8 Bigcommerce Pros and Cons

You’ve got several options today that are available to you if you want to start an online store. Ecommerce allows people to work from home, potentially earn passive income, and do it for a relatively small price when the right platform is utilized.

Bigcommerce is one of the more popular options today because it offers an all-in-one solution that the average internet user can figure out in just a few minutes. Here are the Bigcommerce pros and cons to consider if you’re thinking about starting your own online store today.

What Are the Pros of Bigcommerce?

1. You can start from scratch thanks to their included “university.”
Most ecommerce solutions offer training videos, how-to content, and other educational items that can help users get started. What Bigcommerce does is place this content right on your dashboard so you can access it while in the design process. This makes it really easy to quickly find the answers you need. If you can’t, then you’re assigned a consultant who probably can.

2. Bigcommerce offers a solid combination of security and speed.
Shoppers aren’t going to purchase from a store which has a questionable level of security. They’re also not going to shop somewhere with a slow loading time. You don’t have to worry about outsourcing your payment processing or deal with security issue updates when they occur. It might not be the fastest solution on the planet right now, but it still does a great job so your experience is easy and so is the experience of your customers.

3. Marketing features are built right into the platform.
There’s a marketing drop-down menu which will allow you to quickly promote your products in your preferred way. From email marketing to abandoned cart notifications to selling on Facebook, you’ve got multiple options available to you with just a click or two. This is a tremendous benefit for those who are experiencing internet marketing for the first time.

4. Designing your online store is fast, easy, and it still looks good.
Most people shop online and judge whether or not they’re going to purchase from a site based on how it looks. If the online store isn’t sleek and provide an adequate level of service at the same time, then there’s a good chance the prospect is just going to bounce. Bigcommerce gives you several straightforward templates that will let you sell right away, but you can also provide your own custom template if you prefer.

What Are the Cons of Bigcommerce?

1. It’s not the cheapest online store platform on the internet today.
Pricing for a standard plan on Bigcommerce is generally about $30 per month, but that’s good only if you have $50k in sales volume or less. The Plus plan is about $80 per month. There is also custom pricing available to meet your specific needs. Users can save 10% by paying annually instead of monthly. You’ll also have credit card processing fees and add-on fees to manage as well.

2. There aren’t many add-ons available for Bigcommerce.
Even though it has grown well as a platform over the years, there is still the feeling that Bigcommerce is still in its start-up phase. You do have access to an app marketplace for some custom solutions, but the number of add-ons available here are far fewer when compared to other platforms which provide a similar level of services.

3. You’re locked into using Bigcommerce for your online store.
This is true of any ecommerce platform, but users are locked into their provider when using a platform such as this. If you design an online store on Bigcommerce, then you’re incorporating elements into your stores functionality, design, content, and even how payments are processed directly onto the platform. If you’re dissatisfied with the results, you can’t just go to a different host. You must shut down your store.

4. The inventory management is somewhat difficult.
To access your current inventories for the products you have on hand, you must go into each product editing screen. From there, you can input your current stock level and place a low stock level number for notifications. Other platforms allow you to take care of all your inventory on one screen. If you have a lot of products to manage, this can be a severe time-waster.

These Bigcommerce pros and cons show that it is a pretty solid ecommerce platform. It offers numerous forms of functionality that allow users to design something based on their own choices instead of what the platform wants. As long as the negative key points mentioned here are managed well, this is a great solution when starting an online store is what is required in the next step of a business plan.