BigCommerce is one of the leading platforms in the eCommerce space. It is a paid-for “hosted” solution that allows for store setup and selling product online. It is known as a software as a service product (Saas), meaning you pay a fee for the service, you do not own the software.
BigCommerce comes with many features that range from design and development to SEO and content. All of these categories are important to the success of an eCommerce website.
At 1Digital Agency, we are proud partners with BigCommerce and have experts who know the platform inside and out to give you the best advice and guidance to getting the most out of your eCommerce store.
Today, we’ll look at the pros of choosing BigCommerce and why you should choose BigCommerce if you are looking to get started with an eCommerce store.
Here is a list of some of the benefits of choosing BigCommerce:
- There are no transaction fees, even for third-party payment
- A comprehensive feature set even on the entry-level BigCommerce plan
- Effective and accurate reporting tools
- Built-in product review functionality
- SEO features that allow you to create short URLs, automatic image optimization and more
- An abandoned cart saver tool
- Discounting and coupon tools
- Easy to create custom fields
- Built-in blog
- Flexible solution for vendors with different products and categories
Let’s break down a few of these features and their importance.
Payment Gateways – There are a number of plans you can choose from with BigCommerce and none of them feature transaction fees, unlike other competitors.
Analytics and Reporting – BigCommerce offers a comprehensive reporting and analytics system. You get customer reports that list where customers are coming from, the percentage of new and existing customers, overall spending and when the last order was placed. You get marketing reports that define where customers were acquired. You get search reports that indicate how customers searched for specific products on the website. You get finance reports, and you get abandoned cart reports. All of these tools are a great help in analyzing your success and areas where you can improve to achieve more success.
BigCommerce SEO – Search engine optimization is important for any website, but it becomes important to choose a platform for your eCommerce store that has good SEO features already built in. BigCommerce has very strong features within the platform. They make it easy to edit title tags, page titles, meta descriptions and headlines for SEO purposes and you can even create or change product-specific URLs or create short URLs. BigCommerce also performs well on mobile devices, which is now a huge part of Google’s algorithm.
Blogging – Many times you think of an online store and think strictly of products, but having a blog on your website can be a very important feature. Blogging can improve a website’s SEO with inbound marketing tactics that produce more results on search engines. It is not about having the blog be fully functional as much as it is the content, which generates more results that are picked up by search engines looking for specific keywords. BigCommerce comes with a built-in blog that can help you with this effort.
With a partner like 1Digital Agency, having a team with expert knowledge in BigCommerce can go a long way and lead to the success you desire. Using these features to your advantage will help too and having a trusted partner there to walk you through it is always helpful. It’s why 1Digital Agency wants to be your partner on this journey to success in the eCommerce industry.
1Digital Agency communicates daily with BigCommerce to make your website and eCommerce store what you want it to be so you can reach the optimal level of success. Contact 1Digital Agency today to find out more about how we can be the trusted partner you need for your BigCommerce store.
Where BigCommerce's advantages matter most — and where to look closely
The feature list above is accurate. The more useful question for a real platform decision is which of these advantages move the needle for which kind of store, and what to scrutinize before committing.
- No transaction fees on any plan. This is a genuine, quantifiable advantage over platforms that surcharge non-native payment processing. On meaningful volume the saved percentage funds a lot of marketing — model it against your projected GMV.
- Strong built-in SEO controls. Editable URLs, title tags, meta data, automatic image optimization, and good mobile performance mean less fighting the platform to do basic SEO. It does not do the SEO for you — it removes obstacles to doing it.
- Comprehensive native reporting. Customer, marketing, search, finance, and abandoned-cart reports out of the box reduce reliance on bolt-on analytics apps early on. Verify the specific reports you need exist natively rather than assuming.
- Built-in blog and content tooling. Useful, but evaluate it honestly — some merchants run content on a more capable system and keep BigCommerce for commerce. Decide based on how central content is to your acquisition.
- Flexible catalog and B2B-friendly structure. Strong for stores with complex categories, variants, and B2B needs — one of the clearer reasons to choose it over simpler platforms.
How to choose objectively, not by feature list
- List your non-negotiables first — payment processor, B2B requirements, catalog complexity, integrations — then check each platform against them. Features you will never use are not advantages.
- Model total cost at scale, including plan tier thresholds, app subscriptions you will actually need, and payment costs. The "no transaction fees" benefit is real but compare the whole picture.
- Pressure-test the exits. Theme flexibility, API limits, and data portability matter the day you outgrow your first build. Ask these questions before you are locked in.
- Match the platform to your team. A SaaS platform like BigCommerce trades some deep customizability for not having to manage hosting, security, and patching — the right trade for most merchants, but name it deliberately.
Frequently asked questions
Is BigCommerce better than Shopify? Neither is universally better. BigCommerce's no-transaction-fee model and deeper native B2B/catalog structure suit some stores; Shopify's app ecosystem and ecosystem maturity suit others. The honest answer depends on your non-negotiables, which is why we evaluate it per client rather than defaulting to one platform.
Do I still need an SEO strategy if BigCommerce has SEO features? Yes. The platform removes technical obstacles — it does not earn rankings. Content, authority, and ongoing optimization still do the actual work; good built-in controls just make that work easier to execute.
Can BigCommerce handle a large or complex catalog? Generally well — its flexible product and category structure is one of its stronger points for stores with many variants or B2B pricing. Validate your specific catalog edge cases during evaluation rather than assuming.
As a BigCommerce partner we help merchants make this decision objectively. See our BigCommerce services or contact us to pressure-test the platform against your requirements.