What is BigCommerce & Why Use BigCommerce for Your Online Store in 2024

In the fast-paced world of digital commerce, selecting an e-commerce platform that aligns with your business goals is essential for success. As we approach 2024, BigCommerce stands out as a robust solution tailored for ambitious online stores seeking scalability and efficiency. Established in 2009, BigCommerce has distinguished itself not just as a platform for creating online stores but as a comprehensive ecosystem enriched with diverse functionalities, from BigCommerce SEO tools to advanced BigCommerce API integrations.

One of the core advantages of BigCommerce is its competitive BigCommerce pricing structure, which caters to a range of businesses, from new entrants to seasoned market players. The platform offers a clear edge over rivals, notably in the BigCommerce vs Shopify and BigCommerce vs WooCommerce debates, where ease of use, customization capabilities, and cost-effectiveness come into play. These comparisons often highlight BigCommerce as a more inclusive and adaptable option, capable of supporting a broad spectrum of retail activities without imposing steep learning curves.

Moreover, the availability of BigCommerce themes and BigCommerce apps enhances the user experience by providing customizable templates and extensions that expand the store's functionality and aesthetic appeal. Whether integrating third-party applications or utilizing the BigCommerce app store, merchants have at their fingertips various tools to optimize their e-commerce operations and improve customer engagement.

For businesses preparing to either launch or upgrade their online presence in 2024, BigCommerce offers a promising platform that combines reliability, extensive support, and advanced features. It's designed to help businesses efficiently navigate the complexities of online selling and excel in a competitive digital marketplace.

BigCommerce is a powerful cloud-based e-commerce platform that provides businesses of all sizes with the tools they need to build, manage, and scale online stores. Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, BigCommerce has become a major player in the digital commerce arena, boasting a suite of features that facilitate robust online store operations. This platform is especially favored by businesses seeking to harness the power of modern technology to enhance their retail offerings without incurring significant development costs.

Core Features of BigCommerce

1. Ease of Use: BigCommerce offers an intuitive user interface that simplifies the setup and management of an online store. This accessibility makes it possible for business owners with minimal technical expertise to build and customize their e-commerce sites effectively.
2. Scalability: The platform supports businesses as they grow, accommodating spikes in traffic and sales seamlessly. This scalability is one of the reasons why comparisons such as BigCommerce vs Shopify and BigCommerce vs WooCommerce often highlight BigCommerce as the more robust solution for growing enterprises.
3. Customization and Themes: With a rich repository of responsive BigCommerce themes, merchants can design stores that not only look professional but are also optimized for conversions. These themes are adjustable to various branding needs, ensuring that every storefront can deliver a unique customer experience.
4. E-commerce Tools and Applications: The BigCommerce app store features a vast array of applications that enhance store functionalities—from improving BigCommerce SEO to streamlining customer interactions. These tools are crucial for merchants aiming to extend their store’s capabilities beyond the standard offerings.
5. Advanced SEO Capabilities: BigCommerce’s built-in SEO tools are designed to boost online visibility. Effective use of these tools helps ensure that stores attract quality traffic and maintain competitive search rankings.
6. Robust API and Integration Options: The BigCommerce API allows for extensive integration with various third-party applications and systems, making it easier for businesses to synchronize their operations across multiple platforms and services.

Why Choose BigCommerce in 2024?

Choosing BigCommerce in 2024 means opting for a platform that not only keeps pace with e-commerce trends but also anticipates future needs. The platform’s commitment to innovation is evident in its continuous updates and feature enhancements, ensuring merchants can always access cutting-edge tools. Furthermore, the diversity of BigCommerce apps and the flexibility offered by the BigCommerce API mean that businesses can tailor the platform extensively to fit their specific operational requirements.

Additionally, the focus on optimizing BigCommerce SEO capabilities ensures that stores built on this platform can achieve and maintain high visibility in an increasingly crowded digital marketplace. For businesses looking to expand their online presence, BigCommerce provides a robust, scalable solution that can adapt to the dynamic nature of global e-commerce.

Navigating through the available pricing plans of BigCommerce reveals a structured approach designed to accommodate businesses at varying stages of growth. Each plan is tailored to meet specific business needs, providing a suite of features that scale with the growth of your online store.

