Starting an online eCommerce store isn’t easy, especially these days when the level of competition is enormous on a global scale. We are choosing a BigCommerce vs Shopify comparison because these two are highly popular options in the eCommerce industry.
On the other hand, once you begin your eCommerce journey, you have to decide on one over the other. Still, how would you know which one of Shopify vs BigCommerce is more suitable for your business?
Let’s be entirely honest; there isn’t something like a perfect eCommerce platform. All of them have fantastic features but also their disadvantages.
Therefore, the primary goal is to find the eCommerce platform that is the best for your business and achieve excellent results. Believe it or not, this is easily possible with proper eCommerce SEO since it will bring high-ranking results in the SERPs.
Still, the question remains, how to choose the most suitable one?
That’s why we are here, so let’s see the main pros and cons of both sides and how easy is Shopify vs BigCommerce for usage.
Table of Contents
BigCommerce Pros
We will first begin the BigCommerce vs Shopify comparison by seeing the BigCommerce pros and cons.
BigCommerce is an eCommerce platform that’s listed on NASDAQ Stock Market and provides software as a service to retailers. More importantly, this platform has online store creation available, as well as search engine optimization, hosting, and security for small to large-size businesses.
Well, let’s start with BigCommerce’s biggest pros and advantages.
Highly Secure Performance
The first advantage of BigCommerce is its highly secure performance. When it comes to BigCommerce security vs Shopify, this doesn’t mean that Shopify isn’t secure, but it’s certain that BigCommerce is excellent regarding this aspect.
Security is a huge factor if you want to build a robust brand online. This eCommerce platform hosting and security have features such as fast content delivery, unlimited bandwidth, a shared SSL certificate, and different domain names.
Your online store is safe because of its multi-layered security. In addition, server and perimeter firewalls, intrusion detection, file integrity scanners, and 24/7 human monitoring are available to prevent various threats and unauthorized access.
Therefore, BigCommerce ensures that customers know your online store is secure, allowing you to concentrate on selling instead of stressing out about shopper safety.
Let’s move on to the next BigCommerce vs Shopify advantage: its SEO compatibility.
Many SEO Benefits
As you already know, SEO is a critical part of your business marketing since it drives organic traffic and increases store visitors.
The most significant advantage of BigCommerce and SEO is that it makes the optimization process straightforward since every page is built in HTML hierarchy and elements. Its product pages also have built-in microdata that considers brand, pricing, stock level, and ratings.
In addition, BigCommerce’s auto-populated URLs adapt fast based on changes you make, and the themes make sure your content isn’t duplicated and it’s accessible by providing every page with a specific URL.
Furthermore, the CDN, which stands for Content Delivery Network, concentrates on minimizing your site’s loading time, which leads to site visitors being happy and it increases your search engine ranking. It’s impressive that BigCommerce has an average uptime of 99.99% and a response time of ⅓ of a second.
Last but not least, you can optimize your store additionally during important shopping events to handle a higher traffic volume.
BigCommerce Omni-Channel Selling Technology
Another BigCommerce advantage is its omnichannel selling that will elevate your store by connecting it with modern customers. Creating a multi-channel experience will allow your business to reach buyers wherever they choose to purchase by expanding to various platforms while managing everything from one place.
How?
With the BigCommerce Channel Manager that makes this possible because it acts as a hub for all your channels. This eCommerce platform will process your selling product via the channel manager with automatic syncing no matter where you sell it. This advantage will facilitate straightforward expansion and eliminate overselling.
You can list your products on sites like Amazon, and the omnichannel approach will allow you to reach buyers right after they start their search.
BigCommerce Cons
Since we already mentioned there isn’t a perfect eCommerce platform at the beginning, let’s see some of the primary BigCommerce disadvantages.
Not Many Free Themes Are Available
BigCommerce does have many themes you can use for customization to fit your brand and make your store recognizable.
However, many of them aren’t free, meaning that many businesses have to purchase a theme to achieve at least the overall design they have in mind. In short, this eCommerce platform currently has only 12 free themes.
You will have to pay for the other 158 available, usually between 150 and 300 dollars for each one. These prices may seem minimal or nothing at all for large corporations, but they are a lot for smaller businesses, especially those that are startups and have a tight budget.
It Limits the Annual Sales Volume
Another disadvantage regarding the BigCommerce vs Shopify battle on the side of BigCommerce is that each of its plans limits the annual sales volume. Once you exceed the subscription limit, this eCommerce platform will upgrade your store to the next level plan in an automatic way.
Of course, some of the volume-based limitations are present in various eCommerce platforms, but they are undoubtedly restrictive for you if you are trying to scale your business fast.
