Today there are many options for trading on the Internet. Starting from the seller's profile on the trading platforms and ending with personalized sites. If you are serious about developing your business on the Internet, you can use the platform to create an online store.
When it comes to choosing a platform, beginners in online trading always wonder what to choose: Shopify vs BigCommerce? They fit differently structured companies. While one platform is aimed at medium and large companies, the second is aimed at small companies and startups. The platforms give you the opportunity to develop an online store without the help of programmers.
Shopify vs Bigcommerce table of contents:
- Advantages of Shopify
- Benefits of Bigcommerce
- Shopify vs BigCommerce Design Comparison
- Availability of tools for trading on the Internet
- Customer support
- Popularity
- Cost comparison
- Shopify vs Bigcommerce Conclusion
Advantages of Shopify
Shopify is not only designed for online stores, but also for business card sites and blogging. It will be interesting to large companies, representatives of small and medium-sized businesses in the field of trade and services, freelancers and journalists. This is one of the most popular solutions for online trading. Even if you do not have experience in creating online stores, you can create an e-commerce site using this platform. Everyone who decided to do online sales can use this tool and make an online store without the help of development teams. Advanced users will have access to editing HTML and CSS.
The user-friendly interface can be considered the main advantage of Shopify themes.
Initially, Shopify has such features аs:
- Hosting and domain
- Payment system and order tracking
- CRM functions and customer data
- Advanced tools for sales and shares
- Integration with social networks
To get acquainted with the platform, a test period of 14 days is provided, after which it is proposed to switch to a paid tariff.
Benefits of Bigcommerce
BigCommerce is one of the leading foreign site platforms, with which you can create online stores, as well as landings, blogs, advertising banners, and coupon codes. The main audience is representatives of small and medium business, large enterprises, and individual entrepreneurs developing in the sphere of trade and services. Thanks to the HTML editor, the platform will be interesting to webmasters, programmers and anyone who has knowledge in this field. Also, BigCommerce will interest bloggers and freelancers. Like Shopify, BigCommerce initially has all the necessary functions. With this platform, you can create an online store from scratch and develop it. Key features:
- Hosting and domain
- Sales on eBay and on Facebook
- WordPress Blog
- App Store
- Traffic information
You can try BigCommerce free for 15 days and choose a suitable pricing plan.
Shopify and BigCommerce Design Comparison
Let's be honest. Everyone knows that if the design does not please visitors, most likely they will make purchases elsewhere. After all, if the layout of your store looks terrible, even if your products are terrific, people will not pay attention to them. Want to make your online store successful? Pay special attention to how your e-commerce website will look like. It is worth remembering that a bright and beautiful design increases the chances of making a sale, even if your product is not the best in the world.
Both BigCommerce themes and Shopify offer users paid and free themes. Let's take a closer look at platforms and try to find what online store website builder is better that another one.
Shopify Themes
This platform is known for its modern and impressive themes and designs. Both paid and free themes for online stores are made professionally and attractively. In addition, you can customize the template the way you want it. If you decided to use the paid one, be ready to pay from $100 to $180. Remember that you have to invest money in your business, and to purchase a theme, you pay only once. If you need a popular online store, be prepared for additional expenses. Thanks to the beautiful theme, site visitors will want to stay on it, which increases the chances of selling.
You can follow our link for Shopify themes and pick the one that is more suitable for your business.
Apparelix - Clean Multipurpose Shopify Theme
Building a website for your eCommerce project is a perfect solution to increase your business income and attract new customers. Shopify is a popular platform for creating online stores of varying degrees of complexity. Both beginners and highly advanced users choose Apparelix Shopify theme to create a multi-functional website with no effort. Fully customizable layout and no coding knowledge required make this theme an excellent solution for any online store. No doubt, you will appreciate a great performance and fast navigation.
More features:
- 100% responsive design
- Clean and simple design
- All-in-one Shopify solution
- Shopify visual builder
- Exclusive drop-down shopping cart
- Regular updates
BigCommerce Themes
Entiqa - Mobile-Friendly BigCommerce Theme
If you are looking for the best multipurpose BigCommerce theme to launch an online store, look no more. Consider Entiqa! This optimized and Retina-ready template will boost your sales and improve the overall customer online experience. You can add:
- About us page.
- Blog page.
- Article page.
- 404 page and others.
This product is compatible with multiple plugins, such as mega menu, popup sale, and many more. Created by PIXELTEMPLATE, Entiqa is what you need to create a powerful and successful online store. Don't miss your chance, and check it out today!
Bigcommerce also has a nice theme library for you, divided into several categories. They all are responsible and completely customizable. Modern, flexible user experience using brand new merchandising functions for categorization and catalogs of various sizes. There are both free and paid options. The cost of premium themes for BigCommerce varies from $145 to $234. And all of them are attractive. Just check out this themes gallery of existing store projects based on BigCommerce from the TemplateMonster team.