Overview of BigCommerce Pricing

BigCommerce offers a range of pricing tiers that start with a 15-day free trial, allowing businesses to explore the platform's capabilities before committing financially. The plans are structured as follows:

1. Standard Plan: Priced at $39 per month, this plan is ideal for small businesses just starting their online journey. It includes all the essentials for setting up a comprehensive online store, such as unlimited products, file storage, bandwidth, and staff accounts, making it a cost-effective entry point.
2. Plus Plan: At $105 per month, the Plus plan is the most popular choice among growing businesses. It builds on the Standard plan by offering additional marketing tools designed to increase conversion rates, such as customer segmentation and abandoned cart saver, which are vital for enhancing user engagement and sales.
3. Pro Plan: Targeted at high-volume stores, this plan costs $399 per month and supports up to $400k in online sales per year, with fees adjusting for higher sales volumes. It includes more advanced features like Google customer reviews, product filtering, and an increased number of API calls and inventory locations, catering to businesses with larger operations and more complex needs.
4. Enterprise Plan: Custom pricing applies to this plan, which is crafted for large enterprises requiring a highly customized e-commerce solution. Features include unlimited API calls and the ability to negotiate special credit card rates, providing substantial flexibility and support for extensive business operations.

Key Features Across All Plans

All plans come with no additional transaction fees and provide access to essential features like a mobile-responsive website, multi-currency support, real-time shipping quotes, and professional reporting tools. Enhanced features such as the ShipperHQ shipping rules engine and dedicated SSL are also included to ensure high levels of security and functionality.

Comparative Advantage

Comparing BigCommerce vs Shopify or BigCommerce vs WooCommerce, BigCommerce’s transparent pricing and inclusive features offer significant value, particularly for mid to large-sized businesses. The lack of transaction fees and inclusion of advanced features in lower-tier plans provide a competitive edge in total cost of ownership and feature accessibility.

Strategic Value of BigCommerce Pricing

The BigCommerce pricing strategy is designed to support business growth without sudden increases in cost. This predictability, combined with the platform’s robust BigCommerce SEO tools and advanced BigCommerce API capabilities, enables businesses to expand their operations efficiently while optimizing their e-commerce strategies.

Future-Proofing with BigCommerce

As businesses project their growth into 2024 and beyond, choosing a scalable platform like BigCommerce ensures they can adapt to changing market conditions and consumer behaviors without platform constraints. The structured pricing tiers and comprehensive feature sets across the BigCommerce plans make it an ideal choice for businesses aiming for long-term success in the digital marketplace.

When evaluating e-commerce platforms, choosing one that aligns perfectly with business goals is crucial. Here, we compare BigCommerce against major competitors like Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento, focusing on specific areas where each platform excels.

BigCommerce vs Shopify

1. Usability: Shopify shines with its user-friendly interface that simplifies the management of an online store, making it ideal for both new and established businesses. This ease of use is a significant advantage for users looking for a smooth, intuitive e-commerce experience.
2. Features: While BigCommerce offers a broad feature set out of the box, Shopify excels with its vast app marketplace, allowing businesses to customize their platforms extensively. This approach allows businesses to scale and adapt their functionalities as they grow.
3. Pricing: While appearing higher initially due to additional apps and features, Shopify's pricing model can be more cost-effective for businesses that require specific functionalities rather than a broad native feature set.

BigCommerce vs WooCommerce

1. Platform Type: WooCommerce is an open-source solution that integrates with WordPress, offering deep customization possibilities that appeal to users with specific, nuanced needs. However, BigCommerce provides a more streamlined, hosted solution that reduces the complexity of managing an e-commerce store, which can be particularly advantageous for businesses without technical expertise.
2. Scalability: BigCommerce is inherently designed for scalability, handling increased traffic and sales more seamlessly than WooCommerce. This makes it a better choice for businesses anticipating rapid growth without wanting to manage the technical challenges of scaling up a WooCommerce site.
3. SEO Capabilities: BigCommerce comes with built-in SEO tools that are optimized for e-commerce, giving it an edge over WooCommerce, where SEO capabilities depend heavily on additional plugins and the correct configurations.

BigCommerce vs Magento

1. Ease of Use: Compared to Magento, BigCommerce offers a more user-friendly environment with less complexity in setup and management. Magento, while powerful, typically requires more technical skills and resources, making BigCommerce a more accessible option for businesses without extensive technical support.
2. Total Cost of Ownership: Magento may involve higher upfront costs due to customization, hosting, and security needs. BigCommerce’s inclusive pricing model, which covers hosting and security, often results in a lower total cost of ownership, especially for mid-sized businesses.
3. Integration and APIs: Both platforms offer robust APIs, but BigCommerce provides more straightforward integrations, helping businesses efficiently connect with various third-party applications and services.

