Press Kit: Overview
Empowering Businesses to Sell (Lots) More Online
“ Using BigCommerce's hosted solution has been great. Sales have doubled and [we're] getting much better Google organic rankings.”
— Steve Mondazzi, PetsWeLoved.comWe were sick of clunky e-commerce software, so we did something about it
Remember how Amazon.com looked when it launched some 15 years ago in 1995? It was clunky, had too much text and left a lot to be desired in terms of usability and customer experience:
You'd assume that in the last 15 years e-commerce software has improved by leaps and bounds, right? Well, the sad truth is that the majority of online stores still look (and function) like Amazon.com did back in 1995 - and the blame lies solely with the e-commerce software providers like Yahoo Stores.
E-commerce software has improved in the last 15 years, right?.... Right?
Let's look at a quick example. Compare the two screenshots below. The one on the left shows Amazon.com in 1995 and the one on the right shows a Yahoo Stores website in 2010 (yes, 2010):
Sadly in terms of both visual appeal and functionality these websites are almost identical. Yahoo Stores is known for its limited feature set and extremely hard-to-use customization options, so it's no wonder most of their customer's stores look like they were created in 1995 as well.
A better way for businesses to reach more customers online
In 2009 we decided enough was enough. Companies like Google and SalesForce had pioneered the SaaS (or software as a service) model with great success, but the e-commerce space, it seemed, had been ignored.
BigCommerce was created to give businesses of all sizes a better way to sell online. No longer confined to outdated e-commerce software which doesn't meet the needs of today's online retailers, we make three promises to all businesses who choose BigCommerce:
Ease of use — Being obsessed with usability, we designed BigCommerce to be as easy to use as FaceBook. Merchants can manage their entire store from their web browser using a beautiful point-and-click interface — forget the 400 page user guide.
With BigCommerce there's absolutely no learning curve. None. BigCommerce is so easy to use it was voted the #1 e-commerce platform by Top10Reviews, beating Yahoo Stores, GoDaddy and 14 other vendors.
Innovation — BigCommerce is the most innovative e-commerce platform in the world. Multi-channel retailing allows BigCommece vendors to list their products on eBay, FaceBook, Twitter, Google and dozens of shopping comparison websites like Shopzilla in just a few clicks.
BigCommerce merchants also have access to a slew of built-in merchandising tools like product photo galleries, SuperZoom™ photo zoom, coupon and discount codes, gift certificates, bulk quantity pricing, customer groups and Google Website Optimizer integration. Oh, they can also run their entire warehouse from their iPhone or iPad and shoppers can buy through their iPhone or iPad using a store design optimized just for them. Mobile commerce is here and BigCommerce merchants are already reaping the benefits.
Transparency — Whether it's on our blog, Facebook page, twitter account, GetSatisfaction page or via regular surveys, webinars and phone calls, we talk to our customers - more than any other e-commerce vendor (and probably more than any company, period) in the world.
All product development is driven by our customers and our democratic Digg-style feature voting system — if enough customers vote for a particular feature then we'll build and release it within weeks. Because our customers tell us exactly how they expect new features to be built, we can release regular updates on average every 4-6 weeks.
As a quick comparison, Yahoo Stores has not had an update in the last 3 years. If you imagine all of the new marketing opportunities made available to online retailers in the last few years then you'll see just how out of touch they are with their customer's needs.
“ We use BigCommerce and LOVE it! What is great about it is that they are constantly asking for client feedback and making their shopping cart even better. ”
— Jackie Myers, BabyAndMeGifts.comSo what does a BigCommerce store look like anyway?
BigCommerce includes over 60 professionally designed templates for merchants to choose from. They can even use our built-in design tools to completely customize their store's look and feel in a few minutes — all without touching a line of code. Here are some beautiful stores running on BigCommerce:
Learn more about the company turning e-commerce on its head
Use the menu on the left to learn more about BigCommerce.