Big Cartel is an online shopping site that caters to creative and artistic vendors. Big Cartel, which powers more than 83,000 online retailers, is a popular, economical option for many because to its user-friendly interface and adaptability. You can create an online store in about 45 minutes using a variety of free templates and live setup tutorials. Let’s assess the pros and cons to see if Big Cartel is the best platform for you.
Comparing Big Cartel to The Best Ecommerce Platforms
Big Cartel, although not making our list of the best ecommerce platforms, is still a good platform. In reality, Big Cartel is a favourite among thousands of users since it allows you to easily and affordably revamp your online business.
We examined hundreds of available ecommerce systems before selecting the top 12. We examined each choice to determine who it is ideal for, what characteristics to take into account, and how to choose the one that best suits your requirements. Want to examine all of your possibilities? These are all of our top selections.
Big Cartel: The Good and The Bad
With any ecommerce systems, there will be positive and negative characteristics to take into account. After a thorough investigation, we discovered that Big Cartel has only a few minor flaws and fantastic features that the majority of consumers are glad to continue using. Before you choose a choice, let’s examine both ends of the spectrum in great detail.
The Good
Big Cartel offers an impressive range of customizable templates to build your online store upon, unlike other ecommerce platforms that often charge extra for premium templates. Their free templates cater to various niches, including artists, photographers, and bloggers, and have been optimized for desktop and mobile devices. Each template is customizable and offers unique features, such as drop-down menus and slide-down shopping carts, allowing you to personalize the customer experience.
In addition to the customizable templates, Big Cartel also provides various customization capabilities to enhance your store’s functionality. You can create custom pages, images, links, and favicons or optimize your store for search engines, edit theme code, link social media profiles, and even embed a video. Despite being code-intensive, the customization process is easy to navigate, and Big Cartel provides comprehensive technical documentation to assist you if you need any help.”
Also Read: 12 Must Know Bookkeeping Tips for Businesses
“If you run an online store, you need to monitor more than just your product offerings. To effectively manage your business, you require insights into the number of products sold, revenue generated, and popular items. Fortunately, Big Cartel offers a user-friendly dashboard complete with essential metrics and statistics. The dashboard includes detailed order and visitor statistics, conversion rates and trends, product and category stats, and advanced analytics through Google Analytics integration. Each metric is presented in an easy-to-read graph or chart format, with color-coded subsections and clear labels that make tracking your business’s performance effortless.”
Live Courses for Setup: On the more beneficial end of things, Big Cartel provides live classes on Youtube with the goal of assisting you in establishing the foundation of your online business. Each lesson is led by a Big Cartel customer service person who walks you through each step and records their screen so you can see precisely what to do. There are five live lessons available right now: adding a product, making a discount, setting up a shipping, setting up an account, and packaging your goods.
As many people learn best visually, being able to follow along with a video rather than reading a lengthy text is a great advantage for Big Cartel’s live seminars.
Apps & Integrations: In contrast to the majority of ecommerce platforms, Big Cartel doesn’t provide a broad selection of applications and integrations that will unavoidably leave you feeling overrun by options. Instead, Big Cartel provides a limited number of strong connections for domain providers, manufacturing and shipping, marketing, store administration, manufacturing and shipping, and payment processors. In essence, Big Cartel gives you access to the most essential programmes.
Also Read: Best Android Tablets In 2023
Each region has between 6 and 10 application possibilities, making it simple to select the integration you require most rather than the most well-liked or distinctive option.
Regulated Security: Security is essential for an online business, and while Big Cartel’s version isn’t the most sophisticated, it nevertheless offers value at the given pricing. The SSL security for an encrypted layer is included in every Big Cartel store, and the other security measures are optional. Having said that, Big Cartel enables you to update your password, add a backup phone number, and monitor your current devices and associated applications.
The Bad
Limited Support Variety: It’s beneficial for businesses to have a range of ways to reach users when it comes to assisting them. The customer staff of Big Cartel, on the other hand, can only be reached by email from Monday through Friday, between the hours of 8am and 6pm EST. Obtaining a response for an urgent issue is a little difficult with Big Cartel because neither a phone number nor live chat alternatives are presently available.
Although though most customers regard Big Cartel’s customer service representatives to be helpful and quick to respond, it would still be ideal for many consumers if there were a faster way to get in touch with them.
