News, views and general insights about brands, words and the web.

Take it from our people people

Get in touch

Shopify just dropped Winter Editions 2026, and they're calling it the Renaissance Edition. Bold name—but for once, the hype might actually be justified.

The theme running through this release is clear: less burden for business owners, more sophisticated ways to sell. Not "sophisticated" in the buzzword sense, but as in "you can finally sell everywhere your buyers are actually shopping."

Here are the seven features we're most hyped about, and why they actually matter.

Real products are complicated, and workarounds are exhausting.

A furniture brand needs 6 wood finishes, 12 fabric options, 4 sizes, and left/right configurations. That's just their product. For years, us devs have been coding hacky solutions, and merchants have had to compromise with clunky checkout flows. This update removes one of Shopify's most frustrating constraints and lets complex catalogues exist natively—the way they always should have.

One product page, infinite options—and that's marketing gold.

When customers can explore every option from a single product page, you're concentrating all your SEO juice, ad spend, and social marketing onto one canonical URL. Previously, brands split variants across multiple listings, diluting search rankings and making campaigns a nightmare. Now you get better Google rankings, cleaner analytics, and ad campaigns that actually make sense.

The 2048 variant limit means merchants can use Shopify's native systems. Better performance, easier management, and developers spending time on features that actually move the needle instead of fighting platform limitations.

Test and time your launches with Rollouts

For years, proper split testing meant paying for Convert, Optimizely, or VWO—adding another monthly subscription and another potential point of failure. Rollouts brings native A/B testing into the admin, which means one less vendor to manage and testing that just works.

Anyone who's launched a Black Friday sale at midnight knows the stress—sitting at your laptop at 11:58pm, hovering over the "publish" button. Rollouts lets you schedule that two weeks in advance, preview exactly what goes live, and focus on more important stuff.

Make changes, like launching a new purchase flow, and watch the numbers to know if it’s boosting or reducing conversions. Without a third-party app, it used to be really difficult to know what impact your changes were having. But now you can be brave without being reckless.

You're designing a product page, you realise the price is wrong, you have to leave the theme editor, navigate to Products, find the SKU, update it, go back, refresh, and... you've lost your flow. Being able to edit products, collections, metafields, and markets without leaving the editor means you stay in the zone and get more done.

When a merchant says "can we try this product in that collection instead?"—you used to have to leave the editor, make the change, come back, and refresh. Now you just do it. Live. In front of them. It makes their feedback loop instant, which means better stores, faster.

Having to jump between sections to make one coherent change is draining. Consolidated editing means less clicking around, less confusion, and more "I just want to update my store and get back to running my business."

Secret URLs without the hacky workarounds.

Shopify devs have been jerry-rigging hidden products for years—unpublishing from channels, using weird collection logic, hacking noindex tags into templates. Unlisted status makes this a first-class feature: products are live at their URL but hidden from search, collections, and sitemaps.

Perfect for the stuff you sell, but don't want to advertise.

Warranty extensions, VIP-only items, wholesale catalogues, gift-with-purchase offers, or products you're sharing with specific customers via email. Before, you had to explain why Shopify made this so complicated. Now it's a dropdown.

Replacement parts, custom quote items, bundle components—these clutter the shopping experience but need to exist in your system. Unlisted status lets merchants keep their catalogue organised without creating confusing customer experiences.

The average person has 100+ online accounts—all with their own usernames and passwords. Google and Facebook sign-in using magic links removes that friction entirely. People click, they're in, they're buying.

Native integration means no sketchy third-party apps.

Social login apps have always been a bit janky—another monthly fee, another potential security concern, another thing that might break. Shopify building this natively means it's secure, maintained, and works properly with everything else.

The majority of e-commerce traffic is mobile. And this is where social login becomes especially useful. Tap Google, face ID confirms, you're done. For business owners worried about cart abandonment, this could genuinely move the needle.

This is where shopping is actually happening now.

People are already asking ChatGPT "what's a good gift for my dad who likes camping?" and getting product recommendations. If your products aren't in those conversations, you're invisible to an entire shopping channel.

