We initially transitioned from Lightspeed eCom over to Bigcommerce because their platform offered greater scalability and entry-level features than what Lightspeed offered. Because we use Lightspeed POS, however, integrating product data between the systems was a challenge and a lengthy process. It also takes some effort to maintain the connection (via a third-party service using their API).
Pros
Bigcommerce offers some of the most inclusive features in their entry-level product options, making them excellent for small businesses. Their level of customer support and transparency about service issues and new features in development are excellent and perhaps one of the main reasons why we've kept using Bigcommerce instead of switching to a platform that meets other essential features that we are still awaiting from Bigcommerce. The availability of third-party apps (including shipping and logistics integrations) has been great to work with so far.
Cons
Storefront development is currently very lackluster and it can be difficult to get a truly customized website without hiring a developer or investing in web development skills of your own. This is also true of their e-mail features. If you don't have more than a basic understanding of HTML, it will be next to impossible to customize their system e-mails without a third-party solution. Also, while their entry-level features are among the most plentiful in the industry, a few features (such as Google Reviews integrations and Abandoned Cart Recovery) are reserved only for higher-tier plans, which doesn't make sense from a financial standpoint as their costs to support these features should be minimal.
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend: 9/10
The company I worked for had a B2B e-commerce website, but wanted to start a second e-commerce site that was more B2C focused since the clientele had different needs, and the B2B site was not set up to accommodate all the new B2C business. We were able to set it up quickly and provide accurate shipping costs and product option costs.
Pros
I loved the versatility available for building product pages, being able to set it up so pricing adjusts automatically for different product options, and the import/export functions to update large inventories via Excel documents instead of manually editing within the web app.
Cons
Initial setup can be confusing, especially when new to e-commerce and knowing how to tell it to calculate tax, shipping, etc. Their customer service is great though, so if you're confused about a setting you can call and talk to someone very quickly. I rarely ever waited more than 5 minutes to talk to a rep.
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend: 10/10
The software has been solid for our customers and the administration UI is very easy to use. We have outstanding technical issues that have been open for more than a year and are still not resolved (HTTP status 500 errors that intermittently are returned from their backend APIs) - they say they cannot see the errors in their backend logs and we must send them examples even though we have this happen 10-12 times a day, continually, for over a year. Their Stripe integration does not include the email address field when they send payment requests to Stripe, so customers do not get a credit card receipt from Stripe. Requesting this be changed resulted in them telling us only 1 other customer wanted this feature and that we should switch to Authorize or Brain Tree because it works with those processors) - this felt like a move to downplay the use of Stripe and push us towards vendors that BigCommerce perhaps prefers? It is hard to believe we are the only customer that would want Stripe to send CC receipts to customers - their built-in receipt mechanism does not allow a store to include the last 4 digits of the credit card in the receipt the store sends, which means customers have to call in to customer support when they are organizational customers to figure out which CC is used - a very poor experience for our customers and for our customer support team.
Pros
It is highly customizable, has most of the features you'd expect in an e-commerce solution, and the APIs are well-documented.
Cons
* Seemingly easy solutions to known issues get stuck in their support bureaucracy and disappear
* Their logging does not allow software engineers nor CSRs to see the specifics of errors - customers must provide client-side stack traces to help them find errors on their backend (for example, API calls that return HTTP status 500)
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend: 0/10
I tried several shopping cart e-commerce solutions and found that Bigcommerce suited my needs the most. I ended up using a free style template and customized it myself saving me a lot of money. Online and phone support are top notch!
Pros
The ease of use was a major factor in my decision to go with Bigcommerce. There are many choices out there for online retailers to build their storefront. I liked the ease of customization and the large amount of standard features. Their integration with online marketplaces and social media really saves a lot of time.
Cons
There is an annual sales cap that I'm worried about, but when I get to that point I will just upgrade the service to where I need it. There are not enough free store style templates available. Custom styles get very costly. Some features that should be standard are non existent.
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend: 7/10
Pros
We've been using Bigcommerce (or BC, for short) for about 4 years now, and we love it. It makes ecommerce easy and efficient.
Cons
There are some instances where the lack of control or access to the server has caused us to change some of our plans, but it's nothing I would call a dealbreaker.
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend: 10/10
Starting at $29.95 with far more built in features than any other platform. Bigcommerce plans are built for growth, giving businesses of every size access to the features they need to optimize their store and increase brand exposure.
