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“There’s an app for that.”
Remember that old Apple campaign?
WordPress is the same way with plugins. There’s a plugin for that!
Every feature you could ever want for your site can be added quickly (and often for free) with a new plugin.
And eCommerce is no different.
If you’ve been using WordPress for any time then you’ve probably heard of WooCommerce. It’s the most popular eCommerce plugin for WordPress.
But here’s the thing…
eCommerce is complex. Order management, payment processing, customer analytics, etc. This is a lot to ask for from a plugin.
While WordPress is certainly great for managing and publishing content, it might not be the best place to manage an eCommerce store too.
That’s where BigCommerce comes in.
The eCommerce platform behind your site
Let’s start with the basics.
BigCommerce is an eCommerce platform. You can use it to create your own eCommerce store from scratch. This includes building a branded store optimized for mobile devices, and a dashboard for managing your orders, products, and customers.
That’s all great, but if you’ve already got an awesome eCommerce WordPress theme installed on your site, you probably aren’t too interested.
Here’s why that may be changing and why I’m writing this post today…
Combine content with commerce
In the past, BigCommerce has been a WordPress competitor, but with the new BigCommerce for WordPress plugin, it may be its best new companion.
The plugin created by BigCommerce lets you synchronize all of your eCommerce data between the two platforms. It’s basically a link between BigCommerce and WordPress.
This means you can continue to manage your website and all of its content with WordPress. However, the orders, products, and customers can be managed via BigCommerce.
There are a few major benefits to managing the eCommerce back-end with BigCommerce.
First, you get a reliable platform that won’t be affected by bad updates from other plugins on your site.
Next, the checkout experience is hosted by BigCommerce giving you a seamless and PCI compliant transaction process.
Third, you have access to massive scalability with complex product catalogs and large order volumes.
There’s a more complete list of practical and profit-building features listed here.
This video also outlines how BigCommerce and WordPress work together in more detail.
Try it out
As a theme developer and long-time WordPress user, I’ve always recommended WP over other platforms. And that’s not changing!
In this case, BigCommerce has created a very clever way of providing premium eCommerce tools without disrupting WordPress where it works best.
The concept of managing your store and content separately is a great idea and should prove as a capable system for scaling a growing eCommerce shop.
If you want to try out BigCommerce for your site, you can signup for a free trial here and explore the platform.
What do you think of this new integration? Are you satisfied with your current eCommerce plugin? Let us know in the comments section below.