BigCommerce stands out in the e-commerce platform landscape not only for its user-friendly design and comprehensive features but also for its strong technical foundation. This section explores BigCommerce's API, its extensive app ecosystem, and its robust integration capabilities, which collectively support businesses in creating a powerful online presence.

BigCommerce API

1. Robust and Flexible: The BigCommerce API is designed to be both robust and flexible, allowing developers to build custom solutions that enhance store functionality. It offers comprehensive access to create, read, update, and delete (CRUD) operations, which enables seamless integration with existing business systems, such as ERP, CRM, and POS systems.
2. Integration Capabilities: The API’s extensive documentation and developer support make it easier for businesses to integrate BigCommerce with a variety of third-party applications and services. This flexibility is critical for businesses looking to automate processes and enhance data flow across platforms.
3. Customization: Through the BigCommerce API, businesses can develop custom applications that tailor the platform to their specific needs. Whether it's improving inventory management, refining customer relationship strategies, or introducing new payment methods, the API provides the necessary tools for innovation and customization.

BigCommerce Apps

1. Extensive App Store: The BigCommerce app store houses a wide range of applications designed to extend the functionality of online stores. From advanced marketing tools to sophisticated analytics services, the app store is a resource for merchants to find the tools they need to enhance their operations and customer experience.
2. Ecosystem Diversity: The apps available range from BigCommerce SEO tools that help improve search engine visibility to customer loyalty programs that enhance engagement and retention. Each app is vetted to ensure it meets BigCommerce's standards for quality and compatibility.
3. Seamless Integration: The apps integrate seamlessly into the BigCommerce platform, ensuring that even the most complex functionalities are easy to implement and manage without disrupting the user experience. This seamless integration capability makes it possible for businesses to enhance their online stores rapidly and efficiently.

Integration Capabilities

1. Third-Party Integrations: BigCommerce excels in integrating with many third-party services, including payment gateways, shipping providers, and marketing platforms. These integrations are crucial for businesses that rely on a diverse set of tools to manage their operations.
2. Data Synchronization: Effective integration helps synchronize data across platforms, reducing the likelihood of errors and ensuring that information is up-to-date and accurate. This is especially important for inventory management, order tracking, and customer service.
3. Custom Integration Solutions: For businesses with unique needs, BigCommerce provides the capability to develop custom integrations. This flexibility allows businesses to connect their e-commerce platform with virtually any third-party software, enhancing operational efficiency and providing a more cohesive business management experience.

BigCommerce provides extensive customization options that allow businesses to tailor their online stores to their specific brand identity and customer needs. From responsive themes to customizable templates and advanced editing features, BigCommerce equips merchants with the tools they need to create a unique and engaging shopping experience.

BigCommerce Themes

1. Wide Variety of Themes: BigCommerce offers a diverse selection of BigCommerce themes that cater to various industries and aesthetic preferences. These themes are designed to be fully responsive, ensuring that they work seamlessly across all devices, which is crucial for enhancing the user experience and boosting SEO rankings.
2. Customization Flexibility: Each theme can be customized without the need for extensive coding knowledge, thanks to BigCommerce’s intuitive storefront editor. Merchants can modify colors, fonts, and layout elements to align with their brand’s visual identity. For those who require more advanced customization, access to HTML, CSS, and JavaScript is also provided.
3. Theme Marketplace: The BigCommerce theme marketplace features themes developed by third-party designers as well as those created in-house, offering a wide range of options. This marketplace not only expands the selection but also includes detailed reviews and ratings to help businesses choose the best fit for their store.

BigCommerce Templates

1. Templates for Every Need: Alongside themes, BigCommerce templates offer structured designs that can be used for specific parts of the website, such as product pages, checkout processes, and promotional banners. These templates are optimized for conversions and user engagement, incorporating best practices in design and functionality.
2. Easy to Implement: Templates can be easily implemented and switched in the BigCommerce dashboard, allowing businesses to test different layouts and designs to see what works best for their audience. This flexibility is invaluable for rapidly adapting to customer feedback and market trends.
3. Support and Resources: BigCommerce provides extensive support and resources for working with templates, including comprehensive guides, how-to articles, and community forums. This support ensures that even merchants without technical expertise can effectively customize their sites.

