Big Commerce Review

BigCommerce

As a fairly new web based shopping cart application, Big Commerce from Interspire in Sydney, Australia is making big waves in the world of the E-commerce solutions market.  What makes BigCommerce different from most shopping cart solutions is that it was designed with SEO in mind and is recognized as the #1 SEO shopping cart solution.  Big Commerce also provides a host of marketing tools to help you increase your presence, generate traffic, and grow your business. 

For those who don't know, BigCommerce is the equivalent of the Interspire shopping cart but offered as a hosted version which in my opinion is better since you don't have to worry about any hosting issues!


Features

BigCommerce offers an array of features to manage your store and increase your sales as well as design features that will make your storefront unique.  Here are a few of the features that we thought were the best:

  • Customization - Design Wizards allow for easy and unlimited customization.  You can create your own design using HTML and CSS via FTP, or QuickEdit, or you can choose from more than 50 different storefront designs.  Once you select the design, then it’s just a matter of dragging and dropping to customize your store’s layout. If you're looking for something totally unique, you can simply contact us and  try our custom e-commerce designs, you won't be disappointed.


  • Inventory Management - BigCommerce manages your inventory and keeps you up to date on the numbers.  You set up the inventory parameters and the software does the rest.  When you are running low, an automatic low stock warning is displayed.  And BigCommerce comes with inventory suggestions that help you understand your inventory needs. 


  • Marketing Tools - BigCommerce utilizes several built in marketing tools that will increase your sales.  You can easily offer coupon codes, promotions, discounts and gift certificates.  Additionally, BigCommerce will integrate with Google Analytics are. 


  • SEO - Take advantage of the SEO tools in BigCommerce.  For each item in your store, you have the ability to set the page title, meta keywords, and meta description for each product in your store which results in higher rankings and increased visitors.


  • Reports - BigCommerce has more than 25 business reports that were designed to help you analyze your sales and increase profits.


  • Security - Because BigCommerce is a host based solution you are provided with security updates on a regular basis.  You can always be assured that your customer’s credit card and personal information is protected.  This is an important aspect of any shopping cart software.  


Installation and Administration

BigCommerce is probably one of the easier e-commerce applications to install and use.  The design wizards make the customization of the site easy and fun and the product pages are laid out to make your usual administration chores easy and quick to accomplish. With the templates that already come with the store, you can be up and running in minutes (well don't forget to lead your products ;))

Loading the products is quite easy as it should be with a simply .csv file upload. The interface makes it much better than most other platforms and keeps it as simple as pointing and clicking.

The backend is as clean as any other shopping cart you've worked with and when you pair this with the software's reporting capabilities - this makes it a winner in my books.


Support

Along with unlimited free support, BigCommerce provides step-by-step videos to use when customizing and administering your store. 

Summary

Overall, BigCommerce is the easiest shopping cart solution on the market at this very moment and it also gives you a lot for your money.   When you combine all of its features, seo and reporting capabilities - it's tough to go wrong with BIgCommerce. BigCommerce offers a Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum packages that start at $24.95 per month.  With the variety of packages, there’s sure to be one that fits your business needs.  You can also check out Bigcommerce with a free 15 day trial just to make sure it's the right shopping cart for you.