We’re collecting user reviews for BigCommerce (if you’ve used BigCommerce, make a submission here) and will list all good ones here. So far, we’ve collected 11 good comments.
Should you use BigCommerce? Based on the comments that have been submitted to us so far, the overall consensus for BigCommerce is that it may be preferable over Shopify if you have a large number of products and are doing large sales volume. For people just starting out, though, Shopify may be the better choice, largely because it has more apps and tutorials.
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I think BigCommerce is an excellent choice for any eCommerce website due to its vast customization options and advanced features. Even though Shopify is more popular due to its ease of use and versatility, I think BigCommerce is better for businesses and larger companies. Its capabilities are comparable to Shopify in almost every level, making them both an excellent choice, although Shopify is better for beginners and entrepreneurs starting up their eCommerce website for the first time. With BigCommerce, on the other hand, you can run a full-blown company with it and tweak it the way you want. It comes with more advanced tools right out of the box, which is better than the system of having to find upgrades at the app store with Shopify. If you are serious about your online store, BigCommerce is the best choice, in my opinion. Just keep in mind that you will need an Enterprise plan if you earn more than 125k, which will run you about one thousand dollars per month. You do get the full suite with no limitations on the Enterprise plan though, which lets you configure your online store from the ground up, however you see fit. --Tom Winter, DevSkiller |
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I used Bigcommerce when I was the internet marketing manager of an urban gardening supply store. I have also used Wordpress and RevolutionParts system, which is used extensively in the automobile industry, out of the three I would say Bigcommerce was my least favorite of the three. Wordpress would be my number one choice. Why do I say this? Customization is the answer. Both Revolutionparts and Woocommerce tolerate Javascript somewhat well, I have my reservations about using that language on either of those platforms, however, Bigcommerce handled it worse than the others. All of them handled HTML and CSS changes. Yet, Bigcommerce did not tolerate Javascript well. It is not to say that it does not work but it tended to break the theme. Basically, what I remember was writing code into the system and the theme would break and show me some kind of blackboard sort of looking design. It would cover my code with that and it would still work. However, I had to extensively test the code outside of the site because if it broke in Bigcommerce then I would not be able to see what I was working on at all. I was effectively working blind as soon as the code was inserted into the system. All the other features were on par with Revolutionparts and Woocommerce. I found that was the only discernible problem I had with the system. It really became a problem when I had to make a cosmetic change that was not easy to do or could not be done in HTML, or CSS. Granted this was 3 to 4 years ago but it is enough to give me pause when someone talks about selecting it. --Scott Buendia, Speedrackwest PERMALINK: https://outwittrade.com/bigcommerce-reviews#scott |
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I've worked on Shopify, Big Commerce, as well as Wordpress, Magenta, Wix, Weebly, and pretty much every platform out there. Shopify is my favorite just because it's what I'm most comfortable with, however I do have some clients who use BigCommerce, it's a great platform and in many ways it's better than Shopify. The thing SHopify has going for it is it's the biggest player in the space so it's got the most apps, most developers, most tutorials and guides but don't sleep on BigCommerce it's a great platform and in many cases allows you to do more without having to need an app for everything. One of my frustrations with Shopify is that despite being an ecommerce platform it lacks a lot of basic ecommerce features like the ability to run sales. I don't mind paying for premium services or addons, but there's certain basic features that an ecommerce platform should have that you should not have to rely on a third party platform for which requires paying a fee and sometimes causes glitchiness on the site. I feel like Bigcommerce has more built into the basic platform. Part of the reason Shopify took off is they catered to the lowest common denominator ie dropshippers, 16 year old wanna be millionaires, etc. They did a good job of pushing an affiliate program and getting the name recognition. BigCommerce I feel like you have more serious or established businesses on. --John Frigo, BestPriceNutrition.Com |
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Before I got into content marketing and running multiple blog sites, I owned an e-commerce store and sold products on Amazon. When I first got into it, I obtained trial accounts for both BigCommerce and Shopify. From testing the free versions of both software, I ended up going with Shopify because it made setting up an e-commerce site so much easier with all the available tools. There were also lots of high-quality themes to choose from. However, if you had some web dev knowledge and want more flexibility and customization from an e-commerce platform, BigCommerce is your best bet. --Allan, Dotcom Dollar PERMALINK: https://outwittrade.com/bigcommerce-reviews#allan |
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I've been in e-commerce for over 20 years, and about 5 years ago I migrated my site to BigCommerce. Prior to that, I ran my own proprietary platform. While having my own platform gave me more options, it's been great not having to worry about platform development or server maintenance costs. When I want a new feature, I can usually add it directly from the BigCommerce App store as opposed to developing it myself as I used to do. I chose BigCommerce over Shopify because my research showed me it was a more robust platform able to handle large catalogs more smoothly than Shopify could. I also preferred the pricing model, as BigCommerce does not take a percentage of sales whereas Shopify does. The advantage of Shopify is that they integrate with far more 3rd party apps. That means it's easier to add functionality and customization. BigCommerce has fewer apps that it integrates with, but on the flipside, it comes with more functionality right out of the box. --Dave Mason, The Knobs Company |
