Bigcommerce Vs Shopify: Comparison For 2024

Two leaders in the e-commerce sector in 2024 are Bigcommerce and Shopify. Both have strong features, scalability, and intuitive user interfaces, but which is best for your particular requirements? Explore our in-depth comparison of Shopify vs Bigcommerce, where we analyze their features, cost, usability, app stores, and SEO potential. Find the platform that will enable you to confidently develop, brand, and sell your products or services, guiding your company toward success in the ever-changing e-commerce space. So fasten your seatbelts, business owners, and get ready to meet your ideal mate.

Bigcommerce Vs Shopify: Introduction

BigCommerce and Shopify are both popular e-commerce platforms that enable businesses to create and manage online stores. Let's take a brief introduction to both BigCommerce and Shopify:

Bigcommerce

BigCommerce is another popular e-commerce platform that caters to businesses of various sizes. It is known for its scalability, making it suitable for both small businesses and large enterprises.

Shopify

Shopify is a widely used e-commerce platform that caters to businesses of all sizes. It's known for its user-friendly interface and a wide range of features that make it easy for both beginners and experienced merchants to set up and manage an online store.

Bigcommerce Vs Shopify: Features

Here are the features of Bigcommerce and Shopify:

Bigcommerce features

Here are the Bigcommerce Essentials key features:

Storefront Design and Customization: BigCommerce provides a diverse range of customizable hooks, allowing merchants full control over their storefront's visual appeal. With access to HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, advanced customization is made easy, ensuring a seamless user experience across devices.

Product Management: Efficient product management is simplified with support for unlimited products, variants, and categories. Advanced inventory tools, including bulk import/export functionality, enhance organization. Additionally, product filtering and search options facilitate easy navigation.

Multi-Channel Selling: BigCommerce integrates seamlessly with major sales channels like Amazon, eBay, Facebook, Instagram, and Google Shopping. This enables merchants to centrally manage orders and inventory across diverse channels.

Payment Options: Supporting multiple payment gateways, including PayPal, Stripe, and Square, BigCommerce ensures flexibility in payment processing. The platform's native solution, BigCommerce Payments, offers a secure checkout process with SSL certification.

Shipping and Fulfillment: Real-time shipping quotes, flexible shipping rules, and integration with third-party fulfillment services streamline the shipping process for merchants on BigCommerce.

SEO and Marketing: BigCommerce enhances SEO with customizable URLs, meta tags, and redirects. Built-in tools for discounts, promotions, and gift cards empower merchants in their marketing efforts, while integration with popular marketing platforms further extends capabilities.

Analytics and Reporting: BigCommerce provides a comprehensive analytics dashboard with key performance indicators. Detailed reports on sales, customer behavior, and website performance offer valuable insights. Integration with Google Analytics deepens analytical understanding.

Security: Maintaining Level 1 PCI DSS compliance, BigCommerce prioritizes secure transactions with regular security updates and monitoring. The platform ensures a secure checkout process and data protection.

Mobile Commerce: Mobile-optimized storefronts ensure a seamless shopping experience on smartphones and tablets. The availability of a mobile app allows merchants to efficiently manage their stores on the go.

Integrations and Apps: BigCommerce offers an app marketplace for seamless integration of additional features and services. APIs facilitate custom integrations with third-party tools and services, enhancing functionality.

Scalability: Suitable for businesses of all sizes, BigCommerce handles growing product catalogs and increased traffic. The platform provides enterprise-level features, making it adaptable for large-scale businesses.

Customer Support: Merchants benefit from 24/7 customer support via chat, phone, and email. A knowledge base and community forums provide self-help resources for users.

Abandoned Cart Recovery: BigCommerce equips merchants with tools for recovering abandoned carts and reducing cart abandonment rates. Automated email campaigns encourage customers to complete their purchases, improving overall conversion rates.

Shopify features

Storefront Design and Customization: Shopify provides customizable themes with a user-friendly drag-and-drop editor and full access to HTML and CSS for advanced modifications, ensuring visually appealing online stores.

Product Management: Efficiently manage unlimited products and variants, along with streamlined inventory tracking and bulk import/export functionality for seamless product management.

Multi-Channel Selling: Integrate with various sales channels like Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, and eBay, enabling centralized order and inventory management across multiple platforms.

Payment Options: Support multiple payment gateways, including Shopify Payments, PayPal, and Stripe, for flexible and seamless transactions with reduced fees.

Shipping and Fulfillment: Utilize real-time shipping rates, customizable rules, and third-party fulfillment service integration for an efficient shipping process.

