Introduction

BigCommerce is a leading SaaS e-commerce platform used by over 60,000 online stores.

BigCommerce was founded in 2009.

It aims to provide an all-in-one solution for businesses to create, manage, and grow an online store.

Advantages

1) Ease of Use

One of the biggest advantages of BigCommerce is how easy it is to use.

Especially for those without much technical expertise.

The intuitive dashboard and admin area make it simple for store owners.

You can add products, manage orders, and customize the online store.

You don't need to know how to code.

The setup process is straightforward.

Videos and support articles guide users through the initial store configuration.

Even complex tasks like integrating shipping carriers or payment gateways are simplified.

Through the use of pre-built connections and widgets.

Everything is point-and-click rather than requiring custom development.

For small business owners and first-time e-commerce entrepreneurs, this ease of use and simplicity is a huge draw.

You don’t need a background in web design or development to operate a BigCommerce store.

The platform handles all the technical heavy lifting. While the business owner can focus on selecting

products, marketing their brand, and growing their customer base.

2) Design Flexibility

BigCommerce offers a wide range of design options.

They give your e-commerce store a customized look and feel. There are over 100 free and paid theme templates to choose from.

You can select a design that aligns with your brand image.

The template themes are professionally designed for e-commerce. Layouts are optimized for product display, calls to action, and conversion.

You get access to both multi-page and single-page layouts to suit your preferences.

Themes are also mobile responsive, so your store looks great on any device.

Besides theme selection, BigCommerce provides extensive customization capabilities without needing code.

The built-in Stencil editor lets you change a lot.

From colors, fonts, content layouts, images, and more.

You can tailor the header, footer, product, cart, and checkout pages to match your branding.

BigCommerce offers the ability to edit theme files and HTML/CSS code directly.

This appeals to many merchants.

Often, they want to fully customize their site’s appearance and user experience.

Or you can hire a BigCommerce design partner.

He will handle these advanced adjustments for you.

BigCommerce delivers flexible design options.

This makes your online storefront align with your desired image and style.

You can choose from theme selection to customizations.

You can craft a site that showcases your brand effectively.

BigCommerce provides a combination of professional themes and customization powers.

They enable both simplicity and depth of design modification.

3) Scalability

BigCommerce is highly scalable and able to handle stores from small to very large.

The platform itself is built to scale along with your business growth.

You don’t need to upgrade plans or switch platforms as your sales volume increases.

BigCommerce uses enterprise-grade infrastructure.

It is designed to support high-traffic stores with minimal lag or downtime.

The platform leverages content delivery networks.

It uses load balancing to distribute traffic, allowing it to scale to meet demand.

Stores handling thousands of orders per day have no problem running on BigCommerce.

BigCommerce can easily handle hundreds of thousands of product pages and variations.

There are no limits on bandwidth or storage either.

You get unlimited file storage and bandwidth on all BigCommerce plans.

This removes concerns about exceeding caps.

You can grow your product images, videos, and other media unconcernedly.

The platform grows as you do, without the need for migrations.

4) SEO Optimization

BigCommerce provides excellent built-in SEO features.

They help stores to get found on search engines like Google.

Some of the top SEO advantages of using BigCommerce include:

BigCommerce sites are built using clean, semantic HTML code.

They are optimized for SEO best practices.

This improves onsite SEO and makes it easy for search engines to crawl and index pages.

Store admins can create custom, SEO-friendly URLs, which are an important ranking factor.

This removes dynamic URLs and makes pages easy to understand.

Images and videos are automatically resized.

They are optimized to load fast without hurting SEO, improving page speed scores.

Automatic XML sitemaps are generated to help search engines discover new content.

Sitemaps can be submitted directly to Google.

Structured data markup using schema.org microdata is added to product pages.

Thus improving rich snippet potential.

The ability to customize image alt text for better context and keyword targeting.

BigCommerce enables automatic 301 redirects when URLs change, preserving link equity.

Powerful SEO apps like Yoast can be integrated.

Thus further optimizing pages for organic search.

BigCommerce sites are highly optimized for SEO out of the box.

Built-in capabilities are coupled with the ability to enhance SEO through apps.

This allows stores to achieve high Google rankings and visibility.

5)Third-Party Integrations

BigCommerce makes it easy to connect your store to many popular third-party applications.

As well as services, thanks to its open API and app store.

You can extend the functionality of your store without needing engineering resources.

Some of the most popular app and integration categories include:

Shipping & Fulfillment. Integrate with shipping carriers like UPS, FedEx, and USPS for discounted rates.

Or use third-party logistics providers like ShipBob for warehousing and fulfillment.

Accounting & ERP. Connect your store with accounting software like QuickBooks and Xero.

That helps you with financial management and tax reporting.

CRM & Marketing. Install CRM apps like Mailchimp, HubSpot, and Salesforce.

That helps to manage contacts, automate marketing, and track sales.

POS & In-Store. Offer omni-channel shopping with POS systems like Square and Vend.

Supports in-store pickup and endless aisle.

