Advantages and Disadvantages of Outsourcing Your E-Commerce Site Development

So, you’re debating whether to outsource e-commerce site development. You’re not alone. According to the latest outsourcing statistics, a majority of companies outsource development functions.

You also know that, as with everything in business, outsourcing e-commerce site development has both benefits and challenges. 

After all, building a successful e-commerce site isn’t just about slapping together a few web pages. It requires technical expertise in UX design, front-end and back-end coding, ongoing support, seamless functionality, and more.

In this article, we explore the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing e-commerce site development to help you figure out if it’s the right move for your business. We will also introduce nearshore hiring as an alternative approach. 

Advantages of Outsourcing E-Commerce Development

Building an e-commerce site is a massive undertaking. You need developers who understand payment systems, security requirements, user experience, and mobile optimization—and that’s just the baseline.

Finding all those skills in-house (and being able to afford them) is getting harder by the day.

That’s why more companies are turning to outsourcing. When done right, it solves a lot of the headaches that come with building and maintaining an e-commerce site.

Here’s why many businesses choose to outsource e-commerce development:

1. Cost savings without sacrificing quality

Let’s talk real numbers. When you hire in-house developers in the US, you’re looking at $130K+ for a senior developer, plus benefits, equipment, office space, and other overhead costs. And that’s if you can even find someone—most companies spend 3–6 months just trying to fill these positions.

Outsourcing flips this equation in two ways:

First, you can scale your development resources based on what you actually need. Instead of maintaining a full-time team year-round, you can ramp up during the build phase and scale down during maintenance. You’re not paying for idle time between major updates or features.

Second, established development companies have economies of scale working in their favor. They’re spreading costs across multiple clients—everything from development tools and licenses to security infrastructure and testing environments. They’ve already invested in the technical stack, training, and specialized expertise that would be expensive for individual companies to build from scratch.

When you combine this with working with developers in countries where the cost of living is lower (and therefore the labor costs are lower) than in the US, the savings multiply.

You get the benefit of both the outsourcing company’s efficient operations and the lower market rates in these regions.

This isn’t about paying people less. Developers in these regions earn great salaries relative to their local markets.

It’s about tapping into natural market differences that make it possible to get excellent value while still paying competitive local rates.

2. Access to a global talent pool

Outsourcing opens the door to a wider network of tech specialists. Instead of being limited to finding the skills you need locally, you can find top-tier professionals experienced in e-commerce platforms like Shopify, Magento, or WooCommerce from all over the world.

Take Latin America, which is one of the most popular outsourcing destinations for US businesses. In recent years, it has become a growing tech hub. In 2023, Brazil alone had around 500,000 software developers, while Mexico had 220,000, and Argentina totaled 115,000. 

That’s a massive talent pool ready to bring your e-commerce vision to life.

3. Faster time-to-market and scalability

You’re rushing to get your e-commerce site live. The original deadline you had in mind was last week. So, there is no time to go through a lengthy recruitment process, onboarding, and training an internal team. 

This is when outsourcing shines. Most staffing companies or outsourcing agencies have seasoned developers ready to spring into action immediately, eliminating the need to find and then train new hires.

Once the site goes live, you can downsize the team without overcommitting resources. 

4. Less overload and more core business operations

The outsourced development team handles the technical heavy lifting. Instead of getting tangled up in coding, bug fixes, and security patches, you can focus on core functions—like marketing, product development, and customer engagement.

You also get continuous support and maintenance, making sure your e-commerce site stays operational even when your in-house team is off the clock. This prevents spreading yourself too thin and eliminates the chances of burnout from juggling too many responsibilities.

5. Advanced technology and expertise

Outsourcing partners stay in the loop with the newest tools, frameworks, industry trends, and best practices. Same as you, they need to stay competitive.

As a result, your e-commerce platform will be built using the most advanced e-commerce technologies and solutions, like AI-driven product recommendations, voice search optimization, and advanced data analytics—without having to invest in costly internal training, expensive tools, or infrastructure upgrades. 

Disadvantages of Outsourcing E-Commerce Development

Look, outsourcing isn’t all smooth sailing. Even companies that are doing it successfully hit some rough patches along the way.

You need to go in with your eyes open about the challenges—especially since your e-commerce site is such a critical part of your business.

Here are the main disadvantages we see companies struggle with, and more importantly, how to handle them:

1. Less control over the development process

When you outsource, you give up a certain level of control over the site development process. You’re no longer managing the day-to-day tasks, which can create challenges, especially if the outsourcing team doesn’t fully grasp your business needs or brand identity.

