BigCommerce: Multi-channel Selling Simplified with Channel Manager

BigCommerce is a hosted eCommerce platform that offers end-to-end eCommerce solutions for every business across any industry. The SaaS capabilities of BigCommerce allows you to invest more time in business development and less on maintaining your site. Not only that, BigCommerce even offers heightened security, unlimited bandwidth, and blazing fast speeds. 

The BigCommerce platform fuels and stimulates growth for your online business without the excess costs and complexities. With BigCommerce, your eCommerce store becomes more efficient without sacrificing quality. The commerce engine of BigCommerce offers an unmatched performance. On BigCommerce, everything is seamless, and there’s no confusion of an overly complicated system.

BigCommerce Pricing

The Standard BigCommerce plan costs $29.95/month, Plus costs $95.95/month, Pro costs $295.95/month, and the Enterprise plan requires owners to get custom pricing.

The great news is that all of the above plans consist of hundreds of built-in features, zero transaction fees, 24/7 live agent support, single-page checkout, marketplace, and social integrations. Furthermore, store owners also get dedicated SSL, branded online store, blogging features, professional reporting tools, responsive website, shipping label discounts, sitewide HTTPS, multi-currency, and more.

Is BigCommerce suitable for you?

When selecting eCommerce platforms, the idea is to find a platform that compliments your business model perfectly. The unpredictable eCommerce landscape needs a robust platform. The platform selection is tied to the business KPIs, present growth, past success, and future goals. Furthermore, integrations, resources, maturity, business model, and more will also contribute to the platform selection process.

Businesses looking to either start or re-platform to BigCommerce will have the same concerns. After all, not a single company wants to end up on a complicated platform. Unfortunately, there are quite a few platforms that are not scalable, offer limited functionalities, aren't flexible, and add expenses without providing any significant returns. In essence, you need to do a holistic analysis of your business to select the appropriate platform.

BigCommerce is excellent for any business. Whether starting a new business on BigCommerce or migrating your existing one to this platform. There are packages for all company sizes. Thanks to the various built-in tools and its ability to scale, your business will never outgrow this platform. It is an ideal match for larger companies that deal with a high volume of customers and orders daily. It is also compatible with SMBs that anticipate fast growth.

Benefits of Choosing BigCommerce Platform for an eCommerce Website

1. SEO Capabilities

BigCommerce features optimized URLs, rewrites, and redirects that make it easier to make adjustments to your site without risking 404 errors. The auto-populated URLs quickly adapt based on any changes you have made. Its themes also give each page a unique URL- ensuring your content is never duplicated. Ultimately, BigCommerce gives you the ability to perform all possible on-page SEO optimization.

The Content Delivery Network (CDN) speeds up the site to minimize loading time. Additionally, BigCommerce sites have critical microdata built right in. As a result, your website will be eligible for more fruitful search engine results. The microdata standard known as schema, allows every merchant to define a web page's contents in more detail. Ultimately, BigCommerce gives you the ability to perform all possible on-page SEO optimization.

2. Support

Every eCommerce store runs into some form of flaw or glitch. Whenever this happens, the store owner will likely approach customer care. Store owners also often seek advice from the customer support team on integrations, platform upgrades, plugin changes, and more.

The knowledgeable personnel guides you on the best path. Luckily, BigCommerce is a platform that provides expedite 24/7 365-day assistance on the phone, through chat, and via email. There's also a lot of helpful articles in the BigCommerce content hub where blogs, webinars, and community forums extend generous and informative assistance all day long.

3. Security

The safety of an eCommerce site takes the utmost importance. Store owners do not want to compromise the sensitive data stored on their website. A potential intrusion could crash the eCommerce site and render it useless for hours. BigCommerce understands the severity of such problems and has thus implemented PCI compliance on a Level-1 basis. It also includes server protection in the form of different types of security layers.

The security measures include firewalls, file integrity scanners, intrusion detection mechanisms, and 24/7 monitoring. All BigCommerce plans come with an SSL certificate and enterprise customers can even upgrade to third party premium certificates. Store owners also get access to automated fraud detection. All of the in-built security and encryption protocols allow BigCommerce stores to maintain 24/7 uptime.

4. Payments

Another advantage of having an eCommerce store on BigCommerce is the compatibility with various payment gateways. BigCommerce also doesn't charge any fees beyond the percentage deducted by the payment providers.

However, Shopify deducts a 2% fee for every transaction on the store which is done using a payment gateway other than Shopify Payments. Meanwhile, BigCommerce doesn't charge transaction fees on any of their plans. PayPal, Stripe, Apple Pay, Amazon Pay, Ayden, Square, and Authorize.net are some of the popular payment gateways on BigCommerce.

5. Affordable

For small businesses facing a shortage of funds, the startup costs in an eCommerce platform will impact your platform selection. Even the ongoing costs influence the platform of your choice. Platforms that give budgeted options are often the preferred choice for many companies.

