Big Cartel vs. Wix Stores

Looking for ecommerce software? Here's how Big Cartel and Wix Stores stack up.

Daniel Adams

Daniel Adams

Last updated 2o July 2020


Big Cartel

4.0  Stackupp rating


Pricing from

$ 9.99 / month

Free Plan?

Yes


Best for

Big Cartel has carved out a specific niche in the ecommerce space. It’s a platform designed specifically for creatives that want to sell original work.

Wix Stores

4.3  Stackupp rating


Pricing from

$ 4.50 / month

Free Plan?

Yes


Best for

Wix is a versatile solution. Even though it seems targeted at small businesses, a powerful feature-set and high level of customizability make it a viable choice for larger retailers too, though full-fledged enterprise stores will struggle.

Big Cartel or Wix Stores: Which is best?

Can't decide between Big Cartel and Wix Stores?

Find the best platform for you with our side by side comparison of Big Cartel and Wix Stores. See how each platform stacks up across ease of use, design, support and value for money.

Let the comparison begin. Don't worry, we'll guide you.

Is Big Cartel right for you?

Big Cartel is a fully-hosted ecommerce solution built specifically for small-scale creatives. If you sell original work, like art, jewellery, woodwork, refurbished furniture, and so on, then Big Cartel is ideal.

While the general look-and-feel and functionality are minimal and straightforward, Big Cartel doesn’t skimp on features or support. Users have access to a comprehensive suite of ecommerce tools, including payment gateways, promotional features, and integration with social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook. What’s more, Big Cartel is very well-priced, with plans starting at $10/month and a “forever free” option.

Retailers that need more than three hundred product listings and a more powerful set of features, however, will have to opt for another solution.

Advantages

  • Beautiful and artistic collection of themes.
  • Highly intuitive and easy-to-use.
  • Possible to set up your store in minutes.

Drawbacks

  • Robust but limited set of features.
  • Difficult to customize.
  • Maximum of three hundred listings on the premium plan.

Use Cartel is you’re a creative (with an inventory of fewer than 300 products) looking for a hassle-free, cost-effective solution.

Is Wix Stores right for you?

Wix is a comprehensive ecommerce solution for retailers of all sizes. It comes with a fantastic set of features, including multichannel selling, a library of nearly one hundred templates, real-time shipping estimates for customers, and (of course) Wix’s fantastic website builder.

While enterprise stores will likely need a bigger “engine” to manage large amounts of sales, employees, and multiple languages, medium-sized retailers may find the ease-of-use of Wix attractive.

Because of its powerful website builder, Wix is an excellent choice for retailers without any advanced coding skills that still want full control over the look-and-feel of their store.

Advantages

  • Lots of customization features for users without any coding experience.
  • A wide set of features - like “Related Products”, abandoned cart retargeting, and templates - at a relatively low price.
  • Multichannel sales and global shipping options.

Drawbacks

  • POS is not available in all countries.
  • The apps and integrations library is a little sparse.
  • The Wix editor, whilst easy-to-use, does require getting used to.

Use Wix if you’re an individual or small business that requires a feature-rich solution that’s easy to use without any coding abilities. Because the website builder is suitable for all types of websites, Wix is also a good solution.

Ease of Use

Our first comparison criteria, ease of use. Why? Because it’s the most important.

Think about it. You don’t want to invest a lot of your precious time setting up an online store and tweaking the design only to find out that it’s a pain in the butt to manage day to day.

We take a look at how simple the Big Cartel and Wix Stores platforms are to run.

How easy is Big Cartel to use?

Rated 5/5 for Ease of Use

Big Cartel is one of the easiest-to-use platforms on the market, and gives hyper-intuitive products like Weebly and Wix a run for their money.

Users are initially guided through a step-by-step set-up process and will be prompted to configure their store and add their first product. Themes can be customized via a WordPress-style editor, and all products and orders are managed from a central dashboard.

What Big Cartel customers are saying...

“We would recommend Big Cartel without reservations.”
“I would definitely recommend using Big Cartel. They have a lot of ready made layouts that are really easy to use (especially for people like me who have zero knowledge in website building).”
“We’ve been using BigCartel since 2010 and have been very content with their shopping cart and ability to easily customize our store and portfolio.”

How easy is Wix Stores to use?

Rated 4/5 for Ease of Use

When it comes to ease-of-use, there are two sides to Wix.

Updating your product catalog, managing orders, and running email marketing campaigns through the central dashboard is straightforward.

The star of the show, however, is the Wix website editor. Users can make a myriad of changes to their site’s look-and-feel (along with individual pages)via a wide array of customization features.

The only issue is the sheer number of features. There’s a lot! So while Wix’s editor is intuitive and easy-to-use once you’ve wrapped your head around the feature-set, there is a small learning curve initially.

What Wix Stores customers are saying...

“Great website builder! I think a lot of people writing reviews are inexperienced and haven't put the time into learning how to use Wix extensively and as a result I see a lot of frustration.” Tobi
“I love Wix! I’ve never once had a problem with Wix. The SEO has improved over the years and the ease of duplicating and creating new pages is unbeatable. The mobile response is fantastic.
“It is the easiest, most equipped, most high quality website builder ever. I asked for customer support's help three times and have always received an answer within 24 hours (in English).”
Big Cartel is our winner for ease of use

Design

Powerful features are great, but we all know first impressions count. So, do Big Cartel and Wix Stores templates actually look any good? See for yourself. We outline each platforms design options, plus showcase a few real life examples.

