SaaS Based Ecommerce Systems Comparison: Shopify Vs BigCommerce Part 3 of 4
This article is Part 3 of a 4 part series on an in-depth analysis of BigCommerce and Shopify E-commerce Systems.
Continued from SaaS Based Ecommerce Systems Comparison: Shopify Vs BigCommerce Part 2 of 4
Automation Capabilities
Automation not only reduces human efforts but also increases efficiency in the process. Both of these platforms offer a handful of tools for automating the process.
While doing business across continents, tax rules need to be applied as per the respective country norms. This is a tedious process. Tax rules can be predefined for specific countries in both platforms. Once rules are set, the system will automatically apply tax rules as per need.
Similarly, shipping rules can be defined in both platforms.
Both these platforms support the multi-currency display. Even though the store can display the price in multiple currencies, one currency will be considered as a base currency and transactions will be processed via that currency. BigCommerce provides these feature by default. But Shopify offers multi-currency displaying feature through apps. Most of the apps cost USD 10 per month.
Marketing Tools
Even though both platforms provide solutions that are optimized for SEO, industry experts claim that Shopify wins the game in this department. Shopify provides options that help users in deep customization of SEO parameters. While BigCommerce is not tuned in that way. It follows a pattern that is interlinked with various aspects of a product listing. For instance, when configuring Google shopping from the dashboard, Shopify provides an option to use custom SEO meta title for products. But, BigCommerce does not allow custom titles and description. It only allows the use of the titles and description that is entered during product upload5.
For populating content, both the platforms provide a custom blog. It is equipped with a content management system that facilitates easy authoring of content. The blog usually follows the same layout as that of the theme.
In addition to this, to facilitate email marketing, email marketing tools like MailChimp, Constant Contact etc can be integrated. By default, Shopify provides options to integrate with MailChimp. On the other hand, BigCommerce facilitates integrations with Infusionsoft, Constant Contact and iContact by default.
For integrating marketing automation tools, merchants have to rely on corresponding apps available in their stores. Both Shopify and BigCommerce allow Hubspot integration through an app named Hubshop.ly that costs USD 99.99 per month. For Marketo, both have to use third party connector apps like Zapier and Bedrock Data.
Web Hosting
Both of the providers offer industry standard hosting services. This includes Level 1 PCI compliance, 99% uptime, SSL, CDN, 24x7 Support etc. However, BigCommerce offers an additional feature, DDOS protection. Both of them provide unlimited bandwidth for all the plans.
Considering the store front loading time, Shopify websites load faster than BigCommerce website6. The average store front loading time for Shopify is 73ms, while for Bigcommerce, it is almost double, ie 147ms. Also, Shopify stands ahead of other hosting based supports for these systems.
Payment Gateway Integration
Shopify has an inbuilt payment gateway that supports PayPal payments. It also provides an option to integrate with 70+ popular payment gateways across the globe. This include Stripe, Authorize.Net, Amazon Payments etc. Shopify has an additional charge for payments made through third-party payment gateways other than Paypal.
BigCommerce also comes pre-equipped with a PayPal-powered payment gateway. In addition to this, merchants can integrate 50+ third party payment gateways to the system. This include Apple Pay, Amazon Payments, Authorize.Net, Square etc. BigCommerce doesn't charge merchants for payments made through third-party payment gateways.
Third Party Integrations
BigCommerce allows integrations with ERP Systems like NetSuite, Brightpearl and Microsoft Dynamics. Shopify also allows integrations to ERP systems like NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics etc. For ERP integration in both the platforms, most of the apps are priced at more than 99 USD per month.
Shopify provides integration with fulfillment providers like UPS, USPS, and FedEx. While BigCommerce leads this with a long list of providers like UPS, USPS, FedEx, Australia post, Royal Mail Canada post etc.
Continued in SaaS Based Ecommerce Systems Comparison: Shopify Vs BigCommerce Part 4 of 4
References:
5. “Shopify or Bigcommerce: Which is Better?”, eCommerce Opinion, accessed May 2017.
6. Current status, Shopify, accessed May 2017.
Status, BigCommerce, accessed May 2017.
