SHOPIFY PLUS VS ADOBE COMMERCE: KEY DIFFERENCES 2023

CS-Cart is a versatile eCommerce platform, available in both open-source and SaaS models. Established in 2005 under Simbirsk Technologies Ltd., it has garnered trust from medium-sized and large businesses. Its reputation is built on robust customization options, numerous features, and supplementary utilities within its ecosystem.

Listed below are brands that have built their CS-Cart eCommerce websites.

House of CB

House of CB is a leading women’s fashion brand in London, United Kingdom. Renowned for its meticulously crafted collections tailored for significant events, the brand was established by Conna Walker at the age of 17, backed by a £3,000 loan from her father. 

Faced with initial capital constraints, House of CB strategically leverages eCommerce to engage with its potential customers. Over time, the brand has graced the wardrobes of numerous Hollywood luminaries, including Beyonce, Gigi Hadid, Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, and the Kardashians.

• Website: https://www.houseofcb.com/ 
• Industry: Fashion
• Traffic: 1.8M/month (7/2023)
• Ranking: #28,116 (Worldwide), #12,982 (UK)

Maxbhi

Maxbhi is an eCommerce venture operated by Elcotek India Private Limited in India. The CS-Cart website is dedicated to offering a wide range of accessories for electronic devices, including mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and more, specifically within the Indian market. 

Launched in 2004 in Ghaziabad, India, this CS-Cart eCommerce website has grown to become one of the largest and most enduring online stores for phone accessories in the country.

• Website: http://maxbhi.com/ 
• Industry: Consumer electronics
• Traffic: 1.7M/month (7/2023)
• Ranking: #32,992 (Worldwide), #2,410 (India)

Harvey Norman

Harvey Norman is a leading retailer in New Zealand, offering a diverse range of products including computers, electronics, furniture, bedding, and household appliances from renowned global brands. 

This initiative is part of the franchise system operated by Harvey Norman Holdings Limited, a publicly listed company on the Australian Securities Exchange Limited. The company’s main activities encompass retail, franchise operations, real estate, and digital enterprises.

• Website: https://www.harveynorman.co.nz/ 
• Industry: Retail
• Traffic: 1.4M/month (7/2023)
• Ranking: #40,692 (Worldwide), #115 (New Zealand)

Enter

Enter stands out as one of Moldova’s major retailers in the consumer electronics sector. Boasting a network of 25 traditional stores across the country, Enter focuses on delivering a wide range of electronic devices, including mobile phones, tech accessories, home appliances, and more.

Moreover, Enter has established itself as a trusted authorized dealer for renowned brands such as Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi, Dyson, Lenovo, LG, and others. With future plans in mind, the company aims to further expand its brick-and-mortar stores and enhance its eCommerce website for an even more convenient shopping experience for customers

• Website: https://enter.online/ 
• Industry: Retail
• Traffic: 705.9K/month (7/2023)
• Ranking: #76,885 (Worldwide), #73 (Moldova)

Mobilier1

Mobilier1 is a Romanian CS-Cart eCommerce website specializing in the furniture industry.  With over a decade of experience, the company remains focused on manufacturing and selling furniture within the eCommerce market. Mobilier1 consistently earns praise for the high quality of its products and services, providing competitive pricing compared to other market players.

Furthermore, Mobilier1 offers additional services such as nationwide free delivery and a 365-day return policy, ensuring a seamless experience for its customers.

• Website: http://mobilier1.ro/ 
• Industry: Furniture
• Traffic: 365.5K/month (7/2023)
• Ranking: #142,635 (Worldwide), #726 (Romania)

Butor1

Butor1 is a Hungarian business specializing in the distribution of furniture and interior accessories. Over the past decade, the company has formed direct partnerships with renowned furniture manufacturers to offer customers products at reasonable prices.

Recently, Butor1 has taken a step further by combining CS-Cart eCommerce website operations with sustainable practices, pledging to plant a tree for each successfully placed order, demonstrating its commitment to environmental responsibility.

• Website: https://www.butor1.hu/ 
• Industry: Furniture
• Traffic: 340.0K/month (7/2023)
• Ranking: #140,320 (Worldwide), #733 (Hungary)

Siriust

Siriust is a CS-Cart eCommerce website under the umbrella of Profi, a leading retail chain in Russia. Specializing in tech accessories like smartphones, laptops, wireless devices, and repair tools, Siriust boasts a catalog of over 16,000 products.

With 50 physical stores in major Russian cities, the company has strategically introduced a CS-Cart website, enabling customers to conveniently make online purchases and pick up their orders from the nearest store.

• Website: http://siriust.ru/ 
• Industry: Consumer electronics
• Traffic: 318.4K/month (7/2023)
• Ranking: #151,245 (Worldwide), #7,774 (Russia)

Topsto

Topsto is an online store serving customers in both B2B and B2C sectors in the Crimea region, Ukraine. With an expansive product catalog comprising over 280,000 items, Topsto’s CS-Cart website gained favor among customers for its varied product range, affordable pricing, and swift delivery services across the Crimea region.

• Website: https://topsto-crimea.ru/ 
• Industry: Retail
• Traffic: 220.8K/month (7/2023)
• Ranking: #167,337 (Worldwide), #4,166 (Ukraine)

Ucuzkitapal

UcuzKitapal is a Turkish online book retail business with a loyal customer base of over 85,000. The store offers a vast collection of books covering diverse genres, including education, literature, economics, self-development, and more.

Through the early adoption of a CS-Cart eCommerce website, the business consistently satisfies book-buying needs with highly competitive prices, swift delivery, and attractive offers.

• Website: https://www.ucuzkitapal.com/ 
• Industry: Online book retail
• Traffic: 146.8K/month (7/2023)
• Ranking: #227,028 (Worldwide), #5,881 (Turkey)

Riviera Couleurs

Riviera Vaudoise is a paint and coating business established 40 years ago in the “Riviera Vaudoise” region in western Switzerland. Renowned for its picturesque landscapes, traditional villages, rose gardens, and idyllic lakeside views, the region provides an exquisite backdrop.