How good are Big Cartel's themes?

Rated 3.5/5 for Design

Big Cartel is designed for retailers with little or no coding experience. Because of this, the site editor is very easy to use and provides control over key design elements like the logo, colours, layout, font-size, and so on.

The theme library, which includes just under twenty themes, is relatively small compared to other ecommerce platforms. This is more than made up for, however, by the quality of themes, all of which are free. They ‘re beautifully-designed and will appeal to a variety of creatives.

On the downside, retailers that need to make deeper code changes will struggle. Only limited HTML and CSS changes are possible.

Big Cartel Examples

  • Roda
    Roda
Item 1 of 3

How good are Wix Stores's themes?

Rated 5/5 for Design

Few other website builders on the market offer the same level of design flexibility as Wix. For retailers that want a high level of design freedom without the need to interact with any code, Wix is a no-brainer. Because of the broad feature-set, retailers can control the branding and look-and-feel of their store to a very precise level.

All of that said, Wix isn’t limited to “non-developers”. Code-savvy webmasters can make deeper backend changes and take advantage of a powerful set of APIs. So the platform isn’t just limited to people without coding experience.

Users also have access to a library of nearly 100 free templates.

Wix Stores Examples

  • Plastic Freedom
    Plastic Freedom
Item 1 of 3
Wix Stores is our winner for design

How much do they cost?

Everyone’s favourite topic - pricing. Let's dive in to see if Big Cartel or Wix Stores offers better value for money.

How much does Big Cartel cost?

Rated 4/5 for Pricing

Big Cartel offers reasonable value for money. Users have access to a solid package of features, including analytics, discount and promotional codes, shipping tracking, and more. Retailers can also take in-person payments with a Square reader (useful for taking orders at trade fairs, conventions, markets, etc.) There is also a “forever free” plan that allows for five products and a small selection of features.

The big downside is the limited number of product listings. The basic plan only allows for twenty-five products, and the premium $29.99/month plan has a maximum of three hundred products. What’s more product options (such as different colors or sizes) are only available on the higher-level plans.

How much does Wix Stores cost?

Rated 4.5/5 for Pricing

Wix is very competitive on price. The basic plan costs $20/month and includes access to the online store builder, shopping cart with multiple shipping rules, multichannel sales, and Wix payment gateway.

Wix also offers a handful of sweeteners, including a free domain (for one year), ad credit, and professional logo design.

The whole ecommerce feature set is available on all plans. The more expensive plans - “Business Unlimited” and “Business VIP” - provide extra storage and (in the case of the VIP option) first-in-line customer support. If you need more than 50GB of storage, you’ll have to speak to Wix directly.

Wix Stores is our winner for cost

Help and Support

If things go wrong (and they often do) you need to know someone’s there to help get you back on track. So, how does Big Cartel's and Wix Stores's support measure up?

How good is Big Cartel support?

Rated 3.5/5 for Help and Support

Support is available via. email from Monday to Friday between 9 AM and 6 PM EST. While support is only available on workdays in working hours, reports about the quality and speed of support in these times are generally very good. Phone and live chat options are not available.

How good is Wix Stores support?

Rated 3.5/5 for Help and Support

While the quality of support provided by Wix is generally excellent, users only have the option of submitting a support ticket or requesting a callback. No live chat options are available.

English-language support is available 24/7 and support is also offered in a limited number of foreign languages during business hours.

VIP support, which essentially pushes you to the front of the line, is available on the Business VIP plan.

It's a draw!

The Bottom Line

The final say. Let's wrap up our thoughts on each platform.

Big Cartel: Our Verdict

Big Cartel is one of the most interesting and unique ecommerce platforms we’ve reviewed on Stackupp. At first sight, enforcing a limit of 300 listings on the premium plan would seem ridiculous. Serious retailers need unlimited products, right?

But this seemingly arbitrary limit on product listings ties in with Big Cartel;’s core value proposition as a “tight-knit company, built to stay small, independent, and do right by our team and artists for years to come.” The whole package is designed to give small-scale artists a professional, easy-to-use platform that stands head-and-shoulders above other entry-level options like Wix and Weebly.

If you’ve got a limited selection of products but want a beautiful online storefront to showcase them, along with the ability to take in-person orders at craft fairs, then Big Cartel is worth checking out. If, on the other hand, you run a more traditional ecommerce store, you’re better off seeking an alternative solution.

Wix Stores: Our Verdict

One of the big positives about Wix is that it provides all necessary core ecommerce features, including multichannel selling and shipping rules, on all of its plans. You don’t need to sign up to the most expensive package to get the functionality you need.

What’s more, many secondary features are offered. Related product listings, cart abandonment emails, and access to Modalyst dropshipping (to add extra products to your store) are available to all users.

But the standout feature is the drag-and-drop website builder. While there is a slight learning curve, this powerful tool enables you to customize your store without any previous coding experience.

So if you’re looking for a comprehensive solution with a high degree of design freedom, Wix is the way to go.

Overall, we found Wix Stores to be the better ecommerce platform.

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