Instead of building separate connections to ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot, and whatever launches next month, you toggle it on once and Shopify's Catalog API does the rest. For developers, that's less integration work. For merchants, it's "set it and forget it."

You keep the customer relationship (that's huge).

With Agentic Storefronts, you're still the merchant of record, the order flows into your admin, you get proper attribution, and you own the post-purchase relationship. You get the discovery benefits of AI platforms without giving up what makes your business actually valuable.

. And watch this space for more news and updates from the world of dev.

Why Shopify's Renaissance Edition might actually live up to the hype

When October rolls around, we put our out-of-offices on and gather for our annual team retreat. This year, we headed to Rome for four days of core memory-making, S8-style.

The long-timers know the drill. Meet at Mama Shelter, sit down for drinks and dinner, and release the merch. But it’s also about meeting our newest faces in person for the first time. This year saw the welcome return of the Slack stickers. Lovingly made by Alistair, and as hilarious as they are haunting, this latest batch featured all the best team emojis to date—sam-facepalm, simon-sad, biel-chicken, and more.

After breakfast the next day, we got down to business with an all-hands meeting at Mama. Where we're at, where we're headed, and how we're getting there. The kind of big-picture planning that’s more powerful when you're all in the same room. By lunch, we'd mapped out the next chapter and were all feeling super energised about everything to come.

Later that day, we had a masterclass in Roman eating. Fried artichokes and codfish, traditional porchetta sandwiches, and supplì from family-owned eateries—all followed by a sit-down dinner of pizza, double pasta, and several vinos. And to finish? Gelato, obviously. Some went for the classics—chocolate, tiramisu, hazelnut, pistachio. Others went rogue with the locals’ recommendation of ginger, lemon, grapefruit and horseradish. But we all agreed that three hours of restaurant-hopping was one of the best ways to discover the Trastevere neighbourhood.

Afterwards, it was time for drinks at Freni e Frizoni. Part of the World Top 50 Bars, this car-garage-turned-cocktail-bar switches up its menu every 6 months. The current drinks list (FRENI 2.0), celebrates the bar’s 20th birthday by putting a punk twist on the classics. Tickle Pickles, Back to the Piscos, and Mexican Manhattans consumed, it was onwards for questionable shots—or back to Mama to call it a night.

The next day, we were all up bright and early for Gladiator School. Previous alumni include Shakira and Tom Brady—and on the morning’s agenda was a chaotic mash-up of myth-busting, ancient Roman bootcamp training and LARPing. We learned a lot. We laughed even more. And yes, we were entertained.

Scores settled in the arena, we downed foam weapons and headed across the city for our next lesson. Because a visit to Rome isn’t complete without pasta-making. We kneaded, rolled and shaped—and it wasn't long before we’d sat down to another feast, this time, featuring freshly-made bruschetta, two types of pasta and tiramisu.

What came next was an afternoon spent soaking up the sights, visiting the iconic Colosseum, and hitting up more of the city’s gelaterias and pizzerias. And before we knew it, it was time for our last night together—family-style dining and final catch-ups over some street-side cocktails.

As a remote agency, in-person get-togethers are always special. We regroup, we reconnect, and we celebrate all our successes so far. This year, more than ever, we came away feeling even more aligned and armed with a bunch of fresh ideas around how we can really up our game. Shout out to Ellie, Jasmine, and Tiago, who were with us in spirit. And as always, huge thanks to Fran and Mario for always going all in.

S8 Team retreat 2025: Rome

Let’s talk

We moved Somewhere Good from headless to a custom Shopify theme. Here’s what changed and why it matters for your brand.

Headless sounds great in theory: full flexibility, complete control, performance gains. In practice? For most growing brands though, it’s a maze of complexity, maintenance and dependency.

Somewhere Good—a clothing brand known for bold, graphic-led staples crafted from premium materials—learned that the hard way.

“We started out headless—lured by the promise of flexibility and performance—but quickly ran into all the usual pain points: rising dev costs, slow turnaround times.” – Somewhere Good

They came to us stuck in a setup they couldn’t manage. Every small update needed a developer. Nothing moved fast. So we rebuilt their site on Shopify—properly. Custom theme, intuitive tools, zero dev bottlenecks.