SEO and Marketing: Enhance SEO with customizable tags, meta descriptions, and clean URLs. Built-in tools cover discounts, promotions, gift cards, and abandoned cart recovery.

Analytics and Reporting: Access an analytics dashboard with key performance indicators and detailed reports on sales, customer behavior, and website traffic. Integration with Google Analytics adds advanced analytics capabilities.

Security: Shopify ensures a secure, PCI DSS-compliant environment with SSL encryption, regular updates, and monitoring for a safe shopping experience.

Mobile Commerce: Deliver a seamless mobile shopping experience with optimized storefronts and a mobile app for convenient store management on the go.

App Ecosystem: Benefit from an extensive app store, offering third-party apps for marketing, customer service, and inventory management to enhance overall store functionality.

Integrations: Leverage APIs for custom integrations with third-party tools and services. Integration with popular tools like Mailchimp and QuickBooks further extends capabilities.

Scalability: Scale effortlessly from small startups to large enterprises, with Shopify's ability to handle growing product catalogs and increased traffic.

Customer Support: Access 24/7 customer support through chat, email, and phone, along with extensive documentation and community forums for self-help.

POS System: Integrate a point-of-sale (POS) system for offline sales, ensuring a cohesive retail experience.

Subscription and Membership Options: Offer subscription-based products and membership models, adding versatility to your product offerings.

Bigcommerce Vs Shopify: Pros & Cons

Choosing between Shopify Plus vs Bigcommerce can feel like navigating a jungle gym. Both Shopify and Bigcommerce e-commerce platforms offer impressive features and user-friendly interfaces, but each has its unique strengths and weaknesses. Let's break down the pros and cons to help you decide which platform best suits your needs:

Bigcommerce pros & cons

Pros:

Built-in features: Bigcommerce packs a punch with built-in features like abandoned cart emails, product filtering, B2B functionality, and SEO tools, saving you money on app integrations.

Scalability: Bigcommerce scales well, especially with its Enterprise plan offering more API calls and built-in features than Shopify Plus, potentially saving larger businesses money.

Transaction fees: Bigcommerce offers lower transaction fees compared to Shopify, especially on higher-volume plans.

24/7 support: All Bigcommerce plans include 24/7 support, providing peace of mind.

Cons:

Learning curve: Bigcommerce can have a steeper learning curve due to its wider range of features and options.

Limited app selection: While it boasts a decent app store, Bigcommerce doesn't have the sheer volume of apps compared to Shopify.

Customization: Bigcommerce might offer less flexibility for highly customized store designs compared to Shopify's app ecosystem.

Shopify pros & cons

Pros:

Ease of use: Shopify boasts a user-friendly interface that's easier to navigate, especially for beginners.

Vast app store: With thousands of apps, Shopify offers unmatched customization options for nearly any store functionality you can imagine.

Marketing Features: Shopify shines with built-in marketing features like gift cards and multi-channel selling, streamlining your marketing efforts.

Large community: Shopify has a larger and more active community, offering easier access to support and resources.

Cons:

Transaction fees: Shopify's transaction fees are slightly higher than Bigcommerce, especially on lower-volume plans.

App costs: While offering extensive options, many apps on Shopify come with additional costs, potentially increasing your overall expenses.

Built-in features: Shopify has fewer built-in features compared to Bigcommerce, requiring you to rely on apps for many functionalities.

Limited scalability: Shopify's top tier plan, Plus, might not offer the same level of scalability as Bigcommerce's Enterprise plan for very large businesses.

Bigcommerce Vs Shopify: Pricing

Here is the pricing details for Bigcommerce and Shopify:

Bigcommerce pricing

Shopify pricing

Shopify vs Bigcommerce vs Woocommerce: Comparison chart

Creating a comparison chart for Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce can be quite helpful in understanding their differences. Here's a basic comparison in a tabular format:

Conclusion

So, Shopify or Bigcommerce? The specific requirements of your online empire hold the key to the solution, not a single winner. Bigcommerce excels in terms of scalability, built-in capabilities, and maybe lower pricing for larger enterprises. Shopify shines in terms of comprehensive customization, built-in marketing tools, and simplicity of use. Take into account your company's size, technological proficiency, and budget. Consider the benefits and drawbacks, and don't be hesitant to use both platforms. Recall that the top e-commerce platform serves as a springboard for your entrepreneurial ambitions rather than just a tool. Thus, launch your online store into the platform that best suits your goals and watch it soar in the dynamic world of e-commerce.