Item: BigCommerce
Rating: 6
Author: Sonia P

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

BigCommerce was our web platform of choice for our e-commerce retail outlets. We have 3 sites, 1 of which is built for the sole purpose of facilitating marketplace inventory and listings via apps (TradeMe, ebay, amazon -- and in the future, CATCH).

Pros and Cons

Support is quick, easy to reach out to, and pretty much always available.
The dashboard is easy to navigate.
It's able to handle a large inventory.

I am now finding that I would like to scale down on a plan and am unable to. Once you are locked into a higher dollar plan it is not flexible, so we are now wasting money. As our focus changes, we require flexibility.
The apps that we need to update our stores are not available in the BigCommerce APPS Marketplace. I am finding other website building platforms are offering much more technological advancement in the Apps stores, and are becoming increasingly easier to use. This means they are bringing much more to our business.
As a result, I have had to build 3 new stores for my clients on a different platform.

Return on Investment

In general, it has been good if we focus on the marketing the sites tend to deliver.
In the case of Marketplace feeds, it has allowed us to cut down on man hours and dollars spent on manual data entry.

Approximate Annual eCommerce Revenue

$20,000 to $100,000

Scalability

I am moving more towards dropshipping after building great relationships with my Australian Suppliers. They have inventory feeds that my BigCommerce site cannot link to, as the Apps are not available, but they are available on another platform, so I am being forced to rebuild my sites on the other platform. I rang BigCommerce support to see if I could tailor what I need or if you had the Apps available and unfortunately BigCommerce does not. The direction we are moving in order to grow our business will not work with big commerce.

BigCommerce Customization

In regards to linking freight companies, this has worked fine.

Alternatives Considered

Shopify

I was already with BigCommerce, as 5 years ago BigCommerce was the better product for our stores.
Now, however, Shopify offers everything we need, plus things we never knew we needed.

Likelihood to Recommend

I've always recommended BigCommerce. In fact, I used to love it, but I am finding myself moving away...
The apps that we need to update our stores are not available in the BigCommerce APPS Marketplace. I am finding other website building platforms are offering much more technological advancement in the Apps stores, and are becoming increasingly easier to use. This means they are bringing much more to our business.
The new templates offered on the other platforms (one in particular) offer immediate social media links and video uploads directly to the site without the need for apps or extra subscription costs.
I still love the support team at BigCommerce. They are amazing!

I use to Love BigCommerce, now I only like it!

Software Version

Overall Satisfaction with BigCommerce