Category Archives: BigCommerce Review

BigCommerce Integrates With Stripe

As of July 2013, BigCommerce integrates with Stripe payment gateway. Many of their clients have requested this feature (including myself) and BigCommerce has listened. You can now accept credit card payments without paying monthly gateway fees. Stripe is probably one of the easiest ways to accept credit cards through your online store. Continue reading

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What is the Best BigCommerce Plan

So you finally narrowed your shopping cart choice down to BigCommerce. The next big decision is choosing the best plan for your business. In most cases. everyone ends up picking the plan that is more affordable for our business. However, is that plan the best BigCommerce plan? Continue reading

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BigCommerce Review

BigCommerce Review: The Best Shopping Cart?

Do you have products to sell but do not have an online store? BigCommerce might be the right solution for you and should be the first platform you test out. In terms of price, features, usability, and support; BigCommerce is the best shopping cart on the market.  They have five plans to choose from, starting at $24.95 per month for up to 100 products. All of their plans come with unlimited bandwidth and there are no transaction fees. The setup of your store is free and you are never charged hidden fees. We are confident that you will fall in love with them after reading this unbiased BigCommerce review.

BigCommerce Shopping Cart Scorecard

BigCommerce Shopping Cart Scorecard

BigCommerce Rolls Out New Changes in 2013

BigCommerce has been listing to its users over the past year and has introduced some features that we all wanted to see.

  • BigCommerce has launched a new account dashboard layout that makes it easier to navigate.
  • They have introduced twelve new template designs.
  • New mobile site layout and mobile store management.
  • Full and easy integration with Stripe (free payment gateway).
  • Easy to set up carousel builder.
New BigCommerce Templates for 2013

New BigCommerce Templates for 2013 (click to enlarge)

Primary Features Overview

BigCommerce is loaded with quality features – both built-in and in the form of apps that you can add. The apps section includes free and premium features and tools. Honestly, if you do not need the abandoned cart saver and the daily deal feature, you will not need to visit the app store at all.

  • Creating & Designing Your Store – After you create your free-trail, you can either select one of their 100+ templates, design your own, or have them design it for you. You have full content management for your ecommerce store, create as many pages as you’d like and tweak them as you please.
  • Configuring Products – One of the most flexible product options platform on the market. You can practically do just about anything when it comes to the creation of your products. Add product options such as size, color, shape, engraving, and more. You can create product rules to offer free shipping or discount based on the total amount.
  • Store Management – The dashboard is where all of your work will be done from. Process orders, control inventory, manage customers and returns straight from your dashboard, everything is in one convenient place. You can even sync with Quickbooks and manage your store right from your mobile device. Easily add your products to Google and other comparison sites.
  • SEO Tools – Search engine optimization tools are built-in so you can dominate Google, Bing & Yahoo. Product reviews show on search engines to improve your ranking.
  • Marketing & Conversion Tools – Marketing tools allows you to create discounts, promotions, coupons and so much more. And if you have the abandoned cart saver with one of your plans, you can increase conversion rates by sending personalized emails to customers that have left items in their cart. Create custom newsletters or spread the word through social networking. Product reviews, single page checkout, social sharing, recommendations are all helpful conversion tools that help you sell more.
  • Analytics Tools – These tools are directly on your dashboard to shows you unique visitors, conversion rates, sales, and more. Easily integrate with Google Analytics. Other tools include best-sellers, top customers, and more.
  • Apps – If you need additional features or miscellaneous add- on tools, the app store has several free and premium features – live chat, email marketing.
  • Payment Gateways – There is a total of 59 payment gateways including PayPal, Google Checkout, Authorize.Net, Stripe, and SecureNet. Both Stripe and SecureNet do not have any monthly fees.
  • Hosting and Security – Level 1 PCI compliant. Build for massive traffic and guarantees a 99.94% uptime.  Variety of different security features to keep your store safe from hackers.

You can view a full list of features by visiting BigCommerce.

Template Selection: There are over 100 free and premium themes available for many business categories. Most of the themes look professional and do not need any updating – other then your logo. Here is a look at some of their free themes (not a complete list):

BigCommerce Themes (click to enlarge)

BigCommerce Themes (click to enlarge)

Plans and Pricing

You have the option to save 10% if you decide to pay in full for the entire year. There is a plan to suit every type of business. BigCommerce has 5 plans to choose from that range from $24.95 to $299.95 a month and all start with a 15-day risk-free trail. The lowest plan allows you to create 100 products and 3 staff logins. You receive 200 MB of storage space and $100 in Google AdWords credit. The more expensive plans come with unlimited products and abandoned cart saver, which is a very good tool.

BigCommerce Review 2013 - Price Comparison Chart (click to enlarge)

BigCommerce Review 2013 – Price Comparison Chart (click to enlarge)

Search Engine Optimization Tools

BigCommerce has built-in SEO tools for high search engine ranking. You have full control over title and header tags, meta descriptions, keywords, and alt tags. There are advanced SEO tools such as 301 redirects and editable robots.txt files.

Marketing Tools

Set up coupons, promotions, and price rules using their marketing tools. Fully integrated social sharing and a custom Facebook store. The only problem with BigCommerce is that you have to get a third-party application for email marketing. Although, there are some free ones, but come with a low subscriber list.

Ease of Use

The BigCommerce platform is probably one of the easiest to use. Everything is found on the main account dashboard page. From there, you can add products, process orders, or manage automated return request. If you are migrating from another shopping cart, you will love the look and feel of BigCommerce. You can easily add products and content to your online store with a couple of clicks. Everything works well together and anyone can use this software.

BigCommerce Review 2013 - Dashboard (click to enlarge)

BigCommerce Review 2013 – Dashboard (click to enlarge)

Help and Support

Customer support is available 24/7 via phone, email, and live chat, although I do not think we need the whole 24/7 service charade. Honestly, who will call at 3 o’clock in the morning, I know I won’t. It is a great benefit though, knowing that they are there whenever you need them. Before calling, I suggest to look at their knowledge base as it includes guides, videos, and discussions that will most likely answer most of your questions. Overall, the support team is very knowledgeable and knows what they are doing.

Pros

  • BigCommerce does not have any hidden fees – no bandwidth overages and no transaction fees.
  • All plans come with unlimited bandwidth.
  • Their shopping cart is integrated with over 50 payment gateways including Stripe.
  • BigCommerce has over 100 free templates that can be edited.

Cons

  • We did not find any cons for BigCommerce.

BigCommerce Review: Summary

If you are looking for the best shopping cart to build your online store, than BigCommerce is your perfect solution. All of their plans come with tons of features that are useful and easy to use. There are no setup, bandwidth, or transaction fees with any of their five plans – you only pay for your monthly plan. Their bronze plan starts from $24.95 per month and allows you to list up to 100 products. BigCommerce is the best all-around ecommerce software that is packed with all the tools you need to start an online store.

Do you have any experience with their shopping cart and/or have something to add to our BigCommerce review? Leave us a comment below – we would love to hear from you and answer any questions.

BigCommerce: The easiest way to sell online!

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