With the boom in E-commerce industry, a plethora of platforms for e-commerce websites has risen. Choosing the right e-commerce platform requires sketching out our requirements and business goals and mapping the features of all e-commerce platforms. What happens when you narrow down your choice of platforms to two? How do you choose which online shopping cart is the one that’s best for you? Especially when both platforms are e-commerce giants, it takes a little research and a little more filtering, to decide the right platform. Both e-commerce shop builders have their pros and cons. Starting off an e-commerce website with one of the platforms and then figuring out midway that you need a switch over may cost you time, effort as well as money. Here is a list of features that cannot be looked over and can be real differentiators between the two:
1. Themes
Online shop builders have a bunch of themes that makes them stand out. Themes are the heart and soul of any website. When a user visits your website, an eye-catchy theme can convert a visitor into a lead and a potential customer. To have a website that looks inviting, it is necessary to have a clean unique design. Shopify offers updated and professional themes and offer great modern designs, while the pricing range is a tad higher than BigCommerce, which lacks any free themes and is pretty much outdated.
2. Tools
BigCommerce is known to have more creative and advanced tools while Shopify is known to have more basic and easy tools to help take your business to the next level. The basic Shopify package does not provide advanced tools and do require extra payment, that BigCommerce does not call for.
3. Customer Support
Any product in the market is bound to do well with great support, be it online, offline or telephonic. A 24/7 customer support wins brownie points and the good news is that both Shopify as well as BigCommerce offer live telephonic support 24/7.
4. Pricing
No matter how many advanced features or how much support software offers, we tend to look at pricing as a priority. Shopify is known to start at $29 for a basic plan and goes up to $300 for an advanced plan but is often neglected in this aspect due to its transaction fee. BigCommerce offers the same $29 for a basic plan and extends up to $250 for a pro plan with no transaction fee. While there is no transaction fee, BigCommerce charges for payment processing through payment gateways. Working your way around saving up by choosing the right platform on the basis of pricing is not advisable as the features that one holds may differ from another.
SUMMARY
Sometimes, its about the branding and the credibility, while other times its about the pricing and the features. Either way, the right e-commerce platform should contribute in growing your business and bringing profit for the company. Both Shopify as well as BigCommerce are equally equipped to provide the necessary functions for your online shopping platform. On a priority basis, it is best to choose the feature that suits your business the best.