Advanced Customization Capabilities

1. Developer Tools: For businesses with access to development resources, BigCommerce offers advanced tools that allow for deep customization of the online store. The BigCommerce API and SDKs enable developers to create bespoke functionalities that go beyond the standard offerings.
2. App Integration: Through the BigCommerce app store, merchants can add specialized functionalities to their store, from advanced product options to dynamic pricing models. These apps integrate smoothly with BigCommerce themes and templates, enhancing the store’s capabilities without compromising on performance.
3. Third-Party Services: BigCommerce’s compatibility with a range of third-party services means businesses are not limited to native features. They can integrate tools and platforms they already use, such as email marketing services and CRM systems, ensuring a cohesive operation that extends beyond the e-commerce platform.

Understanding the real-world experiences of businesses using BigCommerce is crucial for assessing the platform's effectiveness and suitability for different types of online stores. In this section, we delve into user reviews collected by and hosted on G2.com, exploring common pros and cons to provide a balanced view of what new users of BigCommerce might expect.

1) 

What do you like best about BigCommerce?

Very easy to work in and build a website for your company. It has a user-friendly backend. And lots of theme options to customize the website design and features.

What do you dislike about BigCommerce?

Not as many features as some other companies. Basic is quite limited and upgrades or add-ons are needed in order to get extra features that some companies provide in their basic packages.

What problems is BigCommerce solving and how is that benefiting you?

E-commerce sales

Tina F., Marketing Manager

2)

What do you like best about BigCommerce?

I love the easy-to-use platform! I can make my small business look great, without having a whole team of computer people doing the heavy lifting. I've been using BigCommerce since 2013, and really appreciate the value that I get, the professionalism, the support, the options of integration... pretty much everything.

What do you dislike about BigCommerce?

They had an increase in my monthly costs within the past year... I had been paying pretty much the same thing for nearly 10 years, and was a bit flustered by the increase... But, honestly, the increase was still a GREAT BUY for what you get! That was just me being fussy.

What problems is BigCommerce solving and how is that benefiting you?

They provide my small e-commerce business with a professional platform that makes my presence on the internet look great!

Lynn V., Small Business Owner

3)

What do you like best about BigCommerce?

Running a business and an online store is much less stressful using Bigcommerce, I have used Volusion and Shopify, and the most valued service that Bigcommerce offers that is next to none in comparison is the ability to reach out to their qualified tech support team for assistance whenever I am snagged by an issue I found or created. Having live tech support just a phone call away is very comforting on a busy day when you don't always have time to search for the correct documentation to help you solve a problem. Our customers also benefit from this service as it reduces the chance of downtime and errors during their shopping experience with us.

I enjoy the shared variants that allow us to reduce product listing data and ease of updating any changes to the function of how the variants are displayed and the ability to create custom rules for a specific variant such as price difference when selected.

What do you dislike about BigCommerce?

Some of the backend functions like not being able to tag customers with a visual color-coded rating system to easily identify customers by their known customer service history - Good Egg Bad Egg. There are a few other things but they are small in the scheme of what makes Bigcommerce our preferred e-commerce platform.

What problems is BigCommerce solving and how is that benefiting you?

Helping us reach out to a global customer base

Duane L., Small Business Owner

4)

What do you like best about BigCommerce?

Big Commerce has given us more functionality, allowing us to grow our online presence over the last 3 years. It is easy to use and is very reliable.

What do you dislike about BigCommerce?

It is hard to get an easy answer - you must go to the community and "hope" someone else has raised the issue. Also, we cannot arrange our items on a page to group items together, they just populate from when they were created - this doesn't always make a great presentation on the site. It makes it harder for the customer to see all like items together.

What problems is BigCommerce solving and how is that benefiting you?

Big Commerce is totally integrated with our retail system Heartland. Our prior platform did not integrate, and it made much more work and possible customer service issues. This has allowed us to concentrate on business-building things such as SEO, etc.

Ellen B., Small Business Owner

For businesses leveraging BigCommerce to run their online stores, integrating additional business tools can significantly enhance functionality and efficiency. This section outlines a selection of recommended tools that complement BigCommerce, categorized by their primary functions and benefits.

