Benefits of open source e-commerce software for B2B businesses
The enterprise landscape has changed dramatically in the past few years. In today’s tech-savvy ecosystem, a vast proportion of customers are shopping online. More and more B2B businesses are venturing into e-commerce which calls for B2B ecommerce software. Ranging from budding businesses to established organizations, every brand is investing in B2B ecommerce software to upgrade their sales strategy and engage the online audience.
However, if your budget doesn’t allow for new software or if your legacy solutions aren’t flexible enough to meet your dynamic business requirements, then it’s high time that you switch to an open-source eCommerce platform. Wondering why? Read on to find out the benefit of open source e-commerce software for B2B businesses.
What is Open-Source Software?
In open-source software, the source code is freely available for developers allowing free usage and customization. As the source code is openly available, it can be modified or enhanced by anyone. “Anyone” here means anyone with the developer resources. So, you can rest assured that the security of your software isn’t at stake. The best part about open-source software is its ease of administration and operation. With the free open-source software, you can easily start your online store in minutes. The omnichannel software allows you to sell at different platforms while maintaining your inventory at a single place, and the customization options are limitless.
Avoid Vendor Lock-In
When you are using open-source software for your B2B eCommerce business, you can free yourself from vendor lock-ins. Unlike proprietary software, open-source platforms don’t need users to pay a licensing fee. As users aren’t locked down to a specific vendor, they aren’t restricted to the vendor’s prices, requirements, timetable, and packages. You are in control of what you want to do with the open-source software, and you can make the software work for your business as you want it.
Enhanced customization with more plug-ins
Open-source software is flexible enough to let B2B businesses re-shape their software however they wish. Customization is immensely advantageous to every business, and with customization, you can tailor your software with features that your business or your audience base needs. In addition to the customization aspect, open-source software also have a plethora of plug-ins, add-ons, and widgets. With those third-party extensions, you can make your software more navigable and feature-rich.
Community Support
Typically, open-source platforms are monitored by an expert community that forms around them. Seasoned developers contribute their ideas that can boost your industry knowledge. With open-source software, you can have access to a pool of experts who can support you to get immersive and engaging customization ideas.
More scalability
With open-source software, B2B businesses can get greater agility and flexibility in different aspects ranging from catalog, orders, and users to features. Open-source software can facilitate B2B businesses to scale their platform alongside their business needs. Open-source e-commerce technology undoubtedly incurs some overheads in terms of development work, but the scalability is immense.
Save time and money with old school integration
Believe it or not, but replacing the current system, determining the best workflow of data, and tackling technical challenges can take a lot of time, effort, and expertise. Nobody has time for all these intricacies. Instead, B2B businesses these days integrate an open-source eCommerce platform with their legacy software. Along with the cost and time-saving benefits, integrating open-source with their current systems gives B2B businesses more flexibility. Typically most proprietary software demands users to have an up-to-date system. However, open-source ecommerce software is not as resource intensive.
Is open-source E-commerce software right for you?
Well, that completely depends on your business. If your enterprise needs are extremely complex and your business has a budget enough to handle the associated tech debt from setting up and maintaining the open-source infrastructure, then open-source eCommerce software might be the best alternative for you.
Conclusion
In the end, it is all about opting for the right marketplace software download that will work best for your business. Undoubtedly using open-source software for your ecommerce venture’s technology-related needs can be brilliant, but you need to select the best free open source eCommerce software provider to excel in all aspects of online integration. Get started with open source marketplace software download to unlock new levels of business growth.
