Integrate BigCommerce Plugin with WordPress

BigCommerce is a Software as a Service (SaaS) for hosting robust, fully-equipped eCommerce stores online. It’s a comprehensive solution for most or all of your sales channels, enabling you to manage Amazon, eBay, Facebook, and Pinterest stores, all from one location. BigCommerce offers solutions for fast-growing newer brands, with a focus on scalability and marketing, as well as advanced enterprise software for large brands.

In this article, we will first explain why you might choose either BigCommerce or WordPress for your eCommerce store. Then we will discuss how they can be used in tandem. Finally, we will talk about the history of BigCommerce and WordPress integration, and look at what is possible today through plugins and themes. Let’s get started!

 BigCommerce vs. WordPress for eCommerce

BigCommerce and WordPress are completely different solutions for eCommerce websites. The platform that will work best for you depends on your unique needs and goals.

If you are looking to build a large eCommerce store that relies on plenty of external marketing, such as online ads and celebrity endorsements, BigCommerce is more likely to be suitable for you. This solution is built to handle large, complex eCommerce sites without missing a beat, even when your brand hits a rapid growth spurt. However, it lacks some of the flexibility found in alternatives such as WordPress.

On the other hand, if you are interested in creating an eCommerce site with a blog or other built-in content marketing, WordPress may be the better choice. It’s a powerhouse when it comes to content publishing and promotion. If you want to create an income stream by making online sales, free plugins like WooCommerce make it relatively easy.

It is important to note, however, that WordPress is a content publishing platform first, and an eCommerce solution second. You will need secondary tools to create an online store using WordPress (such as WooCommerce).

To summarize, BigCommerce is a solution for those focused on growing a mammoth eCommerce brand. WordPress is a better answer for those interested in attracting a dedicated audience, where eCommerce is a supporting branch of the business.

BigCommerce WordPress Integration

With significant benefits to both platforms, choosing between BigCommerce versus WordPress for your online store can be difficult. Fortunately, you can integrate BigCommerce and WordPress to take advantage of the best of both platforms. 

The simplest way to accomplish this is to use the BigCommerce for WordPress plugin. You can find it in the WordPress Plugin Directory:

This solution gives you the advantage of BigCommerce’s years of experience in eCommerce, as well as the power and flexibility of WordPress to feature your products and your high-quality website content.

Benefits of Using BigCommerce and WordPress Together

Having your BigCommerce products listed directly on your WordPress website enables you to execute advanced content management related to your brand. For example, when you release a new product you can create a custom landing page for it to drive sales.

You can also publish blog posts about your products. Along the way, you can easily drop product listings in mid-post, to encourage your readers to go buy the items you’re blogging about.

Your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) will also likely receive a boost if your site’s content and your products are on the same domain. Additionally, your website analytics will be much simpler to track, because all of your traffic will be on one site.

Beyond the general benefits of having your online store as part of your site, there are also benefits to using two of the very best tools on the web in conjunction. WordPress is simply the best at what it does. BigCommerce also excels at its specialty. Merged seamlessly together, they can turn your site into a selling powerhouse.

BigCommerce WordPress Plugin

As mentioned above, you can find the BigCommerce for WordPress plugin in the WordPress Plugin Directory. It’s under active development, so new features should be available on a regular basis. Integrating the two platforms is as easy as installing the plugin on your WordPress site and following the setup wizard.

Note that you will need a BigCommerce account before you get started, as the two platforms connect via the BigCommerce API. Additionally, you will still need to access your BigCommerce account dashboard to configure certain aspects of your online store, including shipping, taxes, and payment gateway integration.

BigCommerce WordPress Themes

BigCommerce for WordPress is compatible with all modern WordPress themes. It has excellent support for the WordPress Customizer, which enables you to adjust colors and fonts and make your BigCommerce content fit the rest of your site’s design.

The BigCommerce for WordPress plugin also follows the WordPress standard for template overrides and comes with dozens of file parts to enable easy manipulation of your product page layouts.

Finally, the BigCommerce for WordPress plugin is fully compatible with the Block Editor and comes with several extremely flexible blocks of its own. These include the BigCommerce product block, which enables you to import product data from BigCommerce, as well as cart, checkout, order history, and product review blocks (just to name a few).

To learn more about eCommerce for WordPress and how to choose the right eCommerce platform for your site, check out WP Engine’s Resource Center!