Over the years, Riviera Vaudoise has evolved into the premier destination for oil-based paints in the area, catering to diverse needs such as automotive, residential, and wood applications.

Currently, the company has built its CS-Cart website to extend its business footprint into the realm of eCommerce, aiming to connect with a broader audience of potential customers throughout Switzerland.

• Website: https://www.magasindepeinture.ch/ 
• Industry: paint and coating
• Traffic: 41.1K/month (7/2023)
• Ranking: #1,367,213 (Worldwide), #272,883 (Switzerland)

Here are 10 CS-Cart eCommerce websites that have not only successfully developed their online presence but have also achieved notable success in their respective industries. This triumph serves as inspiration for other businesses looking for effective solutions to elevate their operations and enhance competitiveness in the market.

Drawing on substantial experience in implementing eCommerce solutions for clients across diverse countries, SECOMM comprehends the challenges and hurdles businesses encounter during the deployment process.

Contact SECOMM today or call the hotline at 02871089908 for a free consultation.

The first step in the strategy for building and developing an eCommerce website, a crucial consideration for business owners in various sectors, is selecting an eCommerce platform that aligns with their business requirements.

The Baby eCommerce industry is no exception to this rule. So, what is the ideal choice? The following article outlines and clarifies the pros and cons of the top five eCommerce platforms for the development of Baby eCommerce websites.

Magento

Magento (now owned by Adobe), is an open-source eCommerce platform that grants businesses full authority to develop and manage their eCommerce websites.

For large enterprises in the Baby eCommerce industry with complex requirements for building and developing eCommerce websites, Magento’s high degree of customization and scalability, along with its wealth of outstanding features and extensions, can effectively cater to their needs. However, to fully leverage Magento’s capabilities, businesses should invest in both a specific budget and a requisite level of technical expertise.

Currently, Magento offers two primary versions:

• Magento Open Source: a free version
• Adobe Commerce: a paid version with two options, on-premise and on-cloud.

Key Features:

• Multi-brand solution: Supports multiple languages, currencies, and stores for various business models (B2B, B2C, B2B2C, D2C).
• MSI – Multi-source inventory: Enables the shipment of a single order with multiple products from different warehouses while ensuring delivery times.
• Headless eCommerce: Utilizes the separation between Frontend and Backend for easy customization and website development.
• B2B feature: Provides support for B2B customers, including category sharing, creating business accounts, quick ordering, and customer group creation.
• PWA – Progressive Web App: A mobile application built on web technology, easily discoverable and downloadable from a web browser.

Pros:

• Feature-rich system from basic to advanced, tailored to specific industry needs.
• High customization and scalability compared to SaaS platforms.
• No limits on sales volume.
• Wide range of extensions.
• High security.

Cons: 

• High implementation costs.
• Lengthy implementation time, ranging from 6 months to 1 year.
• Requires a certain level of technical expertise and understanding of Magento.

Pricing:

Brands built their Baby eCommerce websites on Magento including Kids Plaza VN, Bibo Mart, Children Salon, Mothercare VN, Aden+Anais, Hornby, v.v 

Salesforce Commerce Cloud (SFCC)

Salesforce Commerce Cloud (SFCC) is a cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) solution that helps businesses build their eCommerce websites. This platform enables businesses to integrate all their sales channels, delivering a seamless shopping experience for customers.

SFCC offers two key solutions:

• Salesforce B2C Commerce Cloud: A solution for building websites and enhancing the overall shopping experience for retail customers.
• Salesforce B2B Commerce Cloud: A solution for building websites and providing a shopping experience for customers engaging in large-volume transactions.

Key Features:

• AI Einstein: Offers personalized search and product recommendations with Einstein Product/Search Recommendations. Provides personalized experiences across all channels with Einstein Recommendations API. Gathers customer insights to boost revenue with Einstein Commerce Insights.
• Headless Commerce: Build headless e-commerce websites and enhance user experiences using SFCC’s Open Commerce API or any developer’s preferred APIs.
• Marketing & Merchandising: Supports design, scheduling, and automated marketing campaigns, optimize SEO to increase traffic, and manages multi-store, multi-language, and multi-currency capabilities from a centralized dashboard.
• Omnichannel: Enables multi-channel sales and provides a consistent customer experience.
• Localization: Allows businesses to create multiple separate websites with different languages, currencies, and strategies for specific target markets.

Pros:

• User-friendly interface.
• Strong support from AI tools during implementation.
• Diverse tools and features.
• Automation of order processing and promotional campaigns.
• Exceptional analytics and reporting capabilities to capture customer insights.
• High security.
• 24/7 customer support service.

Cons:

• The license fee is not publicly disclosed, making it challenging to estimate exact expenses.
• Limited seamless integration with third parties.
• Limited customization and scalability. For high customization needs, businesses may incur additional costs.
• Being a SaaS platform, it carries inherent risks from the provider, and data access limitations cannot be entirely avoided.

Pricing

For Salesforce B2C Commerce Cloud, businesses are offered three solution packages: Starter, Growth, and Plus, and they need to contact Salesforce for specific consultations and pricing.

For Salesforce B2B Commerce Cloud, businesses should get in touch with Salesforce for specific price levels and implementation details.

The cost of developing an eCommerce website using the SFCC platform can range from $2,000 to $500,000, depending on each business’s requirements.

Some Baby brands that have developed eCommerce websites on the Salesforce Commerce Cloud platform include Carter’s, Hanna Andersson, OshKosh B’gosh, Chicco, Crayola, Toys “R” Us, Melissa & Doug, and more.

Shopify

Shopify is a SaaS platform known for its diverse features and themes that cater to businesses of various industries and scales, facilitating the rapid and effective development of eCommerce websites.

Shopify offers three standard solution packages (Basic, Shopify, Advanced), tailored for small and medium-sized businesses. Meanwhile, the Shopify Plus solution is aimed at medium to large businesses with elevated development and customization requirements.

