BigCommerce vs Shopify: Which is The Best Option for eCommerce?

What are the Pros of Using BigCommerce?

BigCommerce is an excellent choice for newcomers to e-commerce. It’s “business-in-a-box” setup is attractive to novices and offers everything you need to set up an e-commerce store.

• Multi-channel selling – Allows you to integrate your e-commerce efforts across your site and social media networks.
• Built-in features – This platform comes with all the features built into the program; there no need for any external apps for SEO or other functions.
• SEO tools – This package comes with a complete suite of SEO tools to help you rank in Google and other search engines. SEO plays a vital role in e-commerce, and it takes some time for your SEO strategy to start gaining traction. However, with this feature of BigCommerce, there’s no need to hire experts to roll out an SEO strategy, this one works straight out of the box.
• Gift cards – You can issue and accept gift cards in your online store.
• Real-time shipping estimates – Fast shipping quotes for your customers, improving your user experience.
• Useful tools – Tools like the abandoned cart recovery setup are a blessing for improving conversion.
• Makes marketing easy – The built-in tools make your online marketing efforts much more manageable. There’s no need to go to the expense or effort of hiring an expert to improve your site’s performance or ranking online.

What are the Cons of Using BigCommerce?

• Complexity – While BigCommerce is an excellent choice for newbies to e-commerce platforms, the setup can be somewhat technical and confusing if you have no experience working with tech solutions.
• Learning curve – The learning curve can be a bit steep for beginners. For instance, the editor is challenging to navigate and takes some getting used to for newbies.
• Selling limits – There are certain restrictions on products and volumes you can sell through the platform.
• Apps and Add-ons – There are no apps or add-ons for this platform, and no built-in 1-click selling software.

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What are the Pros of Using Shopify?

Shopify is the world’s most popular e-commerce platform for a reason – it comes with everything you need, and easy setup.

• No Selling limitations – There are no restrictions on what you can and can’t sell on the platform.
• The Shopify App Store – Shopify’s App Store has thousands of useful apps that can help you improve and enhance your store’s e-commerce experience for both you and your customers.
• Speed – Speed is everything online. If your site doesn’t load fast enough, your prospect will likely click away to another offer. Shopify loads in your browser quickly, ensuring your prospect follows through.
• Setup – Shopify has a user-friendly structure and a straightforward navigation system with a minimalist dashboard.
• Sales features – Shopify wins the award for the best sales features of any e-commerce platform; there is so much you can do with this platform to improve the performance of your e-store.
• Intelligent inventory management – The advanced Shopify plan inventory management system is a blessing for e-commerce entrepreneurs.
• Multi-channels selling – Shopify also offers you multi-channel selling opportunities across your social media platforms.

What are the Cons of Using Shopify?

• Limited multi-currency support – If you’re working with currencies outside of the US Dollar, then you might find the payment support somewhat disappointing with Shopify. Accepting foreign currencies requires the installation of currency apps that support your transactions.
• Design inefficiencies – If you want to undergo a rebranding and switch the templates on your Shopify store, you’ll need to reformat your site to manage the change.
• Third-Party Apps – While the Shopify App Store has plenty of functional and exciting apps, there is no built-in system with your platform, and you’ll need to add apps to gain custom functionality.
• Marketing – The SEO functionality and features on Shopify require the use of third=-party apps, and we feel it’s not as good as the standard SEO options available with BigCommerce.
• Payment gateways – If you want to use a third-party payment gateway outside of the Shopify gateway, you’re going to have to pay processing fees for the transaction.

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BigCommerce Vs. Shopify – Ease of Use

If you’re a newbie to e-commerce or a seasoned professional, ease-of-use remains a top priority for choosing your preferred e-commerce platform. A user-friendly interface saves you time when navigating through your platform to complete business tasks and maintenance.

We think that Shopify wins this round for the best user-interface, even if it’s only by a razor-thin margin. The idea behind the Shopify platform is that it’s user-friendly. It provides the ideal choice for a newcomer to e-commerce to get behind a turn-key solution for an online store.

Shopify achieves that objective, and they offer a range of apps to help improve upon the base model platform you get with your subscription plan. With a straightforward onboarding process, and an easy-to-navigate dashboard and editor, Shopify is the favorite platform for more than a million online stores.

BigCommerce is a more prominent e-commerce solution with more integrated features. As a result, it takes some getting used to when navigating the dashboard and editor.

The impressive array of features and functionality might be somewhat overwhelming for newcomers to e-commerce, and they might need help from an expert in learning how things work on the platform.

However, BigCommerce is showing signs of listening to its users’ feedback on social platforms. The company recently released a new merchandising feature called, “Store Design,” allowing users to edit their platform storefront on-screen.

