There are 3 ways to run your ecommerce business – from end-to-end outsourcing to completely in-house.
Hiring for your ecommerce business can be a time-consuming and frustrating process. It’s not uncommon to spend hours crafting job descriptions, promoting listings, and even offering incentives to current employees for referrals while the position remains vacant for months, leaving your team stretched thin.
As brands scale, they typically explore three operational models for hiring: small in-house team with a mix of different agencies, fully in-house team, or fully outsourced solutions. Each approach offers unique benefits and challenges, depending on the business’s size and needs. In this article, we’ll discuss these models and their unique benefits and challenges.
Small In-House Team Working With Multiple Agencies: For Startups
A Deloitte study revealed that 67% of ecommerce businesses struggle to find talent with the right technical and industry expertise. With national unemployment rates still around 4% as of August 2024, competition for skilled talent remains high, and hiring can be challenging for smaller brands with limited budgets.
Many small brands, often working with teams of just 2-3 people, rely on agencies to fill gaps in specialized areas like performance marketing, SEO, customer service, development, and design. While agencies provide expertise, they often come with high hourly fees and may prioritize billable projects over revenue-driving initiatives. This misalignment can result in recommendations that may not deliver a strong ROI, as agencies focus more on maximizing hours than on boosting brand growth. Additionally, different agencies often work in silos, creating a lack of cohesion across ecommerce functions. Given that successful ecommerce requires tight coordination between marketing, operations, and customer support, this fragmented model can hinder a brand’s efficiency and alignment.
In-House Model: For Fully-Established Brands
For large businesses with significant revenue streams, running a fully in-house team provides the highest level of control over operations. With dedicated team members working exclusively for the company, brands can build alignment across departments, ensure brand consistency, and foster a deeper understanding of business objectives.
However, this approach can be costly due to salaries, benefits, and the resources required for training and onboarding, making it less feasible for smaller organizations with limited budgets. Additionally, in-house teams can be difficult to scale up or down to match the seasonality that many brands experience. The technical nature of ecommerce also adds hiring challenges, particularly for brands located outside major metropolitan areas where talent pools are more limited.
Fully Outsourced Model: Nogin’s Solution For Scaling Mid-Sized Brands
Completely outsourcing your ecommerce operations to Nogin offers a full-service model that integrates advanced technology, expert execution, and cutting-edge strategies designed specifically for scaling brands. By entrusting your ecommerce needs to Nogin, you gain access to a dedicated team of specialists, robust infrastructure, and intelligent technology – all without the complexities of in-house hiring or managing costly third-party agencies. Nogin’s Commerce-as-a-Service (CaaS) model enables brands to tap into a wealth of expertise and resources typically out of reach for mid-sized businesses.
Here are some clear indicators that outsourcing your brand’s ecommerce operations to Nogin might be the best move for your business:
You’re experiencing high costs and budget constraints.
Nogin’s cost-effective approach provides end-to-end ecommerce services and technology with a predictable, percentage-based fee structure. This eliminates the need for a large upfront investment, allowing you to leverage expert support and enterprise-level technology without straining your budget.
Your growth has stalled, and you need fresh insights to drive momentum.
With Nogin managing over 40 global brands across industries like apparel, footwear, health and beauty, outdoor, home furnishings, sports equipment, and jewelry, we understand what drives growth across varied ecommerce landscapes. As ecommerce rapidly changes, Nogin’s expertise helps you stay ahead of trends, making necessary adjustments before growth is affected, keeping your brand competitive and positioned for renewed momentum.
You’re having trouble finding specialized talent.
Nogin’s team brings deep expertise across all aspects of ecommerce, including platform management, performance marketing, conversion rate optimization, strategy, creative and customer support. By providing specialists in every area on your team, Nogin will enable you to sidestep the challenges of sourcing and hiring full-time experts, gaining instant access to the right people who are focused on growing your brand.
You have workload fluctuations and need flexibility.
Outsourcing with Nogin allows you to easily adjust resources based on seasonality or market trends. Nogin handles all of the fluctuations related to workload and staffing, making it easy to align with changing business demands without the limitations and cost of in-house employees.
You’re looking for accelerated growth without the burden of replatforming.
Nogin’s proprietary Intelligent Commerce technology seamlessly integrates with your existing Shopify Plus setup, allowing you to access advanced analytics, customer segmentation, and marketing optimization without the need for disruptive replatforming. If you are currently on an ecommerce platform besides Shopify Plus, Nogin will replatform you for free as part of our onboarding process. This streamlined solution helps you stay ahead in ecommerce by continuously evolving with market demands and best practices.
You’re managing multiple brands and need an efficient ecommerce solution for your portfolio.
Nogin’s Private Equity solutions enable PE firms and brand-buying groups to centralize ecommerce operations for portfolio brands with a scalable, no-upfront-cost model. Nogin’s advanced data and analytics ensure each brand optimizes growth, revenue, and performance, providing PE firms with streamlined oversight and enhanced enterprise value.
At Nogin, we can run your brand end-to-end – so you can gain access to top-tier professionals and technology without having to build an internal team or manage agencies on your own. If you think you’re ready to outsource your D2C operations, let’s schedule a call.