Availability of tools for trading on the Internet
If you are the owner of an online store, there is nothing as important as having all the features that you might need, and the ability to use them with ease.
Shopify has it all in terms of simple customization:
- Convenient toolbar for adding products quickly
- Unlimited orders, products, and file storage
- Bandwidth
- 24/7 Support
- Mobile commerce
- Use your own domain name
- Free SSL Certificate
- Credit cards + payment gateways
- Auto transportations rates
- Automatic taxes
- Drag and drop website editor
- Blogging
- Several languages
- Customer profiles
- Dropshipping
- Customer accounts
- SEO
- Product reviews
- Gift cards
- Integration of social networks + sale on Facebook
- Inventory management
- Digital products
- Product options
- Level-1 Compatibility with PCI
- Advanced reports
- Mobile app
All this gives you more flexibility. Basically, no matter what type of store you want to run, Shopify will be able to cope with this. Including:
- Physical products
- Digital products
- Dropshipping
- Services
As for Bigcommerce, it has а clean toolbar and clear directions for creating your online store in a few minutes. BigCommerce provides users with all the necessary tools from the first day of using the platform, as their cost is included in the monthly cost of using the platform. Here are key features that you can find in Bigcommerce design:
- Unlimited products, orders, and file storage
- Bandwidth
- 24/7 live chat support
- The ability to transfer your store and import products
- Payments through PayPal based on Braintree, Stripe, Apple Pay, Pay with Amazon and dozens of others
- Managing orders and inventory
- Sell via Facebook, Pinterest, eBay, Amazon and Square POS
- Multiple marketing functions
- API
- Multi-level hosting protection and DDOS protection
- Level 1 PCI-compatible hosting
- HTTPS
- Product comparison
- The ability to encourage back visits through e-marketing
- SEO Functions
Customer support
Managing an online store can be challenging at times. Especially if you do not have programming skills. But thanks to a strong technical support team, you have nothing to fear.
Shopify
Users of this platform consider Shopify technical support the best in the e-commerce industry. If you have problems with the online store, you can contact the support team in several ways, among which:
- Phone
- Online chat with a consultant
When you pay for using the Shopify platform, you also pay for security and peace of mind. Thanks to a well-organized technical support team, Shopify will help you solve any problem related to the online store.
BigCommerce
BigCommerce is trying to keep up with the leaders. The platform provides technical support to users using the same channels as Shopify. Previously, BigCommerce did not provide 24/7 support. But recently the platform also launched this service to improve the user experience of customers.
When you choose between Shopify and BigCommerce, it is worth considering that both platforms have well-developed communities with forums and useful lessons. The biggest advantage is that they both can help you solve the difficulties in 24/7 mode.
Popularity
If you were looking for a platform to run your e-commerce store, you've certainly seen the names that we compare today. Although popularity is not the best motivating factor for making a decision that will affect your future business life, it is certainly worth talking about. Portal Statista shared information on the most popular in 2017 e-commerce platforms and technologies.
As you can see, Shopify is a much more popular store website builder than BigCommerce. But, as I have already said, the choice of platform should be based on the needs of your business. E-commerce platforms for creating online stores are like a foundation for a home. They provide additional stability and opportunities for business development.
Cost comparison
For many people, pricing is the most important factor when choosing which of the best e-commerce platforms to use. Personally, I believe that if you are going to invest a lot of time and energy into building your own online store, then there must be more important factors than saving $1 on the platform price. With that said, however, we also want to aim at getting the most benefit for our dollar. That's how it all goes.
Cost of using Shopify
To take full advantage of the most popular e-commerce platform, be prepared to pay $29 per month for the Basic Shopify package. As your online store grows, you can go to the Shopify package for $79 or Advanced Shopify worth $299. The platform also has Shopify Lite plan, only for $9. Yet, it will not give you the opportunity to create an online store. This package is designed for people who have a site on another platform or merchant account in social networks and want to add a Shopify Buy button.
BigCommerce Prices
If BigCommerce functions and templates are the best for your business, then be prepared to pay $29.95 for Standard Plan, $79.95 for Plus Plan and $249.95 for Pro Plan monthly. It is worth mentioning that BigCommerce provides individual solutions for large companies. The Enterprise Plus plan includes a team work that will help you with data migration, online store installation and further technical support.
Shopify vs Bigcommerce Conclusion
Both platforms are equipped with all the necessary features: a strong support team, paid and free templates, and a professional community of developers. At the same time, your decision should be based on the features of your business, objectives, and scope of activity.
If you need a simple solution with the basic functions for creating an online store in a short time, but the design is still important, Shopify is more suitable for you. If you need a platform that will allow you to develop your business and has special, or even personalized functions—in other words, a more complex solution—then your choice is BigCommerce.
However, there is only one person who knows which platform offers exactly what you need, and this person is you. So, the bottom line is to pick a platform that will allow you to sell the products you offer in the best way for you and your customers. Have any questions or thoughts to share? Leave a comment below.
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