Is BigCommerce a real competitor of Shopify? Will it fit your needs?

In this BigCommerce Review, we will talk about what BigCommerce is and How Does It Work? And Advantages and Disadvantages of BigCommerce

Is BigCommerce a serious competitor to Shopify? Will it meet your requirements? This Bigcommerce evaluation will discuss it.

With more than 95,000 active sites already using the BigCommerce system to sell things and handle payments online, there are compelling reasons to think that BigCommerce delivers a practical and robust interface for your ecommerce purposes. Our BigCommerce Review covers every area of this ecommerce platform, from functionality to security and assistance.

But there's more: BigCommerce had a massive redesign in early 2016, with an entirely new brand structure, additional connectors, and a slew of new features for users. In brief, the firm indicated that the new logo is more indicative of what the platform is supposed to provide for consumers, alluding to the logo with an upward growing chart. Furthermore, the firm has redesigned its website in an effort to make information more accessible to all consumers. 

The branding is fantastic, then what about you, the user? One of the most difficult aspects of beginning a business, from Shopify to Squarespace, is determining which of the top ecommerce platforms is best for your needs. 

BigCommerce sits smack dab in the center of that debate, so you must determine if payment processing or product management is more vital. The same is true for issues like as security and website design. 

Is BigCommerce the best option for you? 

BigCommerce is a top-tier ecommerce platform that is ideal for expanding above resources like eBay and Amazon for selling. It enables you to create your store, add goods, and begin earning real money from your website. But wait, there's more. BigCommerce is an ecommerce site builder as well.

While other website builders, such as Squarespace, enable you to construct almost any type of website you desire, ecommerce solutions, such as BigCommerce, are designed primarily for businesses that want a user-friendly approach to establish a site from which they can sell goods and services.

BigCommerce distinguishes itself in the present market, with an average yearlygrowth rate for companies such as Toyata, Ben & Jerry's, and Kodak of roughly 28 percent. However, it is important to note that each constructor has advantages and disadvantages.

Shopify is causing a stir in the market, Volusion is recognized for assisting small businesses, and Squarespace is the (fairly) new kid on the block, so where does BigCommerce fit in? 

Continue reading to learn more.

According to multiple complaints and comments from our audience that use BigCommerce, it appears that they are substantially increasing prices of some of their more prosperous consumers (those who generate more than $125,000 in annual revenue), making it significantly more expensive than its direct competitor Shopify, which has fixed prices.

We're always striving to provide the most accurate reviews, comparisons and evaluations, but we also update our comparison table on a weekly basis. 

Features of BigCommerce Reviews 

BigCommerce's capabilities all begin with the site builder, which lets users to create stunning, responsive sites without having any prior knowledge of web design. You can easily add and manage items, as well as collect payments through a number of methods.

Most businesses want customized delivery, and BigCommerce provides it. You won't have to change your company model due to the e - commerce system thanks to the flexible tax system and dropshipping options. 

Note: BigCommerce has mostly been unresponsive to feature requests, according to our readers, making it impossible for so many users to justify the cost. Several of the functionality, for example, are designed especially for US clients, leaving the rest of the globe with functionalities that aren't totally helpful. Customers have also expressed dissatisfaction with helpful improvements that have been requested often on the forums but never implemented (such as the possibility to adjust order statuses).  

Aside from the update issue, we may discuss some of the benefits. BigCommerce has a lot of great features, from smart product rules to downloadable sales, email marketing solutions to comprehensive search engine optimization. Now, the question is whether or not these characteristics are affordable, and whether or not they are all that useful in practice.

A Checkout that Can Be Customized 

We used to think the BigCommerce checkout module was a little out of date and tricky for retailers to customize. BigCommerce now provides access to its Checkout SDK, which is a library loaded with JavaScript features for your checkout, which has recently modified.

Merchants may now personalize every aspect of their checkout, from the background pictures to the amount of steps a consumer must go to complete the transaction. 

BigCommerce User Reviews – How Easy Is It to Use? 

When it comes to new businesses seeking for ecommerce platforms, the first question they usually have is regarding cost. The simplicity of usage is nearly often the most crucial factor after that.

This makes sense, given that most businesspeople lack the online design or programming abilities required to create a site from the ground up or navigate complicated construction procedures. 

Is BigCommerce simple to use? 

BigCommerce provides several helpful lessons and instructions to get you starting when you establish your site.

Nevertheless, our testing and audience feedback indicate that BigCommerce's new Stencil framework is much more user-friendly for expert developers. That's fantastic news for retailers who can afford to employ a competent developer. Non-technical users, on the other hand, are going to find it tough to make minor changes, which are important for the typical innovator or businessman.

BigCommerce, like Shopify, offers the tools that developers need, but it's not quite suitable and easy to use for the ordinary non-techie. When you initially get to the dashboard, the first page you see is a list of actions you should perform to finish your business in a matter of seconds. You may, for example, add items, configure delivery options, and control tax rates. 

Following that, the development becomes more complicated.

Personalization is aided through apps and integrations, and site templates are pre-built to make it appear as if you paid a professional to build your site. BigCommerce, on the other hand, relies heavily on a business named Pixel Union for their themes. They appear sleek and modern, but consumers have commented that the single-designer approach leaves space for growth in terms of individuality.

