Pros and Cons of SaaS eCommerce Platforms

SaaS (Software as a Service) is increasingly gaining market share. Besides having clear benefits, they also come with their limitations, especially for B2B companies.

 

But even with all these, many businesses are turning to them to run their operations such as Salesforce, Box, Office 365 and Google Apps. Retailers can also benefit from them to better manage their own operations.

 

Using a SaaS platform instead of on-premise software can seem overwhelming for any size of business. More so, since they are still new in the market, there are still a lot of questions about them.

 

So what is a Saas platform?

 

Image: V-Comply

Standing for Software as a Service, SaaS is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed to the user through the internet. They are, therefore, cloud-based systems that can be accessed on any web browser.

I have carefully studied the SaaS platforms, here are some of the notable pros and cons of SaaS eCommerce Platforms and I believe you will have a clearer picture of the platform after reading this post.

 

Pros and Cons of SaaS platforms:

Pros of SaaS platforms

 

Fast implementation time

With these platforms, merchants can get a site running with a very minimal effort. This is because they often offer pre-built layouts and themes that are mobile responsive. Depending on your comfort with E-Commerce and your needs, you may not need a developer for your site.

 

They provide out of the box solution

SaaS platforms are built to offer out of the box solutions. Most of them have a handful of basic shopping cart functionality built into the platform that they are already in. Because of this, merchants can take advantage of customizable, pre-built themes, marketing capabilities, and basic product information management. With this software, you don’t need a diverse IT team or an extensive developer knowledge, but you may need to prepare and pass the AWS exam to effectively run your business.

 

Maintenance

This is perhaps the biggest advantage of these platforms. In these platforms, the provider hosts and runs the software. This means you don’t have to search for a hosting provider. The providers are also responsible for performance, speed, uptime, and software bug fixes. They are constantly watching and monitoring the performance of your store

 

Less expensive

Many platforms charge as little as $100 per month. Although these costs can increase over time, overall, there is still a low cost of entry. Many other e-commerce services, such as live chat vendors and email service providers, can integrate with SaaS platforms and lower the development costs.

 

PCI and Security Compliance

If you want to do business online, then you must be PCI compliant.  E-commerce SaaS providers will always ensure that you meet all the PCI compliance standards. It’s, therefore, their work to stay up to date with any bug fixes or patches that may affect your security.

 

New features are included automatically

As they release new features into the platform, merchants can easily use them. This means you need not engage a developer to upgrade your code and test it before pushing it live. Since the features are easily available, you can significantly save on money and time.

 

Cons of SaaS Platforms

 

Lack of customization

SaaS platforms leverage built-in functionality and pre-built templates. Although these features make them easy to use and get started with, they can significantly limit you. Sometimes, they even lack the ability for extreme customization for some educational based businesses like online class help services.

 

Supporting B2B needs

Whether a platform is SaaS or not, most e-commerce systems fall short for B2B sellers. While B2B is looking more like B2C, the B2B requirements are still different. There are other requirements for things such as customer specific pricing, discounts by quantities, different payment terms and wholesale pricing that aren’t needed for B2B

 

Cannot customize the checkout

Merchants on SaaS cannot customize checkout prices. In business, any strategic growth often involves being unique. SaaS carts can therefore significantly limit your uniqueness.

 

Conclusion

Although SaaS platforms does not require extensive technical knowledge but it requires some certification training, so as to become an expert in the field, you can consider the AWS Cloud Training. Saas can work for B2B merchants with relatively simple sales models, if they have much extensive product documentation and SKUs or more complex sales structure, then the platforms may not be appropriate.