Here’s what we fixed, what changed and what to know before you go headless.

When your team can’t touch your site, that’s a problem

Somewhere Good had a sleek frontend. But they couldn’t:

Everything was hard-coded or buried in a CMS. Marketing ideas stalled while they waited on dev availability.

“A site that made simple updates a chore. For a start-up, it was unsustainable.”

We gave them full control—without the code:

App changes that don’t need developer support

Popups targeted by location and Klaviyo list

UK visitor? They see a 20% promo. EU visitor? A shipping update. All set up by the client, not us.

If you’re not a dev-led company, that gets expensive. Fast.

A streamlined Shopify theme. No plugins duct-taped together. No guesswork.

A site that’s easy to manage—and hard to break

Now their team can focus on the experience, not the architecture.

Headless doesn’t guarantee speed—or visibility

Somewhere Good’s headless build looked slick, but behind the scenes:

JavaScript-heavy pages that slowed load time and blocked indexing

Fixing it would’ve meant custom code and long-term dev cost.

Now they’re in control of how the site performs—and how it shows up in search.

If you can’t test apps without code, you’re stuck

They were locked into a single returns provider—not by choice, but because the content couldn’t be changed. Same with popups. Same with policies. Even testing a new tool was a dev project.

“Moving to Shopify and working with S8 has given us reliability, speed and freedom to focus on the business, not the backend.”

It can be. If you’re running multiple channels or serving custom user journeys—it might make sense.

But if what you actually need is control, flexibility and speed—without the technical baggage—Shopify isn’t just easier. It’s smarter. It gives your team the tools to move fast, test ideas and grow on your terms.

Somewhere Good made the switch. Now their site works harder so they don’t have to—with a platform that powers their growth, not their to-do list.

Shopify vs headless: what brands really need to know

As two of the most flexible e-commerce platforms available, Shopify and WordPress offer distinct strengths. We break down their key differences in usability, scalability, pricing and long-term viability with expert insights.

Choosing the best platform for your business

Behind every successful online store is a solid platform. When done right, it powers growth and streamlines day-to-day operations. When done wrong? It leads to mounting complexity, wasted resources and long-term tech debt.

Shopify and WordPress (typically via the WooCommerce plugin) are two of the most popular ecommerce options available. But while Shopify is a dedicated ecommerce platform, WordPress is a content management system that’s been adapted to support selling online. One offers a streamlined, hosted solution built for commerce from the ground up. The other provides total control, but demands time, tech skills, and ongoing maintenance.

So, which is right for your business? Let's break it down.

Shopify vs WordPress: Which platform is more user-friendly?

Shopify is built for businesses that want to launch quickly and manage their store without hiring a development team. The drag-and-drop store builder, pre-designed themes and intuitive admin panel make it accessible to merchants of all sizes. Features like automated updates, built-in hosting and 24/7 customer support mean that technical maintenance is handled for you, allowing businesses to focus on growth. Shopify also includes a growing suite of AI-powered tools like Shopify Magic, designed to help merchants generate product descriptions and automate workflows.

Shopify's user-friendly interface is a major advantage for brands that want to scale fast. The ability to manage everything—from product uploads to order fulfilment—without technical expertise makes Shopify an easy choice for merchants who want to focus on selling, not problem-solving.

WordPress, on the other hand, is a content-first CMS that has been adapted to support ecommerce through WooCommerce. Setting up a WordPress site with ecommerce capabilities requires choosing a hosting provider, installing WordPress and WooCommerce, and configuring various plugins for payments, SEO, security and backups. The flexibility is powerful, but the learning curve can be steep.

While developers appreciate the level of control WordPress offers, non-technical merchants may find the setup and maintenance overwhelming. For these users, Shopify offers a far more approachable experience.

Shopify vs WordPress: Scalability and performance

Setbacks make all the difference when growth is the goal.

Shopify provides enterprise-grade scalability without merchants having to worry about infrastructure management. Shopify Plus, the platform’s enterprise solution, is designed to handle high-volume transactions, peak traffic spikes and global multi-store operations. Shopify’s 99.98% uptime, globally distributed CDN and automatic server scaling ensure that brands can continue growing without infrastructure bottlenecks. Brands like Allbirds and Gymshark have leveraged Shopify to scale rapidly while maintaining sub-two-second page load speeds, which is crucial for conversion rates.