It's not just that, but several of our viewers have expressed their dissatisfaction with the ease with which they may uncover random issues that are rarely resolved. 

Because you may modify just about everything for your items, the product administration is simple and distinctive.

Basically, API access is far more straightforward than with Volusion-based solutions. Advanced users would not have any issues with BigCommerce, but we're concerned about the newbies. 

Review of BigCommerce - Pricing 

BigCommerce does have some competitive pricing at one point, which was comparable to Shopify's. Nonetheless, it appears that, in response to several letters and concerns from our visitors, that they very often significantly hiked pricing for their most successful users (those who generate more than $125,000 in annual sales). 

This is a big setback for BigCommerce customers as well as our overall opinion of the company. Sure, you'll still get some of the set costs listed below, but after you reach a certain level of sales, you'll be hit with astronomically expensive monthly charges. It's almost as if BigCommerce is attempting to extort more money from users just because well, they can.

Nevertheless, let's move on to the various options available to you. Before you have to make a choice, BigCommerce offers a free 30-day trial. 

At first sight, all of those rates appear to be quite attractive – but there is one thing to bear in mind. If your business grows to a certain size, you will be promoted (whether you like it or not). We'll return to this in a moment.

And in the meantime, let's examine at the BigCommerce price specifics. 

If you choose the yearly subscription plan, you save 10% on any of plan. So, on the Standard plan, you'll pay around $359 up front. Another thing that you need to be aware of is that if you want more capability than the "Pro" plan provides, you will need to seek an Enterprise plan.

That's quite common for most current offers. 

 In terms of price, consider the four plans listed below: 

• Standard Plan - For $29.95 a month, you receive limitless items, unlimited storage, and unlimited bandwidth, one can pay by credit card and PayPal and there's no transaction fees! The Standard plan is only available to anyone making less than $50,000 per year, hence it is only appropriate for minor e-commerce enterprises. In addition, the BigCommerce Standard plan misses key sophisticated capabilities, such as segmentation and abandoned cart recovery. 

• Plus Plan — For $79.95 a month, you get everything in the Standard Plan plus no transaction costs, real-time carrier shipment, fantastic payment providers, an abandoned cart saver, powerful customer segmentation, and a checkout hosted within your own domain. The BigCommerce Plus plan is appropriate for medium-sized online enterprises with annual revenue of up to $150k. By selecting this package, you will have access to a few more sophisticated features. The “Abandoned Cart Saver” is also accessible, allowing you to contact users who did not finish their purchase.

• Pro Plan - For $299.95 a month, you get all Plus Plan features, no transaction costs, Google customer reviews, item categorization or filtering, and a dedicated SSL certificate. For less than $400k in online sales, this plan starts at $299.95/mo. After that, they demand at least $150 per month for every extra $200k in sales. In short, if you earn more than $400K, they'll come after you. Faceted search is also included in the BigCommerce Pro plan, allowing online consumers to filter and sort goods. Store owners will also be allowed to add third-party SSL certificates under this arrangement.

• Enterprise Plan - You'll need to get in touch with BigCommerce for specific pricing, but you'll get all of the Plus Plan's functionality plus a dedicated SSL and IP address, setup and data migration, priority support, product filtering, extensive reporting tools, and Google verified shops, among other things. As several of our visitors have noted, BigCommerce appears to be pressuring several of their most successful and prominent businesses to adopt this strategy. If you earn more than $125,000 per year (or place more than 3,000 orders per year), you might be billed anywhere between $900 and $1,500 a month. 

BigCommerce's Pricing Plans are Explicitly Described 

Let's take a deeper look at who should take each strategy into account.

BigCommerce Standard Plan

BigCommerce's price ranges are all determined by your online store's gross income. That's a unique structure compared to several other eCommerce systems available today. It is, however, a fairly clear method that makes it easier for certain businesses to find out what they require.

Whenever you go over your plan's allowed storage space, the BigCommerce team will propose to you you if you'd like to upgrade. With that in mind, if you run a small business that doesn't require an expert support staff or SKUs, you could always begin with the Standard plan and gradually increase your subscription plan as your business grow.

The Standard plan is perfect for newcomers, costing $29.95 a month for revenues of up to $50,000 per year, which would also cover the majority of small businesses. This subscription will provide you with a full-rounded and powerful backend solution for your business, as well as access to a plethora of sales channels ranging from Apple Pay to Facebook, eBay, and Amazon. 

You will be provided with:

• Shipping estimates in real time 
• Discounts, coupons, and gift cards 
• Several channels of sale are available. 
• There are an infinite number of product options. 
• Accounts for all employees are unlimited. 
• Support is available 24 hours a day, seven days 
• Product evaluations and reviews 

BigCommerce Plus Plan 

The BigCommerce Plus plan is designed for customers that want a bit more help, a few more sophisticated features, and support for a larger shop. If you intend to sell up to $150,000 in items each year, you might select BigCommerce's Plus package. 

The BigCommerce Plus subscription costs $79.95 per month and includes all of the regular features from the basic plan, plus a few more.

For example, this is the first BigCommerce subscription that includes access to the abandoned cart saver, which may help you reclaim lost leads. 

There is also access to items such as: 

• Credit cards are saved for faster purchases. 
• A persistent cart that receives regular updates
• Customer segments and groupings 

If your company is expanding and you want to maintain it that way, Plus's features will assist you. The automated emails that entice clients to return are very important. 

