Vendor-lock your agency customers with a white-label eCommerce SaaS platform

Is your agency servicing 20, 50, or 150 customers on Shopify, WooCommerce, or similar platforms? That's thousands of dollars in monthly subscriptions you're missing out on. Not to mention they can drop you anytime. Consider moving your existing customers to your own white-label eCommerce SaaS. It's sweet recurring revenue. And it will vendor-lock your customers for years and turn your business around.

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Vendo is increasingly being adopted by marketing and eCommerce agencies to transition their existing customers onto a proprietary, white-label platform that functions similarly to Shopify. This move enables agencies to charge a monthly subscription, creating a steady stream of recurring revenue.

By offering a tailored eCommerce solution, agencies can provide more value to their clients while simultaneously vendor-locking them for years to come. This model allows for greater control over the platform, enabling agencies to offer industry-specific features and integrations that set them apart from generic, off-the-shelf solutions.

8 reasons why agencies launch eCommerce SaaS platforms

In recent years, we've seen a growing trend of marketing and advertising agencies launching their own eCommerce SaaS platforms. This strategic move is driven by several key factors that benefit both the agencies and their clients. Let's delve deeper into why agencies are making this shift:

1. Offering a industry-tailored eCommerce platform to clients
By developing their own eCommerce platform, agencies can create a solution that's perfectly driven by their industry expertise. This allows them to offer a unique value proposition to clients, differentiating themselves in a crowded market. The platform can be tailored to reflect the agency's understanding of their clients' needs, incorporating features and workflows that address specific pain points in their target industries.

2. Creating recurring revenue through SaaS subscriptions
The traditional agency model often relies on project-based work or retainer fees. By launching an eCommerce SaaS platform, agencies can introduce a new, predictable revenue stream through recurring subscription fees. This not only provides financial stability but also increases the overall valuation of the agency business.

3. Vendor-locking customers in their own platform
When clients use an agency's proprietary eCommerce platform, they become more deeply integrated with the agency's ecosystem. This creates a significant barrier to switching, as moving to another platform would involve substantial time, effort, and potential disruption to the client's business. This 'vendor lock-in' helps agencies retain clients for longer periods, increasing customer lifetime value.

4. Differentiating with industry-specific eCommerce solutions
Generic eCommerce platforms may not always meet the unique requirements of specific industries. Agencies can leverage their sector-specific knowledge to create eCommerce solutions tailored to particular niches. This specialization allows them to offer features and functionalities that are highly relevant to their target market, giving them a competitive edge over generalist eCommerce providers.

5. Enhancing service offerings and upselling opportunities
An proprietary eCommerce platform opens up new avenues for service offerings. Agencies can provide platform training, customization services, ongoing support, and optimization consultancy. These additional services not only generate more revenue but also deepen the relationship with clients, positioning the agency as a comprehensive eCommerce partner rather than just a service provider.

6. Gaining valuable data and insights
By operating their own eCommerce platform, agencies gain access to a wealth of data about their clients' businesses and their customers' behaviors. This data can be leveraged to provide more informed marketing strategies, personalized recommendations, and data-driven optimizations, further enhancing the value provided to clients.

7. Scaling business more effectively
With a SaaS platform, agencies can scale their business more efficiently. Once the platform is developed, onboarding new clients becomes a streamlined process. This allows agencies to grow their client base without a proportional increase in overhead costs, improving profitability as they scale.

8. Adapting quickly to market changes
Owning the eCommerce platform gives agencies the ability to rapidly adapt to changing market conditions or emerging trends. They can quickly roll out new features or integrations across their entire client base, ensuring their offering remains cutting-edge and responsive to evolving eCommerce needs.

By launching their own eCommerce SaaS platforms, agencies are positioning themselves at the forefront of the digital commerce revolution. They're not just service providers anymore, but technology partners that can offer end-to-end solutions for their clients' eCommerce needs. This strategic move allows agencies to create more value, generate stable revenue, and build stronger, longer-lasting relationships with their clients.

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Pain points a white-label SaaS is addressing

Why are marketing and advertising agencies interested in migrating their customers to their own white-label eCommerce SaaS? While the recurring SaaS revenue and increased customer loyalty are certainly attractive, we've noticed several trends driving this shift:

1. Demand for comprehensive digital solutions: Clients are increasingly asking for end-to-end digital solutions, including eCommerce capabilities. By offering a white-label platform, agencies can meet this demand directly, providing a seamless experience from website design to online sales.
2. Customer retention and recurring revenue: Agencies are looking for ways to strengthen their relationships with clients and generate stable, recurring revenue. A proprietary eCommerce platform creates a deeper level of engagement and dependency, reducing client churn and providing a predictable income stream.
3. Niche-specific eCommerce solutions: There's a growing need for tailored eCommerce solutions for specific industries or niches. Generic platforms may not always meet the unique requirements of certain sectors. A white-label solution allows agencies to create customized features for their target markets, providing a significant competitive advantage.
4. Enhanced control and customization: With a white-label solution, agencies have greater control over the platform's features, updates, and integrations. This allows for rapid customization and adaptation to client needs, something that's not always possible with third-party platforms.
5. Improved data ownership and insights: By managing their own eCommerce platform, agencies can gain deeper insights into client performance and customer behavior. This data can be leveraged to provide more targeted marketing and optimization services.
6. Expanded service offerings: A proprietary eCommerce platform opens up new service opportunities, such as platform training, customization, and ongoing support. These additional services can significantly increase the average revenue per client.

Why Vendo?

At Vendo, we've developed a white-label ecommerce SaaS platform that's enabling agencies to offer their own tailored ecommerce solutions to their clients. Here's what makes it unique:

• Fully customizable and source-available, allowing you to create bespoke solutions for your clients
• Multi-tenant architecture, so you can manage multiple client stores from a single dashboard
• Flexibility to cater to various business models: B2B, DTC, marketplace, or hybrid approaches
• API-first architecture allowing you to attach, e.g., a native app storefront builder to your SaaS offering

If you're intrigued by the potential of a white-label eCommerce platform for your agency, Vendo offers a robust solution designed specifically for this purpose. It provides the flexibility and customization options needed to create a unique offering for your clients, while giving you the tools to manage and scale your eCommerce SaaS business effectively.

Ready to explore how a white-label eCommerce platform could transform your agency's business model? Let's discuss how Vendo can help you create a tailored solution that meets your specific needs and those of your clients. Contact us today to learn more about leveraging this opportunity to grow your agency and provide even more value to your customers.

The bottom line

Transitioning to a white-label eCommerce SaaS model can be a game-changer for marketing and advertising agencies. It addresses key pain points in the industry while opening up new revenue streams and deepening client relationships. An additional recurring revenue stream could make a substantial difference to your agency's bottom line and long-term stability.

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