E-com Brands Embraced DIY Solutions in 2025.
Industry insight from Business of Fashion <> January 2026.
In 2025, many fast-growing e-commerce brands began rethinking their dependence on off-the-shelf platforms. As competition increased, differentiation became harder to achieve using standard tools alone.
While platforms like Shopify continue to power core commerce functions, brands generating over $100M in revenue increasingly chose a hybrid approach. Instead of outsourcing everything, they started building select features in-house while keeping complex infrastructure external.
The Shift Toward DIY, But Not Everything
Well-funded digital brands are investing in internal tech teams to gain more control over their customer experience. The goal is speed, flexibility, and differentiation.
Rather than abandoning platforms entirely, brands are:
Building custom website designs and front-end experiences
Owning personalization, content feeds, and data collection
Outsourcing complex systems like checkout, payments, and logistics
This approach allows brands to stand out without taking on unnecessary technical risk.
Why $100M Is a Turning Point
Once brands cross the $100M revenue mark, growth pressure increases. They face competition from both emerging startups and established retailers. At the same time, customer expectations for personalization rise.
At this stage, standard templates and default user interfaces often become limiting. Brands want faster experimentation, deeper data ownership, and more control over how shoppers experience their store.
Lessons From the Market
Not every in-house build pays off. Some brands, like Glossier, learned that over-investing in custom tech too early can be costly. Others, like Outcast Clothing, focused on high-impact areas such as mobile experiences where customization clearly improved conversion and loyalty.
The most successful brands prioritized what truly moved the needle and outsourced the rest.
The Smart Middle Ground
The winning strategy in 2025 was not DIY versus software. It was choosing the right mix.
Brands that succeeded:
Built only what directly supported their business model
Outsourced time-consuming or high-risk systems
Started small, proved value, and expanded gradually
This balanced approach helped brands stay agile, control costs, and stand out in an increasingly crowded e-commerce market.
Why this Trend Doesn't Cover Returns (Float commentary)
While this increased competition in customer acquisition and loyalty is pushing digitally native brands toward in-house development.
We saw newer brands building internal tech teams to manage parts of their e-commerce operations.
And also that they focus on less expensive features like website design while outsourcing complex tools like checkout, logistics and returns.
This shift is driven by the need to offer unique shopping experiences that build customer loyalty.
It highlights a broader and really interesting trend of brands investing more heavily in differentiation.
Brands owning more technical capabilities is a great thing, and will be a major unlock for success in the future.
However, too many custom solutions can be risky (maintenance challenges and lack of innovation) and this is why returns still remain an outsourced operational software.