BigCommerce's Pro Plan

BigCommerce Pro is your final choice before upgrading to Enterprise. It is a pricey alternative when contrasted to other e-commerce service providers, such as Wix, and the early plans in the BigCommerce portfolio. You will pay roughly $299.95 every month.

The best part is that you won't have to pay for any add-ons to increase the capabilities of this plan because it should include all you need. For larger average purchase amounts, bespoke pricing is possible, as are features such as faceted search and a bespoke SSL for security.

Simultaneously, in addition to Google user reviews to enhance your sales power, the Pro plan includes all the great things you enjoyed from prior versions, such as Amazon Pay choices, customer groups, and abandoned cart recovery. 

The most notable aspects of BigCommerce Pro are the custom SSL and product filtering capabilities.

It also enable you to provide a better online experience for your visitors. With product search filters, you could make buying simple and win confidence from a well-known company like Google. 

If your firm is expanding but you don't want to invest in Enterprise just yet, Pro may be the right option for you. 

Is BigCommerce Enterprise Worth It?

The BigCommerce Corporate plan, like other ecommerce enterprise packages, is significantly more expensive than the other alternatives available to business owners. That implies you should carefully consider if the cost is justified.

The BigCommerce Enterprise package includes all of the standard BigCommerce capabilities, such as limitless API calls, custom facets, and other tools suited to particular merchant needs. There's also a PayPal Express checkout, one page checkouts, and social network connectors so your consumers can brag about their purchases, in addition to Stripe payment alternatives.

The Enterprise plan for internet company owners includes things like dependable hosting and security in addition to those basic capabilities. You get a 99.99 percent guaranteed uptime, Meaning that you don't have to be concern about losing access to your storefront. There's also DDoS protection and bank-grade security. There are also the following features:

• Conversion solutions that are cutting-edge: Whether you're a little business or a major corporation, conversion is critical for BigCommerce users. The Abandoned Cart Saver feature in the Enterprise plan lets you reward clients who have abandoned their cart without purchasing anything. Abandoned carts are recovered at a rate of roughly 15% by BigCommerce.

• There's also a filtered search option to assist customers locate what they're looking for. 

• Additional shipping assistance: The ShipperHQ plugin is included with BigCommerce Enterprise. This business tool calculates shipping prices and provides consumers with a real-time estimate of how much they should anticipate to pay. 

• Customizable product filtering: As custom filters, you may utilize your own product fields.

• Limitless API calls: Transfer data in real-time across your integrations with no restrictions. 

• Customer service at the highest level: Customers on the Enterprise plan receive their inquiries and concerns put to the top of the priority list. Your calls is always handled and responded to first, whether they are regarding product alternatives or difficulties. You may even be assigned a personal account manager.

The BigCommerce Enterprise package is designed for people who want to be treated like a VIP. You'll get priority support, unique filtering options, a staged development environment, and a dedicated account manager, amongst many other things. 

As you move beyond the Plus and Pro levels, BigCommerce may no longer be the best option for most businesses.

While we like BigCommerce's capabilities and layouts, charging this much for the most lucrative customers is an odd business plan. 

BigCommerce is now significantly more expensive than its direct competitor Shopify, which has set costs, as a result of these modifications in 2016. 

Pros and Cons of BigCommerce 

Is BigCommerce a good fit for your ecommerce goals and purposes?

That is debatable. It has advantages and disadvantages to consider, just like any other instrument. 

Pros of BigCommerce 

• Order management, product management, reporting, analytics, and just about everything else you might possibly think of are all excellent management solutions. BigCommerce is fantastic for managing your store on a daily basis. 

• Module for marketing, including AdWords integration, discounts, and more. You can also nurture your audience by integrating email marketing solutions such as Mailchimp. 

• Whenever you take into account the number of wonderful great features provided and the knowledge that there really is no cap on the amount of consumers you can service or the number of items you can provide, BigCommerce is fairly reasonable. 

• Support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a BigCommerce provides excellent customer service. You may even receive help figuring out things like SEO and marketing fundamentals. 

• There are a variety of applications to pick from: Integrate your shop with the applications you use the most, such as QuickBooks, Mailchimp, and other similar services. 

• Use the currencies that are most convenient for you, along with several currencies at various times.

• No transaction fees: BigCommerce really does not have any transaction fees, even if you use a third-party payment gateway. 

• The abandoned cart data feature is wonderful for bringing clients back into your business when you need them the most. 

• With any subscription, you can acquire as many staff accounts as you need.

• There are built-in marketing tools accessible, along with the ability to visit a built-in blog without needing to use WordPress. 

• For 14 days, you may sample the product for free. 

Cons of BigCommerce 

• Themes may be fairly expensive if you want to personalize your business, especially if you're interested in something from the premium range.

• Adjusting all features of your home page, along with the text content, is challenging. 

• Before you can make the homepage carousel to appear great, you'll need to do some trial and error. 

• The design adjustment features aren't always how you'd want them to be. 

• You will have to spend a significant amount of money to have access to features such as abandoned cart capability.

• There is a limit to the number of online sales you may make every year. If you go above that amount, you'll have to upgrade to a more costly plan. 

• In the free sector, themes might be fairly similar to one another. 

