Understanding BigCommerce vs Shopify for Hong Kong Market

Shopify vs BigCommerce: An In-Depth Comparison 

Usability

Time is a valuable resource, and how quickly you can learn and navigate your eCommerce platform can greatly impact your efficiency.

Initial Setup

Both Shopify and BigCommerce offer a smooth setup experience. Upon signing up, you’ll be guided through a series of questions to create a personalized setup guide. This guide helps you select a theme, add a custom domain, and create your first product page, enabling you to launch your store in just a few hours.

Both platforms cater well to beginners, with Shopify’s signup process being slightly more intuitive. However, BigCommerce stands out by allowing you to create additional staff accounts at no extra cost.

Ease of Use

Shopify is known for its user-friendly interface, especially for those new to eCommerce. It includes helpful tooltips with almost every feature, making navigation a breeze even for beginners.

BigCommerce, while offering more complexity, provides greater control over various store aspects. Adding a product on BigCommerce may take more time due to the numerous fields available, but this also allows for extensive customization, such as offering gift wrapping, setting minimum purchase orders, and creating unlimited product variants—features that Shopify limits.

Some users prefer Shopify’s interface for its visual appeal, which is an important consideration given how often you’ll interact with it.

Support

Both Shopify and BigCommerce offer extensive customer support options, including:

• 24/7 live chat, phone, and email support
• A help center
• A community forum

Shopify offers an additional resource called Shopify Learn, featuring free video courses on both platform-specific and general eCommerce topics. BigCommerce has a similar resource, BigCommerce Academy, which offers free webinars and podcasts, though full access to some materials requires payment.

For enterprise customers, both platforms provide priority support. Shopify Plus includes a dedicated support agent, while BigCommerce Enterprise offers an onboarding consultant, providing expert guidance before issues arise.

Read more: Top 15 Shopify Development Agencies: How To Choose The Right For Your Business

Features

Your eCommerce platform should offer the tools needed to build the store you envision. Here’s how Shopify and BigCommerce compare in terms of features.

Themes and Customization

Shopify offers 105 mobile-responsive themes, 11 of which are free, while BigCommerce provides 286 mobile-responsive themes, with 15 available for free. However, many BigCommerce themes are quite similar, differing mainly in color schemes, which limits variety.

Both platforms feature user-friendly builders for theme editing, but Shopify’s builder supports a wider range of content blocks, such as signup forms, contact forms, and blog strips. Both platforms allow HTML or CSS code editing, or you can hire a developer for more complex customizations. For small businesses that prefer to avoid deep web design work, Shopify is the more accessible option.

Plugins and Integrations

Shopify’s App Store is unparalleled, offering over 8,000 plugins that cover everything from marketing to customer service. This vast selection enables you to extensively customize your site without needing a developer.

BigCommerce’s app store, with just over 1,300 plugins, offers fewer options. While most popular Shopify apps have BigCommerce counterparts, the smaller selection might limit your ability to experiment with new features.

However, BigCommerce includes many features out-of-the-box that Shopify requires plugins for, such as product reviews, real-time shipping quotes, and unlimited staff accounts. This reliance on built-in features can give BigCommerce an SEO advantage by reducing the number of plugins that could potentially slow down your site.

Moreover, many Shopify plugins come with subscription fees, which can add up over time. For entrepreneurs focused on keeping costs down, BigCommerce offers better value through its extensive built-in features.

Read more: Top 15 Shopify Development Agencies: How To Choose The Right For Your Business

Marketing and Sales

Both BigCommerce vs Shopify excel in different areas of marketing and sales, which could influence your choice depending on your strategy.

Marketing

Email marketing is a cornerstone of digital strategy, offering a high return on investment (ROI). Shopify includes a free plugin for essential email marketing tasks, such as welcome messages, upsells, and abandoned cart reminders.

BigCommerce doesn’t offer built-in email marketing but integrates seamlessly with third-party tools like Constant Contact, MailChimp, or Omnisend.

