Here at Shift4Shop, we understand that your business may outgrow standard eCommerce platform features and functions. So, we are proud to have introduced our new Enterprise Agency Services that are tailored for the world’s biggest brands and most demanding businesses. To learn what makes our service different from the rest, keep reading to understand the basics of enterprise eCommerce software and what we offer.

 

What is Enterprise eCommerce Software?

Your eCommerce business is considered “enterprise” when it boasts a high volume of sales and traffic. In order to keep up with an enterprise business’s large scale, enterprise eCommerce software offers more than basic versions. A quality enterprise eCommerce software and hosting solution will be able to handle any volume of sales and traffic that your business may get, scaling with your business seamlessly

Enterprise eCommerce software should have a few key things that differentiate itself from a typical eCommerce software plan. First, it should provide a centralized solution for your business’s accounting, eCommerce, order processing, and all other functions of your store. Secondly, it should be able to appropriately handle a large business with multiple locations or servers; this is what it’s made for, after all. But, beyond that, there are two different routes you can go with when deciding on a platform for your enterprise business.

 

Licensed & Open-Source Platforms vs SaaS Enterprise Platforms

When it comes to enterprise eCommerce software, licensed, open-source, and SaaS are the main types of hosting solutions. Each come with their own advantages and disadvantages, so learn the differences first before you decide which is right for your business.

 

Licensed & Open Source Platforms

These types of enterprise eCommerce platforms require a long list of steps that you must complete before your online store can get up and running. You must start with finding what online store hosting solution is compatible with your preferred platform, then install the required engine, site template, specific customizations, and content management system.

Because this type of enterprise software is so complicated, there is naturally a high learning curve for most users. You’ll most likely end up having to pay a specialized developer to implement your software, which will cost extra on top of the software you’ve already purchased. On top of that, you’re basically left on your own in the way of support and maintenance. You’ll have to contract support privately, and implement any bug fixes or code changes in the software yourself.

Let’s break down the reality of using licensed and open-source platforms:

  • License Cost: Ranges from $22k to $1M depending on the platform and plan.
  • Time to Market: Ranges from 1 to 48 months depending on platform and plan.
  • Average Implementation Cost: Ranges from $80k to $6M depending on platform and plan.

 

SaaS Platforms

Software as a service, or SaaS, has become an increasingly popular option for most enterprise eCommerce businesses. This is because SaaS cuts out all of the difficulty that licensed and open-source platforms come with by making its interface simple and easy to use, eliminating any steep learning curve. SaaS pricing plans work much differently from licensed and open-source plans as well; instead of buying an entire piece of software outright, you’re renting an online software for as long as you’re using it. Because of this, you have the added benefit of maintenance being done for you by the software’s developers, and support being there to help with any issues that may arise.

SaaS eCommerce platforms also boast the benefit of being scalable and easily adaptable to the needs of all users. This is because they often have, on top of a variety of built-in features, a whole host of apps, extensions, and plugins that you can add wherever you see fit.

Let’s break down the specifics of using a SaaS platform:

  • License Cost: Starts at $499 a month and goes up depending on the platform and plan.
  • Time to Market: Ranges from 3 months to 6 months depending on the platform and plan.
  • Average Implementation Cost: Ranges from $0k to $20k depending on the platform and plan.

However, when it comes down to choosing an enterprise SaaS platform, there’s definitely a difference in services offered that you should be aware of. Shopify Plus, for example, doesn’t have the option for a one-page checkout, only has about 70 payment gateways (compared to Shift4Shop's over 100), and charges a percentage fee for every transaction. Bigcommerce Enterprise has even less payment gateway integrations (coming in at fewer than 40), charges high prices for responsive themes, and hits you with penalty fees for going over a certain order limit. It’s important to keep all of this in mind when choosing a SaaS platform for your enterprise business; you don’t want to be stuck with a financial headache.

 

Shift4Shop's Enterprise eCommerce Platform

So, now that you know the basics of enterprise eCommerce platforms, you might be wondering what we offer. Well, Shift4Shop's Enterprise eCommerce Platform is one of the best SaaS-based platforms for your online business on the market, offering scalable eCommerce hosting with fast site performance, unlimited disk space, and unlimited email hosting. Here are a few of the key features that our platform offers:

  • Secure Level 1 PCI Hosting: This is the same security level that banks and large financial institutions use.
  • 20 - Unlimited Staff Users: Our Enterprise I plan offers 20 admin staff users and our Enterprise II plan offers an unlimited amount with no extra fees.
  • DDOS Protection: Through the power of Cloudflare, we protect your online store from a range of online threats from spammers and DDOS attacks.
  • FTP Access to Files: All plans include bank-grade security to ensure your customer data is safe and secure.
  • Daily Data Backups: In case you delete or overwrite any file, you can restore it with this backup feature.
  • IP Blocking Security Feature: You’re in control of who can access your web store and administration panel, whether it’s an unwanted user or an employee after-hours.
  • 99% Uptime with 24/7 Monitoring: Our PCI-certified eCommerce web hosting facilities guarantee performance and security with the use of multiple data centers and points of access across the country.
  • 24/7/365 Priority Support: Our best technical support experts are available any time you need via phone, email, and chat for all of our plans, but our enterprise plan additionally includes access to a dedicated webmaster that will handle any tasks not covered by regular tech support.

All of these features and more make Shift4Shop Enterprise eCommerce Platform the most scalable, secure, and powerful enterprise eCommerce solution. But, that’s probably not everything you’ll need as an enterprise business; you most likely need a webmaster as well.

 

What is a Webmaster?

If you’re busy running an enterprise-level eCommerce business, then you probably don’t have time to be mulling over all of the details of running your website constantly. Thankfully, that’s where webmasters come in. Webmasters are specialists who work to fill maintenance duties and several other essential roles that your website needs to stay running. There are a few key roles that a quality webmaster should be filling for your site:

  • Website Maintenance
  • Troubleshooting
  • Programming
  • Marketing and SEO
  • Web Design

The webmaster that you utilize for your online business is crucial to your website’s success, and ultimately, your business as a whole. Thankfully, you can take all of the weight off of your shoulders, because Shift4Shop now offers a dedicated myWebmaster plan for your enterprise eCommerce business.

 

Shift4Shop Dedicated myWebmaster Plan

With Shift4Shop's Dedicated myWebmaster Plan, merchants now have access to their very own dedicated webmaster with fully managed webmaster services. This agency-level service is exactly what merchants need to be relieved of tedious day-to-day website responsibilities and tasks.

This plan’s services include setup services like Google AdWords conversion setup, Google trusted stores setup, Google form setup, email account setup, domain name changes, and third-party SSL installation. We also offer data entry services, which include store copy, backup restores, FTP file upload, product information imports, and many more.

Additionally, our dedicated myWebmaster plan offers a variety of services by web design experts to fine-tune your site, including HTML editing, CSS editing, image optimization, and more. We also offer results-driven marketing and SEO services, which will provide your store with Facebook Ads, Google Shopping setup, SEO site audits, Google Analytics setup, and anything else you may need to drive revenue to your store.

The Dedicated plan offers 20 hours of service per month (average task takes 1.5 – 2 hours), 3 simultaneous job requests at a time, 1-3 business days guaranteed completion time, with access to a list of advanced services not accessible to lower-tier myWebmaster subscribers.

 

Are You Interested?

Merchants interested in any of Shift4Shop's Enterprise Agency Services can contact our sales team at 1.800.828.6650 x 805 or email enterprise@shift4shop.com for more information.