Updated Comparison for 2020, Featuring Shopify Plus, BigCommerce Enterprise, and Magento 2.
The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically altered the global business landscape, leading to a significant surge in the e-commerce market across numerous categories. As e-commerce shopping has become the new norm for consumers worldwide, a plethora of e-commerce shopping cart software solutions (also known as e-commerce platforms or e-commerce software) have emerged.
With the increasing number of shopping cart brands available, businesses face the challenge of selecting the most suitable e-commerce platform to meet their specific needs. Currently, at least 12 shopping cart software companies can be considered major e-commerce platforms, including Shopify, Magento, Magento Enterprise, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Volusion, Hybris, Demandware, Prestashop, Zen Cart, 3dcart, and Squarespace.
However, three of these platforms—Shopify, BigCommerce, and Magento—are frequently regarded as superior for their ability to cater to the diverse needs of small, medium, and large businesses. Each of these platforms has a long history of supporting small and medium-sized businesses and now offers plans or products tailored to larger e-commerce businesses within the enterprise category. Shopify offers Shopify Plus, BigCommerce has BigCommerce Enterprise, and Magento has Magento Commerce or Adobe Commerce Cloud.
If your business is considering which of these platforms to use, Coalition Technologies can provide assistance. As a Shopify Expert, Magento partner, and BigCommerce Elite partner, we possess unique insights into how these platforms operate. We have been working with these platforms for over a decade and have a vast portfolio of successful storefronts built using each.
To determine the best fit for your business, let’s review Shopify, BigCommerce, and Magento using five e-commerce platform criteria that impact every business: platform features, total cost of ownership, ease of use, marketability, and business viability.
Before delving into the detailed review, our current rankings have BigCommerce leading for merchants with annual online sales between $1 million and $5 million, with Shopify taking the lead in the under-$1 million category. BigCommerce Enterprise and Shopify Plus compete roughly equally between $5 million and $10 million annually, each facing unique business challenges. Magento Community enters the scene around $5 million+ in annual revenue due to its flexibility and scalability compared to SaaS competitors, although it also has drawbacks. Beyond $10 million, the playing field becomes more complex based on specific business types. Magento Enterprise takes the lead for merchants selling over $25 million, although features for Shopify Plus and BigCommerce are still in beta, potentially closing the gap.
If you wish to skip ahead, you can click on the links below to find our recommendations based on e-commerce business size or platform.
E-commerce Size Based:
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