Key Features:

• Shopify POS: This feature is available in all solution packages and allows seamless integration of point-of-sale from online to offline, supporting order and inventory management across retail locations, online stores, and other active sales channels.
• eCommerce automation: Automates marketing processes and order execution. Available in the Shopify and Advanced packages, while Shopify Plus businesses have Shopify Flow and LaunchPad.
• Shopify Hydrogen: Allows Shopify Plus and standard Shopify businesses to build custom storefronts using the React-based Hydrogen framework, which can then be directly integrated with the Oxygen in-house hosting. This is Shopify’s new solution for businesses building and developing Headless websites.
• Abandoned cart recovery: Automatically sends email with discount codes to customers in cases of cart abandonment during the checkout process, leaving the website with products in the cart but unpaid, or viewing products without adding them to the cart.
• International commerce: Supports multiple languages, multiple stores, and multiple currencies. However, tax calculation at checkout is only available for the Advanced and Shopify Plus packages.

Pros:

• User-friendly interface.
• Reasonable initial costs.
• Diverse integrated apps and themes.
• 24/7 customer support service.
• Support both online and offline sales.
• High security.
• Ideal platform for opening dropshipping stores. Some Baby dropship stores using Shopify include Posh Peanut, Baby Boxco, Happiest Baby, and more.

Cons:

• Costs increase over time.
• Limited customization and scalability when compared to open-source platforms.
• Limited blogging features and content management capabilities.
• Restrictions on free themes.
• Risks associated with the provider and data access limitations.

Pricing

Shopify serves as the choice not only for Baby dropshipping stores but also for numerous well-known Baby brands that have used this platform to build their eCommerce websites, including HATCH Collection, Motherhood Maternity, 4moms, Maclaren, Manhattan Toy, Tegu, and many others.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce is another platform worth considering for Baby eCommerce businesses due to its ease of use and its ability to cater to the eCommerce website-building requirements of businesses across various scales and industries.

Furthermore, BigCommerce is recognized as a SaaS platform that includes a wide array of features within its solution packages (Standard, Plus, Pro, Enterprise) aimed at fostering eCommerce growth.

Key Features:

• Built-in blog: Enhances SEO rankings and provides an engaging content experience through a blog.
• Professional reporting tool: Offers professional analytics and reporting tools that help businesses evaluate operational performance for informed adjustments.
• Real-time shipping quotes: Provides real-time, accurate shipping cost estimates from various carriers.
• Google customer reviews: Allows businesses to collect and display customer reviews on Google from those who have purchased their products.
• BigCommerce mobile app: Monitor performance, track and update orders, and manage customer journeys with the BigCommerce mobile app. The app is available for direct download from the App Store or Google Play.

Pros:

• User-friendly interface.
• Richly integrated features.
• Diverse solution packages with reasonable usage costs.
• Offers 65 popular worldwide payment solutions with integrated transactions fee-free.
• A variety of themes and extensions tailored for the Baby industry.
• High security.

Cons:

• Sales volume limits.
• Increasing implementation costs over time.
• Limited customization capabilities.
• Provider risks and data access limitations.

Pricing

Brands built their eCommerce websites with BigCommerce: Le Petit Kids, Scentos, Nature’s One, Kids Furniture Warehouse, See Kai Run, Feltman Brothers, v.v

Shift4Shop

Shift4Shop is a SaaS eCommerce platform that equips businesses with the essential tools and features to build and customize eCommerce websites. It presents a range of free and premium themes suitable for marketing Maternity and baby products.

Shift4Shop provides three paid plans (Basic, Plus, Pro) and one free plan, subject to a minimum monthly revenue of $500, designed for U.S. sellers under the End-to-End category.

Key Features:

• Built-in tools: Integrated tools for blogging, SEO optimization, social media integration, etc., aid businesses in enhancing the effectiveness of their marketing strategies.
• RMA system: This feature simplifies the product return and refund process.
• Shopping cart: Allows customers to quickly view and customize their shopping carts. Customers can also choose one-page or three-page checkout options.

Pros:

• User-friendly interface
• Various integrated features
• Reasonable initial cost
• No transaction fees
• 24/7 technical support service

Cons:

• Limited customization and expansion capabilities
• Increasing deployment costs over time, even for the End-to-End package
• Volume limits for paid plans
• Limited and basic selection of free themes
• Vendor risks and data access concerns

Pricing

Brands built their Baby eCommerce website with Shift4Shop: eLeMeNO-Pee, Sugar Babies, Nicki’s Diapers, Enfant Style, Ideal Baby & Kids, v.v

The above are the top 5 platforms that have been preferred by the majority of Baby businesses for establishing their eCommerce websites. 

After years of eCommerce implementation across various countries, SECOMM has accumulated invaluable insights to expedite the process of website development and growth for Baby businesses.

Get in touch or directly call SECOMM‘s hotline at (02871089908) for immediate guidance on platform selection and eCommerce implementation today

As reported by Digital Commerce 360, global consumers have collectively expended more than $3.25 trillion on famous eCommerce marketplaces such as Amazon, Ebay, and Alibaba. This indicates the increasing significance of online marketplaces in customer shopping experiences. 

Therefore, many businesses have promptly devised strategies to enter the race for market share in eCommerce landscape. To achieve this goal, businesses must first develop their own marketplaces. The initial but crucial step in this process is selecting the ideal platform.

The following article focuses on introducing this platform as a recommendation for large businesses among countless optimal choices out there. 

What is Marketplacer?

Marketplacer is a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform hosted on AWS, providing businesses with essential tools and features for building professional and highly adaptable eCommerce marketplaces capable of rapid scalability and swift page loading.

This platform streamlines the management and administration of eCommerce marketplaces. It simplifies tasks like order fulfillment, product category adjustments, third-party extension integration, cross-marketplace operational synchronization, and the implementation of strategies for revenue optimization.

To date, this platform has successfully established and expanded over 100 eCommerce marketplaces, forging connections with more than 13,000 sellers spanning the globe.

How Marketplacer works?

The Operator portal

This platform offers businesses a Marketplace-wide API based on GraphQL API, allowing them to:

• Build a headless frontend or seamless integration with existing eCommerce systems.
• Access and manage all data on the online marketplace via the Operator Portal, which includes:
  • Manage Sellers
  • Manage Seller payouts and billings
  • Product category management
  • Order management
  • Delivery management
  • Content management
  • Custom reporting

Furthermore, Marketplacer provides businesses with access to Webhooks, enabling them to receive notifications from the Marketplacer platform for any changes or updates during their operations.