• VAT MOSS rates are difficult to control for digital goods sellers. 

• It might be difficult to locate the dropshipping applications you require in the app store. 

BigCommerce Transaction Fees

When it comes to evaluating eCommerce site builder alternatives, one of the most common concerns that businesses have is if there are any hidden expenses. It's wonderful to believe you've figured out how your new gadget will fit into your budget. However, it's a nightmare to find out that you have to spend more money for services like onboarding and transactions.

BigCommerce is advantageous in that it has no transaction fees. All plans have a variety of fascinating features, and there are no hidden costs that we can discern. Despite the fact that there's no transaction costs you need to worry about, BigCommerce is still not inexpensive when you consider the sales per year constraints on each package. 

Apps for mobile devices, integrations, and add-ons

Finding the perfect tool for your online store usually involves more than just looking for something that fits your budget. It also involves looking at different aspects of the service, other than what the tool can accomplish, important aspects such as which services you can integrate with which it will work well and where exactly you can use it efficiently.

BigCommerce, for example, may assist you in managing your internet business while being on the go. The BigCommerce platform includes mobile apps for iOS and Android, allowing you to manage many parts of your site on the go. You may check critical performance measures for your business, alter orders, and search throughout clients using the mobile app.

Furthermore, the BigCommerce software allows you to customize the operation of your web shop in any way you want. You may find connectors inside the tool that allow you to integrate your website development and eCommerce solution with a variety of other apps and software. BigCommerce, for example, has a number of pre-built interfaces with popular ERP systems like NetSuite. It also has a working sales tax interface with Avalara. Other integrations provide the following: 

• Sage, Xero, and QuickBooks are examples of accounting and sales tax software. 

• Google AdWords and Mailchimp are two examples of marketing and conversion tools. 

• Shopkeep, for example, is a leading point-of-sale system. 

• Google Shopping Feeds, for example, are shopping systems.

If you can't locate the app you're looking for on BigCommerce's Apps and Integrations page for whatever cause, your developers may be able to create a new one for you using BigCommerce API solutions. Because the API calls on the service are unlimited, developers will have no trouble synchronizing many apps with your store. Non-proprietary languages and open documentation choices are also used by the BigCommerce RESTful API. 

Features of BigCommerce Multi-Currency 

The launch of new multi-currency functionalities, which the firm gives to all clients, is among the most interesting additions to the BigCommerce portfolio lately. BigCommerce's multi-currency capabilities contribute to its position as a top open SaaS platform.

You may use pricing lists to tailor your pricing at a deeper SKU level with these tools. That's something that other major players, such as Shopify, do not allow. Merchants, on the other hand, have the option of selecting their own payment providers. This is unlike other multi-currency systems, which typically force business owners to use in-built payment systems.

BigCommerce has always had five multi-currency gateway choices, with more on the coming. Merchants may use the multi-currency functionalities to boost and optimize their cross-border operations. International clients, on the other hand, get a customized shopping experience based on their home currency and language.

To make things even better, BigCommerce's Multi Currency capabilities are included in all of the company's plan types at no additional cost. This implies that merchants may use interfaces with some of the most prominent payment services, such as PayPal and Stripe, to provide data and transaction in a variety of currencies (over 100).

Access to the following functionalities is accessible through BigCommerce's cross-border multi-currency features: 

• There are no extra charges: Customers can pay their purchase in the currency of their choice. This implies they won't have to be concern about extra charges from their bank, such as conversion rates.

• Precise checkout prices: Customers know exactly the real amount they are spending when they get at the checkout point by using currency rates that consumers can adjust with a simple click.

• Flexibility and personal freedom: BigCommerce's multi-currency ability integrates with some of the most popular worldwide payment gateways. This helps businesses to select the best appropriate provider for their company needs in each location.

• Absolute mastery: Enterprise businesses may quickly establish pricing for individual currencies utilizing sophisticated SKUs, which is an added feature of BigCommerce. 

BigCommerce's new multi-currency features assist it to distinguish itself as one of the top platforms for genuinely global enterprises. 

Transaction Fees and Other Hidden Costs with BigCommerce

BigCommerce, like most eCommerce systems, appears to start off cheap and then becomes more expensive as time goes on. This may seem acceptable if you don't intend to use many of the other tools anyhow. After all, even the most basic plans have features such as: 

• Products, bandwidth, and data storage are all unlimited. You may sell as much as you want without worrying about bandwidth restrictions.

• Real-time shipping quotes: Ensure that you're converting consumers by providing them with the most affordable shipping options. 

• Sites that are responsive: Make sure your site appears great on both desktop and mobile devices. 

• Checkout on a single page: Make the transaction experience as seamless as possible to reduce the chance of abandoned carts. 

• Customer service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week: Instantly receive all of the answers to your queries.

Furthermore, there are no transaction costs associated with BigCommerce. There are no fees to pay, regardless of how much time your consumers spend on your website. 

There's really, nevertheless, a disadvantage. BigCommerce offers a somewhat different pricing strategy, putting a cap on each of their plans.

If you make more than $50,000 per year, you won't be allowed to stay on the Standard plan and will be immediately promoted to the Pro plan. That's a $50 rise in your monthly billing all of a sudden.