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The nice thing about using BigCommerce is that your security and virus protection are always taken care of because it is one platform working for all websites. It also doesn’t limit the number of staff accounts that you can have while platforms like Shopify have a limit of two for the basic accounts. I recommend using BigCommerce because it is easy to operate, from blog posting to adding new products. The platform is smooth and streamlined, which makes training staff members on it a breeze. The shopping cart option has lots of plugins to help convert sales. The only negative I would say is that BigCommerce doesn’t allow you to use full SEO capabilities with keywords, but that hasn’t significantly affected our rankings, so I would still highly recommend the platform. --Lucia Miller, Drive Traffic Media PERMALINK: https://outwittrade.com/bigcommerce-reviews#lucia |
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I have had a positive experience using BigCommerce. It's very SEO friendly. For example, on many e-commerce platforms, the blog is automatically hosted on a subdomain (i.e. www.blog.company.com --Jacob Edwards-Bytom, Made4Fighters PERMALINK: https://outwittrade.com/bigcommerce-reviews#jacob |
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It isn't the simplest but it is the most scalable ecommerce platform. If you believe your site traffic and customers are only going to get bigger, then it is best to start with this as it scales with you. Much better than having to switch platforms midway through your operation. It has significantly more features that Shopify, and I used to be singing from the Shopify hymn sheet. The adaptability of the platform allows you to set up and sell across multiple channels like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. The SEO tools are the final nail in the coffind for Shopify - who have a poor reputation for this. BIgCommerce tools are simple to adjust and help improve your site's visibility. The only downside with BC compared to shopify is that it's not plug and play, there is a lot of trial and error with this platform as it can seem quite complex and difficult to understand at first. --Daniel Foley, Assertive Media PERMALINK: https://outwittrade.com/bigcommerce-reviews#daniel |
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I currently own and operate 13 different ecommerce sites. We went from Magento to Bigcommerce and now all but 2 are hosted on Shopify. The two remaining sites are still on bigcommerce but will be transitioning to Shopify later this year. Bigcommerce was great a few years ago, but Shopify's backoffice interface, its customer support, the amount of Apps available to customize our store just make it a superior product. My new employees also get ramped up faster with Shopify's interface when compared to the two sites still on Bigcommerce. --Loren, Soothing Company PERMALINK: https://outwittrade.com/bigcommerce-reviews#loren |
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While at one point it was a top contender in the eCommerce platform space, BigCommerce has some technological steps to take before it can come close to similar services. One of the biggest shortcomings is that it doesn't have a native staging environment; all changes have to be made live in production, meaning there is absolutely no margin for error or opportunity to test changes prior to launch. This inherently creates massive risk for any company. The BigCommerce rep I worked with did say there were options to create a workaround for staging, but strongly recommended against it because of how unwieldy the experience was for other clients. As of 2 months ago, BigCommerce had no plans to offer staging environment capabilities. It's worth noting that Shopify, natively, does not offer a conventional staging environment. That said, if you're comfortable with no staging environment, BigCommerce does have some redeeming factors. Where larger systems like Salesforce Commerce Cloud tend to be a one-stop-shop, and SquareSpace and Shopify attempt to strip out too much guess-work, BigCommerce focuses on giving you the skeleton of the site and allowing you to customize through plug-ins and add-ons. Much like Magento, the greatest value is in its innate ability to be customized through third-party applications. If you're willing to skip a staging environment, and committed to building an app stack to achieve the results you're seeking, BigCommerce could be a serviceable option. That said, I'd recommend other services first due to the limitations of the native platform. --Kelly Stanze, KURU PERMALINK: https://outwittrade.com/bigcommerce-reviews#kelly |
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Unlike some e-commerce platforms, BigCommerce offers its users a very intuitive interface to use. From creating products, product categories, a homepage and various content page designs, anyone can get started with a BigCommerce site. Similar to Wordpress, there are a handful of themes available that allow store owners to get going right away and the platform offers a page builder to create front-end designs with little development involved. If you do need a lot of customizations, you'll have to look to a developer. We typically recommend BigCommerce for store owners with 25+ products. It's a subscription-based model, so it's important to have enough products to justify the monthly cost. For e-commerce businesses just starting out and those with only a few products, consider a Shopify membership or look to WooCommerce on Wordpress. Shopify and WooCommerce give store owners a chance to understand e-commerce, the relationships between product categories and products, and how to leverage different marketing strategies to help grow sales. Once a store has matured and has a solid base of products to offer, consider the switch to BigCommerce. --Jeff Romero, Octiv Digital |