Item: BigCommerce
Rating: 10
Author: Timothy Breen

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

BigCommerce is being used across the entire company. We have built an online retail storefront using BigCommerce and the Venture Warm theme. It made it easy for us to create an online store, process credit cards online, manage inventory, connect with Google's Shopping campaigns, and connect with Amazon. I am very happy with the functionality that BigCommerce provides.

Pros and Cons

BigCommerce's user-friendly software makes it very easy to build an online storefront.
BigCommerce makes it very easy to process credit cards online through PayPal's Braintree interface.

I am disappointed with the Venture Warm storefront theme. I was recently trying to figure out how to change the main image based on the color option a customer chooses. I was told that the theme doesn't have that functionality. Instead, customers have to click on a box that says "preview variant" which is an awkward extra step.
Would like more options to customize my storefront's appearance without having to write the HTML myself. For example, changing the logo size on my storefront is difficult with the limited options given through the theme.

Return on Investment

BigCommerce has had a positive impact on my ROI by reducing the resources I needed to get my storefront up and running and maintaining it.
The marketing tools has also help us promote our products more effectively. Again reducing the time and resources needed to create online promotions.

Approximate Annual eCommerce Revenue

Not available

Scalability

I think they've done a great job of providing the tools needed to bulk upload and edit products. I would however like the ability to edit individual products more easily. Currently, if I want to edit a handful of products through the product's interface I have to repetitively search on each product. I would like the editor to give me the ability to go to the next product automatically.

BigCommerce Customization

We have used their APIs for interfacing with sales on Amazon. But other than that we have not customized our digital experience through the APIs as of yet. I'm sure we will be at some point down the road. At which time it will be helpful to have some tutorials for doing so.

Alternatives Considered

Bluehost

BigCommerce is in another league above Bluehost. Blue Host utilizes WordPress for building storefronts. While WordPress gave us to the ability to customize all facets of our website, it was very difficult to use. They also didn't have seamless integration with credit card processors. After working with Bluehost for a month I quickly realized that I was wasting my time and money.

Likelihood to Recommend

I think BigCommerce is an excellent tool for online retailers of consumer products. I don't see that it would be as beneficial to sellers of online services or B2B businesses, but I could be wrong. The functionality seems to be designed for online retailers of tangible products.

BigCommerce makes it easy to generate BIG commerce!

Software Version

Overall Satisfaction with BigCommerce