You don't even have the choice of sticking with your lower-functioning plan. BigCommerce manages the adjustments instantly, that implies that if your sales grow, your costs will rise as well. 

Take this into consideration before deciding to utilize BigCommerce. 

Templates and Design of BigCommerce Review

You may get a sense of what you'll be functioning with if you choose BigCommerce by visiting the BigCommerce Theme Store. In summary, it's a wonderful shop offering free and paid products to suit a variety of budgets. 

BigCommerce has a large number of responsive themes to choose from if you want to make the most of your online store's appearance.

There seem to be 12 free themes to select from, all of which are beautiful, sleek and modern in appearance, so this is an excellent place to start. 

There are also over 100 premium themes to choose from, with costs ranging from $145 to $235 depending on your needs. Most themes also come with a variety of variations that you may tweak to your liking.

The free themes are among of the finest I've seen in a long time, and customizing or making them do what you really want isn't difficult. The bulk of the premium themes are mobile-friendly, beautiful, and simple to use. BigCommerce, on the other hand, lacks some of the originality that you may get elsewhere. We believe it's because the majority of the themes are created by a single business named Pixel Union. It's not that they're horrible designers; it's just that we'd want to see more original ideas from other creators. 

Even yet, if you want to, you may always do your own customisation. All you have to do now is go to your online shop theme and start messing about. With a little tweaking, you can utilize almost any theme to offer almost any sort of goods or services.

Simply select the “Style Editor” tool and experiment with things like changing the default colors to fit your identity or adjusting the typefaces. You may also enable mobile themes, change the main carousel, and upload your own logo. If you have any development experience, you may also operate with the CSS and raw HTML to update your template.

Overall, a high-quality theme will not cost you more than $150 or $200. That puts it about on par with competitors. 

Customers will have access to 67 new, flexible templates beginning March 23, 2016, which are intended to extend your capabilities for merchandising, promotions, and a smooth checkout procedure.

Customers will have access to around 60 new responsive themes as of March 23, 2016, which are designed to improve your merchandising, promotions, and checkout experience. While we have never had the ability to evaluate the templates  they range in price from $145 to $235 and include current merchandising options to help you grow your business. All of these new templates are available for purchase in the theme store.

Inventory Management in BigCommerce Review

The inventory is a notable feature because it allows you to add simple goods, set up inventory tracking, and adjust stock levels in a matter of minutes.

So you don't get bogged down by a number of rules that only apply to one or two businesses, use the product complete customization rules and inventory tools. I've seen it before when a system makes it difficult for clothing firms to add something as basic as sizes. With their inventory, personalization is vital, so you don't have to be concerned. 

Straight out of the box, you can offer items, downloads, events, and services, which is really great. It's also simple to keep track of which items are out of stock. 

An Inventory Plus : the possibility to Link and Import to Amazon

For synchronizing your store's items with your Amazon page, several ecommerce systems include Amazon connections.

This is excellent, however BigCommerce provides a feature that allows you to reverse the sync so you can continue to focus on getting consumers to your own website. You may expand your loyal client base and advertise your own site rather than Amazon's by doing so.

The Amazon Import and Link tool imports all of the goods from your Amazon store into your BigCommerce store. This ensures a smooth transition for businesses that now exclusively sell on Amazon. You'll also discover fantastic tools for preventing duplication, repeating the sync many times, and listing links to Amazon items you've currently published online.

Ultimately, it's an excellent first step toward branding your particular site and putting people on your email list rather than Amazon's. 

Review of Shipping with BigCommerce 

Let us just admit that as well: there is much more to selecting the best e-commerce web creator than examining what kinds of URLs you can obtain or the pricing of your store builder software. You'll also need to consider how you'll get your stuff to your clients. 

The excellent thing is that BigCommerce provides a wide selection of shipping choices, featuring real-time shipping quotes for customers with higher-tier goods. You can also provide free delivery to your consumers and print shipping labels using the third-party integrations provided by BigCommerce.

Furthermore, BigCommerce has its own all-in-one shipping solution. BigCommerce Shipping is a free software that lets you to obtain significant discounts on shipping throughout the world with renowned firms like as DHL, USPS, Fedex, and others. You may also maintain your consumers satisfied by offering services such as in-store pickup, next-day delivery, shipping tracking, and more.

Based on your BigCommerce price plan, you might also be able to speed up part of your shipping activities! 

BigCommerce has launched a new and enhanced shipping method for consumers looking for further discounts and a simpler setup. This shipping plan will be available in March 2019 and will feature the following benefits:

• FedEx Express offers faster shipping as well as some of the best negotiated pricing on the market. 

• Many of the delivery fees displayed on your site are the same as those displayed on shipping labels. 

• BigCommerce's live rate accuracy has increased, resulting in more conversions. 

• UPS, USPS, DHL, and Fedex will begin to provide more lower prices.

• BigCommerce's interface will have an automated section for setting your shipment. You won't have to visit a third-party website this way. 

• Merchants will begin to notice drastic price reductions with pre-negotiated delivery prices. BigCommerce is aiming for a 50-60% reduction in overall delivery prices. 

Is BigCommerce The Fastest Ecommerce Platform on the Market

The performance, efficiency and speed of your site are important for a number of factors. To begin with, Google and other search engines are concerned about the speed of your website. The search engines understand that having to sit around and wait for pages to load degrades the user experience. As a result, a speedy site might improve your search engine ranks. Additionally, your consumers are considerably more likely to return and make a purchase! 