BigCommerce Vs. Shopify – Design

Every seasoned e-commerce expert knows that it’s first impressions that count when it comes to your website design. Sales features are useful at building your traffic. However, if you don’t have a smooth, unique, and eye-pleasing page design, no-one will stay on your site to look at anything.

Shopify might be somewhat basic in its design features available for store design. It doesn’t have the same functionality as other web-builders, such as Wix. However, we still rank it in the top 5 when it comes to the overall design features and applications available for creating your e-commerce store.

Shopify offers you 60 custom themes, with paid options costing between $140 to $180, depending on the functionality you want to include with your design. However, free themes are fantastic, and they have a professional-looking design. If you’re working with a budget, then there’s nothing wrong with going for a free theme on Shopify.

BigCommerce also offers you 12 free themes and 50 others that you can purchase. The themes cost anywhere from $145 to $245, but we feel thy don’t have the same level of attraction or quality as the top themes on Shopify.

Another critical aspect we need to touch on in this review is the compatibility of your platform with mobile. More buyers are switching to mobile, and you need to cater to these users with your strategy. Shopify has better mobile integration, and that adds up to more conversions and more sales.

BigCommerce also adapts for mobile, but it’s not as clean as the Shopify interface, and we think that’s a crucial component of deciding on the winner for the best design.

BigCommerce Vs. Shopify – Domains and URLs

Any experienced e-commerce entrepreneur will tell you that owning a domain that matches your store branding is the best way to create a brand identity online. Your URL should match your store name or be a close representation of it.

In some cases, it’s not possible to get a matching store name in the .com domain. Fortunately, there are other domains available that offer the same utility, but we recommend you stick to .com domains where you can.

Fortunately, both BigCommerce and Shopify allow for the use of custom URLs and domains for your store.

BigCommerce Vs. Shopify – E-commerce Features and Tools

BigCommerce is more of an industry-specific e-commerce solution, while Shopify offers you a broad range of uses, from newcomers to advanced stores that have huge listings. The flexibility in Shopify stands out, and the choice of add-on app features and template designs are of a higher quality than BigCommerce.

Along with design and ease of use, you need an e-commerce solution that offers you plenty of sales features to bring you more prospects that you can convert into buyers. Both platforms offer you sales features, such as the following.

• SSL security certificates – This acronym stands for Secure Sockets Layer. With this certificate, you have protection for your store against any online threats. An SSL provides a safe and secure connection and encryption for all payment processing data.
• Abandoned Shopping Cart Recovery – If your customer abandons their shopping cart in the middle of their shopping, then the system sends the customer a reminder of their shopping cart if they sign up for your email list.
• Multi-channel social selling – Sell your products or services across all your social media channels as well.
• Powerful management of your inventory – Track your inventory., sales history, and your current logistics. Order stock automatically as it gets low, and quickly upload product images and descriptions to your store.

Sales Features – Shopify

Your standard Shopify store that you get with your basic package is a bare-bones model. Sure, it’s possible to set it up, so it’s ready to start processing sales, but that doesn’t mean you’ll get any business. You need to compete online for your share of the market.

You do this by dressing up your store and ensuring that it has all the features necessary to facilitate business with your customers.

With Shopify, the Shopify App Store offers you a solution for upgrading your Shopify store with all the bells and whistles it needs to succeed in the competitive world of e-commerce. Most of the apps you can use for free, but there are a few that cost a monthly or annual subscription fee. Make sure you’re aware of your costs, as monthly subscriptions for apps can add significantly to your operating costs.

We also like the Shopify Mobile app, which empowers you to manage your Shopify store from any location where you have an internet or Wi-Fi connection.

Shopify Payments is a custom payment gateway offered by Shopify to all its merchants.

If you choose to use Shopify payments as your preferred gateway, then you won’t have to pay and transaction fees. However, you can also offer up to 100 other payment gateways, including credit/debit cards, PayPal, and Stripe. Manage everything from your dashboard with ease.

Sales Features – BigCommerce

We like that BigCommerce includes built-in features that help your e-commerce business succeed. With BigCommerce, you can sell physical or digital products, as well as services. Unlike Shopify, the BigCommerce platform comes with an option for all three types, built-in and ready to use without the need to download and install any apps.

However, while the tolls are fantastic, newcomers to e-commerce might find them somewhat overwhelming, especially if they aren’t tech-savvy. With BigCommerce, you get everything included in the platform from the start, and it might take newbies some time to get their head around all the functionality on offer with the platform.

BigCommerce Vs. Shopify – Attracting Customers

Having a platform stacked with features is no good if you don’t have a strategy to promote it to your target market. SEO is a vital component of e-commerce, and you need an SEO strategy that brings you results as fast as possible.

