Navigating the digital market, we find two supreme giants: WordPress and BigCommerce. Each presents a unique toolset and capabilities, catering to different needs. WordPress, a versatile open-source content management system, governs a significant portion of the web, granting users a canvas to craft unique, customized websites. Its strength lies in its adaptability, underscored by a vast library of themes and plugins, including the prominent WooCommerce for e-commerce operations.
On the flip side, BigCommerce presents itself as a comprehensive e-commerce platform. With tools built directly into its framework, it streamlines the intricacies of setting up and operating an online store, thus favoring simplicity and directness.
This critical choice between WordPress and BigCommerce impacts your immediate online presence and your business’s scalability and adaptability. Thus, grasping their distinct features, advantages, and potential limitations is a pivotal step in carving your path in the e-commerce domain.
Understanding WordPress
WordPress is a free, open-source content management system (CMS) initially released in 2003 by Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little. It started as a blogging tool but quickly became a versatile CMS due to its extensive features.
Overview of Functionality and Use Cases: WordPress allows you to create various websites, from simple blogs to complex e-commerce sites, business websites, portfolios, forums, social networks, and more. It achieves this through its powerful editor, a wide range of themes, and the ability to extend functionality with plugins.
Features of WordPress WordPress offers a high level of customization through its themes and plugins. Users can change the appearance of their site and add functionality without requiring extensive coding skills.
Plugin and Theme Availability: The WordPress repository has thousands of free and premium plugins and themes, allowing users to tailor their site to their specific needs and preferences.
As one of the most popular CMS platforms worldwide, WordPress has a large and active community of developers and users who offer extensive support through forums, blogs, and online resources.
How e-commerce works on WordPress WooCommerce is the most popular e-commerce plugin for WordPress. It allows you to sell digital and physical products, manage inventory and shipping, take secure payments, and sort taxes automatically. After establishing a WordPress website, which involves choosing a hosting provider , buying a domain name, and installing WordPress, the next step is installing WooCommerce.
Install the WooCommerce Plugin: After setting up your WordPress site, navigate to your WordPress admin dashboard. Go to the “Plugins” section, click “Add New”, and search for “WooCommerce”. Install and activate the plugin.
WooCommerce Setup Wizard: Once WooCommerce is installed and activated, you’ll be directed to the WooCommerce Setup Wizard. It will guide you through the basic setup like store location, currency, payment, and shipping options.
Add Products: Now you can start adding products to your online store. Navigate to “Products” -> “Add New” in your WordPress dashboard. Add product details including name, description, price, and images.
Set Up Payment Gateways: WooCommerce supports a variety of payment gateways, including PayPal, Stripe, and more. Go to “WooCommerce” -> “Settings” -> “Payments” to set up your desired payment methods.
Configure Shipping Options: If you’re shipping physical goods, you’ll need to configure your shipping options. This can be found under “WooCommerce” -> “Settings” -> “Shipping”.
Launch Your Store: Before launching, double-check everything: product details, payment and shipping options, website design, etc. Once everything is set, you can publish your website and start selling.
Understanding BigCommerce
BigCommerce was founded in 2009 by Eddie Machaalani and Mitchell Harper. Initially, a software service to help businesses create online stores, it has since grown into a leading SaaS e-commerce platform serving businesses of various sizes worldwide.
Overview of Functionality and Use Cases: BigCommerce is a fully-fledged e-commerce platform allowing businesses to set up an online store and sell products online. It caters to a wide range of businesses, from small startups to large enterprises, and its use cases span various industries, from fashion and food to digital products and services.
Features of BigCommerce Built-in e-commerce capabilities: BigCommerce has a comprehensive set of built-in tools for setting up and managing an online store, including product management, SEO tools, and various payment gateway integrations. Scalability: BigCommerce is built to support growing businesses, offering powerful features that help businesses scale their operations efficiently. Integrated Marketing Tools: BigCommerce provides several built-in marketing and sales tools, such as coupon and discount management, social media integration, and email marketing tools. How e-commerce works on BigCommerce BigCommerce is a standalone e-commerce platform, as opposed to WooCommerce, which operates as a plugin within the WordPress ecosystem. This means the process to set up and manage an e-commerce store is somewhat different in BigCommerce.
When starting with BigCommerce, you first sign up for a new account on the BigCommerce website. As part of the signup process, you’ll be asked to fill out some information about your store, like the name, the number of products you plan to sell, and your projected revenue.
After completing the signup process, you’re taken to the BigCommerce dashboard. This dashboard is where you manage all aspects of your e-commerce store. It includes sections for managing products, customers, orders, and more. You can add new products by going to the ‘Products’ section and clicking ‘Add’. For each product, you can add details like name, price, images, and a description.