BigCommerce embodies this very well. It is not just one of the most popular eCommerce platforms around, but also one of the most affordable. This applies to both startup costs and long-term expenses. With cost-efficiency playing such a massive role in BigCommerce, businesses will save more money. BigCommerce features allegedly save merchants $6K - $20K per year.

Merchants need to save money while keeping their eCommerce site fast. One way to do that is by reducing the number of apps on the site. The out-of-the-box features in BigCommerce make it happen. In-built powerful features means you won't need additional applications. This saves you a substantial cost every year in additional app fees- keeping your site fast and your costs down.

6. Mobile Compatibility

Nearly all consumers are gravitating towards their smartphones for purchases. However, not all eCommerce stores are mobile-friendly. Such stores see a severe drop in traffic. Consumers are increasingly dependent on their phones. Therefore not having a mobile-responsive website will reduce your revenue and profits. Invest in Google's Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) to improve your eCommerce site's mobile version.

Web pages published in AMP format load nearly instantaneously- giving users a smooth and more engaging mobile experience. It is also essential for improving search engine ranking page visibility. With an added advantage like increased page load speed, the mobile trend would only grow- making optimization even more imperative. BigCommerce themes are mobile compatible, and that proves critical for higher conversions.

7. Shipping

Dispatching goods can become a hassle for any eCommerce store owner. If you deliver thousands of products globally, deciding the shipping rates and tracking can be a bit problematic. BigCommerce offers you functionalities that address the complex needs for shipping globally, selling on multiple channels, dealing with regulated products, and more.

BigCommerce allows a quick setup process to configure shipping options. It will enable you to define shipping rates for a variety of different locations. Besides the ability to set the shipping options they want their shoppers to see, merchants also get to give customers accurate shipping quotes. The quotes are extracted straight from carriers like USPS, UPS, FedEx, and more. Not only that, but owners also have access to multi-carrier bulk label printing.

It also offers integration with ShipStation and Shipping HQ. Owners can even print shipping labels for USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL, and more. Merchants also get the ability to set rates based on product, category, quantity, destination, dimensions, and more. In addition to all this, they get customized shipping, dimensional shipping, dropshipping, and more. Finally, automate all of your shipping operations, offer tracking, in-store pick up, and next day delivery.

8. Ease of Use

Store management is another crucial aspect that affects the way you run your business. If the platform offers functionalities that streamline the various back-end tasks, expect the merchants to get a more seamless handling of their online store. BigCommerce offers more built-in tools than any other platform. You effectively have everything you need right at your fingertips.

BigCommerce features many essential core functionalities that negate any reliance on 3rd party applications. It also offers a WYSIWYG theme editor that allows developers to change store features without any extensive codings. The platform also has built-in analytics. Such detailed analytics help you gain valuable insights about your customers.

Aside from this, it also assists in keeping an eye on merchandising, reviewing marketing campaigns, purchase funnels, abandoned carts, and more. You can create custom views for external sales channels, export orders, and import tracking details. BigCommerce even lets the admin organize the orders section into multiple sub-sections. The order section can be split further into awaiting payment, awaiting shipment, and more.

9. Products

The ability to create and update products with ease is another strength of BigCommerce. Use the "Create New Product" page to enter the price, tax, product code, weight, product type, shipping, and other details. The ability to have 16,000 categories makes this platform a viable option for large enterprise-level stores. Alongside this, BigCommerce also allows easy creation of variable products.

It lets you choose "option sets" for each product. An "option set" comprises different variables. For example, a footwear set may have size, color, and material as the options. You can add up to 250 choices for each option set. BigCommerce also offers an abandoned cart recovery feature. This lets you draw back customers who leave products in their cart, with personalized automated emails.

Multi-Channel Commerce

In this age, any business wouldn't settle for a single touchpoint to connect and engage their consumers. Shoppers are varying their purchasing habits continuously. They don't stick to a single channel to obtain their products. Buyers switch from website to marketplace to retail stores. Brands, as such, hope to establish a significant presence on all of these channels. 

As part of Multi-Channel eCommerce, brands are selling their products on different channels. No channel is beyond reach for brands that wish to grow their business. Customers want convenience and don't want to be locked to a single channel. The idea is to capture sales from touchpoints that customers purchase from the most. As opposed to pulling buyers towards a retail store, you could fulfill their requirements on the channel they visit often. 

Brands wish to unify their sales channels and manage every aspect from a centralized dashboard. Track products, stock, orders, delivery, delays, and more from a focal point. Get a comprehensive overview of their sales. The best part, they would get to reach and convert customers wherever they want to shop. Brands that have an eCommerce presence on BigCommerce will streamline their sales operations even more. For the inventory and order management challenges that emerge on their BigCommerce store, they will get an inbuilt feature called Channel Manager. 

Channel Manager

Selling your products on multiple channels could potentially leave you feeling disorganized, unsure of any sales growth, and leave room for errors. The standard practices in place will reduce efficacy and efficiency. This is where Bigcommerce Channel Manager comes in.

