BigCommerce Development Services

How Will You Use BigCommerce?

To learn how our development company can help you with your project, please skip forward to learn about:

• Starting a New BigCommerce Website.
• Migrating into BigCommerce from a Different Platform.
• Redesigning Your Existing BigCommerce Website.
• Extending the Functionality of Your BigCommerce Website.
• Questions to Ask a BigCommerce Agency.
• Issues to Avoid When Developing a BigCommerce Website.
• Why Choose our BigCommerce Development Services.
• Our BigCommerce Development Process.
• Hiring BigCommerce Web Developers.
• BigCommerce Website Development Cost Calculator.

Starting a New BigCommerce Website

If you're jumping into a new ecommerce venture, we'd love to be part of your journey! We'll walk you through all the best parts of BigCommerce, from its ample selection of marketplace themes and apps, to configuring your store, adding custom products, fulfilling new orders, and much more!

The BigCommerce platform is great for new ecommerce websites, but before settling on BigCommerce it would be wise to discuss your project's requirements and goals with our team. This isn't to say BigCommerce can't handle most projects, but if your functionality or data requirements are far outside the normal scope of BigCommerce it would be prudent to discover that now.

Our ecommerce developers are highly skilled in BigCommerce, Shopify, WooCommerce and Magento, allowing us to provide an unbiased opinion on the best platform for your business.

When you start a new BigCommerce development project with WebCitz, you can rest assured we'll have options to help you from start to finish on your new ecommerce web design project!

Let's explore the two options we have for designing your new BigCommerce website:

Migrating into BigCommerce from a Different Platform

We have ample experience migrating ecommerce businesses from Magento, Shopify, or WooCommerce into the BigCommerce platform. That said, the most challenging type of ecommerce development project is the migration of a client's existing ecommerce website into a new platform.

There are numerous factors to consider in a BigCommerce website design, including:

• To what extent will product, customer, and order data need to be migrated?
• What functionality does your existing website have that is missing from BigCommerce?
• How prepared are you for URL changes and 301 redirects?
• Are you using a WordPress blog that will need to be replaced?
• Do you have experience utilizing the BigCommerce admin area?
• If you have highly complex product data, will it be manageable within BigCommerce?
• How will the launch of your new BigCommerce website be coordinated, and will you need access to the old website?

These are all great questions to consider, and are often brought up by our team during the discovery process. Our BigCommerce designers would enjoy the opportunity to discuss your project when you have time!

Redesigning Your Existing BigCommerce Website

There is nothing better than refreshing the design of an ecommerce website! This is the perfect opportunity for you to improve the look and feel of your website, fix user experience issues, and potentially even increase your conversion rate in the process!

Let's explore the three types of BigCommerce redesign projects we take on:

Blueprint to Stencil Theme Conversions

If your website was created in BigCommerce prior to November 2016, you may still be running a legacy Blueprint theme. You will eventually need to purchase a different BigCommerce theme or hire a web design agency to develop a custom Stencil theme for your website.

Switching to a Different Third-Party BigCommerce Theme

The most cost-effective way to refresh the look and feel of your BigCommerce website is to swap out your theme. We can help you find a new BigCommerce theme, install it on your website, and configure it to match your desired look and feel.

Designing a Custom BigCommerce Stencil Theme

If your budget allows, and your design expectations are high, we can create you a completely custom BigCommerce Stencil theme unique to your business. Although the cost is significantly higher, there are many benefits from this approach including faster page loads, improved user experience, cleaner source code, less app conflicts, and much more!

Extending the BigCommerce Platform

We have considerable experience extending the core functionality of BigCommerce. As long as you can clearly explain the functionality you require, it doesn't matter how complex it is to develop. Our in-house BigCommerce consultants and web programming experts are ready to help you.

Here are some of the ways we've extended BigCommerce in the past:

• We've created Nuxt.js PWA apps that communicate with multiple BigCommerce APIs.
• We've launched headless BigCommerce websites, and explored alternative ways to approach headless BigCommerce projects.
• We've developed Product Information Management (PIM) systems to replicate Magento product data management within BigCommerce.
• We've coded BigCommerce apps using Laravel and Vue.js.
• We've created data migration tools to programmatically migrate data from Magento 1 or Magento 2 APIs.
• We've implemented custom product and category filtering systems through Laravel applications.
• We've utilized custom Laravel apps and BigCommerce web hooks to fix shortcomings within third-party apps.

BigCommerce Private App Developers

We have extensive experience developing private apps for BigCommerce clients. In past projects, we've been asked to develop custom functionality that wasn't supported by core BigCommerce or existing third-party apps. The solution required our developers to connect to the BigCommerce API using Laravel or JavaScript frameworks to implement the required functionality.

BigCommerce PIM (Product Information Manager)

The most common complaint we've heard from Magento merchants migrating into BigCommerce was the loss of Magento's product, attribute, and category management functionality.

Do you have a large product database with dependent custom options, nested configurable attributes, complex product relationships or other non-standard product data structures? If so, we might be able to help ease your transition into BigCommerce. We've developed a custom Product Information Manager (PIM) within Laravel to help new BigCommerce merchants regain some of the product, attribute, and category management functionality left behind in Magento.

