Shopify Plus vs. BigCommerce: A Tale of Pros and Cons

Are you an ecommerce business owner researching enterprise options? Do you need an enterprise commerce solution and are trying to make platform comparisons in an effort to find the best match?

When it comes to choosing the right ecommerce platform for your business, the decision often boils down to two major contenders: Shopify Plus and BigCommerce. Both platforms offer robust features, scalability, and customization options, but they cater to different business needs and priorities.

Now, we could list all the features of BigCommerce Enterprise and Shopify Plus, but the list would be incredibly similar. So instead, we’re going to give you a rundown on the pros and cons of each, focusing on features or benefits that one platform has and the other doesn’t.

Whether you’re a growing start-up or an established enterprise, understanding these distinctions will help you make an informed decision and set your business up for success. Just like following breadcrumbs through a forest, let’s navigate the pros and cons of Shopify vs. BigCommerce.

 

BigCommerce Enterprise

Pros:

Product Search and Filters

BigCommerce Enterprise has very robust product filters and search options built into their platform. With Shopify Plus, if you want to get sophisticated with search or filters, you have to build this functionality yourself or use a third-party solution.

Wholesale

This is perhaps BigCommerce Enterprise’s greatest advantage over Shopify Plus. Many enterprise-level clients have a wholesale channel. In BigCommerce Enterprise, it’s easy to tag customers as wholesale clients and give them access to a separate part of the store. In Shopify, you can do this, but it isn’t built in, so it takes a little custom code and creativity to create this barrier between retail and wholesale online stores.

ShipperHQ

ShipperHQ, the leading shipping rate engine, is built into BigCommerce Enterprise and provides live shipping rates. This allows you to include live shipping rates for customers in their cart rather than surprising them at checkout, which greatly improves the shopping experience.

Cons:

Playing Catch-Up

BigCommerce has always been playing catch-up. They’re not the industry leader in terms of progress or innovation, so they’re typically several months behind competitors, following what others are doing. This can be a positive, as they have the chance to learn from others’ mistakes. However, when it comes down to it, they’re lagging behind trends, so you won’t have the most up-to-date features.

Weak App Community

Unlike Shopify Plus (which we’ll discuss later), BigCommerce Enterprise doesn’t have a very developed app community, so there are far fewer plug-ins available. This may not sound like a big deal, but these plug-ins make your life so much easier when it comes to marketing integrations and adding cool features. With BigCommerce Enterprise, if you want these integrations or features, you’ll likely have to code them yourself.

Admin User Experience

BigCommerce Enterprise’s admin interface is more difficult to use and less intuitive than its competitors. This includes theme development. Not only do they have fewer themes to choose from, but if you want to custom-develop your theme, it’s much more difficult to do on the BigCommerce Enterprise platform.

Shopify Plus

Pros:

Market Leader

Shopify was the leader in fully hosted ecommerce platforms for small- and medium-sized businesses, and now they’re leading the way for fully hosted enterprise commerce platforms as well with Shopify Plus. Being the market leader is a huge advantage. They’re typically the first to come out with new innovations and are often copied by the rest.

Theme Options and Customization

Shopify has the widest array and highest quality of theme options to buy if you want to get up and running quickly. If you want to develop your own custom theme, they have a very simple, easy to use, yet powerful framework, making it easy to create the theme you want.

Shopify Scripts

Shopify Plus has a feature called Shopify Scripts, which allows you to not only customize the look and feel of the checkout but also build in functionality. With Shopify, the checkout was locked down for security purposes. These Shopify Scripts are an innovative way to allow Shopify Plus customers customization without compromising the security of the checkout process.

App Community

Shopify and Shopify Plus have a huge app marketplace and a very vibrant app developer community. Their open platform for developers allows them to get creative, so there are apps for almost anything you can imagine. This makes your job as a marketer a lot easier technically, helping you to grow and market your store.

Cons:

Multilingual and Multi-Currency Limitations

In Shopify Plus, you can choose a currency and a language, but you can’t have multiple in the same store. Of course, there is a workaround, and you can easily have your store pages available in two languages with a simple toggle interface. However, once users transition to checkout, there’s only one option, so you have to choose between languages.

Wholesale

As we mentioned above, this is BigCommerce Enterprise’s main win over Shopify Plus. With Shopify Plus, there’s no easy way to separate a wholesale store from your retail store online. We’ve done it through hacks and workarounds, but it’s difficult to create all the capabilities that are available through BigCommerce Enterprise’s wholesale options.

Shopify Plus vs. BigCommerce: Final Thoughts

Both Shopify Plus and BigCommerce Enterprise offer powerful ecommerce solutions tailored to different business needs.

Ultimately, the choice between Shopify Plus and BigCommerce depends on your specific business priorities, technical expertise, and growth goals.

We hope this article has helped you follow the breadcrumbs through the complex forest of ecommerce platforms, shedding light on the unique strengths and weaknesses of each platform and enabling you to make an informed decision that aligns with your ecommerce strategy and sets your business up for success.

Still looking for more information? No worries. We’re always here to help. Reach out to us today, and our expert team will help guide you on your path.