BigCommerce includes built-in payment processing, with support for many popular payment gateways like PayPal, Stripe, Apple Pay, and more. To configure your payment settings, you go to the ‘Store Setup’ section of the dashboard, and then ‘Payments’.
Shipping settings are also managed in the ‘Store Setup’ section, under ‘Shipping’. BigCommerce supports a variety of shipping options, including flat-rate shipping, free shipping, and shipping rates based on weight or value.
BigCommerce vs. WordPress: Which Is Better? The choice between BigCommerce and WordPress (with WooCommerce) for an e-commerce platform depends on your specific needs, as each has its strengths.
Ease of use: BigCommerce can be considered easier to use for beginners since it’s a fully managed platform, meaning you don’t need to handle things like hosting, security, or updates. WordPress requires a bit more hands-on work, such as setting up hosting and performing updates, but it also offers more flexibility and control over your site. Customization: WordPress, along with WooCommerce, offers more customization options. There are thousands of themes and plugins available, allowing for significant customization and functionality addition. BigCommerce also allows for customization, but it is a bit more limited in comparison. Cost: The cost can vary greatly. WordPress itself is free, and so is WooCommerce, but you’ll need to pay for things like hosting, premium themes, plugins, and potentially developer costs. BigCommerce comes with a monthly fee, which includes hosting and security. Additional costs may include premium themes and any additional services you may want to integrate. Scalability: Both platforms are highly scalable. BigCommerce includes various tools for larger businesses, and they handle all the technical aspects of scaling for you. WordPress with WooCommerce can also scale, but you’ll need to manage more of the technical aspects yourself or hire someone to help. SEO: Both platforms offer strong SEO features. WordPress with Yoast SEO is a highly powerful combination, but BigCommerce also has built-in SEO tools. Support: BigCommerce offers 24/7 support, which can be a significant advantage for businesses that want peace of mind and assistance on hand. With WordPress, you generally rely on forum support, documentation, or direct support from individual theme or plugin developers. Overall, if you prefer a fully managed platform with less hands-on work, BigCommerce can be a better choice. If you want more control and flexibility and are willing to handle more of the setup and management yourself (or hire someone to do it), then WordPress with WooCommerce can be a better option. It’s essential to carefully consider your specific needs, resources, and capabilities before deciding.
Similarities Between BigCommerce vs. WordPress Despite originating from different backgrounds, both BigCommerce and WordPress have cemented their status as valuable tools in creating, developing, and managing e-commerce stores. Although they function as distinct platforms, each is equipped with a wealth of tools and plugins that make it straightforward to establish and personalize an online site to match your business needs.
A remarkable attribute of both platforms is that they do not necessitate a deep comprehension of coding to construct an e-commerce store . A generous selection of themes and templates is available, allowing users to modify and launch an online store that mirrors their unique needs and aspirations. This applies even if you’re new to e-commerce, marking BigCommerce and WordPress as accessible platforms for users of varying expertise levels.
Differences Between WordPress and BigCommerce Below listed are the differences between them in different categories.
BigCommerce is a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform designed to immediately provide users with ready-to-use e-commerce capabilities. There’s no need to download or install anything; you can sign up, create your store, and begin selling. This model also covers hosting and updates, ensuring that the platform is always running smoothly.
On the other hand, WordPress is an open-source platform requiring a certain setup level, including hosting, installation, and configuration. Users have a high degree of control over their data and can export, reformat, and manipulate it as they wish. To create an e-commerce store on WordPress, plugins like WooCommerce are essential, providing the necessary features for product listing, cart management, and payment processing. These differences highlight the fundamental variance in their operational approach.
Design Capabilities Both BigCommerce and WordPress offer a rich array of design tools for creating attractive online stores, but they differ in the customization they allow. WordPress offers more flexibility, permitting users to modify store templates and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) via PHP, a server-side scripting language. This allows for a wide range of visual and functional customization.
BigCommerce, meanwhile, relies on an HTML/CSS editor for template customization. While this also allows for a fair degree of visual alteration, the level of control doesn’t match what WordPress with PHP can offer.
A critical difference lies in server access. WordPress provides root access to the server, enabling users to make deep-level modifications. BigCommerce, being a hosted solution, doesn’t provide this level of access, which can limit certain customization options.
Pricing BigCommerce offers four pricing plans: Standard, Plus, Pro, and Enterprise. Each comes with features and tools designed to cater to various business sizes and needs. All plans include unlimited staff account access, file storage, and bandwidth. Additionally, new users are offered a 15-day free trial period to explore and understand the platform before committing.
