Is WooCommerce the Ideal Option Exploring WooCommerce’s Features, Pricing, Security, and More (Versus BigCommerce for WordPress)

Since its inception in 2003, WordPress has evolved from a relatively unknown content management platform to the backbone of 33% of websites as of 2019. This percentage encompasses sites not utilizing any CMS at all. Among websites employing CMS, WordPress boasts an impressive 61% market share.

WordPress’s meteoric rise can be attributed to several factors. The platform offers extensive versatility, catering to both beginners with its user-friendly interface and seasoned developers with its open-source nature, allowing for intricate site development. It excels in search engine optimization, supports diverse media formats, facilitates customization through themes and plugins, and notably, comes at no cost.

As businesses increasingly adopt WordPress for their online ventures, many have turned to WooCommerce to power their ecommerce functionalities. WooCommerce, an open-source ecommerce plugin for WordPress, now commands a substantial 23% market share among ecommerce platforms in the top 1 million websites by traffic, as per data from BuiltWith.

For businesses that have already established an aesthetically pleasing website and enriched customer experience on WordPress, leveraging WooCommerce for ecommerce integration seems logical. After all, why undergo a site overhaul when WooCommerce offers a seamless plugin solution tailored to WordPress?

However, despite WooCommerce’s convenience in adding ecommerce capabilities to WordPress sites, alternative options exist. BigCommerce, for instance, offers a WordPress plugin that furnishes similar functionalities with enhanced scalability, flexibility, and reduced dependency on additional plugins.

In this comprehensive analysis, we’ll delve into a comparative examination of the BigCommerce for WordPress plugin versus the WooCommerce plugin to ascertain which serves as the superior ecommerce solution across various scenarios.

Scalability with WooCommerce:

While WooCommerce is a popular choice for new or small businesses seeking to integrate ecommerce seamlessly into their existing WordPress sites, challenges may arise as these businesses expand.

As businesses grow, they may encounter difficulties in scaling their operations. Although additional plugins can be employed to attain essential ecommerce functionalities, these augmentations often result in slower frontend experiences. Moreover, they can impede the efficiency of the admin area, leading to prolonged load times for order pages and increased complexity in simple tasks like blog post editing, as both the storefront and backend system draw from the same resources. Managing traffic and handling checkout spikes becomes increasingly challenging as the business grows, with more customers and products.

In contrast, the BigCommerce for WordPress plugin offers a headless solution by separating the backend commerce functionalities from the frontend presentation layer (WordPress). This approach allows all commerce-related operations to be powered by BigCommerce, thereby freeing the WordPress site to focus on its core strength: efficiently managing content in a visually appealing manner.

Plugin Complexity:

Both the WooCommerce and BigCommerce for WordPress plugins seamlessly integrate with the WordPress CMS, offering users a straightforward setup process. WooCommerce, backed by Automattic, a reputable name in the WordPress community, ensures consistent maintenance and support. Similarly, the BigCommerce for WordPress plugin benefited from collaboration with the prominent WordPress agency, Modern Tribe.

Travis Totz, Director of New Projects at Modern Tribe, emphasizes the significance of BigCommerce’s commitment to open Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) in the development process: “The BigCommerce commitment to open SaaS was a big driver in our decision to take on the project. The free integration lives within and is supported through the WordPress.org plugin directory. BigCommerce does the development the WordPress way and supports the WordPress way as well.”

A key distinction between the two plugins lies in the backend ecommerce functionality they offer. BigCommerce for WordPress serves as a bridge between the flexibility and adaptability of the WordPress platform and the robust commerce engine provided by BigCommerce.

WooCommerce, being open source, provides extensive customization options, but this also entails greater user involvement. In contrast, BigCommerce operates as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform. With SaaS handling commerce operations, BigCommerce automatically updates the platform and ensures compatibility with WordPress. While users still need to perform necessary updates to WordPress, the management burden is significantly reduced compared to WooCommerce, where multiple plugins require maintenance and updates.

Security:

Security is paramount for ecommerce sites, given the sensitive nature of the data they handle, including customer financial information. A security breach can incur significant costs for a company, not only in terms of financial losses but also due to the damage to the brand’s reputation and loss of customer trust. According to Juniper Research, the average projected cost of a security breach for 2020 was $150 million.

Given the criticality of security, the question arises: how much responsibility are you willing to shoulder personally, and how much do you prefer to entrust to your ecommerce platform?

WooCommerce, being a free and open-source solution, places the onus on you. While manageable with a dedicated team, it requires vigilance in adhering to security best practices. This includes regularly updating patches for known vulnerabilities, implementing SSL certificates (incurring monthly costs), integrating WordPress security plugins (with varying costs), and maintaining multiple website backups. Implementing security measures like these can significantly bolster the security of your WooCommerce site and mitigate risks of attacks and data breaches.

For businesses lacking the necessary expertise or resources to handle ecommerce security internally, or those preferring to allocate their resources elsewhere, BigCommerce emerges as an attractive alternative. Data security is central to BigCommerce’s approach. With BigCommerce for WordPress, customer and order data are not stored on the web server. Even in the event of a WordPress breach, the data remains secure. Furthermore, the BigCommerce platform holds ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certification and PCI DSS 3.2, Level 1 certification, underscoring its commitment to robust security standards. By leveraging BigCommerce, business owners can alleviate concerns about security and performance, allowing them to focus on innovation and business growth.

