Future of eCommerce Automation: Best-of-Breed vs Best-of-Suite?

DynamicWeb

What are best-of-breed software solutions?

Best-of-breed is defined as being best in its specific, relatively narrow niche. The included features in those platforms and applications are often very complex and tailored to their specific function. 

In the eCommerce ecosystem, best-of-breed solutions might include specialized search engines that offer advanced product discovery, dedicated payment processors optimized for global commerce, AI-powered personalization engines that drive product recommendations and create rich experiences, or inventory management systems designed for omnichannel fulfillment. These specialized tools excel in their specific functions but require integration with your core eCommerce platform.

However, the more specialized solution you choose, the less flexibility you get. On the plus side, you get advanced features that work properly without question, but on the downside, these features are not necessarily aligned with your business and requirements. This often requires installing and integrating additional applications to cover all requirements, and creates challenges in delivering consistent omnichannel customer experiences. 

What are best-of-suite software solutions?

Best-of-suite is an increasingly popular alternative to best-of-breed solutions that offers significant advantages. This approach is defined as having one complete, all-in-one solution for many business needs at the same time. Features could include eCommerce, CMS, Marketing, and PIM (as in the DynamicWeb eCommerce Suite) or others. They often extend to include built-in features for personalization, search, analytics, and omnichannel selling—all managed from a single interface with consistent data and user experiences.

The strength lies in seamless integration. Best-of-suite solutions are often highly flexible, easily adaptable to specific business requirements, and have their own advantages. Being specifically tailored to the individual company needs with unique sets of features is one of them, as well as fewer applications and software vendors to deal with. They are also often more cost-effective than a stack of best-of-breed solutions and provide a single source of truth for customer data, which is increasingly important for personalization and compliance requirements.

How do I choose the solution that suits my company best?

For eCommerce businesses, the choice between best-of-breed and best-of-suite solutions should be guided by your specific business model, growth objectives, and customer experience goals. Here are key considerations to help you make the right decision:

• Business Complexity and Scale: For businesses with complex product catalogs, multiple storefronts, or unique selling processes, you can benefit from the specialized capabilities and seamless integration of best-of-suite solutions.
• Customer Experience Requirements: If delivering a consistent, personalized experience across multiple touchpoints is critical, best-of-suite solutions offer advantages through unified customer data and integrated touchpoints.
• Growth Trajectory: Fast-growing eCommerce businesses often benefit from the scalability of an integrated suite that can expand functionality as you grow. Businesses with highly unpredictable needs and growth trajectories may want to be able to swap individual components that come with a best-of-breed approach.
• Technical Resources: Consider your in-house technical capabilities. Managing multiple best-of-breed solutions requires more integration expertise and ongoing maintenance. Best-of-suite platforms typically require less technical overhead without sacrificing on customizability.
• Time to Market: If speed to market is critical, best-of-suite solutions generally offer faster implementation for core functionality. Best-of-breed approaches often extend timelines due to integration requirements but may enable fast innovation in specific areas.
• Total Cost of Ownership: Look beyond license costs to consider integration expenses, maintenance requirements, and opportunity costs associated with each approach. Best-of-suite solutions typically offer lower initial integration costs.
• Future Flexibility: Consider how each approach positions you to adopt emerging technologies and enter new markets. Best-of-suite solutions with API-first architecture like DynamicWeb provide the integration benefits of a suite while maintaining the flexibility to adapt to future needs.

When evaluating options, also consider the vendor's eCommerce expertise, implementation support, and the ecosystem of partners who can help maximize your success. You can read more about important considerations for your next eCommerce project in our whitepaper Build vs. Buy.

Conclusion

Both concepts have advantages. However, the focus on customization, ongoing flexibility, and support of best-of-fit solutions will be the best option for most companies. Complex, expensive, and traditionally known software vendors are slowly going out of style—for these very reasons.

DynamicWeb is a best-of-fit solution that combines eCommerce, Marketing, CMS, and PIM in a single platform with an API-first architecture that maintains flexibility to adapt to your specific business requirements. Our team supports you every step of the way during implementation and beyond. We love the challenge of new ideas and impulses to incorporate into your solution.

In addition, the DynamicWeb platform has standard integrations to the major ERP systems, as well as many other add-ons. Take a look at our customer cases and see how we have helped over 5,000 customers succeed with innovative, unique solutions.

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References:
https://dynamicweb.com/products/ecommerce
https://dynamicweb.com/resources/downloads/white-papers/guide-to-b2b-ecommerce
https://dynamicweb.com/products/content-management
https://dynamicweb.com/products/digital-marketing
https://dynamicweb.com/products/product-information-management
https://dynamicweb.com/main
https://dynamicweb.com/resources/downloads/white-papers/build-v-buy
https://dynamicweb.com/add-ons-extensions/marketplace
https://dynamicweb.com/customers