Choosing the right e-commerce platform is a critical decision for small business owners looking to expand their online presence. With so many options available, it’s important to consider factors such as features, ease of use, cost, and scalability.
If you are looking at eCommerce platforms and wondering whether to choose Shopify or BigCommerce, this blog post will come in handy. Keep reading for a detailed breakdown of the platforms and explore an alternative option if none of them seem right for you.
Shopify vs. BigCommerce: Website Builder
You may already have a business website built using platforms like WordPress, Wix, or Squarespace. But what if not? Let’s explore whether you can use these ecommerce platforms to build an ecommerce website from scratch.
- Shopify: Shopify provides a
drag and drop website builder. It’s great for beginners, but customization can be limiting without advanced coding skills or themes from the Shopify Theme Store. - BigCommerce: BigCommerce offers an intuitive website builder with additional features
built in customization and scalability tools. It is ideal for those who want flexibility without relying onby a third party application.
BigCommerce vs Shopify: Online Store Features
Now let’s look at the most fundamental question in the BigCommerce vs. Shopify: how do their online store features compare?
Built-in Features
Necessary tools for online shops, such as checkout, discounts or tax calculations, are often built-in. However, their availability may vary across platforms depending on the plan chosen.
A key consideration is how many features it depends on
- Shopify: Shopify Offers
multi-channel merchandising capabilities and inventory tracking across platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and Facebook. It also provides access to a wide variety ofby a third party application to extend the functionality of your store. - BigCommerce: BigCommerce includes powerful native features like product filtering, abandoned cart recovery, and advanced SEO tools. These properties are
built in reducing dependence on paid applications.
Design motifs
When creating an online store, you generally have two options: use
Most e-commerce platforms provide a variety of customizable page templates, making it easy for beginners or non-developer teams to create
Let’s dive into the comparison of design themes: Shopify vs. Shopify. BigCommerce.
- Shopify: Offers hundreds of themes, including 23 free and 246 paid, for a price
$100-$500. These topics aremobile responsive and polished but can be expensive. - BigCommerce: Comes with 12 free themes and 200+ paid themes ranging from $195 to $500. These themes are suitable for both B2C and B2B stores.
Integration
Integrations mean your store can connect with other apps or tools. This is important because it allows tasks to be automated and streamlined, saving you time and effort.
Speaking of integrations, here’s an overview of BigCommerce vs. Shopify:
- Shopify: Shopify expands functionality with its 8,000+ apps, from shipping calculators to email automation. However, many of these apps come with additional subscription fees.
- BigCommerce: Includes many features natively, but still offers 1,200 apps for extra integration.
B2B solutions: BigCommerce vs. Shopify Plus
If you run a B2B business, you need to consider factors such as custom pricing, bulk orders, and customer groups.
Both BigCommerce and Shopify offer solutions for B2B businesses through their dedicated plans. Let’s compare Shopify Plus vs. BigCommerce Enterprise:
- Shopify Plus: Can be used for B2B as it includes wholesale solutions, custom customer groups and advanced checkout customizations.
- BigCommerce Enterprise: Offers comprehensive B2B solutions through its specialized B2B edition. These include advanced tools for sales representatives, a purchasing portal for B2B customers and an invoice management portal.
Shopify vs. BigCommerce: Pricing
Price can be a major factor when deciding between e-commerce platforms, especially for businesses just starting out.
Let’s see which platform offers the best availability, Shopify or BigCommerce.
Shopify:
- Basic – $32 per month
- Growth – $92 per month
- Advanced — starting at $399/month
- More — from $2,300 per month
- Extra costs for transaction fees (ranging from a low of 0.2% for Plus to a high of 2% for Basic)
3 days free trial (not available for Plus plans).
BigCommerce:
- Standard – $39 per month
- More — $105 per month
- Pro – $399/month for less than $400,000 in online sales, +$150/month for every additional $200,000 in online sales.
- Enterprise – Custom pricing based on your online sales.
15 days free trial of Standard, Plus and Pro plans.
BigCommerce vs. Shopify: Easy to use
Ease of use is important both for new sellers who manage everything themselves and for established businesses who train their online store teams.
Let’s see what BigCommerce vs Shopify reviews have to say about it
- Shopify: Rated 4.5 for ease of use Software Advice, a review platform.
- BigCommerce: Earns has 4.2
ease of use rated by Software Advice.
Alternative solution: Ecwid
Ecwid by Lightspeed is a
Ecwid is an e-commerce platform that makes it easy for business owners to sell online. Ecwid is designed as a straightforward online e-commerce platform, so no experience is required. Additionally, through integration with online sales channels (including social media and marketplaces), Ecwid users can sell products anywhere.
Here’s why Ecwid is a great and more affordable alternative to Shopify or BigCommerce:
User friendliness : Rated 4.6 for ease of use on Software Advice, Ecwid eclipses both Shopify and BigCommerce.- Free themes: Ecwid has over 70 free page templates available for all plans. Themes are tailored to different niches and fully customizable. You can also add an online store to your existing website.
- Basic properties: Plans include important ecommerce features like customizable checkout, automatic taxes, discounts, marketing automation, and multilingual stores so you don’t have to rely on third parties.
- Integration: Supports over 100 major payment providers and integrates with popular CMS platforms like WordPress and Wix, social platforms like Meta and TikTok, marketplaces like Amazon and eBay, and hundreds of accounting, marketing, and customer support tools.
- Prices: Starting at just $5 a month, it has more
feature rich $30/month, $55/month, and $130/month plans. Although Ecwid does not offer a free trial, its free themes,cost effective price plans and minimal dependence onby a third party apps are making it a more affordable choice over time. - No transaction fees: Transparent options, with no extra charges across plans.
To summarize, Ecwid by Lightspeed is highly
Set up your online store
Now that you have information about BigCommerce vs. Shopify, like Ecwid, is the time to choose a platform and start your e-commerce journey.
Whether you’re a small business owner looking to expand your reach or an entrepreneur taking the first steps to selling online, you can do it with just a few clicks.
Choose the platform that best suits your needs and budget and get ready to grow your business.