Given the importance of speed in today's competitive ecommerce market, it's encouraging to see that BigCommerce is now unquestionably the top performing ecommerce platform available. This is due to a number of factors. BigCommerce, for example, has integrated Google AMP on its platform.

The acronym AMP means for Accelerated Mobile Pages, and it is a Google opensource platform. On your mobile product and category pages, it improves page load times and improves search engine exposure.

The Akamai Image Manager is another feature incorporated into BigCommerce's system. All BigCommerce subscribers have native accessibility to the image manager, which improves all of the site's photos effortlessly. 

BigCommerce SEO & Marketing Review

BigCommerce's SEO is yet another strongest point, since its own content delivery network serves your website pages considerably faster than the competition. This enhances the user experience, and search engines recognize it as well. The options for adjusting your SEO are a hassle to discover, but they're all in the product area.

Remember that several of our visitors have complained that BigCommerce's marketing and SEO tools haven't met their expectations. I believe the expectation is that you'll switch from a platform like Volusion or 3dCart to a platform like Shopify and start attracting more consumers to your business. BigCommerce, on the other hand, appears to be focused only on serving as a payment processing platform. In general, you should anticipate to do the majority of the difficult marketing job on your own. 

However, you may interface with Google Shopping to capture all of the consumers that use that path. Not to add, your site's microdata and reviews are all published on search engines, which is proven to please both search engines and customers.

What is really included in the marketing functionalities? Promotions and discounts, email marketing, SEO, social media marketing, and multi-channel marketing are all on the table. It appears to be debatable if it works well enough. You could use Mailchimp or something similar for email marketing, however BigCommerce provides an app for that as well.

Shopping on Instagram Stories 

Instagram has always been a fantastic tool for promoting an online shop. It's taken some time to acquire some good selling tools, but they're on their way. BigCommerce currently allows any merchants on the platform to sell on Instagram.

This implies that retailers may create Instagram stories and tag items inside those stories. After clicking through, the consumer is automatically directed to the page dedicated to the product of your choosing. 

BigCommerce Payments Review

One of the best things about BigCommerce is that you're not obliged to use one way of payment over another for your customers. Rather, you may connect your business to whatever payment processing approach you like. 

The system enables over 60 payment gateways, allowing you to handle payments directly via your store rather than transferring them to a third-party service like PayPal.

Offline payments are accepted, and you'll have access to amazing features like numerous currencies, configurable shipping rates, secure checkouts, and the ability to print mailing labels. 

Review of BigCommerce – Security 

All BigCommerce-hosted sites are PCI Level 1 certified; so that your clients don't have to be concerned about the security of their personal and financial data. An enterprise level network design protects your company's infrastructure as well. 

I mainly like the idea that you may use a shared SSL certificate or purchase your own. More alternatives like that are needed in life. A shared SSL, in essence, implies that your checkout is not housed on your own website. It appears to be, but the consumer takes a different path. It's comparable to Shopify. 

As previously said, BigCommerce offers the option of a dedicated SSL certificate, if you've the funds, you may go that route. 

Generally, security is one of BigCommerce's strong aspects. 

Review of BigCommerce Customer Service

Whether BigCommerce excels at one thing, it is online customer care. Please visit the customer service page to see what I'm referring to. Discussion platforms, tutorials, videos, and a knowledge base are all part of this form of help. That's fantastic news for folks who wish to do their own study.

Once you join up for BigCommerce, you'll have access to phone, live chat, email, and a forum where you can get support. Readers, on the other hand, have complained that the phone and live chat aren't very helpful. Sometimes you are held on hold for a long time, and other times it appears that the customer service staff aren't adequately trained.

Despite this, the community seems to be more strong than many of the other ecommerce platforms, and one of my favorites is BigCommerce University, a series of fun and instructive courses for making your website work to make more money. 

Product Updates on BigCommerce

It's useful to have a running list of item and functionality updates from a single platform. If you're waiting with a certain feature before making a purchase, or if you're currently a BigCommerce subscriber and want to keep up with all the latest releases, bookmark or follow the Product News page. 

How to Create an Online Store Using BigCommerce

Creating an online store with BigCommerce is simpler than you would think. 

You'll commence with a basic sign-up procedure, which you should probably try out first with the BigCommerce trial period. You'll have to input some basic information concerning your store, including what you'll be selling, where you'll be situated, and the name of your firm.

That's all there is to it when it have to do with signing up.

After pressing the "Create my Store now" button, you'll be sent to your very own control panel, that you can undertake an on-screen tour and check out a few of the available options.

Step 1: looking into the dashboard

The dashboard is where you'll see the most important information about your control panel, such as recent orders, revenue, and items.

On the dashboard, you'll also have access to several useful BigCommerce tools, such as a search area from which you can look for orders, goods, and customer information. You'll therefore be able to check your store by clicking on the store icon, and you'll be able to establish alerts for when people buy products. 

You may start developing your online business once you've been acquainted with the dashboard.

Step 2: Create an Online BigCommerce Store 

BigCommerce offers design ideas for your store which can be tailored to almost any need. Whatever you're selling, you should be able to locate anything that meets your requirements.