Bigcommerce Channel Manager lets you connect to sales channels like Amazon, Facebook, Instagram, eBay, and Pinterest. Channel Manager comes with built-in export and inventory syncing to simplify multichannel selling. It automatically syncs all of the product information from your BigCommerce catalog. You don’t have to waste time listing products manually.

Using Channel Manager, merchants can run their businesses more efficiently. Not only that, they also obtain a complete overview of their real-time sales. No need for any manual processes to track and update purchases. Consolidate all of your sales channels in one place with the BigCommerce Channel Manager.

How to Get Started with BigCommerce Channel Manager?

Getting started through Channel Manager is extremely simple. Ever since this feature was first introduced in 2016, the option to sell far and wide on various platforms has only gotten more seamless. What was once only compatible with Facebook and Pinterest, now stretches to eBay and Instagram as well.

All BigCommerce merchants will see a Channel Manager menu in the sidebar navigation within the control panel. Select the same and follow the prompts. After this, you will see options to connect your store to begin selling on Facebook, eBay, Pinterest, and more. In Channel Manager, click "Get Started" next to the channel you want to connect, then click "Get Started" on the channel's details page.

Every channel comes with a unique login flow and configuration. Not only that, but Channel Manager supports native integrations as well. Such integrations are compatible with all social media channels and leading marketplaces. This allows merchants to amplify their potential reach to millions of shoppers rapidly.

Benefits of Using BigCommerce Channel Manager

1. Order Management

eCommerce merchants with multiple sales channels have a hard time tracking orders. They find it hard to establish the source of orders. However, with Channel Manager, they will no longer face this problem. The centralized order management capability in Channel Manager lets you process, fulfill, and track the order right from your BigCommerce dashboard. The inability to establish the source of orders will not be a problem anymore. Channel Manager records all the orders and their secondary details.

2. Social Media

Billions of people use social media these days. A lot of them could be from your target audience as well. What if you could connect, engage, and sell products to them? Channel Manager lets you go beyond just connecting with them. It enables you to sell to users right on Facebook and Pinterest. Add a dedicated "Shop" Section to your Facebook page and start showcasing products to more than a billion users. This helps you convert Facebook page visitors into potential buyers.

You can even use your Pinterest account to allow the "Save Now, Buy Later" type of shoppers to purchase products. Such Pinterest accounts use the "Buyable Pins" feature. Opting for "Buyable Pins" helps Pinterest consumers purchase products with just a few taps. The most exciting part of this feature is that it saves users' product information and activity when logged in.

3. Expansion

Connect to existing online sales channels or get to add new ones with ease. Channel Manager allows BigCommerce merchants to sell on leading sales channels. A single centralized interface will integrate with third party sales channels directly within BigCommerce. Sell on Facebook by adding a dedicated shop section to your company's Facebook page. Even enable Pinners on Pinterest to purchase products from your vast catalog. Connecting new sales channels via Channel Manager is effortless. With Channel Manager, your sales potential isn't limited to just the eCommerce store.

4. Inventory Syncing

Automatic inventory syncing facilitates stock updates to eliminate overselling and data entry errors. Avoid countless hours of tracking and updating stocks. The central dashboard shows the number of units left for a particular product. As a result, inventory can be adjusted accordingly in real-time. Avoid delays in fulfillment by accurately displaying the current availability of products. This frees your time in manually making changes to the availability of items. You get to view the updated stock count across all sales points in real-time.

5. Increased Revenue

By selling on multiple sales channels, brands can rapidly amplify their reach to millions of consumers- targeting more people increases the likelihood of conversions. Channel Manager's seamless catalog sync and onboarding help you to sell on multiple channels. A presence across various channels will multiply order placements and elevate revenue. In other words, more conversions will result in more revenue.

6. Brand Awareness

Certain shoppers, obsess over one channel. When that is the case, they continue to visit the same for all of their requirements. By featuring products on the channel of their choice, you are likely to catch the shoppers' attention on their preferred channel. Another great benefit of selling on multiple channels is increased visibility. If you cannot attract them on Facebook, there is always a chance of converting them from eBay. Always aim to spread your catalog across as many channels that shoppers visit. By doing so, you increase brand awareness while improving your chances at conversion.

Conclusion

BigCommerce can set you up for success. Right out of the box, BigCommerce is packed with tons of features to help jumpstart your eCommerce website. When you start on BigCommerce, you hit the ground running. The fast setup time and intuitive features help you to customize the site to match your business. For forward mobility, growth, and success of a company, BigCommerce is the most reliable solution. 

BigCommerce offers unparalleled security and omnipresent customer support. It also includes a library of features, a plethora of resources, and top-notch analytics. The biggest strength comes in the form of multi-channel support- Channel Manager. Channel Manager makes it possible for you to link and sell on external platforms. Integrated selling has never looked this fluid and simplistic before. Channel Manager is the perfect hub for all your online channels.

If you have any queries regarding BigCommerce, we encourage you to get in touch with Virtina experts. We would love to help you integrate the tools to create a more profitable and memorable shopping experience. Let us help you achieve and exceed your expectations every time.