BigCommerce offers applications that are specifically related to trading (especially online) in a simple, easy-to-access marketplace right at your fingertips. Most apps in the marketplace are powered by Stencil. This is BigCommerce’s new theme platform that harnesses the best practices in technology, design standards, conversion, and SEO, to allow you to build the shop of your dreams.

We have broken down our favourite apps from the core sections of the BigCommerce store, these are:

  • Accounting and tax
  • Reporting
  • Marketing
  • Sales channels
  • Shipping and fulfilment

Accounting and tax

Xero – One of the most popular accounting tools on the market, this app allows you to connect your BigCommerce finances directly to Xero. The app automatically syncs your orders, products, customers, taxes, refunds and shipping charges from your BigCommerce store to Xero. This is one our of favourites because it gives small businesses advanced control of their accounts, without any of the typical hassle.

Bench Accounting – If you’re looking for an external advisor to take care of your sales, profit and tax with BigCommerce, Bench Accounting might be the perfect fit. It matches you with a bookkeeper within your chosen price range, and takes the pressure off managing your finances alone.

Reporting

Google Analytics (GA) – Connect your BigCommerce store directly to Google Analytics, the free analytical tool from Google, and benefit from advanced store reporting, ROI figures and advertisement tracking. GA makes it simple to visualise the status of your online store, showing figures like weekly, monthly and yearly traffic, and the channels that bring the most traffic to your store.

Price2Spy – Monitor your competitors closely with the Price2Spy application. Put in as many competitors as you like, and set pricing alerts so you can make adjustments to your store accordingly. Keep ahead of the game, and have the pricing edge at all times.

Marketing

USmile.io – This app allows you to set up and run your own loyalty program to reward your customers, this in turn increases the likelihood that customers will keep coming back to your site and making a repeat purchase.

Facebook Ads – This app (via Yahoo) helps you target customers who have visited your website, and uses paid ad campaigns on Facebook to return these customers back to your site. This can be helpful if your site has a lot of abandoned baskets, as Facebook will utilise its retargeting feature to show personalized ads to customers who visited your site but did not buy anything. This app is paid, but can be a useful investment in your future business plan.

Sales channels

Google Shopping – This useful app gets your products on Google, all you do is upload your inventory onto the marketplace and create an Adwords campaign. When this is done, your products will appear on Google for consumers who are looking for exactly what you offer.

eBay LINK – With this listing tool, products from your BigCommerce inventory will be automatically listed on eBay. You can also track orders, manage inventory levels on eBay and offer promotions on the platform.

Shipping and fulfilment

AfterShip – AfterShip is a free app that allows you to send tracking and delivery updates to your customers. It will keep the customer updated when for example, the item they ordered leaves the warehouse, arrives in their city or town, and is delivered to their door.

Easyship – Access up to 250+ shipping solutions with Easyship. Ship your goods with any of the supported couriers, and see the amount of import tax, VAT, GST, and other fees upfront.

Our integration with BigCommerce

While this post is all about our favourite BigCommerce apps, you can save money by implementing a business management solution like Khaos Control. This connects straight to your BigCommerce store, and provides a lot of the same features as applications. Manage your stock levels, ship your products with a variety of couriers, create reports on your success, control your finances and more, all from one single system. Our comprehensive integration with BigCommerce is an easy to use plugin, so you can get straight to benefitting from management of your back office.