The Seller portal

This platform provides sellers on the marketplace with Seller API based on V2 (REST) API to

• Automate their sales processes on the marketplace
• Access and manage various aspects of their seller data through the Seller Portal, including:
  • Product management
  • Sales & Marketing management 
  • Order management
  • Inventory management
  • Analysis & reporting

Similar to how businesses operate their business on the marketplace, sellers also have access to webhooks for receiving notifications regarding changes throughout their selling journey.

Marketplacer implementation models

This platform offers two implementation models, allowing businesses to tailor the development of their online marketplace to align with their specific goals.

Headless

The Headless model empowers businesses to utilize their tailor-made frontend, commonly known as the “head,” which represents the user interface. This frontend is integrated with Marketplacer’s fundamental backend through APIs to execute the marketplace. 

Therefore, opting for the Headless model is ideal for businesses seeking extensive control over the user experience while leveraging Marketplacer’s core technology to foster eCommerce growth.

Connected

In the Connected model, businesses can efficiently integrate a pre-built eCommerce system into Marketplacer’s backend, avoiding the need for an extensive time and financial resources to build from scratch. This integration allows businesses to maintain the full functionality of the pre-existing system while benefiting from this platform’s advanced infrastructure for seamless marketplace deployment.

It’s worth noting that Marketplacer currently offers pre-built connectors exclusively for three prominent platforms: Adobe Commerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, and commercetools. As a result, the Connected model is best suited for businesses utilizing one of these three platforms to facilitate their eCommerce.

Pros of Marketplacer

Ease of use

This platform offers a user-friendly interface and intuitive tools, making it simple for businesses to build and manage their online marketplace. 

Flexibility & Scalability

This platform is tailored to suit online marketplaces of diverse sizes. The platform boasts excellent scalability and remarkable flexibility, empowering businesses to manage an ever-increasing volume of sellers, customers, and listing products. This facilitates seamless expansion of operations as needed.

Integrations

Businesses can easily discover well-known applications and extensions within Marketplacer’s growing collection of available integrations. Some noteworthy integrations include popular social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, as well as payment gateways such as PayPal, Zooz, Yotpo, and advertising management tools like Fuze, Firstpage, and Citrus Ad.

Marketplacer Connected Integration

Marketplacer’s success is attributed to its ‘Connected’ technology, enabling businesses to deploy their marketplaces with two versatile options: crafting a tailored frontend or integrating seamlessly with existing systems.

Also, businesses can effortlessly blend third-party products into their current inventory, broadening their product range and portfolio with minimal investment and mitigating product lifecycle management tasks. This model is known as the Hybrid Marketplace and has been successfully adopted by enterprises like Amazon, Walmart, and others.

Cons of Marketplacer

Costs

The license fee isn’t publicly available and businesses are required to reach out to the Marketplacer team for a personalized consultation and cost estimates. Furthermore, the platform doesn’t offer a trial version, which may pose challenges for businesses when planning their implementation budget.

Require technical skills

While this platform offers a user-friendly interface, it may pose challenges for users who are not familiar with building and operating an eCommerce marketplace. Therefore, the implementation process will require businesses to have technical expertise, or they can seek specialized assistance to efficiently build and optimize the platform.

Limited customization

Despite its flexibility and high degree of customization, Marketplacer’s ability to meet the highly complex deployment needs of large-scale eCommerce systems may pose challenges.

Support 

This platform provides 24/7 support services and offers learning resources, but there is room for improvement in the quality and responsiveness of their support. Plus, as an Australian-based company primarily serving the Australian market, some of their terminology might be less clear to international customers.

To successfully build and operate a thriving eCommerce marketplace, the first thing businesses need to do is choose a platform. This platform is one of the standout platforms that businesses should consider.

Feel free to contact or call SECOMM’s hotline at (028) 7108 9908 for free consultations.

BigCommerce and Magento are trusted names representing two types of eCommerce platforms: SaaS and Open Source. The demand for developing eCommerce websites on these platforms is increasing. However, deciding between the two is a complex task. 

This article aims to highlight the pros and cons of each and provide a thorough comparison, helping you as a business make informed decisions.

Overview

What is BigCommerce?

BigCommerce is a robust SaaS eCommerce platform, boasting an array of integrated features packaged to accommodate businesses of all scales and technical proficiencies. This platform facilitates the swift development of eCommerce websites. Beyond its inherent capabilities, BigCommerce extends a diverse suite of tools and extensions covering sales, marketing, SEO, data analytics, and transformation, empowering businesses to drive eCommerce growth. 

What is Magento?

Magento (now owned by Adobe) is an open-source eCommerce platform that empowers businesses with full control over developing and managing their eCommerce websites. Known for its high level of customization and scalability, Magento offers a wide range of advanced features and extensions, making it an ideal choice for meeting the complex requirements of large-scale enterprises with ample budgets and a certain level of technical expertise. Magento currently comes in two main versions:

• Magento Open Source: the free version
• Adobe Commerce: the paid version with two options, on-premise and on-cloud.

BigCommerce vs Magento: Pros and Cons

BigCommerce

Pros:

• User-friendly and easy-to-navigate interface
• Suitable for businesses of all sizes
• Comes with a rich set of integrated features
• Offers a variety of reasonable pricing plans
• Includes 65 popular global payment methods integrated with BigCommerce at no transaction cost
• Offers a diverse selection of themes and extensions

Cons:

• Sales volume restrictions apply
• Deployment costs tend to rise over time
• Customization options are limited

Magento

Pros:

• Ideal for large enterprises with complex customization needs and ample budgets
• High customization and scalability
• Diverse and advanced built-in features compared to SaaS platforms
• No sales volume limitations
• Wide range of available extensions

Cons:

• Requires a high level of technical expertise
• Lengthy deployment times
• high initial costs

BigCommerce vs Magento: Detailed Comparison

Ease of Use

Ease of use of a platform is one of the primary considerations for an eCommerce business when selecting one. A platform with an intuitive interface that is easy to set up and manage allows businesses to focus on their core operations.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce is a SaaS platform, making it more accessible for businesses that may not possess technical expertise or have a strong tech background in building eCommerce websites. It eliminates the need for complex programming; businesses simply need to provide basic information to gain access to the BigCommerce dashboard, where they can configure and manage all aspects of their online store, from product additions to layout modifications. 