Headless BigCommerce Development

We have extensive experience with headless ecommerce, which is the separation of the frontend and backend of an ecommerce website. This means the frontend of your website be powered by Laravel, JavaScript, or some other platform, while the ecommerce backend is powered by BigCommerce.

The decision to pursue a headless BigCommerce project should not be taken lightly. These projects typically cost upwards of $75,000 to design and develop, simply due to extensive amount of work involved in recreating the ecommerce functionality within your custom frontend.

Why would you even consider a headless approach to ecommerce? Here are a few reasons:

• You require complete control over user experience, breaking free of any constraints of the BigCommerce CMS.
• You require the ability to control URL structures, such as keeping a WordPress blog in the /blog path versus moving it to a subdomain.
• You require custom functionality throughout the entire website, without being limited to BigCommerce apps.

We are more than happy to help you explore the potential for a headless approach to your BigCommerce development project.

Questions to Ask a BigCommerce Agency

Before selecting a BigCommerce company, be sure to ask the following questions:

• How familiar are you with developing custom Stencil themes and using the Stencil CLI?
• Do you have experience consuming each of the BigCommerce APIs?
• What is your policy for maintenance and support after the BigCommerce website launches?
• Are you a BigCommerce Certified Partner?
• Do you have more than one BigCommerce developer on staff?
• Do you outsource BigCommerce projects overseas or to other agencies?

You should gauge the level of knowledge and experience the developers have within BigCommerce. We recommend you choose an agency based on the depth of experience they have manipulating the BigCommerce platform, not just on how many cheap BigCommerce developments they've launched.

Issues to Avoid When Developing a BigCommerce Website

We want you to be happy with your BigCommerce website design, regardless of the agency you choose to handle your project. Here are a few suggestions we have to help improve your BigCommerce experience.

• Request a mockup of the website before the BigCommerce developer starts the project.
• Ask if the design will be based on the Stencil framework.
• For migration projects, ask which data types will be migrated and how that work will be performed.
• Check if your BigCommerce company plans to outsource any of the work.
• For migration projects, request 301 redirects for ALL existing content, product, and category URLs.
• Ask for training in how to manage your website before it launches.
• Verify Google Analytics is recording data after the new site is launched.
• Ask for training in how to manage your website before it launches.

If you do you due diligence before selecting an ecommerce developer, you will likely find yourself launching an ecommerce website within your anticipated timeframe and budget.

Why Choose our BigCommerce Development Services

WebCitz has more than 17 years of experience developing successful ecommerce websites. We've launched hundreds of ecommerce websites in that time, using platforms like osCommerce, CubeCart, X-Cart, Magento 1.x, Magento 2.x, WooCommerce, Shopify, and BigCommerce. You won't easily find another development agency with such extensive ecommerce experience.

• We don't outsource BigCommerce development projects because we have our own in-house BigCommerce web designers.
• We have our own in-house team of BigCommerce experts to help with complicated or custom functionality.
• We take on complex projects other BigCommerce website designers can't handle.
• We are highly experienced with the Stencil framework.
• We have an ecommerce marketing team who can help with building out BigCommerce sales funnels.
• We are intimately familiar with all BigCommerce APIs to consume or build any external functionality.
• We don't give up on our clients because we are professional BgiCommerce designers.

Reach out to our team to get started on your BigCommerce development project today by filling out our online contact form, by chatting with us in our live chat, or by giving us a call directly at (800) 796-8263. We look forward to working with you!

Our BigCommerce Development Process

We apply our standard ecommerce website design process to all BigCommerce projects. Let's go through some of the basic points:

Discovery Call. The first step in the process is to have a conversation with you to determine the scope of your project, your understanding of the BigCommerce platform, and the unique functionality requirements you have. This will allow us to put together a detailed quote for your project.

Kick Off Call. After approving the development proposal we will schedule a kickoff call. This will help get everyone on the same page, including your project's stakeholders and our project managers, graphic designers and ecommerce developers.

Mock Up Approval. Within a few weeks of the kickoff conversation you should receive mockups for the design of your project. Don't be afraid to ask for web design changes - we value feedback and would appreciate your honest opinion during this phase of the project.

Development Process. After the mock ups are approved the project will be handed off to our BigCommerce development team. This is the longest phase of the project, but you will be able to follow along through your password-protected BigCommerce staging website.

Website Launch. After the development work has been completed, and it has passed your inspection, we'll work with you to plan out an appropriate launch window. This is also a great opportunity to request BigCommerce training if you've not yet become familiar with the admin area.

Hiring BigCommerce Website Developers

We are often hired by clients for our deep understanding of BigCommerce. That said, we are always looking to augment our ecommerce team with additional experienced BigCommerce professionals! If you are a talented USA-based BigCommerce developer, who prefers taking a modern approach to ecommerce development, please send us your resume! We would be interested in discussing your past BigCommerce work experience and our potential career opportunities!