Unlike platforms that require extensive infrastructure upgrades as they scale, Shopify automatically adjusts server resources and optimises performance across its global cloud network. This means brands can launch seasonal campaigns, flash sales and influencer collaborations without worrying about site crashes or checkout failures.

WordPress can scale effectively, but only with a proper technical setup. Performance is heavily influenced by your choice of hosting provider, server configuration, caching plugins and CDN setup. As traffic increases, brands may find themselves investing more in DevOps and performance tuning to maintain acceptable site speed and reliability. Whilst managed scalable infrastructure exists for WordPress, it can be extremely difficult to set up or expensive.

For brands prioritising long-term growth without added complexity, Shopify offers a scalable infrastructure that eliminates the risks associated with performance bottlenecks.

Shopify vs WordPress: Customisation & flexibility

WordPress is designed for simple content management, but brands can extend it with plugins for full control over design and functionality. It allows for custom workflows, rich content publishing tools and complex product configurations through plugins and custom code. However, with this level of flexibility comes complexity—installing new plugins or updating core software can sometimes cause compatibility issues that need developer intervention.

For brands that need fully custom checkout flows, advanced blogging capabilities or industry-specific workflows, WordPress provides a high degree of freedom. But this freedom comes at a cost—updates to custom-built features often require extensive testing, and maintaining integrations requires ongoing development resources.

Shopify takes a structured approach to flexibility. Through Liquid templating and Shopify Functions, brands can customise their store’s front-end and business logic without modifying the platform’s core.

For 90% of businesses, Shopify offers all the flexibility needed without the overhead of managing custom code, server security or software updates. Brands that require extreme customisation may still prefer WordPress, but Shopify provides a strong middle ground for brands that want to move fast.

Because hidden costs can make 'free' more expensive.

WordPress and WooCommerce (the most popular ecommerce plugin to pair with) are free to install, but 

the real costs lie in hosting, development and ongoing maintenance

. Expenses include premium themes and plugins, security tools, performance optimisation and developer retainers. Depending on your setup, total costs can easily exceed those of a hosted solution.

Running a WordPress store means investing in reliable hosting, managing security updates and allocating resources for technical support. Brands that aren’t prepared for these costs often struggle with downtime, plugin conflicts and unexpected compatibility issues when upgrading.

Shopify follows a predictable pricing model.

 Standard plans range from $29 to $299 per month, with Shopify Plus starting at $2k+ per month. Shopify’s hosted infrastructure means brands don’t need to invest in server maintenance, security patches or performance tuning, significantly reducing long-term costs.

For growing businesses that need cost predictability, Shopify provides a lower total cost of ownership than WordPress while eliminating unexpected expenses related to hosting, development and software maintenance.

Shopify vs WordPress: Which has better apps and plugins?

The right tools give your store a competitive edge.

Shopify provides access to over 12,000 apps that extend store functionality. The Shopify App Store is carefully curated, ensuring that third-party solutions meet high standards for security, usability and effectiveness. These apps cover everything from advanced SEO optimisation and AI-driven customer engagement to subscription management and logistics automation. Shopify also natively integrates with Meta, Google, TikTok, Amazon and Klaviyo, making omnichannel selling seamless and scalable.

. This ecosystem offers extensive functionality, but plugin quality and compatibility vary widely. Many e-commerce-specific plugins require careful vetting, configuration and ongoing support. While WooCommerce supports a broad range of integrations, setting them up often requires developer involvement, especially for more complex workflows.

Shopify vs WordPress: Global selling and shipping

simplifies logistics with Shopify Shipping

, which offers discounted carrier rates, real-time tracking and seamless label printing. Its multi-location inventory system allows merchants to track stock across warehouses and stores, reducing overselling and fulfilment delays. For international selling, Shopify Markets enables brands to manage currency conversions, taxes and region-specific checkout experiences, making cross-border commerce straightforward.