Plus: $79.95/month
Pro: $249.95/month
Enterprise: Contact BigCommerce for pricing information.
Ecommerce now represents more than 7% of all retail sales, exceeding $3.5 trillion within the next five years. Bigcommerce offers a way for both individuals and businesses to increase their share of that pie. The all-in-one platform is redefining enterprise eCommerce. Bigcommerce powers eCommerce websites for brands around the world, including big names like Toyota, Cetaphil, and Martha Stewart.
Bigcommerce offers a way for businesses to sell their products online, with customizable templates and advanced features designed to increase web traffic and conversions. Pre-integrated payment options ensure that shoppers always have a way to pay for the products they buy, whether they’re shopping on desktop or mobile devices. Built-in SEO and conversion tools are available for growing businesses. High-volume retailers can take advantage of Bigcommerce’s reliable platform to grow revenue and optimize operations.
Merchants want to sell more products online, and Bigcommerce gives them a way to do just that. The web-based eCommerce platform provides solutions for small, fast-growing businesses, as well as global brands and Fortune 500 companies. Key features like single-page checkouts, abandoned cart savers, and “buy” buttons for social media empower merchants to grow their businesses in a way that makes financial sense. Bigcommerce also boasts advanced capabilities such as couponing and discounting, faceted search, automatic shipping calculation, fraud prevention, and reporting.
Storefronts are designed with responsive themes, using popular code languages and frameworks for higher-than-average uptime. Bigcommerce handles the management of its clients’ servers, with a multi-layered approach to online security that involves perimeter and server-specific firewalls, file integrity scanners, intrusion detection software, and 24/7 human monitoring.
In addition to providing merchants with a way to sell physical goods on the Internet, Bigcommerce also offers a number of marketing tools and strategy guides. Bigcommerce is designed to meet the needs of merchants who don’t have extensive web design backgrounds, however it also gives advanced users the ability to adjust HTML and CSS on their own.
Merchants who use Bigcommerce have access to an expansive collection of themes, which have all been designed to meet the needs of businesses in a number of industries or verticals. The company’s intuitive design platform offers a straightforward way to build the types of stores that engage and convert shoppers on a mass scale.
Customize whichever theme you select, even if you have no coding experience whatsoever. Bigcommerce lets you add a company logo and branding elements. You can also promote featured or top selling products at the top of your site. Shoppers will be funneled to a single-page checkout. You’ll benefit from its advanced SEO, which gives you control over your URLs and metadata.
Most online merchants can’t afford to hire in-house SEO experts. With that limitation in mind, Bigcommerce has decided to handle SEO for its users. The company provides merchants with tools designed to automatically optimize every page to maximize rankings on all the most important search engines.
Bigcommerce automatically generates optimized product page URLs and titles based on product names, however you still have the option to customize those URLs if you wish. You can also customize your site’s title, header tags, meta descriptions, keywords, and alt tags. A number of advanced features, like product reviews, rich snippets, and a built-in blogging platform, are designed to improve reach via organic search, as well.
Bigcommerce’s abandoned cart saver gives merchants an easy way to recover lost sales. Customizable controls allow merchants to decide for themselves when their abandoned cart emails go out and what they say. Coupons can also be used to increase conversions.
Design your store’s abandoned cart emails, taking the time to customize the subject lines and email language that your visitors will receive. You can actually set up a series of emails with increasingly powerful recovery tools (like coupon or discount codes), which Bigcommerce will send to shoppers who’ve left your site.
Pre-integrated payment options ensure that shoppers always have a way to pay. Big commerce’s one-click setup lets merchants immediately start accepting major credit cards and PayPal payments. Bigcommerce can even help merchants accept payments from international buyers using multiple currencies.
Bigcommerce has negotiated lower rates for credit and debit card processing with PayPal, which they pass along to merchants. As a merchant, you have the option to choose from a number of pre-integrated payment options, including Authorize.net, Heartland, and 2Checkout (hosted). In addition to accepting orders through your website, you can also take phone and mail orders right away.
Bigcommerce encourages merchants to integrate their stores with leading third-party applications for marketing, inventory management, shipping, and accounting services. The company offers an extensive app marketplace, where users can browse all apps and integrations, along with themes, partner services, and offers.
Free 15-day trials are available for new users. After that time, users can choose from one of four plans, which range in price from $29.95 per month to $199.95 per month. Custom order-based pricing is available through the Enterprise plan, as well.
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