Unveiling the True Costs of WooCommerce

WooCommerce often emerges as the primary choice for new or small businesses seeking to monetize their existing WordPress sites. With familiarity in WordPress usage and its versatility in content delivery, coupled with WooCommerce’s enticing feature of being free, it seems like an ideal solution. But are there hidden costs lurking beneath the surface?

While the WooCommerce plugin itself is indeed free, it’s crucial to recognize the additional expenses necessary for establishing a fully functional ecommerce site. Expect to allocate funds for web hosting and the extensions required to operate your online store efficiently. The extent of these costs will vary depending on your business needs and the complexity of features your site demands.

Moreover, WooCommerce does not manage payment processing on its own. Therefore, you’ll need to integrate your store with a payment gateway compatible with WooCommerce. These add-ons may be available for free or at a monthly cost, often accompanied by transaction fees.

WooCommerce offers a built-in shipping service that seamlessly connects with USPS and Canada Post. However, for broader carrier options, you’ll need to individually integrate them. Integrating carriers like UPS and FedEx typically incurs additional costs ranging from $79 to $199 each, while adding tracking numbers can add another $49 to your expenses. In contrast, these services and features are readily available out of the box with BigCommerce.

Beyond shipping, consider the various features you require that contribute to the total cost of ownership with WooCommerce. This includes add-ons for marketing features, SEO capabilities, special pricing rules and discounts, as well as cart management, Omni channel, and POS integration. The costs of these add-ons can vary from free to $300 a month. It’s essential to tally up all these expenses to grasp the complete cost of owning and operating your WooCommerce site.

If you possess ample experience with WordPress, you may opt to design and develop your WooCommerce site independently. However, if not, you’ll need to budget for developer and designer costs to tailor your site to your specific requirements. Similar design and development costs would apply to perfecting your BigCommerce for WordPress site as well.

Comparing WordPress Plugins with BigCommerce Native Functionality:

As previously discussed, WooCommerce offers a plethora of plugins aimed at expanding your store’s functionality and providing similar features to those available with BigCommerce out of the box.

With WooCommerce, you have access to various extensions available at different price points. These extensions enable you to augment your site with features for inventory management, product marketing, promotional campaigns, discount offerings, and more.

Let’s delve into some essential features you might require and how you can attain them through WooCommerce or BigCommerce for WordPress.

Customer Support

Considering the number of plugins required to achieve the same level of functionality, price isn’t the only concern. Managing multiple plugins entails handling various integrations, versions, and updates, which can impact efficiency.

The level of customer support provided by a platform can significantly influence your decision. Would you prefer a do-it-yourself approach, or do you value direct access to assistance when encountering issues?

WooCommerce Customer Support:

The free version of the WooCommerce plugin doesn’t include dedicated support. However, users can obtain support by purchasing add-ons from WooCommerce.com. Additionally, users can seek answers to their queries in WordPress and WooCommerce community forums.

BigCommerce Customer Support:

BigCommerce stands out with its reliable 24/7 customer support, accessible via phone or chat. The platform also offers a comprehensive library of resources, including videos, articles, and community groups, to assist users in getting started and exploring the platform’s extensive capabilities.

BigCommerce Partner Program

When it comes to support, no ecommerce platform operates in isolation, highlighting the significance of a robust support network for various integrations. While WooCommerce currently isn’t actively seeking new integration partners, they do offer a range of extensions and add-ons.

Ensuring your ecommerce platform aligns with your existing network of systems is crucial. If your business relies on an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) or Product Information Management (PIM) system, integration compatibility becomes paramount. For instance, if you utilize NetSuite as your ERP, you’ll require a connector. While third-party plugins are available, WooCommerce does not vet them. Thus, the responsibility of securely connecting all operational components falls on the user to find a suitable plugin.

BigCommerce offers a curated selection of apps and plugins, both free and for purchase, designed to facilitate seamless system connections. This includes integrations for ERP systems such as NetSuite, Brightpearl, Acumatica, and others. All apps and plugins undergo rigorous testing and vetting by BigCommerce to ensure reliability and performance.

Moreover, BigCommerce is deeply committed to identifying and collaborating with top-tier ecommerce designers, developers, and marketers worldwide to drive innovation and success for brands. With a network of over 4,000 agency partners and more than 600 technology partners, brands have access to a diverse pool of experts dedicated to maximizing the potential of their ecommerce stores.

Through the BigCommerce Partner Program, agencies have the opportunity to offer clients an exceptional solution by partnering with a leading SaaS platform that seamlessly integrates with WordPress sites. This synergy enables agencies to deliver enhanced value and flexibility to their clients’ ecommerce endeavors.

Frequently Asked Questions about WooCommerce

Conclusion:

WordPress remains a dominant force in website development for its ability to create visually stunning sites that effectively convey brand identity, engage audiences, and deliver diverse content experiences. With a vast community of skilled professionals, WordPress offers unparalleled support and customization options, elevating websites to new heights.

Similarly, WooCommerce enjoys widespread popularity, particularly among small and medium-sized businesses venturing into ecommerce. Its affordability and seamless integration with existing WordPress sites make it an attractive choice for startups seeking basic ecommerce functionality.

However, as businesses expand, they may find WooCommerce’s capabilities limiting. In such cases, the unrestricted scalability, robust security features, and comprehensive suite of ecommerce tools offered by BigCommerce present an ideal solution. Through the BigCommerce for WordPress plugin, businesses can seamlessly transition to a platform that meets their growing needs while retaining the aesthetic appeal and functionality of their WordPress sites.