If you’re stuck between whether to choose Shopify or BigCommerce for your online business, that’s a good problem to have. They’re both great platforms with highly rated native tools and plans that range from affordable to enterprise-boosting.
And although there are many similarities between the two brands, there are key areas where they greatly differ. That’s not to say that either one is “the right choice” across the board. It truly depends on your unique needs, and which platform can meet them better.
For instance, a major difference is for omnichannel sellers who want to streamline their online and in-person stores. Shopify offers Shopify Point of Sale (POS), a point of sale app that allows you to sell products in person, including brick-and-mortar stores, markets, and pop-up shops. Shopify POS syncs with your Shopify site to track orders, manage inventory, and manage sales across all channels.
BigCommerce doesn’t have a similar solution. If your business model is strictly aimed at online sales, you might not need this feature. But if you’re part of the Phygital revolution (that’s, physical/digital sales), this can be a game changer.
There are many other ways the two platforms are comparable, and other ways they contrast.
View the full comparison chart here, or keep reading. Below, you’ll find 7 ways the two platforms differ, so that you can decide which better fits your business’s needs.
To Code or Not to Code
User-friendly interfaces are the name of the game and both Shopify and BigCommerce offer drag-and-drop editors to simplify how you want your store to look.
If you’re looking to make specific customizations that require coding, BigCommerce offers endless customizations, often thanks to the help of a development team. On the other hand, Shopify’s “sections” makes it easy for business owners to create an optimal shopping experience without the use of design or coding.
Multichannel Sales Opportunities
Between social media options and marketplace opportunities, Shopify offers more multichannel sales integrations and partnerships than BigCommerce. Again, smaller businesses might not need all of that. For now. But growing brands who are seeing rapid sales growth, or enterprise-level companies who seek to add another figure onto their annual revenue, might take deeper interest in this feature.
Apps Megastore
Do you need 6,000 apps? Of course not. Can you find helpful operations, marketing, shipping, and checkout tools within BigCommerce’s much smaller app marketplace? Sure!
But when you have a smorgasbord of apps to choose from in the Shopify App Store, with more than half of them being free, you can surely find the tools you need.
Shopify POS for Hybrid Sellers
It’s worth mentioning again. Although BigCommerce integrates with many POS systems, it doesn’t integrate with your brick-and-mortar store. And that’s fine if you’re strictly an e-commerce seller! But for those in the omnichannel world, Shopify’s fully integrated POS solution creates an easier way to manage inventory, sales, and buy online/pickup in-store transactions.
Uptime vs Load Time
BigCommerce boasts a 99% uptime for their websites, but Shopify sites tend to load at speeds above industry standard. Which is more important?
That depends on what you’re offering and what time of year. You might be more focused on uptime during Black Friday week, for instance, but you also want to have the fastest site with the best customer experience.
Better Checkout Systems
Did you know that Shopify has its own payment gateway, Shopify Payments? Of course it does.
And, did you know it allows you to enable Shop Pay, an accelerated checkout option that makes checkout four times faster than usual? Fast checkout speeds are crucial to reducing cart abandonment.
Tomorrow’s Technology, Today
You can get leading-edge tech tools in both platforms. One area where Shopify stands out it in its native support for 3D models and AR on product pages. This allows brands to offer more information to the customer, faster, to enhance customer experience.
So, Which is Better?
Again, that’s for you to decide! Take a look at the comparison chart, or sign up for a free trial to play around with the platform.
When you’re ready to get your store up and running, reach out here to work together on creating a content strategy that brings more visitors to your site over and over.
This post contains afiliate links.
Melissa Esposito Writes 