Bigcommerce and Shopify, both are leading online store building tools. Both these tools have their own pros, cons, features, and functionalities, and this is what makes it difficult for Magento store owners as well as PHP development company to select the best option for their next e-commerce store development project.
Whether you are into CMS developments or not, this post will be really helpful for you to know everything about these two online store development tools.
So, first let’s start with the most obvious question of what these tools actually do.
What are Bigcommerce and Shopify?
Bigcommerce, as well as Shopify, are software that allows users to sell products, physical or digital, online. Both these tools run in a web browser, implying that you don’t have to install them on your desktop. Rather you can manage your store from anywhere and at any time till you have an internet connection.
The core idea behind using these tools is to offer users the convenience to create an online store without designing or needing a code. You can pick a template from the available range, upload products, and are all set to sell your products.
While these are the basic and common functionalities of both these e-commerce development tools, let’s review how these tools behave in the context of various aspects.
Comparing Bigcommerce and Shopify
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Pricing
Price is definitely the essential factor considered to choose a hosted e-commerce platform. Shopify offers 4 pricing plans whereas Bigcommerce offers 3 pricing plans to select from. You will get free trials with both of them, but the one offered by Shopify is quite long.
The initial plan from Shopify is available at $15 which is cheaper than the one offered from Bigcommerce at a price of $29 per month. Both provide unlimited products. As you upgrade your plan with Shopify and Bigcommerce, you get enhanced functionality like more products, increased storage, more features, and etc.
An exclusivity of Shopify is that it allows users to build a custom plan based on their requirements and needs. Hence, you can always incorporate features that you want and exclude those that are shelling out more expenses.
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Designs and Themes
This is another important point to consider as an e-commerce store must have an appealing and inviting design.
The themes offered by Shopify are highly impressive and updated. All of them look professional and are fresh and classy in terms of appearance and design. Hence, using these themes can make your store look credible and welcoming. With these beautiful themes, you can expect your visitors to stay a little longer, which can increase the chances of sales.
Out there on Bigcommerce are 100 of themes available for free. But you cannot preview them unless you provide them your email and signup for free trial. Additionally, themes at Bigcommerce are pretty outdated in terms of appearance and functionality. While you can definitely expect a range of themes to select from, rarely you would find any that is refreshing and as per the preferences and tastes of the modern customers.
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User Interface
Lack of a user-friendly interface can cost you big bucks for your e-commerce portal. Both Shopify and Bigcommerce offer easy to use admins and user-friendly interfaces.
For the initial set up process, Bigcommerce seems much easier to use as compared to Shopify. However, Shopify is the easiest shopping cart to set up, install, and launch your e-commerce store. Shopify emphasis on simplicity of the design and therefore offers a clean user interface with no complex tools.
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Payment Gateways
Bigcommerce and Shopify both allow you to connect a comprehensive range of payment gateways to the store. The available number varies from country to country, but both of these tools support major payment gateways like Paypal, Quickbooks, Worldpay, 2Checkout, and more.
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Product Categories
Establishing categories in Bigcommerce as well as Shopify is a straightforward process. But one advantage of Shopify over Bigcommerce is that Shopify allows the user to add products manually to collections as well as create new categories on the basis of products and conditions you supply.
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Product Options
Now one thing that Shopify lacks is the categorization department in context of the products. With Shopify, it is possible to offer customers 3 variations per product in terms of material, size, color, and more. But if there are more variations with you, then Shopify will not solve the purpose. Contrary to this, Bigcommerce allows limitless variation of production options.
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Exporting and Importing Data
While Shopify allows you to export to CSV format only, Bigcommerce allows the user to export to both XML and CSV formats.
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Technical Support and Customer Service
Both these hosted platforms offer excellent online support to their customers.
Conclusion
Shopify as well as Bigcommerce offer excellent features. For other aspects, I have already given you a brief idea. So, just pick an e-commerce store development tool that best meets your requirements.