SEO Assistance

Most SEO strategies take time to pay off, and during the 3 to 6-months it takes for you to see results from your marketing efforts, you’ll be testing several different SEO tools to see if they work for you.

With Shopify, you have the option of using a range of apps to boost your SEO efforts and drive more traffic to your store. However, you must go out and locate the best SEO tools and apps yourself. As a result, you’ll need to rely on the advice of other users on YouTube or forums.

Built-in Marketing Tools

With BigCommerce, you get all your promotional and marketing tools with the platform. It’s a great way to simplify the marketing of your website. The included SEO tools ensure that you get off to a good start with your SEO campaign, eliminating the need to testing your tools as you already know they work.

Accelerated loading times are also a critical component of SEO. You’ll find it pleasing to know that BigCommerce offers you AMP-enabled automatically on all of the free design templates and the premium designs as well. Both platforms allow you to edit product titles, redirects, descriptions, and sitemaps.

However, BigCommerce offers better performance in the SEO department. The stores using the site ranking tools find that they rank higher than other Shopify stores on average. It’s important to note that Shopify has over 2,000-apps available on its Appstore.

Therefore, it’s challenging to wade through all the offering to find the right tools. And it also takes time to test these new SEO tools. During the testing period, you might find another tool and then must start your testing period again.

With BigCommerce, there is no testing of the tools included with the platform, and they seem to outperform those on the Shopify App Store as well. BigCommerce runs an additional App Store as well, but it has nowhere near the variety of customizable options and apps as the Shopify App Store.

Interfacing with existing platforms

When it comes to interfacing with other e-commerce platforms, both BigCommerce and Shopify sync with your eBay, Amazon, and social media stores, allowing you to manage multiple selling channels from one dashboard. It’s also possible to connect your Google product data feed on the Shopify and BigCommerce platforms.

Marketing automation option link with popular products like MailChimp for email campaigns, or with Active Campaign account for free integration. There is also no issue with integration with Amazons shipping and logistics centers.

However, Shopify does offer far more in terms of dropshipping integrations. You get integration compatibility with AliExpress, Doba, Oberlo, as well as Inventory Source. With BigCommerce, you only have integration with Doba in the app store.

POD strategies

If your Shopify model involves the use of a print-on-demand strategy, then both Shopify and BigCommerce support your marketing activities and integration needs. You have the option of integration with Printful, one of the most popular and reliable POD services online.

If you’re looking for a trust badge that pops up in search ads, then Shopify offers integration on all plans. However, you’ll need to be on the Pro Plan with BigCommerce for the same functionality.

Blogging

Both BigCommerce and Shopify come with blog modules. However, the blogging tool is nowhere near the same quality as a WordPress blog. It might make more sense to use a WordPress blog with the Shopify plug-in if you’re considering using a blog as a primary part of your marketing strategy.

BigCommerce Vs. Shopify – Merchant Support and Helplines

During your e-commerce career, you’re going to encounter technical difficulties from time to time. We wish it weren’t so, but no e-commerce entrepreneur can get away without eventually having to deal with customer support.

When the time arrives for you to contact your merchant helplines, you want to ensure that your platform offers you multiple support channels to help you get back online. With both Shopify and BigCommerce, you get access to the following merchant support services on a 24/7 basis.

• 24/7 support via phone call
• 24/7 live merchant chat
• Help center services
• Support forums
• Email merchant support
• Video support and troubleshooting tutorials
• Advanced merchant specialist e-commerce support

When it comes to the best archive of support information, Shopify has a more extensive collection. However, let’s get real. When problems happen, all you want to know is if the live chat is competent and has the skills to sort out your problem right then and there.

You’ll find it pleasing that both BigCommerce and Shopify have great merchant support chats available 24/7. Shopify also offers merchant support through social media, providing a transparent environment that inspires confidence in the support team.

Shopify Vs. BigCommerce – Pricing Models

If you’re setting up your first e-commerce business, then it’s a good move to keep your costs as low as you can until you start making money.

However, for both BigCommerce and Shopify, the free trials have limited functionality, and if you want to start selling, you’ll need a plan that includes a storefront. That means that you’ll need the $29 plan from Shopify or the $29.95 plan from BigCommerce. Already, the BigCommerce plan is going to cost you more than $11 extra per year.

However, as your business scales, you can adjust both your BigCommerce and Shopify plans to meet the new demands of your e-commerce store. The $79 per month Shopify plan includes useful features like issuing and receiving gift cards, lower fees on credit card transactions, and point-of-sale (POS) tools to improve your user experience.