Both platforms allow you to create automatic discounts, coupons, and promotional banners, and they offer analytics dashboards to track ad performance across various channels.

SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is critical for driving organic traffic to your site. BigCommerce has a slight edge here, allowing full customization of URLs, which can enhance indexing and improve search engine rankings.

Shopify automatically adds ‘/products’, ‘/collections’, or ‘/pages’ to your URLs and doesn’t allow these elements to be removed, which can pose challenges for SEO.

For content marketing, both platforms offer WordPress integrations. Shopify’s integration requires an additional fee and adds a ‘buy now’ button to your blog. BigCommerce’s integration is free and allows for a more seamless connection between your sites.

Read more: Top 10 BigCommerce SEO Services: Supercharge Your Online Visibility

Sales Channels

Both BigCommerce vs Shopify support selling on Facebook, Instagram, and Amazon at no extra cost and offer free integrations for Google Shopping. BigCommerce also supports selling on Pinterest and eBay.

When it comes to accepting payments in physical locations, Shopify has an edge with its own hardware options, while BigCommerce relies on third-party solutions like Square or PayPal Zettle.

Logistics

Effective logistics management is key to running a smooth eCommerce operation. Here’s how BigCommerce vs Shopify compare in handling logistics.

Security

Both prioritize security. They use 128-bit SSL encryption to protect sensitive customer data and comply with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS), ensuring secure financial transactions.

Shipping

BigCommerce includes a free feature that generates real-time shipping quotes directly on your storefront. You can also generate, purchase, and print USPS labels from the control panel.

Shopify offers live shipping cost generation only on its Advanced and Plus plans and through third-party services. However, Shopify supports label printing from multiple carriers, including UPS and DHL, in addition to USPS.

Inventory Management

Shopify offers superior out-of-the-box inventory management compared to BigCommerce. You can manage stock across different locations directly from your dashboard. BigCommerce requires a third-party app to achieve similar functionality.

Shopify is particularly popular with dropshippers, offering numerous apps that connect your store with suppliers who handle and ship products on your behalf, including Shopify-owned Oberlo.

Tax Calculations

Shopify excels in automatic tax calculations, accommodating complex scenarios like VAT MOSS in Europe. This feature can be especially valuable for small businesses looking to minimize accounting costs.

BigCommerce also supports automatic tax calculations but relies on third-party apps like Avalara, Vertex, TaxJar, or TaxCloud.

Work with SmartOSC Now – Our Commitment is  Your Success

No matter which eCommerce platform you lean towards, SmartOSC is here to ensure that your choice leads to success. Our expertise spans both platforms, allowing us to provide you with the strategic guidance and hands-on support needed to build and maintain a thriving online store.

• Tailored Strategy and Consultation: At SmartOSC, we take the time to understand the unique needs of your business, whether it’s rapid scaling, specific integration requirements, or advanced customization. Based on this deep understanding, we recommend the platform that best aligns with your goals, ensuring you’re equipped to succeed from day one.
• Flawless Implementation and Customization: Our team handles everything from initial setup to intricate customization, ensuring that your eCommerce platform is perfectly aligned with your brand and business processes. We also tailor the implementation to your specific needs, ensuring a seamless transition to your new platform.
• Dedicated, Long-Term Support: Launching your store is just the beginning. SmartOSC provides continuous support, regular updates, and proactive optimization.

Conclusion

Making a final decision isn’t easy, especially when both options are this good. That’s definitely the case with these two platforms.

Shopify stands out for its incredible ease of use, enabling you to create a stunning website without touching a single line of code. It’s an ideal choice if you lack technical expertise or run a small operation and want to focus on your business rather than spending time on complex setups.

On the other hand, BigCommerce is perfect if you want to avoid transaction fees or a slew of monthly app payments – as long as you’re prepared to bring in a developer when needed. It’s particularly impressive if you’re a larger enterprise looking to take your store online and value personalized attention.

No matter which platform you choose between BigCommerce vs Shopify, SmartOSC is here to help as a trusted partner for both. Contact us today for expert advice tailored to your needs.