Product Sourcing and management.

Manage inventory across multiple sales channels using tools like Skubana and Zentail.

Or connect to drop shippers.

Business Intelligence. Integrate analytics tools like Google Analytics, Segment, and Mixpanel.

This gives you insights into visitor behavior and sales funnels.

Customer Support. Use help desk apps like Zendesk to manage customer tickets.

You can offer self-service FAQs.

Payments & Fraud Prevention. Extend your payment options with PayPal and Stripe and fraud protection with Signifyd.

Product Reviews. Display genuine reviews on product pages using platforms like Yotpo.

This builds trust and social proof.

BigCommerce also offers native integration with Zapier.

Allowing you to connect thousands of web apps without coding.

You can automate your business workflows and synchronize data between systems.

BigCommerce’s integrations make it easy to customize your store.

It provides best-in-class third-party technologies.

This can save you time and money compared to building everything in-house.

6) Reporting and Analytics

BigCommerce comes with built-in reporting that provides insights into your store’s performance.

Like sales, customers, traffic sources, and more.

The dashboard gives an overview of key metrics.

While more detailed reports can be accessed for specific data.

For instance, selling products, abandoned checkouts, etc.

BigCommerce integrates directly with Google Analytics.

This gives you an in-depth analysis of site traffic and customer behavior.

All crucial e-commerce data is automatically sent to your Google Analytics account.

This makes it easy to track conversions.

You can identify high-performing marketing channels and understand customer journeys.

Thus, you can optimize your store for improved performance.

Metrics are provided by BigCommerce analytics and Google Analytics integration.

So store owners can make data-driven decisions to maximize revenue.

The reporting capabilities give clear visibility into which products, campaigns, and channels are working best.

The analytics are a major advantage for monitoring the business and guiding strategy.

7) Customer Support–

Bigcommerce offers 24/7 support via all channels.

You can contact specific departments or representatives for a more customized experience.

Phone support is available with shorter wait times compared to other platforms.

The support team is based in the US and Australia.

The agents are knowledgeable and friendly.

They aim for quick issue resolution.

Many users compliment the support staff for being responsive and providing detailed troubleshooting.

Bigcommerce also has an extensive knowledge base.

With helpful articles and tutorials on most aspects of using the platform.

This allows store owners to self-serve for common questions and issues.

The search functionality makes it easy to find relevant help docs.

The quality 24/7 multi-channel customer support and detailed knowledge base differentiate Bigcommerce from competitors.

Store owners can rely on prompt, customized assistance when needed.

Disadvantages

1) Higher Transaction Fees

One potential disadvantage of using BigCommerce is the transaction fees.

They can be higher than some competing e-commerce platforms.

Credit card processing rates are often higher than platforms like Shopify or WooCommerce.

Fees consist of an interchange fee that goes to the card issuer, an assessment fee, and a payment gateway fee.

BigCommerce doesn’t disclose its credit card processing rates upfront.

But most users report rates of 2.9-3.5% per transaction.

This compares to rates of 2.4-2.9% on Shopify and ~2.5% for WooCommerce paired with Stripe.

BigCommerce charges a premium payment gateway fee compared to other platforms.

BigCommerce’s payment gateway fee is typically 0.35-0.5% per transaction.

Shopify and WooCommerce gateways charge closer to 0.3%.

This can add up over time. Especially for businesses processing large order volumes or high-ticket purchases.

For example, a business processing $100,000 per month in transactions would pay $1,000 – $1,500 more in processing fees than a lower-cost provider.

While the extra 0.5% fee may seem small, it directly reduces profit margins.

The higher credit card rates should be considered, especially by high-volume merchants.

The additional fees may be worth it if BigCommerce’s features and support provide more value for your business.

But it’s important to factor the higher processing costs into your decision.

Conclusion

BigCommerce is an industry-leading e-commerce platform.

It is used by 60,000+ businesses around the globe.

When weighing the pros and cons, BigCommerce stands out.

It has a combination of powerful features, flexibility, and ease of use.

The main advantages of using BigCommerce include:

– Intuitive store builder and CMS for easy site creation without coding

– Robust design flexibility with 100s of themes and the ability to customize

– Scales to support enterprise-level sales volumes and traffic

– Built-in SEO features like canonical URLs and metadata optimization

– It integrates with 100s of apps and services to expand functionality

– Powerful reporting and analytics to track all store metrics

– Excellent 24/7 customer support via phone, email, and chat

The primary downsides are:

– Transaction fees are higher compared to competitors at 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction

– Less control over backend customization compared to open-source platforms

BigCommerce is an excellent choice for small-to-medium businesses.

It provides an affordable, user-friendly, and full-featured hosted e-commerce platform.

The combination of powerful core features, design flexibility, scalability, and stellar support make it easy to recommend BigCommerce to merchants selling online.

While fees are higher than competitors, the added features and support appear to justify the premium pricing for most stores.

In summary, BigCommerce removes many of the headaches of running an online business by providing an all-in-one solution to get started selling quickly.