What’s more, BigCommerce offers a user-friendly drag-and-drop page builder that empowers businesses to create a storefront without the necessity of coding skills. Moreover, themes and extensions can be swiftly integrated with just a few clicks. 

Magento

On the other hand, Magento users should have a certain level of technical expertise to execute tasks during the setup of an eCommerce website, including configuring FTP files and integrating themes into the Magento website, among other things. Tasks like modifying themes, integrating extensions, applying security patches, and optimizing speed require coding skills.

Therefore, many businesses opt to collaborate with Magento agencies to develop and maintain their Magento eCommerce websites. However, following the initial technical setup challenges, businesses can readily customize attributes and functionalities for their websites through the platform’s backend. 

Pricing

BigCommerce

Magento

Hosting

BigCommerce

Being a SaaS platform, BigCommerce offers support for various hosting-related issues, ensuring an impressive average uptime of 99.99%, quick page loading, and minimal website maintenance. 

Magento

• Magento Open Source: Businesses purchase hosting from specialized third-party providers who are responsible for infrastructure setup, security, and maintenance, allowing businesses to focus on core operations.
• Adobe Commerce on-premise: Businesses have complete control over configuring and managing their in-house hosting environment, offering customization options to meet specific needs.

Adobe Commerce on-cloud: Hosting for the business’s Magento eCommerce site is provided, configured, managed, and stored on virtual servers offered by cloud service providers (CSPs) like AWS and Microsoft Azure.

Features

SEO

SEO is a crucial feature that every eCommerce website needs and it’s an important factor for businesses to consider when assessing a platform. Both BigCommerce and Magento offer essential SEO optimization features, which include:

• Google site maps
• SEO-friendly URLs
• URL rewriting
• Meta descriptions
• 301 redirect handling
• Mobile compatibility

However, BigCommerce includes a built-in ‘blog’ feature in its solution packages, while Magento requires businesses to integrate a ‘blog’ extension to use this feature.

Plus, businesses can enhance their website’s SEO by using extensions available in the Magento and BigCommerce marketplaces. It’s worth noting that Magento offers a wider range of advanced SEO tools, although the cost of Magento extensions may be higher than those available for BigCommerce.

Multiple channels integration

With this feature, BigCommerce excels over Magento by pre-integrating the most prevalent sales channels like Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Facebook, and Instagram into all pricing plans. However, if businesses require integration with additional sales channels beyond these pre-set options, they can do so by utilizing apps from BigCommerce’s marketplace. 

On the other hand, Magento offers businesses the flexibility to implement multi-channel sales by integrating various desired sales channels into their eCommerce website, each with its own associated costs. Notably, Amazon integration can be done for free. 

Purchase flow

eCommerce businesses have to ensure a seamless, swift, and user-friendly customer buying journey, encompassing features like product search support and an effortless payment process. Both Magento and BigCommerce provide capabilities to facilitate online shopping, including

• Product filtering
• Product comparison
• Recently viewed items
• Wishlist
• One-page checkout
• Checkout as a member or visitor
• Real-time shipping rate calculation
• Multiple shipping addresses
• Order tracking via registered accounts
• Reordering

Payment options

BigCommerce provides businesses with 65 integrated payment gateways, including popular options like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Amazon Pay, all with no transaction fee.

In contrast, Magento offers only PayPal and Authorize.net for payments, requiring businesses to integrate third-party payment providers for more choices. Magento’s marketplace features over 450 payment-related extensions with various costs, but businesses will need time to select and integrate them. 

Themes & Extensions

Aside from features, themes, and extensions also contribute significantly to the growth of an eCommerce website. Therefore, this is another factor that businesses take into account when selecting a platform.

BigCommerce

The platform provides 266 themes with prices ranging from $195 to $395, including 12 free themes. Businesses can purchase BigCommerce themes on ThemeForest at prices ranging from about $16 to $179.

These designs are modern, suitable for various industries, and offer good responsiveness across multiple screen sizes, including smartphones, tablets, and desktops. However, when compared to other SaaS platforms like Wix or Squarespace, BigCommerce’s customization options and the quantity of both free and paid themes may appear relatively limited. Moreover, the exact count of free and paid themes might not be entirely precise, as some themes share very similar layouts, differing mainly in color schemes.

Magento

Unlike BigCommerce, Magento provides a limited selection of themes, with just 9 options available. Among these, only 3 themes are free, while the rest range in price from $150 to $499 each. If businesses opt to purchase Magento themes on ThemeForest, they can expect prices ranging from $39 to $299 per theme.

Moreover, businesses have the option to create custom interfaces tailored to their unique requirements by partnering with specialized providers, incurring costs typically ranging from $1000 to $5000. 

Regarding extensions, both BigCommerce and Magento offer extensive extension libraries to support businesses in growing their eCommerce stores. However, Magento has a slight edge in this regard.

Customization & Scalability

Customization involves the capacity to adjust any feature, theme, or integrated extensions to meet specific requirements for an eCommerce website. Scalability, on the other hand, refers to the ability to maintain platform performance as the eCommerce site expands. Therefore, these factors play a vital role in platform selection.

Customization

Magento operates as an open-source platform, giving developers full access to and control over the source code.

On the other hand, BigCommerce functions as a SaaS platform, restricting businesses from making backend modifications. While certain frontend interface adjustments are possible with a few code snippets, most modifications need to be done in the backend. Hence, BigCommerce’s customization is somewhat limited compared to Magento. 

Scalability

Both Magento and BigCommerce can handle large website traffic and sales volumes. However, Magento outperforms BigCommerce in this aspect, which is also why Magento doesn’t have sales volume limits. 

