Item: BigCommerce
Rating: 7
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I'm a web developer that specializes in e-commerce. I regularly help clients open new stores on BigCommerce or migrate their stores from other platforms to BigCommerce. It's especially good for B2B businesses and those that need multiple storefronts. The headless option makes a great pairing with WordPress, which gives customers more design control over the informational aspects of their e-commerce stores.

Pros and Cons

B2B / Wholesale Tools
Multistore front for sharing a catalog between different stores
Product Filtering
Customer Support

Adding custom properties is extremely limited compared to other platforms.
Some files can only be modified offline are requires a bunch of command line stuff.
The Page Builder is lacking especially when it comes to custom fonts and styling.

Return on Investment

Saved my clients lost of money on plan pricing and transaction fees over other platforms.
Was a pretty seamless solution to getting on a modern coded theme with pagination quickly.

Approximate Annual eCommerce Revenue

$500,000 to $1 million

Scalability

Very easy to upgrade plans based on growth. Onboarding is fairly easy; however, it's a real pain for developers that the store owner has to add all the themes/apps or basically anything that costs money. It's hard to walk less tech-savvy people through this.

BigCommerce Customization

There is great potential in the open APIs and I've seen incredible things done with them. In my opinion, it's a great system and really competes. However, I'm a bit disgruntled that there are simple tasks that other platforms make easy to take care of through the online editor that BC really requires you to have to do by API, which is overkill for a simple web developer.

Alternatives Considered

Shopify, Shopify Plus, Yahoo Small Business, WooCommerce and WordPress

BigCommerce has more modern tools than Yahoo Small Business, is managed unlike WordPress/WooCommerce, and is cheaper than Shopify with better product options management.

Key Insights

Do you think BigCommerce delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with BigCommerce's feature set?

Yes

Did BigCommerce live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of BigCommerce go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy BigCommerce again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Google Data Studio, Canva, Microsoft 365, Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel, QuickBooks Online, Facebook Business Manager, Yahoo Small Business, SiteGround

Likelihood to Recommend

The BigCommerce platform is well suited for small retailers with simple needs, especially those that would work well on an out-of-the-box theme. There are also great use cases for B2B / wholesale situations. If you run multiple online stores, but share inventory, you can use the multistore front feature to make managing them easier. Not a great platform if you have highly customizable product page needs or if you have a large demand for custom development. It's not that custom development isn't possible, it's just more time-consuming than platforms like Shopify, so it might cost you more in development costs. Their pricing model and no transaction fees are a big selling point. Also, the out-of-the-box integration with other shopping channels like eBay is a bonus for those looking to do omnichannel commerce.

Great modern platform, especially at the price point

Software Version

Overall Satisfaction with BigCommerce