WordPress offers robust inventory and shipping tools through WooCommerce extensions; however, they rely heavily on third-party plugins. While WordPress supports multi-site architecture, enabling businesses to create separate storefronts per region, setting up localisation features like unique pricing and tax compliance requires additional configuration and support. Compared to Shopify’s built-in global selling capabilities, WordPress demands more technical oversight to manage international operations effectively.

Which platform turns more clicks into customers?

Shopify includes built-in SEO tools, automated email marketing integrations and seamless connections to advertising platforms like Google Ads and TikTok. Shopify’s marketing ecosystem allows brands to launch targeted campaigns, track customer behaviour and optimise conversions with minimal technical setup.

A strong example of Shopify’s marketing power is its abandoned cart recovery feature. 

Klaviyo’s dataset on abandoned cart emails reports an average open rate of 41.18%, a 9.50% click rate, and a revenue per recipient of $5.81

, demonstrating the effectiveness of automated follow-ups in converting lost sales. By leveraging Shopify’s email automation and customer engagement tools, merchants can recapture revenue with minimal effort.

WordPress supports advanced marketing strategies but relies on third-party extensions for SEO, email marketing and analytics. While WordPress allows for deeper campaign customisation, merchants must manually install and configure tools like Google Tag Manager, email automation platforms and affiliate tracking software. Unlike Shopify, where these tools integrate natively, WordPress users often require development support to implement advanced marketing automation.

It should be effortless, but some platforms make you work for it.

Shopify provides fully managed security with PCI DSS Level 1 compliance, fraud detection tools and automatic security patches. Because Shopify hosts all stores on its own secure cloud infrastructure, merchants don’t have to worry about managing SSL certificates, applying security updates or protecting against DDoS attacks. Shopify’s fraud protection algorithms help merchants identify high-risk transactions, reducing the chances of chargebacks and payment fraud.

With proper protection, configuration and attention, WordPress can be secure, but merchants are responsible for their own security updates, server protections and compliance measures. Since WordPress is self-hosted, merchants are responsible for securing their environment, including regular updates and monitoring for vulnerabilities. Installing third-party plugins or failing to update plugins and WordPress core can expose stores to potential exploits. Businesses running WordPress need dedicated IT support or a managed hosting provider to maintain security at the same level as Shopify.

Shopify vs WordPress: Which do experts recommend?

When it comes to expert recommendations, Shopify consistently ranks as the best choice for most businesses due to its ease of use, scalability, and comprehensive ecosystem.

"Shopify is the best all-around e-commerce platform on the market today, offering a balance of usability, customization, and affordability that makes it ideal for businesses of all sizes."

TechRadar highlights Shopify’s user-friendliness and vast app ecosystem, stating that 

"Shopify’s intuitive design and extensive integrations make it a leading choice for merchants looking for a hassle-free way to launch and scale an online store."

On the other hand, WordPress is still widely praised for its blogging capabilities and developer flexibility. It remains a viable option for content-first businesses or brands with unique technical needs and in-house expertise.

In independent user and business ratings, G2 ranks Shopify as the leading ecommerce platform, citing its reliability, extensive app ecosystem, and strong customer support, whereas WordPress often ranks lower for e-commerce-specific features.

It’s faster to launch, easier to manage and more cost-effective than WordPress—without sacrificing scalability or flexibility. Shopify empowers brands to focus on growth, not platform maintenance.

Shopify

Wordpress (WooCommerce)

"WordPress is very popular for a reason, with huge flexibility making it a jack of all trades. For our e-commerce sites, however, we prefer Shopify, as it focuses on mastering e-commerce and making it as easy as possible for you to manage your store, products, and orders. Using Shopify allows you and our development team to focus on enhancing the website itself instead of hosting, infrastructure, plugin compatibility, and security."

– Alistair Shepherd, Head of Development at Series Eight

Most Shopify migrations are completed using a mix of third-party tools and developer support to ensure accurate transfer of customer data, order history, product catalogues, SEO settings, and site structure are transferred accurately so businesses can switch platforms without disruption. Shopify’s automated solutions help preserve your store’s structure, including product variants, collections, and customer profiles, so nothing gets lost in the transition.