WordPress, on the other hand, also offers four different packages: Personal, Premium, Business, and eCommerce. These packages have varying features and functionalities, targeting different user segments, from individual bloggers to full-fledged online stores. Importantly, users need to select at least the Business plan to leverage the full potential of WordPress for e-commerce, including the ability to add plugins like WooCommerce. This highlights the flexibility of WordPress but also underscores the necessity of a higher-cost plan for more advanced needs.
Customer Service Customer service is a crucial factor to consider when choosing an e-commerce platform. BigCommerce has a dedicated support team that users can directly contact when facing any issues. Their representatives know the platform’s ins and outs, enabling them to offer effective solutions quickly. Sometimes, they can even access your account to understand your setup better and provide more precise advice.
In contrast, WordPress’s customer service mainly assists with general issues related to the platform’s installation and setup process. The support may not be as comprehensive for more specific or complex issues related to your store. Instead, resolving these issues might require interaction and coordination with your hosting company or through community forums. This highlights the importance of self-sufficiency when operating on an open-source platform like WordPress.
BigCommerce, built primarily for eCommerce, provides a comprehensive suite of tools tailored to help merchants manage their online stores effectively. These include functionalities for product categorization, collection management, and page updates. It also provides basic blogging capabilities but lacks advanced content features.
In stark contrast, WordPress stands out for its robust content management system. It provides tools enabling users to create diverse content, such as social networking platforms, booking systems, or forums. Although WordPress doesn’t include built-in SEO tools, it offers users a rich repository of SEO plugins .
WordPress also enables users to customize their store using unique features enabled through root access. This diverse toolset underscores WordPress’s commitment to providing a flexible and comprehensive platform for content creation and customization beyond the traditional eCommerce functionalities.
Security Security measures are included in big commerce’s pricing plan, while WordPress leaves security largely to the user. With WordPress, users can deeply customize their stores to meet security needs, but they’re responsible for maintaining and enhancing site security, often with the help of third-party platforms.
Key Criteria For Selecting Between WordPress Vs BigCommerce You must consider your unique needs and circumstances when selecting a platform to build your website or online store. Two popular choices are WordPress, a versatile and widely-used content management system, and BigCommerce, a leading e-commerce platform. Below, we’ll explore some key criteria to consider when choosing between the two.
Purpose of Your Website If your primary aim is to sell products online and you want a platform designed specifically for this purpose, BigCommerce may be the ideal choice. It offers many built-in features for e-commerce, like product management, a shopping cart, and secure checkout.
On the other hand, if you need a website with various functionality – for instance, a blog, a news site, or a portfolio, along with some e-commerce capability – WordPress might serve you better. Its flexibility and extensibility, through thousands of plugins, allow for virtually any kind of website.
Technical Skills and Resources BigCommerce is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that provides hosting, security, and maintenance as part of the package. This could be beneficial if you don’t have a lot of technical expertise or resources.
WordPress, though not too challenging to use, might require more technical know-how, especially if you want to use it for complex websites or add custom features. You’re also responsible for your own hosting and site maintenance.
Budget and Total Cost of Ownership WordPress is open-source and free, but running a WordPress site will have costs associated with hosting, premium themes or plugins, and potentially development or maintenance services.
BigCommerce comes with a monthly fee covering hosting, maintenance, and access to many e-commerce features. Depending on your plan, this fee may or may not include all the functionalities you need, so you’ll need to factor in potential costs for add-ons or higher-tier plans.
Scalability Both platforms can support businesses as they grow. WordPress, with its wide array of plugins and customizable themes, offers great flexibility for growth. However, managing this growth may require more work or technical resources.
BigCommerce, being an e-commerce-centric platform, has built-in scalability for online sales. Its architecture can handle high traffic and sales volume, and it has features to support larger product catalogs and more complex selling scenarios.
SEO Capabilities WordPress and SEO plugins like Yoast , can provide robust SEO tools to help your website rank well in search engine results.
BigCommerce also has built-in SEO features. However, your control over SEO may be somewhat less than WordPress’s due to the more rigid structure of BigCommerce.
Security BigCommerce provides robust security measures as part of its package, including compliance with payment card industry standards.
With WordPress, you must manage security yourself or via your hosting provider. This can range from simple tasks, like keeping WordPress and your plugins updated, to more complex security measures.
Your choice between WordPress and BigCommerce should be guided by your website’s purpose, technical skills and resources, budget, growth expectations, SEO needs, and ability to manage security. You’ll want to carefully consider each factor to determine which platform best suits your unique needs.
Conclusion In eCommerce, both BigCommerce and WordPress carry their unique strengths. Choose BigCommerce for a ready-to-launch, full-featured eCommerce solution, or WordPress for unmatched flexibility and content management prowess.
Always remember, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. It’s about finding the platform that fits your business needs like a glove. So, venture forth, explore, and choose wisely. Here’s to building successful online stores that convert!