On the other hand, Shopify doesn’t have such limitations.
It’s Not So Easy to Start
Not that BigCommerce isn’t user-friendly, but it’s not the best choice if you desire to start selling online fast.
Regarding BigCommerce tools vs Shopify, you can set up Shopify within a matter of hours. On the other hand, it will take you more time to set up a BigCommerce online store, especially if you are a beginner in the eCommerce industry.
It will take time to understand everything BigCommerce offers and customize the features according to your business needs.
Since we covered the BigCommerce pros and cons, let’s move on to Shopify’s side.
Shopify Pros
In order to be fair, we will approach Shopify the same way by seeing its advantages first.
Also Great for SEO
When it comes to BigCommerce vs Shopify, it’s valuable to mention that Shopify is also great regarding SEO strategies.
Shopify is an eCommerce online platform that makes it easy to create landing pages and sync your store with various SEO strategies. This advantage is possible because of the chance to use limited discounts, store credits, and coupon codes as well.
Of course, SEO makes it all visible, but the benefit of Shopify is that it makes it easy for SEO practices to make these things visible to search engines.
Shopify Hosting and Security
The most crucial thing regarding BigCommerce vs Shopify Plus is that BigCommerce doesn’t provide hosting services at all.
Shopify is a self-sufficient eCommerce platform, which means that this platform doesn’t even depend on a host. And because Shopify takes care of its own hosting, it comes at no extra cost.
Furthermore, Shopify has more than 1,200 in-house applications, while it also allows third-party software integration.
What does this mean?
It means that only a highly secure eCommerce platform can allow such a risky move, which shows that it’s not risky since Shopify is safe.
24/7 Available Support for Customers
Lastly, your customers won’t be able to get stuck at any point, even if they want to, since Shopify has a team of people ready to help 24/7.
The 24/7 customer support team is available to customers via email, live chat, and hotline; they can freely reach them if they have an issue.
In addition, Shopify has a large community online, and customers can help each other to get answers to their questions. That’s not all since there is also an FAQ database they can use if the need for it comes their way.
Shopify Cons
In order to be entirely fair in this BigCommerce vs Shopify comparison, let’s also see the Shopify disadvantages before we wrap up.
Once You Enter It’s Not So Easy to Exit
This heading sounds a bit like a Mafia code, but it’s the truth nonetheless. Once you enter the Shopify world, this eCommerce platform isn’t quite accommodating to the practice of easy exiting.
Why?
Because Shopify has a lock-in feature that makes it somewhat challenging to take your store to another platform.
The Shopify CSV report is the only thing you can take away if you are determined to leave this eCommerce platform. Before you make a move, think a bit more about whether you are ready to start a long-lasting relationship.
Its Pricing Isn’t So Cheap
As mentioned before, Shopify has its own hosting, which is beneficial but doesn’t come for free. There are three paid plans you can use, $29, $79, and $299 per month.
Furthermore, it’s beneficial that Shopify has the POS system framework, but the main issue is that this option isn’t available in various countries all over the globe.
Last but not least, different themes, plugins, apps, and templates aren’t free of charge, and each time a customer makes a sale on this platform, a service pay charge is included.
Limited Customization
Shopify is known for being customizable, but on the other hand, it also has various limitations according to this aspect.
The difference from almost all other eCommerce platforms is simple – Shopify uses a Liquid setup and doesn’t use PHP for customizing themes like most other platforms.
Still, why is this a problem?
Because there aren’t many web designers who are familiar with this software.
Of course, you can put forward the effort and learn the Liquid setup, but it will take you hours.
BigCommerce vs Shopify Final Thoughts
Now that you know the primary pros and cons of both BigCommerce and Shopify, it’s time to decide which of these eCommerce platforms suits you best for your business.
One last piece of advice is that whichever platform you choose, take matters seriously and believe in yourself. Good luck!
FAQs
Are BigCommerce and Shopify free?
Both Shopify and BigCommerce have three pricing plans. Shopify has $29, $79, and $299 per month plans, while BigCommerce’s plans range from $29.95 to $299.95 per month. If you pay annually instead of monthly, both eCommerce platforms offer discounts up to 10%.
Can I migrate my store from BigCommerce to Shopify?
You first need to export your data from BigCommerce to be able to import it to Shopify. However, the Store importer app can migrate your customer data, product, and order from BigCommerce to Shopify.
Should I use BigCommerce or Shopify?
It mainly depends on how large your business is. Shopify is excellent for large businesses, but BigCommerce is a better option for extremely large businesses that only sell online. Still, both eCommerce platforms have robust solutions.
