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When it’s time to choose an ecommerce platform, beginners in the online retail world are faced with a common dilemma: should we use Magento or Shopware or Shopify or Bigcommerce? These are four of the most popular ecommerce platforms; however, they are aimed at different businesses. One is the best option for middle-sized and bigger companies, while the other is aimed at beginners in the ecommerce field. This allows you to develop an ecommerce website without the help of developers and tech persons.
As an expert in ecommerce, the Dinarys team has prepared a comparison of Magento and Shopware vs Bigcommerce vs Shopify. This article includes:
Comparison of Shopify and BigCommerce
Comparison of BigCommerce vs Shopify and Magento and Shopware
Magento and Shopware vs Shopify vs BigCommerce - what is the better to choose.
Let’s find out which platform suits your business model the best.
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Today, there are many ways to be involved in online retail. Starting with retailer accounts on marketplaces, to custom ecommerce websites, every business can find a perfect solution based on their specific needs.
If you are serious about your future ecommerce activity and you need to choose between Magento, Shopware, Shopify, and BigCommerce, you can use platforms developed for online retail.
In 2020, Statista shared information about the market share of leading ecommerce software platforms and technologies worldwide.
We want to emphasize that ecommerce platforms for successful online retailers are like the foundation for a house. The correct platform can give additional stability and amazing scaling opportunities.
Keeping that idea in mind, let us start the Magento and Shopware vs Shopify vs BigCommerce comparison from the comparison of Shopify and BigCommerce.
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Shopify is one of the most popular ecommerce solutions. Even if you have no website building skills, you can create an ecommerce website using this complete tool.
Any future online retailer can use it to develop an online shop without the help of eCommerce agencies.
A user-friendly interface is the main selling point of Shopify. By default, Shopify includes such perks as:
Shopify helps online retailers save time in slower areas of the ecommerce business. Besides, it provides users with creative freedom, optimizing really important areas like a great shopping experience for your customers.
Like Shopify, BigCommerce is an in-box ecommerce solution. Using this platform, you can create an online shop from scratch and maintain it on an ongoing basis. BigCommerce has a complete set of tools that online retailers can use along the way.
The BigCommerce control panel is clear and even beginners can understand and manage main metrics. On the dashboard, online retailers can find information on:
If you want to have a successful online shop, you should provide visitors with relevant content. BigCommerce lets website owners create pages and blogs to build a strong community of brands.
Other notable BigCommerce features include:
Still, this platform is more for well-developed businesses with good revenue. At the same time, complete ecommerce beginners also enjoy using it.
Shopify Plus was created for large enterprise businesses. Despite both Shopify and Shopify Plus work the same way, Shopify Plus can handle a lot more (over 10,000 transactions per minute).
Comparing BigCommerce and Shopify Plus, we would like to stress that overall these are similar platforms, nevertheless, there are some crucial differences.
The ecosystem of Shopify Plus is much stronger and more established. In turn, BigCommerce is a lot more focused on extensibility, and it is better to fit the B2B market than Shopify Plus.
Both BigCommerce and Shopify Plus are quite strong options, although have a large number of identical challenges and limitations. Shopify Plus is more focused on innovations and aimed to let retailers be lean and agile, but BigCommerce is building the platform which keeps more complexity.
BigCommerce Enterprise is created for 'big brands'. This is an ecommerce platform for businesses making $1 million or over $1 million in sales every year. It provides a range of functions that aren’t available to users of the lower levels versions.
As we have mentioned above, Shopify Plus is also intended for large businesses.
BigCommerce Enterprise and Shopify Plus have much in common. These platforms are both Software as a Service and offer a lower total price of ownership in comparison to on-prem platforms. However, BigCommerce Enterprise has several benefits such as:
If you want to manage an online shop successfully, you will almost certainly need a wide range of ecommerce tools.
The most basic and popular are:
If you are still not sure whether to choose between BigCommerce or Shopify, take into account that both platforms have everything you need to build and scale your ecommerce website.
To make a final decision, read the slight differences in their approach in the article below.
