Bigcommerce offers numerous features, including:
- Customizable search engine optimization (SEO), with meta tags and robots.txt files to generate site maps.
- Marketing tools for discounting, coupons, social media integration, and more.
- Design tools including customizable CSS/HTML.
- Integration with Shopzilla, Pricegrabber and eBay
- Integration with PayPal, Authorize.net and Google checkout as well as more than 50 other payment gateways.
- Inventory tools and customizable product rules and categories
- Redundant network architecture and hardware firewalls
- Apps for inventory, accounting and marketing
- Reporting and analytics
Bigcommerce free themes, and drag and drop customization offers a good starting point for sole proprietors or small businesses who wish to build an eCommerce site. But, it is important to keep in mind that any business (no matter how small or large) must have a comprehensive understanding of its target audience and customers and its own business requirements, e.g., infrastructure, users skills, etc., before selecting a framework and designing a site.
What appears to be a simple eCommerce site requirement is typically more complicated than a business assumes. There are a lot of moving parts that go into the design of a shopping cart and to providing a consumer and user experience that will make it easy for your employees to add fresh content and easy for consumers to use to browse and complete a sale.
While Bigcommerce provides many options to get your business up and running, it is worth the time and effort to build a complete picture of requirements for internal users and for customers and use that requirements map to select a framework and to request a bid to design and develop your online store. Many businesses are more focused on the upfront cost of employing expert Bigcommerce developers and eCommerce development professional but this investment pays off in spades over the lifetime of your eCommerce site.
With a good foundation and design, upgrades, maintenance and support will be seamless and your staff will find it easier to add or change content on the site. Whether you are considering Bigcommerce or another eCommerce solution, you need to know your current business needs, and the needs of your customers and you need to plan for future flexibility and growth. Then consider employing a skilled eCommerce developer. You can establish an affordable, elegant eCommerce or Bigcommerce site in less time, and at less cost, than you might imagine!
