# Should a bakery use bakery software or a general online store builder?

> A general store builder suits finished goods that ship from a shelf. Bakery software suits baking to order, with dates, deposits, allergens and costing built in.

It depends on what you sell. A general online store builder is made for
products that already exist, sit on a shelf and ship in a box, and it does that
very well. Most bakery orders do not work that way: the cake does not exist
yet, its size and filling change the price and the allergens, it has to be
ready for one particular day, and that day might already be full. Bakery
software is built around those facts. If you sell packaged, shelf-stable goods
posted nationwide, a store builder is a fair fit. If you bake to order for a
date, bakery software saves you the workarounds.

## Side by side

| Job | A general online store builder | Bakery software |
|---|---|---|
| Selling a finished product | Its main strength | Yes, from the same products as the rest of the bakery |
| Ordering for a date | Usually an add-on or a note at checkout | Pickup and delivery dates respect your lead times, blocked days and time slots |
| Custom work | A contact form, then quoting by email | An enquiry you answer with a quote, paid by deposit from the customer's link |
| Deposits and balances | Usually paid in full only | A deposit now and the balance on a schedule, with reminders |
| Allergens | Typed into each product description | Carried from the ingredient to the product, updating as the customer picks options |
| What a product costs you | Not usually tracked | Costed from what you paid for the ingredients |
| What to bake each day | Exported and counted by hand | A production list built from the orders |
| Themes and apps | Large choice | A set of bakery templates |

## What a store builder does well

- **A wide choice of themes and apps**, and a large community that has solved
  most general shop problems before you.
- **Shipping finished goods.** If your products are packaged, labelled and
  posted to customers across the country, a store builder is designed around
  exactly that.
- **Selling beyond baking.** Merchandise, kits and gift cards sit comfortably
  next to each other.

## Where it gets awkward for baking to order

A shop that assumes stock on a shelf has no idea that Saturday is full, that a
three-tier cake needs a week's notice or that switching to a peanut filling
changes the allergen label. Bakers end up adding date pickers, capping orders
by hand and moving custom work into direct messages, so the shop becomes a
brochure and the real orders happen somewhere else. Costs and production are
outside the shop altogether, so they live in another spreadsheet.

## How ibakepro handles it

- **A storefront for made-to-order baking.** Customers choose sizes and
  flavours, pick a pickup or delivery date that respects your lead times and
  blocked days, see the allergens for what they chose, and pay into your own
  Stripe account. An order exists only once it is paid. See
  [the storefront](/features/online-storefront), on Growth and Business.
- **Custom work as a quote.** An enquiry form lands in ibakepro, you reply with
  a quote that can carry several options, and the customer picks one and pays
  the deposit from their own link. See
  [orders and quotes](/features/orders-and-quotes).
- **Limited runs that cannot oversell.** A
  [drop](/features/limited-release-drops) sells a fixed number, and stock is
  claimed the moment it enters a cart.
- **The kitchen side.** The same products carry their costs from what you paid
  for ingredients, and the bake list is built from the orders.
- **Your own address.** Every account gets an ibakepro web address, and on
  Growth and Business you can connect a domain you already own.

Your website and enquiry form are on every plan, with a 14-day free trial.
Prices are on the [pricing page](/pricing).