Meanwhile, BigCommerce imposes annual sales volume limits based on the pricing plan being used. When businesses reach the sales volume limit of their current pricing plan, they need to upgrade to a higher-tier plan.

• Standard: Up to $50k/year
• Plus: Up to $180K/year
• Pro: Up to $400K/year
• Enterprise: Custom 

Security

Both BigCommerce and Magento are prominent names in the eCommerce industry, trusted by numerous businesses for their security features. Nevertheless, when it comes to providing security-related assistance, these platforms exhibit notable differences.

As a SaaS platform, BigCommerce includes security support as an integral component of its solution packages. This encompasses SSL certificates, firewalls, backups, and intrusion detection. In case any complications arise during the eCommerce deployment process, businesses can readily access 24/7 customer support for swift assistance.

In contrast, due to Magento’s open-source nature, businesses bear the responsibility for managing the security aspects of their Magento eCommerce websites. This entails tasks such as overseeing SSL certificates, implementing two-factor authentication, and adhering to PCI compliance. Additionally, while Magento periodically releases security updates, the manual update process can pose challenges for users without technical expertise.

Magento’s support options also present limitations when compared to BigCommerce. Businesses can seek assistance during Magento’s specified operating hours or engage with third-party intermediaries, a potentially time-consuming and complex process.

Popularity

BigCommerce and Magento are both leading options for eCommerce businesses, but their levels of popularity differ somewhat.

According to BuiltWith, at the present time, there are 142,010 active websites using Magento, whereas there are only 44,796 active websites using BigCommerce.

Thus, when it comes to popularity, Magento has the upper hand.

Well-known brands such as Coca-Cola, Nike, and Tesla utilize Magento, while renowned brands like Skullcandy, LARQ, and Molton Brown opt for BigCommerce.

After many years of implementing eCommerce solutions for clients all around the world, using both the BigCommerce and Magento platforms, SECOMM has gained invaluable experience in helping businesses develop and operate their eCommerce websites quickly and efficiently.

Contact us or call SECOMM’s hotline directly at (02871089908) for a free consultation on implementing eCommerce websites with BigCommerce or Magento.

Recently, the trend of Headless CMS deployment has significantly influenced the eCommerce landscape. The emergence of diverse platforms offering various solutions, features, and top-notch customer support can be attributed to this phenomenon. 

Building upon Part 1, this article highlights 5 more Headless CMS platforms that numerous large enterprises leverage to enhance their seamless multi-channel content distribution process.

Kontent.ai

Kontent.ai is a cloud-based Headless CMS platform that helps marketers simplify their content creation and management while providing developers the capability to deliver responsive digital experiences across various devices.

The platform offers support for developers through a range of APIs, including REST, GraphQL, Management v2, and Custom Element JavaScript. Furthermore, Kontent.ai is compatible with programming languages such as JavaScript, .NET, PHP, Java, Ruby, and iOS. 

Key features

• Webhooks allow businesses to integrate Kontent.ai with other applications and automate operational processes. Also, Webhooks can be programmed to notify when any changes occur.
• Command-line interface (CLI) supports continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD process), enabling businesses to safely and regularly test and deploy necessary changes.
• Real-time collaboration optimizes content planning with clear task assignments and shared publishing schedules for easy team tracking.
• Simultaneous Editing allows multiple team members to easily edit content without worrying about affecting the work of others.
• Web Spotlight supports the creation of new webpages for upcoming marketing campaigns, adding content, rearranging page elements without the need for developer assistance, and providing content reusability across multiple channels and campaigns.

Pros

• Quick technical support
• Seamless integration with third-party services to optimize the content creation, publishing, distribution, and marketing processes.

Cons

• Limitations in user roles and sometimes encountering obstacles when installing plugins.
• The lack of publicly available pricing makes it challenging for businesses to estimate deployment costs.
• The admin UI interface only supports English, which can be difficult for users who use other languages.

Pricing

Kontent.ai offers three solution packages

• Developer: Free, provides features suitable for non-commercial projects.
• Scale: Custom pricing based on needs, offers a rich set of features for creating and distributing engaging content.
• Enterprise: Custom pricing based on needs, provides superior solutions for delivering and managing seamless digital experiences.

Contentstack

Contentstack stands out as a leading Headless CMS platform, facilitating seamless content distribution across multiple channels and devices, ranging from websites, and mobile apps to IoT devices. It offers robust support for popular frameworks like REACT, Vue.js, Angular, and a variety of programming languages such as JavaScript, PHP, Ruby, and Python, among others. Moreover, Contentstack allows businesses to integrate with various platforms, including BigCommerce, Commercetools, Shopify, YouTube, Vimeo, and more.

Key features

• Workflow & Live Preview optimizes and expedites the content creation, review, approval, and publishing process. Additionally, it enables businesses to easily preview real-time content changes across multiple channels before saving or publishing.
• Modular Blocks help instantly create and modify website or app components through simple drag-and-drop actions, without relying on developer assistance.
• Localization for creating and publishing content in 200 languages, meeting the seamless content distribution needs of a global audience.
• Contentstack AI Assistant helps businesses enhance their content creation experiences. Moreover, businesses can integrate Contentstack with other AI applications to provide VR and AR experiences.
• Headless APIs allow businesses to flexibly build interfaces and select APIs tailored to their content goals.

Pros

• Integrating with various platforms and programming languages, including iOS and Ruby.
• Rich learning resources and user-friendly instructional materials.
• Fast content creation, publishing, and distribution.
• 24/7 customer support with a ready-to-use chatbot.

Cons

• Non-disclosed pricing makes it challenging to estimate deployment costs.
• Occasional issues with the WYSIWYG editor.
• Complex to deploy compared to other Headless CMS options.

Pricing

Contentstack offers businesses three solution packages:

• Start: 10 users, 30 content types, 4 system roles.
• Grow: 10 users, 50 content types, 5 system roles.
• Scale: 10+ users, unlimited content types, and system roles.

dotCMS

dotCMS is an open-source Headless CMS based on Java, offering numerous solutions and features that enable businesses to create and reuse content for building personalized and seamless digital experiences across channels. dotCMS supports APIs like REST and GraphQL and can integrate with platforms such as HubSpot, Google Analytics, Salesforce, and more.