Also Read: Best Tablets Deals For Android, IPhone, Windows, & Mac 2023
Limited Support Variety: It’s beneficial for businesses to provide customers with a range of contact options when it comes to user assistance. With Big Cartel, however, this isn’t the case because the only means to get in touch with the customer service for general assistance is by email from Monday through Friday from 8 am to 6 pm EST. Getting a response for an urgent issue is a little difficult because Big Cartel doesn’t presently provide a phone number or live chat alternatives.
Yet, most customers regard Big Cartel’s customer service staff to be helpful and prompt, which is a positive. Still, many users would prefer it if there were a faster way to get in touch with the company.
Not PCI Compliant: PCI compliance is a set of security requirements that businesses must meet in order to receive, process, store, and transmit credit card information in a secure setting. Sadly, Big Cartel is not a PCI-compliant platform, therefore customers are legally liable for any possible liabilities that may arise from an online business using Big Cartel. You may rely on these processors because Big Cartel provides third-party payment gateways that are already PCI compliant, but it’s still something to keep in mind when looking for an ecommerce platform to work with.
Big Cartel Pricing and Options
Big Cartel is an e-commerce platform that attracts a lot of customers since it is inexpensive and provides a totally free version with a lot of features. You may post five goods with one image each, create free themes, and view real-time statistics with the free version. The free edition also includes the following useful features:
- Sell online and in-person
- Use a custom domain
- Offer discounts and promos
- Shipment tracking
- Product option groups
- Sales tax autopilot
“Big Cartel provides flexible pricing options for ecommerce businesses with its Platinum and Diamond tiers. For just $9.99 per month, the Platinum plan offers the ability to list up to 50 products with no listing fees. The Diamond plan, on the other hand, is priced at $19.99 per month and allows up to 500 products to be listed with no listing fees. Although both tiers have the same features, the Diamond plan is more suitable for larger online stores that require more space. Big Cartel’s feature-rich plans include inventory tracking, bulk editing, Google Analytics integration, theme code editing, and the option to upload five images per product.”
Big Cartel for iOS and Android
“Stay Connected on-the-go with Big Cartel Mobile Applications: Take your ecommerce store with you wherever you go with Big Cartel’s free mobile applications for iOS and Android devices. These apps come packed with unique features that enhance your ecommerce experience by providing you with the flexibility to manage your shop on-the-go.
Also Read: Twitter in United States: Twitterrodionovreuters
With the Big Cartel mobile app, you can create, edit, and rearrange your products, view your sales statistics, and accept in-person cash payments using cash or credit cards via Stripe. You can also search and view orders, add notes, and print packing slips, get push notifications, track and update order status, and add, edit, or remove discounts. Additionally, you can adjust your account settings and send receipts instantly.
Big Cartel’s mobile applications are optimized for both iOS and Android devices and offer a user-friendly interface that allows you to manage your store from your smartphone or tablet. The iOS version requires an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch running iOS 13+, while the Android version is compatible with most devices.”
Big Cartel Pulley
“Big Cartel’s Pulley product simplifies selling digital products online for artists, allowing you to sell from anywhere, not just your Big Cartel store. With Pulley, you can upload and sell digital products with just a few clicks, from music and ebooks to videos and software. Each customer receives a unique link via email to download their purchase, and Pulley keeps track of your sales effortlessly.
Also Read: Top 5 AngularJS Development Companies
Pulley enables you to sell your digital products from your website, blog, social media profiles, or emails using Buy Now links. You can even integrate Pulley into your Big Cartel store for maximum performance. Signing up for a Pulley account takes just a few steps, after which you can link your unique Pulley URL to your Big Cartel account.
The best part? Pulley isn’t restricted to Big Cartel; you can also sell through PayPal by adding your PayPal email address and a Success and Cancel URL. With Pulley, you get access to a dashboard that shows your latest orders, most popular products, and sales graph, sortable by day, week, or month. You can also customize orders with variables and syntax for more freedom.
For $6 per month, Pulley is an affordable option for artists looking to sell digital products online. Big Cartel offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card required, so you can give it a try before committing. Expand your reach and sell your digital products with ease using Pulley and Big Cartel!”
