You are an eCommerce business selling your products online. You have achieved significant success and have an objective to scale up – make your operations efficient, integrate your business functions internally and externally and grow your sales online.
You want to make upgrades on your MagentoeCommerce store and are faced with a choice – whether to engage with a full stack development company, or with a freelancer. Whom will you choose?; or rather let’s put it this way, whom should you choose?
We share our perspective on this tricky question to help you arrive at an informed decision.
Full stack is far better
Full stack in development parlance means a developer/ designer who understand all the layers of technology – front and back-end and has the functional knowledge and ability to take a concept and turn it into a finished product. They can work with databases, PHP, HTML, CSS, JavaScript and everything in between.
It is obvious that development companies that offer a full stack portfolio are far better placed to handle your diverse needs than a freelancer with specialization in any one technology.
Development companies are more responsive and reliable
While freelancers may offer you the moon, the reality is that most freelancers are working on multiple projects at any given time and that too for different customers. They have a tendency to pick up more and more work and give preference to those customers who chase them more often. So you will end up calling and emailing a freelancer several times before getting a response.
Dependency on a freelancer is very critical
Let’s face it – your online eCommerce store is your bread and butter. For critical Magento Website Development tasks it is more advisable to give the project to a development company. If you work with a freelancer who is a one-man operation and if he or she falls sick, then just imagine what could be the implications for your business.
Long term vision is missing in freelancers
Freelancers are mostly concerned about your current needs. They are not the ideal set of folks with whom you can discuss about the long term goals of your eCommerce business and trends in Magento technology that impact your online business.
Magento website development tasks demand warranty and maintenance
A development company signs a contract to provide ongoing support and maintenance. This is usually for a period of 1- 3 months, but in special circumstances can extend to 6 months as well. On the other hand freelancers get typically involved in other projects and may not be available to even answer a phone call or an email requiring their assistance on a project. This can be very frustrating.
Pricing
Pricing wise freelancers are better because they do not have any overheads, work from their homes and usually understate income to avoid taxes. This way they are able to offer rock bottom prices. However, if you do a cost to value comparison, they fail miserably because the value they add is negligible. Development companies charge somewhat higher but at the end their services and value add surpass the price advantage.
Customer support
When dealing with a development company, you are assured customer support 24 x 7, whereas with a freelancer customer support is not guaranteed.
eCommerce SEO and other services
A development company can also offer other services to you in its portfolio, for example eCommerce SEO services. This works in your favour as the development company has worked on your website and a senior SEO resource will not spend too much time familiarizing himself, or herself with your website.
Conclusion
Though working with a freelancer might seem an attractive option for Magento website development, in the long run it makes economic sense to work with a development company.
Myself Mouzzam Jafri Head of Internet Marketing at Techindiasoftware. I have 6+ years of experience in IT Industry. My passion is in writing about Internet Marketing Currently I am writing about how to choose Best Shopify Development Company India & Hire WordPress Developer.