Key features

• Allows businesses to manage the process of creating and publishing multilingual content with localization support for publishing according to local time and predefined schedules.
• Provides full content, layout, and workflow control through APIs and JSON data strings.
• WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor allows businesses to create content with text processor-like formatting.
• Offers  APIs for real-time image resizing, cropping, and manipulation. Additionally, dotCMS supports image optimization for user devices, such as automatic resizing and image compression in WebP format.

Pros

• Allows businesses to customize content and integrate with other platforms.
• Provides abundant learning resources and technical support.
• Offers quick customer support with a chatbot.

Cons

• Many concepts and features may require businesses to invest time in learning.
• The platform occasionally encounters errors.

Pricing

dotCMS offers three solution packages for users to choose from:

• Open Source: Free, suitable for individuals with simple needs and self-hosting.
• Starter: $3,750/month, designed for small businesses.
• Enterprise: Custom pricing based on needs, suitable for medium to large enterprises with advanced features and superior support.

Butter CMS

Butter CMS is a Headless CMS platform that simplifies content development and management for businesses. The platform supports frameworks such as React, Vue.js, Node.js, Angular, and various programming languages like PHP, Python, Java, Swift, Kotlin, Ruby, and more.

Key features

• Developer Experience: Butter offers a variety of tech stacks for developers to deploy as needed. Developers also can configure Webhooks in their account settings to receive notifications for any content-related changes. Especially with One-click Migrations, businesses can easily create schemas or move content within the Butter CMS environment through the dashboard.
• Launch Content Faster: Butter provides features to help businesses easily manage Content Types on a centralized dashboard and build landing pages to drive organic or advertising-generated traffic. Moreover, Butter CMS’s Blog Engine offers a set of APIs for businesses to add a blog to their website and fully customize it based on their needs.
• Localization: Businesses can create and publish multilingual content. Furthermore, administrators have language-specific access to specific local markets, ensuring a unified collaboration process among global marketing teams.

Pros

• One of the best user-friendly platforms for developers and content marketers.
• Provides a headless CMS solution for various content needs, including e-commerce businesses, agencies, SaaS companies, e-commerce marketplaces, and enterprises managing multiple websites simultaneously.
• Excellent customization capabilities.
• Offers integration support for various frameworks, programming languages, and more.
• Provides a chatbot for customer inquiries.
• Offers a 30-day trial for businesses.

Cons

• Many features and concepts but lack instructional videos, leading to difficulty in understanding and application.
• Limited features for creating dynamic and interactive content.

Pricing

Butter CMS offers a variety of solution packages, including

• Micro: $83/month, suitable for freelancers implementing small projects for their clients.
• Startup: $166/month, designed for startups to quickly launch projects to the market.
• Small Business: $333/month, for growing businesses with expanding content needs and running global advertising campaigns.
• Enterprise + Agency: Custom pricing based on specific requirements.

Builder.io

Builder.io is a Headless CMS platform that allows businesses to visually build and optimize web and mobile experiences. The platform supports developers with frameworks like React, Vue.js, Gatsby, and Next.js. Additionally, businesses can integrate Builder.io with popular platforms such as Shopify, BigCommerce, Salesforce, Magento, Cloudinary, Yotpo, Commercetools, and more. 

Key features

• Integrate: Provides versatile and simultaneous integration capabilities. For example, it can integrate with Crowdin, Phrase, Smartling for content localization, BigCommerce, Shopify, Magento for eCommerce deployment, and Figma for design. Builder.io can even integrate with other CMS platforms like Contentstack, Contentful, and Kontent.ai.
• Compose: Utilizes drag-and-drop tasks to customize existing design systems. Builder.io offers blocks such as text, image, video, and forms to allow users to easily create custom experiences beyond the available default designs.
• Design: Offers responsive design capabilities, enabling users to customize content and layouts to suit various devices and create animations without the need for coding. Builder.io also supports integrating design layouts from Figma to streamline the design process.
• Collaborate: Easily customize system roles and permissions to enhance collaboration and real-time content creation tracking. Team members can initiate chat discussions, share ideas, and update work progress with each other.
• Optimize: Easily create multiple pages and different content for A/B testing without compromising website and app performance. It supports personalized content targeting. Furthermore, Builder.io provides analytics on click-through rates, conversions, and user interactions with published content. Businesses can also integrate data with other analysis systems like BI (Business Intelligence) and CDP (Customer Data Platform).

Pros

• A user-friendly platform suitable for both developers and non-technical users.
• Provides quick and seamless integration with various frameworks, programming languages, and more.
• Offers numerous options for businesses to optimize design and create content.
• Rich learning resources, including easy-to-understand video tutorials.
• Includes a chatbot for customer query resolution.

Cons

• Does not offer trial options for its solution packages.
• Being a relatively new platform, it may be challenging for businesses to find user experience reviews on forums.

Pricing

Builder.io offers a range of solution packages:

• Free: $0/month, for quick deployment.
• Basic: $99/month, includes all essential tools and features to get started.
• Growth: $449/month, encompasses all tools and features for optimization and growth.
• Enterprise: Custom pricing based on business needs.

So, SECOMM’s comprehensive overview of the top 10 Headless CMS platforms (P1+P2) has concluded, with the expectation that enterprises will find the platform that aligns with their development requirements. By adopting a Headless CMS, businesses can promptly establish an online presence and efficiently connect with numerous potential customers through compelling content distribution.

Feel free to get in touch with SECOMM or directly call our Hotline at (02871089908) for expert guidance and assistance in implementing a Headless CMS.

Today’s eCommerce consumers are no longer confined to a single channel or device for their shopping needs. They have a ton of options, including mobile apps and social media platforms. As a result, businesses are striving to establish a robust multi-channel presence to swiftly engage with their customers. One highly effective approach to achieving this goal is through the implementation of Headless Commerce. 

In recent years, investors have shown a significant interest in Headless Commerce platforms and associated solutions, recognizing their pivotal role in shaping the future of online commerce.

