How to grow your business with ecommerce without becoming dependent? 

Interview with Cezary Kożon – an expert in the field of ecommerce solutions, president of Spyrosoft eCommerce – on threats faced by businesses and how to overcome them by wisely implementing IT systems. The interview was originally published in Business Insider. 

What problems do entrepreneurs investing in ecommerce most often face? 

Most of the companies we come into contact with daily, as experts dealing with the implementation of ecommerce solutions, are companies that have already been selling online, sometimes even for years. These companies carry out up to 40% of their sales via the Internet, and the rest in stationary locations. Many have invested in solutions prepared especially for them, either by in-house developers or external suppliers.  

However, it often turns out that what seemed to be an ideal solution a few years ago, today becomes a ball and chain that prevents the company from growing. Vendor lock-in, i.e. a situation in which a business becomes dependent on the supplier of a given solution, turns the supplier into a monopolist, causing the business to be fully dependent on one company or person. It may become a significant threat in the future: the business may be forced to face an overnight increase of rates, disproportionate to market realities, and impossible to reject due to the dominant position of the supplier. 

Another threat is the discontinuation of the investment. Some companies invested in ecommerce, implementing the most modern systems at the time – and after a few years, the technology moved forward, but these companies did not decide to switch to newer versions of the systems. They fell into a trap. Developers are constantly evolving because technology is changing rapidly. Therefore, the pool of people who can manage the old systems is decreasing, while the cost of their work is increasing. We are left with an old system, already worse than the new one our competition is using, and its maintenance costs are rising.  Moreover, new regulations, such as the Omnibus Directive, force the introduction of further investments. 

How to develop safely? 

Most often, the most reasonable solution is to switch to a system built by a consulting and implementation company, such as Spyrosoft eCommerce, from ready-made elements provided by global companies, such as Magento (Adobe Commerce) or Shopware. These systems can be well adapted to the individual needs of every customer, and the implementation is relatively quick and costs much less than building a tailor-made system. Universal solutions are constantly being developed and fixes are widely available. Of course, you need the knowledge and experience of professionals to assemble the best system from these “ready-made boxes”. 

Spyrosoft eCommerce was created by people who have years of experience in the ecommerce market and vast knowledge. What distinguishes us is the fact that we have Spyrosoft – a group of almost 1,300 programmers – behind us. It means we have access to a significantly higher number of experts and technologies than our competition. We are an ecommerce house that is able to do the most advanced things on the market. 

This has been noticed: we have already won ecommerce contracts for a leading Polish company in the luxury clothing segment, a company offering physical security for smartphones, as well as for a very popular brand of clothing for people leading an active lifestyle. 

What can we do to use IT to lower our company’s costs? 

The development of technology is relentless. Consumers choose brands that give them the most convenient, most pleasant shopping experience. If the B2C entrepreneurs do not adapt the business to these requirements, they lose them. Investments in IT, thanks to the constant development of technology, keep working for their benefit, reducing other costs and increasing the scale of business. Thanks to ecommerce, the unit transaction cost decreases and the profit increases. 

What about B2B? 

Ecommerce in B2B is the fastest growing area. B2B companies are starting to notice how important it is for sales processes. The point is not to replace salespeople, but to automate processes and multiply the revenue per salesperson.  

An electrotechnical wholesaler, a window manufacturer, a glass manufacturer – all of them can use the implementation of an ecommerce platform to their benefit, as it supports the salesperson in their work. It allows the salespeople to prepare offers faster, but it also allows the small-scale customers (whose service takes up just as much time as the service of large-scale ones) to order goods themselves, making them at the same time feeling just as pampered and appreciated as the big ones.  

The ecommerce’s main task is to lead the customer by hand through their shopping experience. Thanks to that, the salesperson can dedicate more time to acquiring new customers. 

We’ll help you develop ecommerce platform that matches your needs 

If you are interested in collaborating with the Spyrosoft eCommerce team, check our offering page and contact us directly.