A new report from Gartner notes that ecommerce website may be better suited spending their budgets on items like search engine optimization rather than a custom website.

According to the report, these sites may be able to save up to 35 percent by purchasing off-the-shelf products rather than custom building a website or other development projects. That money could then be spent on drawing visitors to the site.

Gene Lavarez, vice president of research at Gartner, said that this type of customization is likely a "waste of effort" to most ecommerce companies.

"For example, a developer who supports a commodity function, such as shopping cart management, would be better to develop rich internet shopping capabilities or improve site design for search engine optimization so that the site can rank higher in a Google-based search," he said.

It is expected that retailers will increase their online marketing efforts like search engine optimization (SEO) throughout this year.

According to a report released last week from Shop.org and conducted by Forrester Research, 70 percent of retailers said they plan on maintaining or increasing online marketing budgets.

Katherine Griwert is Brafton's Marketing Director. She's practiced content marketing, SEO and social marketing for over five years, and her enthusiasm for new media has even deeper roots. Katherine holds a degree in American Studies from Boston College, and her writing is featured in a number of web publications.