BigCommerce is popular among other solutions for a wider choice of tools for ecommerce. BigCommerce provides users with many out-of-the-box advanced tools. You can use them from the very launch of your Internet-based business since they are included in the platform monthly fee.
Shopify gives users a basic toolset to develop and manage the online shop. If you need more advanced tools, on the other hand, you can buy them in the App Store, including:
The good news is that all of the advanced tools include a trial period so that you can test them before purchase.
As a BigCommerce web design company, we want to emphasize that additional tools will help your ecommerce website break new ground; however, young companies might not be ready to spend the budget on them from the very beginning.
It's no big secret that some businesses need custom apps or extensions to make the customer journey even more convenient and fascinating. If you are looking for this type of development, you can hire Dinarys or another ecommerce agency.
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Online retailers will enjoy integrated payment gateway Shopify Payment. What is it and how does it work? This is a convenient tool aimed at saving time by avoiding separate payment gateways like Stripe or Paypal. You can manage all your transactions on the Shopify admin panel, with transaction fees depending on your Shopify plan (more details below).
We can say that, in this comparison between BigCommerce and Shopify, the first platform has far more advanced tools to provide users with. Along with that Bigcommerce also has many built-in tools for business and marketing. So we conclude that on this item, Bigcommerce and Shopware have equally leading characteristics.
Managing an online store can be a real challenge, especially if you’re not a tech person. Unless you are familiar with coding and developing, you probably need a strong support team to watch your back.
Many users find Shopify support teams the best in the ecommerce industry. If you run into any trouble, you can reach the support team in various ways, including:
When paying for Shopify, you also pay for security and serenity. With a well-developed support team, you have nothing to be afraid of when something goes wrong with your online shop. There will always be a professional team to help you.
BigCommerce tries to keep up with the leader. The platform provides users with technical support using the same channels as Shopify.
In prior years, 24/7 phone support was not available for BigCommerce users, but they’ve now recently decided to add this option to improve the user experience.
When deciding whether to choose Shopify or BigCommerce, consider that both platforms have a well-developed community with forums and informative tutorial resources.
The great benefit for users on both platforms is the 24-hour live phone support.
Comparing technical support of Shopify, Bigcommerce, and Magento, it’s important to stress that Magento just wins.
As it is created for professional web developers, the level of its user guides is high. Moreover, it provides you access to SiteGround’s superb support. Despite Shopify has good customer support options, it can't be compared with the level of expertise offered by Magento.
All online retailers who are thinking about scaling their ecommerce business in the future will find this information useful.
BigCommerce and Shopify have their marketplaces where users can find any tool, extension, or app to extend the existing functionality of their ecommerce websites.
You can find any tool to meet your goals in such spheres as:
The best thing about these apps is the routine task automation so that online retailers can concentrate more on business strategy.
Shopify users can find over 1,400 apps for their online shop in the marketplace, while there are only 250 apps on the BigCommerce marketplace. This leads us to another main point: that the number of Apps available on the marketplace correlates with the platform's attractiveness for the web developer.
Comparing applications for Shopify and Magento, we can say without any doubt that Magento wins as it offers more extensions than Shopify.
In today’s highly-competitive world, design matters. If online shoppers find an ecommerce website confusing and ugly, they will simply visit another, more attractive website.
If you want to make your online shop successful, pay attention to the website’s appearance. Design is the first thing your customers see and, with a bright and clear design, you will increase the chances of making a sale, although you do not have the best product in the world.
When choosing between Shopify, Magento, BigCommerce, and Shopware, consider the fact that they have paid and free themes. Let us take a closer look and find the difference between them.
This platform is known for updates and impressive templates and designs. Both free and paid templates are inviting and professional. By using independent professional ecommerce designers, the platform always provides users with modern and fresh storefronts.
The single con, especially for startups and beginners in ecommerce, is that some of the Shopify themes are paid. If you want to have an ecommerce website with a premium theme, expect to pay anywhere from $100 to $180. Nevertheless, remember, that you invest this money in your business and this is a one-time payment. If you want to create a successful ecommerce portal, be prepared for extra expenditures. With a pretty theme, your prospective clients will stay in your online shop longer, while increasing your chances to make a sale at the same time.
