Who is more suitable for independent sites, BigCommerce or Shopify
JD.com has launched Shopify purchasing drop-shipping tools, and these drop-shipping platforms are also worth paying attention to; in this issue, let’s talk about the thinking before building an independent website: which one is more suitable for you, BigCommerce or Shopify?
As for the independent station, it has now become one of the channels for many cross-border sellers to deploy. At present, the most popular SaaS platforms for independent website building overseas are Shopify and BigCommerce, but there are still some differences between the two, which are suitable for different specific scenarios and user types. So, before the layout, how should sellers choose? Today, I will explain to you the difference between Shopify and BigCommerce.
1. Pricing
Both BigCommerce and Shopify offer free trials, and they both have upgraded versions priced from $29 to $299, though BigCommerce’s corresponding version is $0.95 more expensive than Shopify.
It’s worth noting that BigCommerce’s pricing changes based on your annual sales of your independent site, and your subscription plan will be automatically upgraded when the sales reach a certain amount, while Shopify’s version is chosen by the merchants themselves.
Plus, the basic version of BigCommerce will give you an unlimited number of staff accounts, whereas even with the Shopify Premium version, you can only have 15 staff accounts.
2. Function
In terms of ease of building a website, Shopify is more suitable for novice sellers, while BigCommerce is less suitable for beginners due to the various technical terms it uses. But if you have certain skills, the powerful built-in features of the BigCommerce platform can help you better customize your website.
If your product SKU is more, you can choose BigCommerce. Because it’s better at handling large product offerings, it supports up to 600 SKUs per product, and offers a number of different options, including custom fields, bulk pricing rules, and more.
In the shopping cart function, BigCommerce allows sellers to carry out multiple promotions, that is, multiple shopping discounts can be automatically calculated in the shopping cart, while only a single discount is allowed in the Shopify shopping cart.
BigCommerce itself has many additional features, such as the ability for sellers to create simple discounts and schedule promotions without adding additional apps, while Shopify relies more on third-party apps to add features and functionality. Although the basic functions of BigCommerce are not as rich as Shopify’s third-party applications, adding too many third-party applications may affect the site speed. In addition, some applications need to be paid for.
3. Themes
A beautiful website theme can make a good first impression on customers.
BigCommerce’s themes are sorted by industry, layout, and price, and while there are plenty of templates to choose from, there aren’t as many as Shopify. Also, BigCommerce’s free themes look a bit dated, and if you’re looking to grow your business long-term, you may want to use paid themes, which cost anywhere from $150 to $300. Shopify themes range in price from $100 to $180 and have a more modern aesthetic than BigCommerce themes, and are easier to personalize and edit.
Plus, all Shopify themes are mobile-optimized and automatically reformat to fit the appropriate screen size, while only a few of BigCommerce’s themes are mobile-friendly. Also, some features in Shopify themes require third-party apps or custom development to implement.
4. Logistics and payment
When shipping with 3PL, you can view your shipments directly in any version of BigCommerce, while Shopify only supports it in the premium version.
If you use the Shopify Payments system to process card transactions, Shopify will not charge you any additional transaction fees. But there are transaction fees on BigCommerce.
Both BigCommerce and Shopify have built-in blogs, which are a basic but very effective content marketing tool that helps promote products and drive traffic to your store.
To sum it up in one sentence: BigCommerce is especially suitable for big sellers or people looking to expand their business, Shopify is easier to operate than BigCommerce and more suitable for beginners.