At Series Eight, we ensure a smooth transition by focusing on data integrity, storefront optimisation, and seamless integration with Shopify’s native tools and apps. Our expertise ensures your new store is not only functional from day one but also optimised for long-term growth. We replace previously custom-built WordPress features, eliminating unnecessary development and reducing long-term costs. Shopify’s extensive app ecosystem replaces the need for complex, hard-coded solutions, allowing businesses to scale efficiently without ongoing developer intervention.

A successful migration isn’t just about moving data—it’s about ensuring your Shopify store is optimised for performance, usability, and growth. We ensure that previously custom workflows, integrations, and checkout experiences are translated effectively within Shopify’s framework.

Our team ensures your Shopify store isn’t just a replica of your old WordPress site—it’s an upgrade. We optimise for better efficiency, improved user experience, and long-term scalability, so you’re not just migrating—you’re future-proofing your business. Replatforming is more than just moving data—it’s an opportunity to streamline operations, improve site performance, and reduce long-term costs. Shopify ensures that brands migrating from WordPress can focus on growth, not platform maintenance.

Shopify vs WordPress: choosing the right e-commerce platform for growth

Shopify and BigCommerce both promise scalability and performance, but how do they actually compare? We explore key differences in user experience, pricing, flexibility and growth potential to help you make the right call.

Your e-commerce platform does more than process transactions—it shapes how you scale, how efficiently you operate and how easily you grow. Choose well, and you get speed, stability and flexibility. Choose poorly, and you could face mounting development costs and roadblocks that slow you down.

Shopify and BigCommerce are two of the biggest names in e-commerce, but they cater to slightly different needs. One is known for its polished, plug-and-play experience. The other builds more native functionality into its core product, often appealing to merchants who want more built-in power without relying on apps.

Shopify vs BigCommerce: Which platform is more user-friendly?

Shopify is built for businesses that want to 

launch quickly—36% faster than BigCommerce on average

—and manage their store without hiring a development team. The drag-and-drop store builder, pre-designed themes and intuitive admin panel make it accessible to merchants of all sizes. Features like automated updates, built-in hosting and 24/7 customer support mean that technical maintenance is handled for you, allowing businesses to focus on growth.

Shopify’s ecosystem also includes an expanding range of AI-powered tools, such as Shopify Magic, which helps merchants generate product descriptions and automate workflows.

BigCommerce is also a hosted platform with an intuitive dashboard, but it leans slightly more technical. Its feature-rich interface gives you more control but at the cost of a steeper learning curve. There are more options built into the platform by default, which is powerful—but can also be overwhelming for new users or those without technical expertise.

For most businesses, Shopify’s user-friendly interface makes store management easier and faster while still offering flexibility when needed.

Shopify vs BigCommerce: Scalability and performance

Shopify provides enterprise-grade scalability without merchants having to worry about infrastructure management. Shopify Plus, the platform’s enterprise solution, is designed to handle high-volume transactions, peak traffic spikes and global multi-store operations. Shopify’s 

, globally distributed CDN and automatic server scaling ensure that brands can continue growing without infrastructure bottlenecks. Businesses like Allbirds and Gymshark have leveraged Shopify to scale rapidly while maintaining sub-two-second page load speeds, which is crucial for conversion rates.

BigCommerce also scales effectively and is built on Google Cloud infrastructure. Its native multi-storefront functionality, strong API capabilities and support for internationalisation make it a strong contender for businesses looking to grow. However, it may require more manual configuration to match Shopify's automation and load optimisation.

Shopify vs BigCommerce: Customisation & flexibility

BigCommerce provides advanced built-in functionality out of the box—from faceted search to flexible discounting logic and user roles. For businesses with specific operational requirements, these built-ins reduce reliance on third-party apps and simplify complex configurations. However, to get the most out of the platform, brands will still need developer support, especially when working with BigCommerce’s headless framework or APIs.

For example, a B2B retailer looking to support complex pricing structures or customer-specific catalogues may benefit from BigCommerce's robust native functionality. However, building these workflows still requires technical input, especially if you want to integrate external systems or build custom checkout logic.

Shopify takes a structured approach to flexibility. Through Liquid templating and Shopify Functions, brands can customise their store’s front-end and business logic without modifying the platform’s core. Shopify’s headless commerce capabilities allow businesses to create unique storefronts while benefiting from Shopify’s security and scalability.

