Understanding Your Needs: Advanced Ecommerce vs. Simple Solutions
When it comes to selecting the right ecommerce platform, clarity is key. As a technology leader, your priority is to align the platform with your business goals. Today, we'll compare BigCommerce and Big Cartel—two ecommerce solutions designed for different types of users and use cases. On one hand, we have BigCommerce, a robust platform geared towards growing businesses that seek advanced ecommerce features. On the other, Big Cartel appeals to creators and small businesses looking for simple, straightforward solutions. Let's delve into the specifics and help you decide which is the ideal fit for your needs.
Target Audience and Use Cases
BigCommerce: The Growth Advocate
BigCommerce is designed for businesses that are scaling rapidly and need a platform capable of supporting complex operations. It's suitable for medium to large enterprises that require extensive functionality, powerful integrations, and robust customization options. Its multi-faceted capabilities allow businesses to manage growing inventory, handle multiple sales channels, and utilize advanced SEO tools to boost organic traffic.
Big Cartel: The Creator's Ally
Big Cartel, in contrast, is targeted at artists, makers, and small-scale entrepreneurs who need a simple way to sell their products. It's perfect for those who might be setting up an online store for the first time and prefer ease of use over a myriad of complex features. With a straightforward setup and user-friendly interface, Big Cartel allows creative individuals to focus more on their craft and less on managing the technical aspects of an online store.
Feature Comparison
Product and Inventory Management
BigCommerce excels in providing high-level product and inventory management. Users can manage vast inventories, categorize their products deeply, and set up complex product variants. Advanced features like bulk pricing, discounting, and even AI-driven product recommendations are part of the offering. Multi-store management allows businesses to operate several fronts under a single dashboard.
Big Cartel keeps it simple. With basic inventory management, creators can list their products, track stock levels, and fulfill orders without diving into complex configurations. The platform is designed to make the process straightforward, making it easy for users to manage their store while focusing primarily on creating more products.
Customizability and Design Options
BigCommerce offers a multitude of themes—both free and paid—that are fully customizable. Its robust design tools allow businesses to tweak everything, from the storefront to the checkout page, ensuring that brand identity is maintained. Developers can use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for extensive customizations, or leverage the API for more advanced integrations.
On Big Cartel, simplicity reigns supreme. It provides fewer themes compared to BigCommerce, but they are designed to meet the basic needs of creators. The themes are customizable to a certain extent, predominantly through user-friendly design tools, but lack the depth of customization options available in BigCommerce.
SEO and Marketing Capabilities
In the digital age, discoverability through search engines and effective marketing strategies are crucial for ecommerce success.
BigCommerce: Advanced SEO and Marketing
BigCommerce shines with its SEO tools, enabling businesses to optimize product pages, meta tags, URLs, and more with surgical precision. Its robust marketing suite includes tools for email campaigns, targeted promotions, abandoned cart recovery, and integration with Google Shopping and various social media platforms. BigCommerce empowers businesses to meet their customers wherever they are, ensuring a broad and impactful digital presence.
Big Cartel: Basic Yet Functional
Big Cartel offers essential SEO capabilities, allowing users to set meta descriptions, create custom URLs, and add Google Analytics. Its marketing tools are more limited but sufficient for creators looking to spread the word about their products. The platform integrates with social media channels like Instagram and Facebook, enabling creators to reach their audience directly where they are most active.
Costing and Pricing
BigCommerce: Investment for Growth
BigCommerce offers flexible pricing plans that differ based on the scale of your business. Starting with a standard plan suitable for small businesses on the brink of growth, it scales up to include plans with more advanced features tailored for large enterprises. While the costs might seem higher, the expansive feature set can justify the investment for businesses looking to scale significantly.
Big Cartel: Budget-Friendly Simplicity
Big Cartel is much more budget-friendly, which aligns with its target market. The free plan allows creators to list up to five products, with subsequent paid plans allowing for more products and providing additional features. These plans remain cost-effective, which is crucial for small-scale entrepreneurs and artists who may not have extensive budgets.
Integration and Ecosystem
BigCommerce: Integration Powerhouse
BigCommerce boasts a robust ecosystem of integrations. It connects seamlessly with a wide range of third-party applications across categories such as CRM, ERP, POS systems, and various marketing tools. This allows businesses to streamline operations and manage everything from a single platform, providing flexibility and scalability.
Big Cartel: Essential Integrations
While Big Cartel does offer integrations, they are more limited when compared to BigCommerce. The platform does provide connections to essential tools such as PayPal for payments, Google Analytics for tracking, and ShipStation for shipping, but lacks the depth and variety of integrations found in BigCommerce.
Support and Community
BigCommerce: Extensive Support Network
BigCommerce provides a comprehensive support network including 24/7 live chat, email, and phone support. Additionally, the platform offers extensive documentation, community forums, and a resource library filled with articles, guides, and best practices.
Big Cartel: Focused Support for Creators
Big Cartel offers email support with a focus on quality rather than speed. The platform also features a community of creators who share tips and best practices. While the support may not be as extensive as BigCommerce, it is often sufficient for the needs of its target audience.
Decision-Making Clarity
Choosing between BigCommerce and Big Cartel ultimately depends on the unique requirements of your business. BigCommerce is tailored for businesses seeking to grow and handle complex, multi-channel operations. Its advanced features, extensive customizability, and powerful integrations make it the go-to platform for medium to large enterprises aiming for aggressive expansion and a robust online presence.
On the flip side, Big Cartel is perfect for individual creators and small businesses taking their first steps into the ecommerce space. Its simplicity, ease of use, and budget-friendly plans make it an ideal choice for artists and entrepreneurs who prefer to focus on their craft rather than the intricacies of ecommerce management.
As Martin Dejnicki from Deploi, my goal is to provide you with clarity in your technology selection process. Evaluate the strengths of each platform against your business needs and future growth plans. Both BigCommerce and Big Cartel have their unique advantages, and your choice should align with your long-term vision for business success.