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With this link, you can view the Shopify themes marketplace and find out more about professional and elegant storefronts.
Since BigCommerce upgraded its theme collection in 2016, there are even more updated themes for the ecommerce website. What is even more important is that most of them are mobile-friendly. This leads us to the conclusion that the design gap between BigCommerce and Shopify is narrow. The price for premium BigCommerce themes varies from $145 to $234, and you can buy a Shopify premium theme for almost the same price.
First of all, Magento themes are related to your store appearance. It is possible to combine some themes at once in the interface. Thus, you can utilize different seasonal images.
Nowadays Shopware has more than 3500 plugins, themes, and modules. Users can utilize different themes to make a marketplace that meets their needs.
Any theme development is a long and difficult process. But if you want to have an ecommerce website on the Magento or Shopware platform that totally reflects your company’s business values and is developed especially for your company, you can also hire an ecommerce agency, like Dinarys, that deals with custom theme development.
To get all the advantages of this popular ecommerce platform, be ready to pay anywhere from $29 monthly for the “Basic Shopify” account. As your e-business expands, you can switch to a “Shopify” plan and pay $79 every month, or to “Advanced Shopify” at $299 per month.
There is also a “Lite” plan with a monthly fee of $9; however, this plan does not allow users to create an online shop. The “Lite” plan is aimed at people who have a website on other platforms or CMS, or even a seller page on social media, and want to add some ecommerce features with a Shopify Buy Button. “Lite” is the cheapest Shopify plan but, if you need to develop an ecommerce website, you can choose from other Shopify plans.
If BigCommerce features and templates suites your business the best, be ready to pay a monthly fee of $29.95 for the Standard Plan, $79.95 for the Plus Plan, and $299.95 for the Pro Plan. For more detailed information, visit the BigCommerce Pricing page.
It is worth mentioning that BigCommerce also provides a customized solution for enterprises. With the Enterprise Plan, users receive the help of an ecommerce team that assists with data migration, online shop setup, and further technical support.
We have already discovered the pricing of BigCommerce vs Shopify, so now let’s dive deeper into Magento and Shopware pricing to make a comparison.
At first, it’s important to know the cost of the Magento Platform itself. Magento is available in two variants:
Considering the price of Magento website development, it’s important to stress many factors influence price:
Considering Shopware, you should know that the platform is available in different editions. That is the reason why prices are also various. It has three editions, such as:
As for the Shopware website, we can’t name the price. The reason is it varies depending on the capabilities which are required. Nevertheless, the average price is from $2,000 to $15,000.
As you see, that both Magento and Shopware have free editions. It gives them undeniable advantages. Although price should not be a key element it’s a considerable point to think about.
When comparing Bigcommerce and Shopify, consider that both platforms have rich features, developed support teams, great paid and free templates and designs, together with the developer community and support teams.
At the same time, the final decision depends on your business goals and industry.
If you are looking for a simple solution with basic features to set up an online shop in a minimum time, while still paying attention to the design, your platform of choice should be Shopify.
For those looking for a platform with further scaling opportunities and specific, or even custom, features (in other words – a more complicated solution), then BigCommerce is the best option.
But when it comes to choosing between Bigcommerce, Shopify, Shopware, and Magento, the choice is clear. Magento and Shopware are considered the best options.
Magento is fast, optimized, and user-friendly. Shopware is feature-rich, developer-friendly, and flexible. And the edges of Magento and Shopware over Bigcommerce vs Shopify we have proven in this article.
As ecommerce experts, Dinarys provides clients with full-cycle development services. Based on our extensive expertise, we have solutions for most ecommerce issues, including low conversion rates, high cart abandon rates, and more.
Dinarys can improve your ecommerce website in the following ways, to name a few:
Do you have more questions when it comes to what ecommerce platform to choose from? Want to hire an ecommerce team with experience in development? Need advice from ecommerce experts? Don’t hesitate and contact us now through our online form. Our team will get back to you ASAP.
Our certified specialists will find the most optimal solution for your business.
