BigCommerce Vs Shopify: Which Is The Best?

Just started selling your products?

Would you like to build an eCommerce website?

Looking for the best eCommerce platform to start?

Then, here is the answer to all your questions -

BigCommerce and Shopify are two of the most popular eCommerce shopping carts on the market. Both platforms have easy-to-use interfaces, competitive prices, beautiful designs, and reliable customer service. But when you have to make a decision, how do you pick between two excellent options?

Each has its features, which we’ll discuss later in this article. But, first, let’s take a closer look at both of these eCommerce platforms.

Overview of BigCommerce and Shopify

BigCommerce — BigCommerce is an eCommerce platform that helps retailers build online stores using SaaS technology.

Established in 2009 by two Australians, Eddie Machaalani and Mitchell Harper, the company has grown rapidly. In August 2009, the founders relaunched Interspire Shopping Cart for public use under the name “BigCommerce.”

Shopify — Shopify is a cloud-based SaaS (software as a service) that offers complete solutions for eCommerce businesses. Using this, you can almost instantly create a fully customized website with apps and themes that are ready to start your business without learning any coding.

Tobias Lutke created an eCommerce website in 2006 to sell snowboards online. He soon realized how hard it was to manage and maintain an eCommerce site. Thus, he went on to establish an eCommerce platform called Shopify that made online selling easy.

BigCommerce Features

BigCommerce offers an extensive array of e-commerce features. However, you can find all the built-in tools and the associated terminology overwhelming if you are new to online sales.

Therefore, it is most suitable for companies with established e-commerce capabilities looking to expand.

Shopify Features

Shopify is an ecommerce platform you can use to build both an online and offline store. You can sell both online, with your website, and in-person with the Shopify POS.

You can create an ecommerce website with this builder whether you are a beginner or an expert.

Shopify Vs BigCommerce:

Here are a couple of things you need to consider when making your decision :

• Usability
• Plans and Pricing
• App Library
• Support Services
• Design
• Reporting and Analytics
• Community
• Conclusion

Usability: BigCommerce Vs Shopify

In both BigCommerce and Shopify, the admin interface is simple to use. If you’ve ever written a WordPress blog or sold on Etsy, you’ll need no help choosing a theme, changing settings, and loading products and images.

The BigCommerce store admin panel is easy to use and provides a user-friendly interface for performing operations. As BigCommerce offers more functionality than Shopify, you’ll need to become more familiar with the backend. But it’s worth taking the time to create a well-functioning store and take advantage of all of its reporting and discounting features.

With Shopify, you’ll get one of the most user-friendly interfaces available on the market. You can find all the information you need in the sidebar on the left. In addition, you can easily add products, create discounts, and edit your content with the WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editing tool.

A BigCommerce Vs Shopify comparison clearly demonstrates that both services provide navigation and usability features expected from a top-ranking shopping cart. However, Shopify may win out in this category since it provides a more user-friendly out-of-the-box experience for beginners.

Ultimately, it would help if you went with what you prefer. You can take advantage of the free trials again here. It is possible to try both and decide which is more comfortable for you.

Plans and Pricing: BigCommerce Vs Shopify

The price is one of the most important factors to consider when choosing your eCommerce platform. BigCommerce and Shopify both offer options that will fit any budget.

The following BigCommerce plans are available to merchants:

• Standard: $29.95 per month
• Plus: $79.95 per month
• Pro: $299.95 per month
• Enterprise: Custom pricing based on your needs

The plans provide you with the native functionality you need to meet your sales goals. You can easily estimate your ecommerce software costs based on your annual sales volume and budget accordingly.

Similarly, Shopify offers a range of plans:

• Basic Shopify: $29 per month
• Shopify: $79 per month
• Advanced Shopify: $299 per month
• Shopify Plus: Pricing is based on a % of your revenue with a minimum of $2,000 a month.

As an alternative, Shopify offers an inexpensive service called Shopify Lite for $9 per month if you only need a “Buy” button for your existing content site or blog.

App Library

Shopify provides numerous apps for managing your store’s essential functions, such as managing orders, adding products, viewing reports, and so on. In addition, Shopify offers two main apps for Android and iOS, including Shopify and Shopify POS.

In contrast, the Shopify POS mobile application can connect your retail store and the online store and enable you to accept credit card payments, sync products, and send email receipts.

Additionally, several other Shopify apps enable you to set up and manage your ecommerce store easily.

BigCommerce offers mobile apps that let you view and manage orders, communicate with customers, and view basic analytics reports.

