to plan their business, also face technical challenges. - When we started our business in 2008, we decided to implement a store based on a proprietary license program. However, with more experience and subsequent years of e-commerce activities, we hit its limitations. And we posed the question to ourselves - what to do so that the store can continue to grow at the same pace? - says Rafal Pulchny, owner of Drogerix.pl

What is the difference between a box and a SaaS?

The difference between a boxed (licensed) program and one available as a cloud service (SaaS -Software as a Service) lies in the form of distribution and access to the source code. The former can be compared to buying a car. You have to pay a big price, and then you can do whatever you want with the car, taking care that it somehow works. The second case is similar to leasing - you pay a small monthly amount, specified in the contract. However, in order to properly understand how SaaS works, one must additionally imagine that when a new and better model of car comes out.... it is the lessor who gives it to the customer for free instead of the old one, while still taking care of all aspects of its operation.

In a proprietary license (i.e. a so-called "box"), the need to control the operation of all elements of the e-commerce system is also not insignificant. - The license software has to be regularly, manually updated - so that it is safe and keeps up with technical changes. - adds the owner of Drogerix.pl - In such a model, all technical issues were on our head.

A box of their own, but a tight one

Even the best server can only support a certain amount of traffic. To meet periodic sales peaks, an e-commerce owner would therefore have to either maintain more server power than is needed on a daily basis, or face losing customers when the site slows down drastically or simply stops working. - We tested SaaS and open source solutions, in-house and cloud servers. We also tested their performance at different hours," adds Rafal Pulchny. - We chose cloud and subscription software, or SaaS, because of its flexibility and scalability. Even the best-constructed dedicated store won't work that fast. It simply isn't technically possible.

It's not just the website that needs to be optimized

E-commerce business cannot be started without investment and a business plan, of which finances are an integral part. However, calculating all costs requires a thorough understanding of how the industry works. - It is worth realizing that the cost of a licensed program incurred at the beginning is not a one-off. Further investments are necessary - in upgrades or additional modules. That's why now, when planning changes in the e-store, we looked for optimal cost and organizational solutions. Many suppliers, means many problems. At times we encountered shifting responsibility between companies for the slow operation of the store. One service provider protects us from this.

Migrations from boxed software to SaaS, is an opportunity for our clients to spread their e-commerce wings and benefit from full scalability. Flexibly allocated space on our servers supports the operation of both small and large businesses. Our customers also have support in the day-to-day operation of the store, which will be assisted by the Customer Service Department, and in business development from the Customer Success Department, which is responsible for the optimal operation of e-commerce, among other things. We also provide traffic and orders for our stores through the Shoper Campaigns service. Everything works in a clear subscription model," says Jacek Zientkiewicz Brand manager of the platform Shoper.