For most businesses, Shopify offers all the flexibility needed without the overhead of managing server-side code or complex integrations. Brands that require deeply tailored backend functionality may lean toward BigCommerce, but Shopify provides a strong middle ground for brands that want to move fast.

BigCommerce offers plans starting from $39/month and does not charge additional transaction fees when using third-party payment gateways. This can make it an attractive option for merchants who don’t want to be locked into a proprietary payment system.

However, BigCommerce enforces revenue-based plan upgrades—

automatically moving merchants to higher-tier plans once they exceed $50k/year for Standard and $180k/year for Plus

—which can lead to unpredictable costs for fast-growing brands.

Shopify follows a predictable pricing model. Standard plans range from $29 to $299 per month, with Shopify Plus starting at $2k+ per month. While Shopify charges transaction fees if you don’t use Shopify Payments, its flat-tier pricing and growing built-in toolset keep overall costs transparent and manageable.

For growing businesses that need cost predictability, Shopify provides a lower total cost of ownership in the long run, with 

Shopify vs BigCommerce: Which has better apps and plugins?

BigCommerce offers a smaller app marketplace, with around 1,200 apps. Many core integrations are supported, including Mailchimp, Google Shopping and Meta, but the ecosystem is less mature than Shopify’s. You may need to work more closely with developers or third-party providers to achieve similar outcomes.

Shopify’s extensive app ecosystem and native integrations give it the edge for businesses that want to scale quickly without relying on custom-built solutions.

Shopify vs BigCommerce: Global selling and shipping

Shopify simplifies logistics with Shopify Shipping, which offers discounted carrier rates, real-time tracking and seamless label printing. Its multi-location inventory system allows merchants to track stock across warehouses and stores, reducing overselling and fulfilment delays. For international selling, Shopify Markets enables brands to manage currency conversions, taxes and region-specific checkout experiences, making cross-border commerce straightforward.

BigCommerce also supports multi-currency, international domains and regional settings. Its multi-storefront architecture enables regional targeting and B2B setups from one account. However, configuring these options typically requires more setup time and greater technical input.

Compared to Shopify’s built-in global selling capabilities, BigCommerce demands more oversight to manage international operations effectively.

Shopify vs BigCommerce: Marketing features

Shopify stores achieve a 12% higher conversion rate

BigCommerce offers similar capabilities but relies more heavily on external marketing tools for email automation, analytics and CRM. While it integrates well with platforms like HubSpot and Google Tag Manager, merchants often need more configuration to get everything working in harmony.

Shopify provides a more integrated experience that makes it easier to launch, manage and optimise marketing efforts from day one.

BigCommerce is also secure, but merchants are responsible for more aspects of security, including certain updates, third-party software patches and integration monitoring. While the platform meets PCI standards and supports SSL, the merchant retains more control—meaning more responsibility. Businesses that lack a dedicated IT or DevOps team may find these requirements challenging.

For merchants who want to trust that their platform has security covered without extra input, Shopify is the more streamlined and hands-off option.

Shopify vs BigCommerce: Which do experts recommend?

 notes that BigCommerce is "a powerful e-commerce platform with strong inventory options, many themes, and zero fees from third-party payment gateways." However, they also mention that it "lacks Shopify's integrated point-of-sale software and Wix Stores' dashboard simplicity." ​

Industry analyses suggest that while BigCommerce offers robust features suitable for businesses with specific needs, Shopify's ease of use and comprehensive ecosystem make it the preferred choice for a wide range of businesses seeking a scalable and user-friendly e-commerce solution.

After years of working with brands at every stage of their e-commerce journey, we’ve seen firsthand the difference Shopify makes. It’s faster to launch, easier to manage and more cost-effective than BigCommerce—without sacrificing scalability or flexibility. Shopify empowers brands to focus on growth, not platform maintenance.

BigCommerce

Shopify’s migration tools ensure that customer data, order history, product catalogues, SEO settings, and site structure are transferred accurately so businesses can switch platforms without disruption. Shopify’s automated solutions help preserve your store’s structure, including product variants, collections, and customer profiles, so nothing gets lost in the transition.