When you select the "Edit Settings" option on your dashboard, you'll be capable of working on your store's appearance, either by altering the theme's colors to match your brand or by adding a premium theme.

Keep in mind that the premium themes you might employ to boost your business might be rather costly. It could be a better idea to start with a free design and then tweak the CSS and HTML to make your theme more "you." Keep in mind that even the free themes are mobile-friendly.

Step 3: Select a currency and payment method. 

After you've set up your theme, you can focus on the items, which are arguably the most important component of any store. 

On the left-hand panel, go to “Settings” and sort out the foundations of your store. The following are some of the things you must do: 

• Adding photos to the shop 
• You will make the Product descriptions 
• Changing prices

One of its most important things you can do right away is selecting the currency that your shop will take. By going to Settings, then Currencies, you can double-check that the money is correct. 

You may also decide on things like how you'll receive money (through PayPal, bank transfer, etc.).

BigCommerce gives you a lot of options here, which would be great if you'd like to offer your consumers some flexibility in terms of how they pay. 

Step 4: Fill your BigCommerce store with products 

After you've sorted out the payments, you can begin adding goods to your main shop module. When you go to the "Items" page, you'll find a number of different examples of products.

Remove them and begin adding your own stuff in their place. 

You'll have various important criteria to enter for each item you put in your eCommerce store. For example, you'll be able to provide a price, a name, a category, a weight, as well as a tax class to your things. Basically, you have everything you need to provide your consumers with a wealth of information upon what they're purchasing.

Together with the "basics," you may go into further depth depending on how much information you believe your consumers would want. You can, for example: 

Give your consumers a plethora of choices: Allow your consumers to customize the size, color, and even form of the item they're purchasing, or include unique elements.

Set smart product rules: Give your consumers extra incentives, such as free delivery, if they spend more than $200 on your items. 

Keep track of your stock: Add Google Shopping to the mix, and give each product its own set of criteria. Make certain you have a thorough understanding of your online shop. 

Step 5: Put Products on Display on Your Home Page

It's essential to begin showcasing your available items on your company site once you've listed them all. BigCommerce allows you to achieve this in a variety of ways. 

One alternative is to designate some products (such as your best-sellers) as "featured" items. To make your product highlighted, simply click the small star next to it on the main product page.

Another alternative is to go to the homepage personalization settings and create a "Carousel" of your favorite goods. To locate the Carousel option, go to Settings, then “Design.” 

You may use this page to upload photographs of your items from your computer, add some text, and a link to the item you wish to sell. 

You've got an incredible method to show off your new items right away.

Step 6: Begin promoting your goods. 

Make sure to check out BigCommerce's marketing tools when you're ready to launch your website. Google AdWords, coupon coupons, and banner ads are just a handful of the alternatives available.

You may utilize banners on your homepage to showcase certain items and specials, as well as employ graphic information for promotional or non-promotional objectives. Discounts and coupon codes both assist you grab audience attention and ensure that you drive as many sales as possible.

The "Abandoned Cart Notifications" option is very useful since it enables you to reach out to customers and remind them of what they've forgotten in their shopping carts. Just keep in mind that some features will be unavailable in the BigCommerce Standard plan. 

Review of BigCommerce Analytics and Reporting

For BigCommerce users, establishing a fantastic online store is only the first step on the road to success. You'll need to evaluate whether your wonderful store is working according to your expectations after you've developed it. 

BigCommerce's reporting and analytics capabilities come in handy here. As usual, the tool includes a number of reporting options, including:

• Details about your consumers, such as where they came from, how many new and recurring customers you have, and how much money they spend. 

• Reports on data searches The terms that your customers use to search for your items or store. 

• Marketing reports: Learn how Biocommerce's marketing services helped you attract consumers. 

• Finance reports: Gain insight into tax returns, sales, and profits through financial reports.

• Reports on abandoned carts: How many customers are abandoning your items without purchasing them? 

BigCommerce also provides a “Insights” report for organizations willing to pay an extra charge. This provides a wealth of information on your items, consumers, and abandoned shopping carts.

You will be charge an additional $49 per month if you're on the "Standard" or "Plus" plan. Enterprise clients will pay roughly $299 per month, while pro clients would pay $99 per month (for greater data).

BigCommerce's analytics and reporting system is, on the whole, highly dependable and outstanding. The great part regarding reporting with BigCommerce is that no matter which plan you choose, you'll get the majority of the features you need. For competitors like Shopify, this isn't always the case.

To see any consumer or sales reports on Shopify, you'll need to upgrade to a $79 account. You may also improve your analytics with BigCommerce by using Google services. The following are some of the reporting features available with BigCommerce: 

• For merchants that seek to increase sales, target consumers, and segment their audience, in-depth stats are available.

• Snapshots of your dashboard at a glimpse, including AOV, conversion rates, sales channel statistics, and more. 

• In-built detailed reports: At any moment, you may drill down into specific reports from your dashboard. E-commerce analytics statistics are concerned with your store's performance. 

Review of BigCommerce Dropshipping

Many businesses contemplating adopting BigCommerce nowadays will want to know how it handles things like Dropshipping. 

Dropshipping, if you're unfamiliar with the term, simply implies that you wouldn't keep the things you sell in stock or stacked up in a warehouse someplace. Rather, you receive orders from clients, forward the information to a supplier, and somebody else handles the packing and delivery.