Pricing Plans

Shopify offers you three different pricing plans, ranging from $29 / $79 / $299 per month. All of the pricing plans from both BigCommerce and Shopify allow you to upgrade so you can scale your platform as your business grows.

The Shopify Basic plan provides you with everything you need to launch your first e-commerce store online. You get all the tools, such as abandoned cart recovery and 24/7 support, ensuring you the best chance of success with your new venture.

Adding apps to your store might push up your monthly operating costs. However, if you do the right research, you can find free or affordable apps that add value to your conversion rates without costing you much money in the way of subscription fees. Keeping your business lean in the first 6-months to a year of operations will ensure you survive the early phase of your business model.

With BigCommerce, you must be on the $79.95 per month Plus plan to unlock features like abandoned cart recovery. However, this plan is the best option for growing an e-commerce store that makes up to $100,000 in sales every year, all on autopilot.

Trial periods

When starting, you can get a free trial of both platforms, available for 90-days. Both companies extended their free trials to 90-days recently, providing people with the opportunity to test the platform thoroughly, and their ideas, before getting charged for use.

You can even set up an account with each platform and see which one offers you the best option after a few weeks of use.

BigCommerce vs Shopify: The Final Verdict

Choosing the best platform between Shopify and BigCommerce is no easy task. Selecting the winner depends on what you want to do with your e-commerce platform.

If you’re looking for the most user-friendly option to launch a small store selling a few products, Shopify is the better option. Shopify has no selling limits, and you can sell one, or one hundred products.

However, if you’re a business owner with several product categories and numerous items you want to list on your site, BigCommerce is probably the better deal. BigCommerce has a complete solution built into the platform, allowing you to get up and selling while improving your marketing and SEO as well.

BigCommerce is the more complex of the two, and inexperienced users of the platform might require a steep learning curve or the assistance of a professional that knows that they are doing with the platform.

Let’s run over our qualifying categories again to determine the best overall e-commerce platform in our final verdict.

Ease-of-Use

• Winner: Shopify
• Shopify is the more user-friendly of the two platforms. It’s easy to set up, load products, build listings, and start selling in as soon as a day. You get plenty of functionality in the basic package, and the addition of a few apps from the app store make managing your store and e-commerce business a breeze.
• If you’re looking to apply an e-commerce module to a larger organization, the BigCommerce will probably be the better choice. This SaaS tool has loads of functionality, but its probably going to be too much for a newbie looking to start a career in e-commerce.

Design

• Winner: Shopify
• Shopify has 60 themes you can apply to your store for a custom look. There are plenty of design tweaks available to enhance the visual aesthetic of your store, and 50 of the 60 themes are available for free use. The Shopify design also has a more mobile-friendly UX than the BigCommerce option, and that’s a critical point in the progression of e-commerce towards mobile devices.

Domains and URLs

• Winner: Draw
• Both platforms allow for the use of custom domains and URLs. Your URL is the backbone of your brand identity online, so it’s nice to see both platforms accepting this change.

E-commerce Features and Tools

• Winner: BigCommerce
• This section of the head-to-head review was the most challenging to decide. Both platforms offer a tremendous selection of features, with plenty of functionality on offer to suit any level of the e-commerce business.
• However, when we look at how many free features come built-in with BigCommerce, we would have to say that gives it the edge in this category.

Payment Solutions and Fees

• Winner: Shopify
• Both Platforms offer complete payment solutions integration. However, Shopify has the advantage of providing you no processing fees on transactions if you decide to use their payment gateway. That’s a significant saving that can add up over a year.

Attracting Customers

• Winner: BigCommerce
• BigCommerce offers you a suite of built-in SEO features that aren’t available with a Shopify platform. Since both Shopify and BigCommerce rely heavily on your investment into your SEO strategy, it’s nice to see that BigCommerce take this side of the business seriously.

Merchant Support and Helplines

• Winner: Shopify
• Shopify has better merchant support. The company runs a 24/7 live chat, and we got prompt response times whenever we entered a query. The representative was friendly, and they resolved our questions without any issues.
• Both companies offer decent levels of merchant support over multiple channels, including live chat, email, and phone. Still, we found the live chat to be better with Shopify, and the redirection to the relevant archived support pages is excellent.

Pricing Model

• Winner: Shopify
• It’s challenging to select a winner in this department. Both companies have an excellent value offering, and you can’t go wrong wither way. However, we might say that Shopify has a slight edge due to the diversity of the plans they have on offer.
• We also think Shopify’s extended 90-day trial during the COVID-19 pandemic provides excellent industry support people need at this trying time in the economy. Hopefully, the extended trial allows more people to start and succeed with an e-commerce business.

Visit Shopify  Visit BigCommerce