BigCommerce and Magento are two of the biggest names in the ecommerce software industry. Both programs are top competitors with their share of rich features and customizability. When it comes to BigCommerce vs Magento, which program should you go with? We’ll go over the strengths and features of each program and finish with our opinion of which platform is the strongest.
BigCommerce
BigCommerce makes it incredibly easy to set up an online store fast. With its slick and intuitive interface, even newcomers with limited technical knowledge can traverse its software and create a great-looking website with little fuss. What’s more, if you want to dig a little deeper and customize the shopping experience, BigCommerce offers a robust array of customization options that allow you to do just about anything you can think of. Users are treated to an excellent customer service team, and BigCommerce offers international shipping support with a system that makes shipping quick and easy.
The program also offers plenty of useful tools: third party plugin support, great statistical and analytical tools, useful SEO options, single page checkout and cart saver systems, email marketing, an automated photo gallery creator and zoom function, social media connectivity, mobile site support, inventory management, coupon and discount options, and more. The only downsides to BigCommerce are that first, the program’s basic templates aren’t particularly exciting, so if you want a really unique website you have to spend more time with the customization tools; also, design integration isn’t perfect either. However, considering the BigCommerce vs Magento contest, BigCommerce remains a strong contender.
Magento
Magento is a powerful ecommerce platform with a dizzying array of customization options. Magento offers many of the features BigCommerce offers: multi-store capabilities, tons of templates and third party plugins, constant updates and bug fixes, great inventory management, SEO tools, email marketing, product search, mobile device support, international shipping, and more.
Part of what makes Magento so strong also introduces a major weakness, ironically enough. Since Magento is so customizable and feature-rich, it is very complex. But that complexity is not managed with a slick interface. For beginners, it is very difficult to get started on Magento and build a website quickly and easily. The program has a steep learning curve and you need to know a fair amount about design and coding to do anything interesting.
The nice thing is if you have the technical knowledge, you can download the Magento Community Edition for free, but you don’t get any customer support. Magento Go offers simpler templates and better accessibility, but the Go program just doesn’t compete with BigCommerce. The Enterprise Edition is a better bet, which carries a higher price tag, but isn’t as easy to pick up and use as BigCommerce. In the BigCommerce vs Magento debate, Magento seems to be the lesser option.
Conclusion
Considering BigCommerce vs Magento, we definitely prefer the excellent combination of usability and customizability that BigCommerce manages. Magento is still a great program but it is not as user-friendly as we’d like it to be. Whichever ecommerce solution you end up going with, you should consider hiring a professional ecommerce agency to help you get the most out of your investment. Coalition Technologies has worked with both BigCommerce and Magento at length and we’re well-versed on how they fare against certain platforms. We’ve helped build many successful online stores for our clients on these platforms. Call us today at 1-310-827-3890 and receive a free quote.
