
Since early days of eCommerce, I had opportunities to work with various eCommerce platforms that target different segments from Fortune 500 brands to small retailers. I also have built a few bespoke eCommerce stores from scratch and an entirely proprietary eCommerce platform during the first internet boom. From my experience, I learned that successful online retailers need common essential features and the ability to extend the core with customization to be competitive.
These days merchants have numerous choices for eCommerce off-the-shelf software to start selling online or for upgrading their existing online store.
From time to time, we get inquiries from clients who are new to eCommerce or have an online store built on technology that is either obsolete or lacks features that are essential for the modern eCommerce site operations. The clients ask us: What is the best platform to build a new or renovate their current e-commerce site?
The two e-commerce platforms that are very often on the short list of small and medium retailers are Shopify and BigCommerce. Both platforms are hosted and use SaaS delivery model.
Shopify had tremendous growth momentum in the last few years and grown 10 times in the last three years. Its SaaS platform is simple to use and allows merchants launching a brand-new store in days or even less than a day for a small product catalog. While Shopify could be a good starting point for new merchants, it also misses some of the essential features that most of the established retailers need.
I suggest considering BigCommerce as a strong alternative to Shopify based on the specific merchant requirements and desired target growth.
Below You can find the Shopify vs. BigCommerce detailed comparison in all key areas:
Facts
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Shopify |
BigCommerce |
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Type |
Public | Private, 200M in funding |
Founded In |
2004, the platform was launched in 2006 | 2009 |
Founders |
Tobias Lütke, Daniel Weinand, Scott Lake | Eddie Machaalani and Mitchell Harper |
Headquarters |
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada | Austin, Texas |
Area served |
Worldwide | 120+ countries |
Revenue |
$580.9Million (2017) | N/A Private |
Number of employees |
1,930 | 500+ |
Number of merchants use the platform | 600,000 | 60,000 |
Total gross merchandise volume | $55 Billion (End of 2017) | $17 Billion (March 2018) |
Pricing
|
Shopify |
BigCommerce |
---|---|---|
Starting plan |
Basic Shopify – $29/Month Plus 2% if a merchant uses external payment gateways | Standard –$29.95/month with 0% transactional fees. |
Medium |
Shopify – $79/Month Plus 1% if a merchant uses external payment gateways | Plus- $79.95 with 0% transactional fees. |
Advanced |
Advanced Shopify – $299/Month Plus 0.5% if a merchant uses external payment gateways | Pro –$249.95 with 0% transactional fees. |
Enterprise |
Shopify Plus – request for a quote, No additional transactional fees if a merchant uses external payment gateways.
You may find information about Shopify Pricing in these articles: |
Enterprise –custom pricing lower than Magento and Shopify Plus |
Product Catalog
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Shopify |
BigCommerce |
---|---|---|
Product Attributes |
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Product catalog organization and filtering |
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Multi-currency and language support
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Shopify |
BigCommerce |
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Multi-currency Support |
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Multilingual support |
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Checkout and Customer Account
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Shopify |
BigCommerce |
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Checkout |
* Shopify announced that new features to be added to the platform on May 8, 2018:
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Customer Account |
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Customer care and returns
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Shopify |
BigCommerce |
---|---|---|
Returns |
Needs a third party app to handle RMA for returns | The returns system allows customers to request a return on items they’ve purchased (RMA). |
Live Chat |
Integration with third-party live chat systems:
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Supports integration with multiple live chat apps:
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Marketing and promotions
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Shopify |
BigCommerce |
---|---|---|
Promotions |
Promotion discounts with discount codes;
* Shopify announced new features to be added to the platform on May 8, 2018:
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Marketing |
* Shopify announced new features to be added to the platform on May 8, 2018:
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Product Reviews |
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Omnichannel support
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Shopify |
BigCommerce |
---|---|---|
Channel Manager |
Shopify offers integration with:
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Native sales manamgent with the following channels:
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POS Integration |
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Native integration with the following POS:
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Multi-currency and language support
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Shopify |
BigCommerce |
---|---|---|
Analytics |
Shopify analytics dashboard and reports provide the following metrics:
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Time trends, period comparison for the following metrics:
Marketing
Sales Tax Report |
Conclusion
The detailed comparison shows that BigCommerce would be the winner over Shopify among the merchants who have more extensive product catalogs with dozens of categories and also need more flexibility with product pricing options and sales promotions. Those features are particularly important for fashion and accessories, health and beauty or home improvement stores.
BigCommerce has also much stronger marketing integration features.
Our development team was pleased with BigCommerce API and Stencil theme framework that allows us to create custom aesthetically pleasing storefronts that provide good user experience and better sales conversion rate.
The BigCommerce platform also has enough features in it plans that can satisfy growth from zero to over 10 million in sales while staying on the same platform.
Shopify may work well for a single brand store with an uncomplicated product line that does not need a variety of merchandise options and custom attributes.