Limited visibility into the team’s workflow can also make it harder to monitor progress or address issues promptly.

Choosing communication channels that work and setting detailed project requirements from the start will help with this.

Daily 10–15 minute check-ins, progress reports, and feedback loops can also help retain some control over the outsourced project.

2. Potential quality concerns

If you choose a low-cost provider, you might end up with subpar code, security vulnerabilities, or a slow e-commerce site that frustrates users. But the same can happen if you outsource to the most expensive team and take a “set-it-and-forget-it” attitude. 

Quality control is your responsibility. So, get proactive about it from day one. Establish clear quality metrics like customer satisfaction scores and resolution rates. 

Also, consider signing a service-level agreement (SLA) that outlines all of the above. 

Regular audits, code reviews, and calibration sessions will ensure everyone is aligned on standards or at least catch issues before they escalate. 

3. Communication and time zone challenges

If your outsourced team is on the other side of the world, communication and scheduling meetings can be tricky. This can create bottlenecks, missed deadlines, and frustrations, especially if there’s an emergency outside the outsourced team’s working hours.

Communication protocols, such as consistent meeting times, collaborative tools like Slack or Microsoft Teams, and setting expectations for response times (e.g., implementing a 24-hour response rule), can alleviate this risk. 

4. Security and intellectual property risks

Sharing sensitive data is part of outsourcing e-commerce site development. Therefore, the chance to expose yourself to data breaches and IP theft increases.

Make sure your outsourcing partners follow international security standards and have a solid security strategy in place. They should also be compliant with data privacy laws such as GDPR or CCPA.

And lastly, limit access to sensitive data to only the team members that cannot complete their work without it. 

5. Hidden costs

Unexpected expenses can slip easily into your e-commerce site development budget. Even a small adjustment—tweaking a payment gateway or fixing compatibility issues—can mean extra fees. 

Unclear project requirements, miscommunication, or misunderstandings are usually the most common culprits in these cases. If working with international teams, currency fluctuations can also influence costs (depending on the agreement you have in place).

The solution? Work with an outsourcing partner that offers transparent pricing and set up detailed contracts that don’t leave room for interpretation.

An Approach for Getting the Pros While Limiting the Cons: Nearshore Hiring

If you’re worried about the downsides of outsourcing but still want the benefits, consider nearshore hiring. It’s simple—instead of outsourcing to third-party providers on the other side of the world, you hire developers in nearby countries. For US companies, this typically means Latin American countries.

Why LatAm? You get three key advantages:

1. Major cost savings (30–70% less than US salaries) due to lower living costs
2. Real working day overlap for easy collaboration. The maximum time difference is five hours (e.g., LA to Rio), but it’s easy to stay within a 0–2 hour difference.
3. A massive pool of experienced developers 

So, back to e-comm development, if what you’re building is core to your business, you’ll want an in-house team to bring your vision to life. But “in-house” doesn’t always mean “on-site.” Your developers can work remotely and still be an integral part of your company.

With nearshore hiring, you maintain complete control over your project and get true team members who are invested in your success, but at a fraction of US hiring costs. These developers work your hours, attend your meetings, and become part of your company culture. They just happen to work remotely from Latin America.

You get the agility and cost savings of outsourcing with the cohesion and control of an in-house team. 

And it works! Just take a look at these success stories:

• Tribu, a San Antonio-based agency, hired a nearshore web designer with both graphic design and web development skills. They saved $37,000 in overhead per year and cut their hiring time by 75%, finding the perfect candidate in just 24 days. 
• Bonfire, an online platform, grew its product team 2x as fast while saving $53,000 annually. This is 52% savings compared to US hires that came from hiring a LatAm UX engineer. 
• Delve, a digital consulting firm in Colorado, saved nearly $500,000 annually in payroll costs by hiring skilled professionals in Latin America.

Final Thoughts

The reality is, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for e-commerce development. The key is matching your approach to what matters most for your business.

If you need tight control over every detail of the development process, traditional outsourcing might create more problems than it solves.

But if you were considering that route because you’re struggling to find affordable development talent with e-commerce expertise, looking beyond US borders could be your best move.

So, before jumping into outsourcing to a development company, consider building your own team with Latin American talent.

At Near, we take the time to deeply understand not just your technical requirements, but your company culture and team dynamics. We know that finding the right e-commerce developer isn’t just about checking off technical skills. It’s about finding someone who will mesh with your existing team and contribute to your company’s growth.

Want to explore this option? Book a free consultation call. We’ll walk you through current market rates for e-commerce developers in Latin America, share some example profiles that match your needs, and help you understand how building a team with LatAm talent could work for your business.