The Pros and Cons of Build vs Buy for Store
Retail Solutions.

Customisation

Instead of relying on what a software vendor deems best, you can own the source code and build it exactly how you want it done. This is likely to take longer than buying a solution with pre-made applications but on the flip side, it will be specific to your needs.

Ease of Integration

A retail solution that you build in-house is likely to be more easily pluggable into your other systems and work exactly how you want it to, from the outset. You won’t have to worry about fitting a square peg into a round hole with purpose-built software. Besides, the team in charge of maintaining the solution will be in communication with the internal developers; this often leads to a good level of coherence from the get-go.

So, what are the disadvantages of building a retail solution in-house?

Unexpectedly High Costs

On the surface, building your own software may seem like the more economical choice, but that’s rarely the case due to it costing a significant sum of money to hire a good development team with a skilled manager to oversee the project if you want to do it properly. The total cost estimated at the start rarely ends up being accurate, which can have large ramifications for your business.

Level of Risk

The tech industry is littered with failed projects that fell behind timelines and consequently ran over budget. According to the Harvard Business Review, out of 1,471 projects analysed, the average overrun was 27% but one in six projects had an overrun of 200%.

Once a project fails and ROI starts becoming questionable, it becomes harder to justify further tech investment to the Board, resulting in the business falling behind and becoming outdated.

Perhaps after reading the aforementioned you may think that building software is too high-risk for your business. There are several business advantages to buying an off-the-shelf solution.

Freedom and Rapid Deployment

You can enjoy a lot of freedom and flexibility when it comes to selecting the right software vendor. It’s key to choose a technology vendor that aligns with your business goals as this will be important moving forwards in terms of maintenance and aftercare. This will also result in fast implementation and rapid deployment; essential when it comes to staying on top of customer and market demands.

Manageable Costs

Once you pick a vendor and finalise the deal, that party will usually be responsible for testing, launching and maintaining the software. This is advantageous for businesses operating on a tight budget. These up-front costs or even annual subscription fees may be cheaper than building a solution from scratch. However, this is subjective depending on the size and scale of the solution.

So, what’s wrong with buying a pre-built retail solution?

Lack of Ownership

Simply put, the product won’t be 100% tailormade to the way that suits the business best.

When buying software from a vendor, you become increasingly dependent on them. If you find that it doesn’t integrate well with a critical tool, or if it’s lacking a feature that you need, all you can do is make a request and wait for the changes to be implemented. If the vendor doesn’t have a mechanism to make rapid adjustments, you’ll be left in the dust while your competitors pace ahead. That said, some software companies are keen to partner with customers and involve them in the overall product development roadmap.

Inflexibility

Off-the-shelf software can be quite rigid, with limitations on API integration. It will never quite match the specificity nor the flexibility of building a solution from scratch. This isn’t true for all pre-built solutions as certain vendors follow a MACH-based approach which enables API integration as part of its core service.

And of course, near the worst-case scenario, there is always the risk of the vendor closing shop; leaving the customer stranded.

Enactor is the leader in Unified Commerce for global retail stores for a good reason.

Let’s discover why.

To start with, you can manage your POS, Mobile POS, Baskets, Promotions and Clienteling from a single Unified Commerce Platform. When you’re a global retail business with physical stores numbering in the hundreds, along with multiple online stores in several marketplaces, it is imperative to manage all retail aspects of your business on one flexible platform.

There are three core aspects of Enactor Enterprise functionality that help retailers thrive in the digital era.