The beautiful thing about drop shipping is that it requires very little initial investment. You do not need to have any inventory before you start selling. 

Installing a third-party program is the easiest approach to manage dropshipping with BigCommerce. BigCommerce provides the following primary options: 

• Dropshipping on AliExpress 
• Printful (is a service that allows you to print )
• A spreadr 
• Sunrise
• 2B wholesale

Many of these software provide trial versions that allow you to test them out before purchasing them. However, you should be mindful and not all of those goods are available while searching for them in the BigCommerce app store under the "Drop Ship" category. You might have to look for them using the word "Dropship" instead. 

Review of BigCommerce Selling Digital Products 

In addition to making it easier to sell physical things via BigCommerce with drop shipping, there's also the possibility to sell digital files. Digital items are referred to as "downloadable items" by BigCommerce. These are fast and easy methods for selling digital material to your clients.

When a customer adds a digital goods to their shopping cart and checks out, the shipping component of the checkout is immediately deleted. 

Before you start selling digital items with BigCommerce, keep the following in mind: 

• There is no restriction on the amount of files that may be attached to a downloaded package. 

• Connecting the file in BigCommerce is a choice. 

• The file size limit is 512 MB.

• Files may be uploaded via a control panel or the WebDAV protocol. 

• Downloadable items cannot be pre-ordered and must be developed instead by using a CSV import.

If you wish to sell digital items in the European Union, you'll need to learn about the notion of "VAT MOSS." If you make over ten thousand euros a year from the sale of digital items, you must apply country-specific VAT rates to your items.

Another of the primary challenges for BigCommerce users selling digital items is that this procedure is incredibly time-consuming and uninteresting. BigCommerce should add something similar to Shopify's approach in the future, where you may apply VAT MOSS to digital items automatically. 

BigCommerce Point-of-Sale

One of the finest features of BigCommerce is that it isn't simply for running your online business. You may also use this fantastic technology to access a point-of-sale system.

Once you're operating in a physical location, such as a market stall or store, you can collect payments directly from consumers and sync inventory thanks to interfaces with Springboard Retail, Shopkeep, and Square POS. There might be more integrations in the future. 

You'll need to look into the different options to make sure you're getting the most out of your new POS system.

However, knowing that you'll have a few alternatives to pick from is beneficial. The majority of other eCommerce solutions don't use POS at all, and they're also somewhat limited in terms of the hardware you may utilize. 

Review of BigCommerce App Store 

Another excellent approach to improve your BigCommerce experience is to use the BigCommerce app store to add new features.

The Ecommerce Apps Marketplace is aimed to improve your store's functionality by providing a wider selection of connectors and possibilities. CRM solutions, shipping calculations, marketing, and other facets of running an online business may all be implemented via apps.

There are integrations for a variety of SaaS platforms, including Zendesk, Salesforce, and Xero, as well as Mailchimp for email marketing techniques. 

You may use up to 650 apps in total for your BigCommerce shop, however we don't advocate using them all.

While BigCommerce's offered integrations aren't as extensive as Shopify's, it does include solutions that aren't accessible anyplace else. For example, while there is no direct link between Shopify and Mailchimp, you can easily access Mailchimp thru BigCommerce.

BigCommerce Questions and Answers 

Is BigCommerce a free service? 

Answer: The fact that BigCommerce does no have a transaction costs does not imply that it's free. You can receive a 14-day free trial, but you'll have to pay at least $29.95 for the basic subscription after that. You may have to upgrade your subscription even more if you'd like more sophisticated features.

Shopify or BigCommerce: which is better? 

Answer: This is a challenging issue to answer without first understanding your company's needs and issues. BigCommerce's major competition is Shopify. Both products are equally priced and offer a comparable set of basic functions. BigCommerce, on the other hand, has a somewhat larger number of free features.

What types of items can I sell using BigCommerce? 

Answer: BigCommerce enables you to create an online store in whatever way you choose. You'll be able to market digital things, physical things, and even stuff offline, regardless of the sector you're in. BigCommerce interfaces with POS systems, drop shipping providers, and other services.

Is there really a built-in blogging capability in BigCommerce? 

Answer: BigCommerce has you covered if blogging is an important component for your company's success. The platform includes built-in blogging capabilities, which are critical for most inbound marketing strategies. In terms of features, it doesn't quite match WordPress, but it may also enable you to attract site visitors.

Are there any BigCommerce apps? 

BigCommerce does not come with any mobile apps to assist you run your online business. Although there were formerly available apps, they have subsequently been removed. You will still receive sales alerts from your shop, but they will only be sent to you through email.

Conclusion of the BigCommerce Reviews 

BigCommerce is suitable for almost anybody that doesn't require an Enterprise Level System. That isn't to suggest the BigCommerce enterprise plan isn't worthwhile, but I believe there are better alternatives. I'm cautious to suggest BigCommerce to a larger business because the capabilities you need are available through Shopify or even Magento. Volusion is a hard bargain to pass up as a startup. 

BigCommerce is a good choice for small businesses, but consider how much you expect to scale it in the future. Since if you pass up a certain amount of sales, you may wind up paying a lot of costs. 

Give their 15-day free trial a try if you're looking for more features straight away or if you want to give it a trial.