At Series Eight, we ensure a smooth transition by focusing on data integrity, storefront optimisation, and seamless integration with Shopify’s native tools and apps. Our expertise ensures your new store is not only functional from day one but also optimised for long-term growth. We replace previously custom-built features, eliminating unnecessary development and reducing long-term costs.

A successful migration isn’t just about moving data—it’s about ensuring your Shopify store is optimised for performance, usability and growth. We ensure that custom workflows, integrations and checkout experiences are translated effectively within Shopify’s framework.

We’ve seen first-hand how migrating from BigCommerce to Shopify can streamline operations, improve performance and reduce technical overhead. By replacing custom legacy workflows with Shopify-native tools and integrations, brands are able to simplify campaign management and reduce long-term development costs.

Our team ensures your Shopify store isn’t just a replica of your old BigCommerce site—it’s an upgrade. We optimise for better efficiency, improved user experience and long-term scalability, so you’re not just migrating—you’re future-proofing your business.


Shopify vs BigCommerce: choosing the right e-commerce platform for growth

Your website design isn't just about a pretty interface—it's a crucial conversion driver, and common mistakes within it can silently sabotage your sales and growth. Let's dive into how to fix them.

Mistake #1: No clear hierarchy on the homepage

The homepage feels noisy - every block is fighting for attention. There’s no clear structure, resulting in users not knowing where to focus.

If the message isn’t clear in the first 5-8 seconds, people leave. In fact, visitors can form a first impression in as little as 0.05 seconds (50 milliseconds!). 

Use a clear visual hierarchy by sizing your headline 2-3x larger than body text, limit each section to one key message, and group related elements with consistent padding to naturally lead users from intro to CTA.

Some menus have too many items, unclear labels, or they hide important pages in dropdowns or way down the list.

People get lost or frustrated and leave before they even find what they’re looking for.

Limit your primary navigation to 5-7 clear items, use familiar terms your audience expects (like “Pricing” or “Contact”), and check your analytics and heatmaps to understand what users are actually clicking..

CTAs like “Learn more” don’t say much. Sometimes they’re positioned too low on the page or missing completely in key places.

If you don’t tell users what to do next — clearly and confidently — most of them won’t do anything.

Use clear, specific copy like “Get your free demo” or “Sign up for 20% off”. Make the CTA stand out visually and test different positions depending on the device or page.

The site looks good on desktop, but it breaks on mobile. Text is too small, images go off-screen, and buttons are hard to tap…

Most users are on mobile. If it doesn’t work well, they’ll leave instantly.

Design with mobile in mind from the start. Make sure layouts adapt well, buttons are easy to tap, and things load fast. Also, test it on real devices, not just Figma previews.

Some forms ask for way too much info. Everything is in one long list with no help or structure. It feels heavy.

Take it from our people people

Why Shopify's Renaissance Edition might actually live up to the hype

S8 Team retreat 2025: Rome

Shopify vs headless: what brands really need to know

Shopify vs WordPress: choosing the right e-commerce platform for growth

Shopify vs BigCommerce: choosing the right e-commerce platform for growth

5 Web design mistakes killing your conversions

Meet the S8 Studios crew

Shopify vs Magento: choosing the right e-commerce platform for growth

Welcome to S8 Studios

The secret to effortless subscriptions

The power of connection: Why community management matters

A sit down with the S8 longtimers

Let us take you further than you’ve ever been

Take it from our people people

Why Shopify's Renaissance Edition might actually live up to the hype

S8 Team retreat 2025: Rome

Shopify vs headless: what brands really need to know

Shopify vs WordPress: choosing the right e-commerce platform for growth

Shopify vs BigCommerce: choosing the right e-commerce platform for growth

5 Web design mistakes killing your conversions

Meet the S8 Studios crew

Shopify vs Magento: choosing the right e-commerce platform for growth

Welcome to S8 Studios

The secret to effortless subscriptions

The power of connection: Why community management matters

A sit down with the S8 longtimers

Let us take you further than you’ve ever been SCHEDULE A CALL

Let us take you further than you’ve ever been