Item: BigCommerce
Rating: 10
Author: Sean Callihan

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

As a Digital eCommerce Agency, BigCommerce is one of the key eCommerce platforms that we work on. We build custom websites for our clients on the platform. We also provide support via updates and upgrades from Blueprint to Stencil. They are one of our top partners who we collaborate with to drive mutual business back and forth.

Pros and Cons

BigCommerce offers a great feature set out of the box.
BigCommerce is very collaborative and open to feedback as a partner on anything that they can improve on.
They are a super strong SaaS option with superior up-time and built-in security.

In sales, if someone that is a customer needs to up their plan based on order volume, etc., they have to start a whole new contract term. Should offer in-term price adjustments.
As a partner, we would love some kind of credit for the deals that we brought in or that we help close.
Continue to add more benefits to the enterprise package to encourage merchants to self-select enterprise vs being placed in it due to sales volume.

Return on Investment

As a partner, they have helped drive consistent new business to our studio.
They have increased our net monthly income through their commission structure.

Approximate Annual eCommerce Revenue

Not available

Scalability

Continuing to open up the API's give a vast number of options to help scale the platform.

BigCommerce Customization

Our developers are able to tap into the open APIs to build custom features and connections to 3rd parties that provide a custom user experience that previously has not been available.

Alternatives Considered

Shopify Plus and Magento Commerce Cloud (formerly Magento)

Shopify - BC offers more features out of the box. Has a more partner-friendly ecosystem. Has a better sales culture and it focuses primarily on the platform and not just payments.

Magento - BC offers built-in security and peace-of-mind by being SaaS. Great for merchants that don't want to have to worry about that stuff. BC becomes a little bit of a tougher sell when the build gets super complex or the merchant wants ultimate ownership and access to the platform/product.

Likelihood to Recommend

BigCommerce is great for the majority of merchants. It is great for new merchants as it provides a simple, intuitive backend with powerful tools right out of the box. Also, the themes are great for merchants that don't have a large budget. The platform is great for growing merchants as well, as there is a number of great tools and apps that can be added to further enhance the user experience and merchant capabilities. Finally, it's also a great option for established, enterprise stores that want the security and peace of mind that a SaaS platform provides. The open-API structure also allows the platform to be extended in a number of ways to further support merchant needs.

Where the platform comes up short for merchants would be merchants that want ultimate ownership of the product. If they have an internal development team they may not want a platform that doesn't give them ultimate access to every part of the infrastructure.

Love me some BigCommerce!

Software Version

Overall Satisfaction with BigCommerce