eCommerce Pricing
Approximately 51% of people think stormy weather affects cloud computing. We are preparing to weather the storm of choosing the right platform or service for your eCommerce business. We are also asking how much does each eCommerce platform cost and what are the features included. Ultimately, the decision of what eCommerce platform to use and what the advantages are of each one has to be decided by you. Every business is different and it can be nearly impossible to figure out which route to take but we are here to help in your eCommerce needs.
BigCommerce
BigCommerce pricing is based on two key factors: Revenue and the average number of orders you process a month. BigCommerce is an example of Software as a Service (SaaS). The biggest advantage of using a SaaS such as BigCommerce is the smoothness and reliability with minimal input from the user. Alternatively, a platform as a service or (PaaS) like Magento lacks the user-friendliness and ability to update seamlessly. Tony Hou – a writer for BigCommerce – has a great blog worth the read on the differences between Platform as a Service (PaaS) and SaaS.
Other key features that BigCommerce users enjoy are dynamic page building, channel manager, and detailed abandoned cart recovery out of the box. Other features like B2B pricing and product bundling come with BigCommerce but require a bit of configuration. BigCommerce focuses on bringing a clean experience for your user, easy to navigate back-end and focused marketing efforts built-in.
BigCommerce Enterprise pricing includes many features to help your business succeed in the eCommerce marketplace. The pricing plan for BigCommerce Enterprise which starts at $12,000/year, includes unlimited API calls, unlimited bandwidth, single-page checkout which are a necessity in today’s market and specific product price groups at the SKU level. Specific pricing means you can break your customers into specific groups and discount the products according to their group. This feature is great for wholesale and consumer sites.
BigCommerce Enterprise also boasts comprehensive conversion tools. What this means for you, the business owner, is converting browsers into buyers. BigCommerce Enterprise features an abandoned cart saver which will send an email out to your customers with products left in their cart. Along with the robust built-in abandoned cart recovery comes a very detailed abandoned cart recover analytics. This tool helps you leverage your customers and track your conversion efforts.
A lot of traffic is good, but a lot of converting traffic is better.
BigCommerce Enterprise is designed for larger companies with over $450k in sales a year. BigCommerce Enterprise is great for companies that don’t want to input a lot of time into their eCommerce site but still want high customer support and the ability to handle high volumes of traffic. The BigCommerce Enterprise plan starts at $12,000 annually but is based on revenue and traffic. We recommend viewing their pricing breakdown to grasp which tier is best for you.
Shopify Plus
Shopify Plus is arguably one of the easier eCommerce platforms to use and start. Shopify is also a SaaS making running your store easy but complicated to customize. The ease of access and set-up seem to hinder the scalability to a certain degree and make the customization for a user experience more difficult. However, with the most advanced Shopify plan, called Shopify Plus comes in at $24,000/year. The best feature of Shopify is that your monthly price is fixed and won’t change the more successful you are.
Shopify Plus pricing plan includes features such as gift cards, professional support, and analytical tools. The biggest advantage Shopify plus has over the lower tiers of Shopify is the third-party calculated shipping rates.
56% of online shoppers leave a website without paying because they are presented with unexpected costs. Shoppers feel that transparency and honesty are lost when shipping costs are uncalculated or unmentioned. Shopify plus looks to remedy this with its third-party calculated shipping rates. (To see more reasons why people aren’t buying from your shop head over to WebAlive)
Out of the box, Shopify needs apps that you will have to pay for and download to manage seamlessly. Some of these apps are free but some are paid for. This is important when you look into the Shopify plus price point. This is where Shopify is a bit different out of the box from Magento or BigCommerce. There are plenty of apps that will help you succeed when using Shopify and John Hughes at codeinwp compiled a list of the 10 best apps to download after starting your Shopify. If you don’t have these downloaded I suggest going and taking a look to see how they can improve your experience.
Magento Commerce
Magento Commerce is different, very different. The main difference is the fact Magento Commerce is a PaaS. The ease of function has been swapped out for a fully customizable platform to create rich, engaging, and fluid shopping experiences for your customers. With Magento Commerce, you have the ability to sell online B2B, B2C, or D2C all in one platform.
Magento Commerce may not be for the businesses that don’t have the need to customize their store or host more than one domain with a central admin. Magento requires solid programming skills and an understanding of the platform to create the site you see in your dreams. Fortunately, there are professional Magento Development companies like NuEthic, that can save you time, money, and heartache.
Magento Commerce Cloud pricing will vary depending on your needs and the traffic you generate. Magento commerce cloud pricing starts at $30k annually but can go up depending on the development costs, the themes you choose and hosting options.
Magneto Commerce Cloud pricing includes features such as a content delivery network, advanced security and firewall options, automatic updates, and cloud access. Their performance tools include the SaaS Blackfire and the analytics company, New Relic.
Magento pricing varies greatly depending on the tier or plan you choose. Magento community is a free platform that requires all the coding to set up and maintain the site but does not include the added benefits of the Magento paid version. The Magento pricing plans are worth looking into over the Magento community if your budget allows for a more robust set of features right out of the box.
Conclusion
There are a number of eCommerce platforms and services out on the market. The difficulty lies in choosing the best one for your business to thrive in an environment that is saturated and growing more drenched by the day. The Magento pricing tiers allow for businesses to create a highly custom eCommerce experience that should allow for most budgets but is difficult to develop without the expertise of coding. The BigCommerce price plans allow users to create an eCommerce site with much less effort. Certain features still require some configuration for BigCommerce to be utilized properly. Shopify Plus has the benefit of not being based on revenue but does not include all the apps that may be needed for a smooth user interface.
The rewards of starting an eCommerce business are numerous but not without risk, no matter what platform you choose or are currently using. Although each platform and service has advantages and disadvantages, it will help to look into those who specialize in the development and maintenance of eCommerce sites. We constantly strive to improve your functionality and sales. We have recently partnered with smile.io and ShipperHQ to continue to offer the best customer experience on your site. No matter what your situation or business, if you are in eCommerce or wanting to make the leap, we can help! Contact us!