Forbes reports that between 2020 and 2021 alone, more than $1.65 billion in funding was directed toward Headless technologies. In response to this evolving landscape, Shopify unveiled the Hydrogen solution in June 2021, designed to facilitate the development of headless Commerce storefronts. 

The following article aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of Shopify Hydrogen, shedding light on both its pros and cons. 

Overview

Shopify offers businesses the Hydrogen framework solution, originally based on React but now being developed with Remix, in conjunction with the global hosting solution known as Oxygen.

What is Shopify Hydrogen?

In the past, Shopify website developers utilized the platform’s templating language known as Liquid, which often faced performance limitations. Consequently, to ensure top-notch website performance for headless commerce, Shopify businesses require a specialized solution.

Typically, businesses implementing headless projects on Shopify Plus opt for the React framework over Liquid due to its superior technical aspects. Moreover, headless stores on Shopify Plus offer heightened flexibility, customization, and scalability compared to standard headless stores on Shopify.

Therefore, Shopify has introduced a solution that allows both Shopify Plus and standard Shopify businesses to build and advance the most optimized headless eCommerce websites possible. This led to the creation of the Hydrogen framework solution and Oxygen hosting.

Shopify Hydrogen is a React-based framework that empowers developers to craft distinctive and entirely customized frontend Shopify experiences. This framework encompasses all the essential structures, components, and pre-built tools necessary for developers to swiftly create headless stores and deliver personalized user experiences.

What is Shopify Oxygen?

Shopify Oxygen is a worldwide hosting solution designed to store custom content, like Hydrogen stores, directly within the Shopify platform. Previously, Shopify businesses seeking to develop Headless Commerce had to depend on third-party hosting providers (e.g., Netlify).

In contrast, Oxygen is supported by Shopify’s extensive global infrastructure, featuring over 100 server locations worldwide. Thanks to this, Hydrogen stores can seamlessly and directly integrate with Oxygen hosting through the Storefront API, eliminating the need for reliance on third-party providers.

Remix – The New Highlight of Shopify Hydrogen

In the first quarter of 2023, Shopify unveiled Hydrogen v2, highlighting the web development tool called Remix. This tool has earned recognition from developers as one of the top React frameworks, trailing only behind Next.js. Consequently, Shopify acquired Remix and designated it as the cornerstone of the Shopify Hydrogen solution.

The reason for this lies in the fact that Hydrogen v1 faced performance-related criticisms after some time in operation. The acquisition of Remix is a part of Shopify’s efforts to rectify these issues, leading to the emergence of Hydrogen v2.

While developers tend to favor Next.js over Remix due to its open structure, allowing for greater customization and offering a more favorable developer experience, it doesn’t guarantee output quality and website performance.

Conversely, Remix employs a closed structure that mandates developers to adhere to the framework’s template. This approach closely aligns with Shopify’s SaaS model, providing a web development framework and enforcing developers to follow specific principles during deployment. 

This adherence ensures website performance and significantly enhances conversion rates. Therefore, Remix is the ideal solution chosen by Shopify to address the existing performance gaps in Hydrogen stores and enhance the eCommerce experience for customers.

Pros of Shopify Hydrogen

Developed based on React

Hydrogen represents Shopify’s investment in the development of Headless eCommerce. Therefore, it’s fair to classify any Shopify store using the Hydrogen framework and Oxygen hosting as a Headless Shopify store.

The Headless architecture has consistently garnered praise from industry experts, who anticipate its continuous evolution. Shopify’s decision to incorporate React – the JavaScript library for frontend interface development – as the cornerstone of the Hydrogen solution underscores this platform’s forward-looking perspective on the future of eCommerce, firmly rooted in the Headless trend.

Diverse Integration

The launch of Shopify Hydrogen aims to assist businesses in building professional Headless eCommerce websites and providing customers with a seamless multi-channel experience.

Therefore, Shopify extends the capability to seamlessly integrate Hydrogen stores with various third-party applications and platforms like Klaviyo, Gorgias, and Rebuy (to enhance the customer experience), as well as Sanity, Contentful, and Builder.io (for Headless CMS implementation). 

Learn more about Headless CMS:

• What is Headless CMS?
• 10 Enterprise Headless CMS Platforms (Pt.1)
• 10 Enterprise Headless CMS Platforms (Pt.2)

Flexible Customization 

Numerous enterprises choose to implement Headless eCommerce because it grants them full control over the development of the frontend interface, free from the limitations of specific platforms. Shopify Hydrogen also empowers businesses to construct entirely personalized headless website interfaces and integrate essential features for expansion.

Cons of Shopify Hydrogen

Technical Skill Required 

Hydrogen solution empowers businesses to leverage the potential of Headless eCommerce, but it’s predominantly a technically-driven endeavor without a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface for non-technical users to easily access and modify.

Hence, the development process necessitates the engagement of highly proficient developers with programming expertise and a specific comprehension of Hydrogen and Oxygen. In this scenario, businesses have two choices: establish an in-house team of developers or partner with an external specialized entity for swift deployment.

Limited CMS Integration.

Because it relies on the React framework, Hydrogen can assist developers in creating custom frontends, but the backend CMS functionality must be connected to enable the headless eCommerce website’s operation.

However, as of now, Hydrogen is limited to integrating with specific CMS platforms like Sanity, Contentful, and Builder.io, leaving businesses responsible for connecting with others independently.

Limited 3rd-party Integration

Much like CMS platforms, Hydrogen supports businesses in integrating with third-party provider applications, but it has rather limited options. Currently, there are only 13 available applications that businesses can incorporate into their Hydrogen store.

In the many years of implementing Headless eCommerce for numerous clients across various countries, SECOMM has noticed an increasing demand for creating Headless websites using the Shopify platform. Now, businesses have a choice: they can either leverage Shopify’s tech stack (Hydrogen and Oxygen) or build a custom stack tailored to their unique requirements.

This further solidifies Shopify as one of the most flexible eCommerce platforms today, leading the way towards the next generation of eCommerce experiences.

Contact us or call SECOMM’s hotline (02871089908) for a free consultation.