Marketing Tools

1. Mailchimp: As one of the most popular email marketing platforms, Mailchimp integrates seamlessly with BigCommerce. It allows businesses to automate their email campaigns, segment their customer lists based on shopping behavior, and track the performance of their emails.
2. Google Ads: Using Google Ads in conjunction with BigCommerce's built-in SEO tools can amplify a store's visibility and attract more traffic. Google Ads provides a direct channel to manage pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns that can be finely targeted to reach specific demographics.
3. Hootsuite: Social media management is streamlined with Hootsuite, which can integrate with BigCommerce to manage multiple social media profiles from one dashboard, schedule posts, and monitor social media traffic and engagement.
4. Vistaprint: Ideal for creating marketing materials, Vistaprint integrates with BigCommerce to provide businesses with customized print and digital marketing products like flyers, banners, and business cards. This can help enhance brand visibility and coherence across online and offline platforms.
5. Rebrandly: This tool allows for custom URL shortening, which is great for branding and tracking marketing campaigns. Integrated with BigCommerce, Rebrandly can help track the performance of shared links and refine marketing strategies based on data-driven insights.

Analytics Tools

1. Google Analytics: Essential for any e-commerce platform, Google Analytics can be integrated with BigCommerce to provide detailed insights into user behavior, traffic sources, and conversion rates. This data is crucial for making informed business decisions and optimizing the online store for better performance.
2. Hotjar: This tool offers heatmaps, session recordings, and surveys to help businesses understand how users interact with their BigCommerce site. Hotjar can reveal user behavior patterns that are not visible through traditional analytics tools, allowing for more user-centric improvements.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) & Support Tools

1. Salesforce: Integrating Salesforce with BigCommerce provides a powerful CRM solution that helps manage customer relationships more effectively. It offers features like customer segmentation, sales tracking, and personalized customer communication, enhancing the overall customer experience.
2. Zendesk: For customer service, Zendesk can be integrated with BigCommerce to manage support tickets, live chat, and customer feedback all in one place. This tool helps provide swift and effective customer support, which is crucial for maintaining customer satisfaction and loyalty.
3. LiveChat: Integrating LiveChat with BigCommerce enhances customer service capabilities by allowing real-time customer communication. This tool can improve customer satisfaction and help resolve issues quickly, leading to higher conversion rates and customer loyalty.

Inventory and Shipping Tools

1. ShipStation: ShipStation integrates with BigCommerce to streamline shipping processes. It offers features like automated shipping label creation, bulk order processing, and real-time tracking updates, which are essential for efficient logistics management.
2. Brightpearl: This is a retail operations platform that integrates with BigCommerce and provides real-time reports on inventory, sales, and customer data. Brightpearl automates many aspects of the retail process, reducing the risk of errors and improving operational efficiency.

Financial Tools

1. QuickBooks: Integrating QuickBooks with BigCommerce simplifies accounting processes by automatically syncing sales data, inventory, and customer information. This ensures accurate bookkeeping and financial reporting, which is vital for any business.

Choosing the right e-commerce platform involves careful consideration of various factors and functionalities. Here, we address some of the most frequently asked questions about BigCommerce to help users better understand what the platform offers and how it compares to competitors like Shopify.

1. Does BigCommerce charge a transaction fee?

No, BigCommerce does not charge any transaction fees, regardless of which pricing plan you choose. This can significantly reduce the overall cost of operating an online store compared to other platforms that may charge additional fees on sales. This fee structure allows businesses to scale without worrying about increasing costs associated with higher volumes of sales.

2. Does BigCommerce have a mobile app?

Yes, BigCommerce offers a mobile app that allows store owners to manage their online stores on the go. The app provides functionalities such as order management, basic analytics, and real-time notifications about store performance and customer activity. This makes it easier for business owners to stay connected and responsive to their store’s needs from anywhere.

3. Does BigCommerce integrate with QuickBooks?

Yes, BigCommerce integrates seamlessly with QuickBooks. This integration helps streamline accounting processes by automatically syncing financial data such as sales, expenses, and inventory with QuickBooks. It simplifies the accounting process, reduces errors, and saves time on data entry, making financial management more efficient for e-commerce businesses.

4. How does BigCommerce make money?

BigCommerce generates revenue primarily through its subscription plans. They offer several tiers of service, each with different features and price points, designed to accommodate the needs of various business sizes from startups to large enterprises. Additionally, BigCommerce earns money through the sale of premium themes, apps, and partner services that enhance the functionality of their platform.

5. Is BigCommerce better than Shopify?

The answer to whether BigCommerce is better than Shopify depends on the specific needs and preferences of the business. BigCommerce offers more built-in features out of the box, which can be beneficial for businesses looking for an all-in-one solution without the need for numerous add-ons. It also supports a wider array of native payment gateways without transaction fees. However, Shopify might be preferable for users looking for a simpler interface, extensive app integrations, and better support for micro-businesses or pop-up shops. Ultimately, the best platform varies based on the business model, growth expectations, and the specific functionalities required.