In terms of features, Shopify has the edge over BigCommerce, thanks to two official app stores and several third parties. In addition, it is possible to sell products from your mobile device through its point of sale app, which BigCommerce cannot offer.

However, BigCommerce store owners benefit from an open platform with open APIs.

Support Services

Customer experience is becoming a significant concern for businesses, so it’s essential to choose a platform that offers extensive support.

BigCommerce offers 24/7 customer support via phone, live chat, and email. However, before providing an email or phone number, it encourages customers to fill out a form and experiment with potential solutions. This step can conveniently be skipped if you are in a hurry and want a quick resolution to your issue.

Shopify provides 24/7 customer support as well. Shopify encourages users to search for solutions, just like BigCommerce.

Shopify offers phone numbers for different countries. In case the country you reside in is not listed. However, you won’t be able to reach the customer service agent.

In contrast, BigCommerce lists more numbers under the ‘any other country’ option along with category references.

Design

Both BigCommerce and Shopify offer free and paid themes to choose from when building your online store. BigCommerce provides nearly 150 themes, and 12 of them are free. In contrast, Shopify offers fewer than 70 themes, including only nine for free.

In addition, even though Shopify and BigCommerce are both praised for their templates, Shopify’s sites look much cleaner and easier to customize. In addition, BigCommerce offers more themes. However, their paid themes can cost up to $300.

With Shopify, you can edit your store’s appearance and see the changes that you make in real-time. With BigCommerce, you have to navigate between various themes. You can also make more significant changes by editing the theme code. It is important to note that the majority of Shopify’s theme code is written using Liquid, Shopify’s custom template language.

While BigCommerce allows you to edit your store’s theme code, it doesn’t have an intuitive theme editor like Shopify does. A Shopify theme will also look better on a mobile device since it is more modern.

Reporting and Analytics

For ecommerce businesses, handling and understanding customer data is crucial because massive amounts of data are generated from multiple touchpoints. Using dynamic analytics can help you make data-driven decisions, increase conversions, and maximize revenue.

If you want to be successful in this competitive environment, you cannot ignore big data. Both Shopify and BigCommerce offer in-depth analytics tools.

You can also create custom reports with Advanced Shopify and Shopify Plus. Unlike regular Shopify reports, custom reports offer filter options to help you find the data you’re looking for.

The Shopify pricing offers one payment of $79 for all plans to take advantage of the comprehensive analytics reporting. Unfortunately, cheaper Shopify plans come with pretty basic analytics capabilities.

Additionally, BigCommerce provides more in-depth information about customers, abandoned carts, and products.

Both ecommerce platforms integrate well with Google Analytics to generate customized reports and measure conversions.

Compared to Shopify, BigCommerce offers more flexible pricing options and comprehensive reporting.

Community

A developer’s role is essential. When you have more developers, you’ll have more apps, more themes, and more templates, and more programmers and designers to help you if you ever get into any problem. Due to Shopify’s 10:1 customer ratio, there will be more options for you here.

Basically, it’s supply and demand. As more people rely on developers for one or more platforms, more developers are required. Therefore, there will be more solutions, lower prices, and many hands to do the heavy work.

For now, Shopify wins. People search for “Shopify Developer” more frequently than “BigCommerce Developer”.

Conclusion -

If you compare BigCommerce and Shopify head-to-head, you will find the same amount of riches regardless of which you choose. They provide:

• Attractive templates.
• Easy-to-use tools that make setting up stores easy.
• Integrations for store customizations.
• Customers can shop securely across multiple platforms.

A simple add-on can fix any flaws in either platform.

Shopify is a leading eCommerce platform that is suitable for businesses of all sizes. Besides being easy to use and scalable, it also provides fulfillment and financing capabilities. In particular, I like the $9 monthly plan of Shopify, which provides a way for small businesses to step into the eCommerce arena, and its built-in ability to take advantage of dropshipping.

Also, BigCommerce offers an appealing set of features, an easy-to-use admin section, and an abundance of add-on options. It’s the right choice for many vendors, and you should test both platforms before choosing one. You will not be disappointed if you test out both BigCommerce and Shopify using free trial periods.

If you are looking for expert assistance to build and maintain your Shopify or BigCommerce, here I would recommend Galaxy Weblinks, a eCommerce development company. They create robust web solutions that help businesses become online management tools.

They help businesses of all sizes, from start-ups to large corporations, transform their web presence and create competitive advantages through e-strategy development, rapid deployment, and continuous management.