BigCommerce is a popular eCommerce platform that powers over 60,000 stores across the globe. It is especially popular in countries, such as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia, making it a significant player in the global eCommerce landscape. For eCommerce SaaS providers, connecting with BigCommerce is a top priority, as it offers access to a large and diverse customer base. Generally, the BigCommerce API allows software developers to integrate their solutions with this platform, enabling them to access and manage critical store data, thus providing valuable features for BigCommerce sellers.
In this article, we’ll explore the peculiarities of the BigCommerce API, the challenges of integration development, and how to simplify it using a unified API solution.
What is the BigCommerce API?
The BigCommerce API is a powerful tool that enables eCommerce software providers to integrate with BigCommerce and retrieve essential store data. It allows access to and management of key store entities such as products, orders, customers, inventory, and more. By integrating with BigCommerce through its API, eCommerce SaaS providers can offer valuable features for BigCommerce sellers, including:
- Creating and updating product listings;
- Importing and managing orders by retrieving order details, statuses, and fulfillment updates;
- Synchronizing inventory levels in real-time to prevent overselling;
- Accessing customer information (with proper permissions) for better fulfillment and support.
Key Benefits of BigCommerce API Integration
BigCommerce API integration offers significant advantages for eCommerce SaaS providers, making it a crucial platform to connect with. Some of the key benefits include:
- Access to a large and growing customer base: BigCommerce serves thousands of sellers worldwide, which means that by integrating with BigCommerce, SaaS providers can expand their customer base.
- Enter new markets: BigCommerce is popular in countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. Integrating with BigCommerce API opens doors to these lucrative markets, enabling SaaS providers to tap into a wider audience.
- Increase revenue and profits: By integrating with BigCommerce, SaaS providers can grow their client base, thereby increasing revenue. The more platforms a SaaS solution supports, the higher the potential for new clients and increased profits.
- Competitive advantage: Each new platform that a SaaS solution integrates with puts it ahead of its competitors. BigCommerce API integration ensures that eCommerce SaaS can offer the latest functionality and remain competitive in the market.
While the benefits are clear, integrating with BigCommerce API is not without its challenges.
Challenges of BigCommerce API Integration
There are several challenges involved in integrating with BigCommerce, which can make the process time-consuming, expensive, and complicated:
- Time-consuming: Developing an integration with BigCommerce can take several months, especially if done from scratch. The complexity of the platform’s API and the need for customization can lead to prolonged development timelines.
- Expensive: The costs associated with BigCommerce API integration can run into the thousands of dollars. Developers need to allocate resources to handle the development, testing, and maintenance of the integration.
- Complicated: Each API, including BigCommerce, has a unique logical architecture. Basically, this requires developers to learn and understand the intricacies of BigCommerce’s API to ensure a smooth integration process.
- Frequent API updates: BigCommerce regularly updates its API, which means that eCommerce SaaS providers need to keep up with these changes to maintain the integration. New versions of the API can introduce breaking changes that require additional development efforts.
Thus, while these challenges can seem daunting, there is a better way to simplify the integration process – by using a ready-made solution like API2Cart.
How API2Cart Helps to Develop BigCommerce Integration
API2Cart is a unified API solution that simplifies the integration process with BigCommerce and other eCommerce platforms. Also, API2Cart provides 100+ API methods, allowing software providers to easily get, add, update, and sync store data, such as orders, products, customers, categories, and shipments. This eliminates the need for complex, time-consuming integrations with each platform.
With API2Cart, developers can access a streamlined, robust API that handles the complexities of BigCommerce and other eCommerce platforms. This solution reduces the development time, costs, and ongoing maintenance associated with individual platform integrations.
For example, the product.list method from the API2Cart API allows developers to easily retrieve a list of products from BigCommerce stores.
Here is how the response structure of product.list method for BigCommerce API integration looks like:
{
"return_code": 0,
"return_message": "string",
"pagination": {
"previous": "string",
"next": "string",
"additional_fields": {},
"custom_fields": {}
},
"result": {
"products_count": 0,
"product": [
{
"id": "string",
"type": "string",
"u_model": "string",
"u_sku": "string",
"name": "string",
"description": "string",
"short_description": "string",
"price": 0,
"advanced_price": [
{
"id": "string",
"value": 0,
"avail": true,
"group_id": "string",
"quantity_from": 0,
"start_time": {
"value": "string",
"format": "string",
"additional_fields": {},
"custom_fields": {}
},
"expire_time": {
"value": "string",
"format": "string",
"additional_fields": {},
"custom_fields": {}
},
"additional_fields": {},
"custom_fields": {}
}
],
"cost_price": 0,
"quantity": 0,
"inventory": [
{
"warehouse_id": "string",
"quantity": 0,
"in_stock": true,
"priority": 0,
"additional_fields": {},
"custom_fields": {}
}
],
"group_items": [
{
"child_item_id": "string",
"product_id": "string",
"default_qty_in_pack": "string",
"is_qty_in_pack_fixed": true,
"price": 0,
"additional_fields": {},
"custom_fields": {}
}
],
"u_brand_id": "string",
"u_brand": "string",
"categories_ids": [
"string"
],
"stores_ids": [
"string"
],
"url": "string",
"seo_url": "string",
"meta_title": "string",
"meta_keywords": "string",
"meta_description": "string",
"avail_sale": true,
"avail_view": true,
"is_virtual": true,
"is_downloadable": true,
"weight": 0,
"weight_unit": "string",
"sort_order": 0,
"in_stock": true,
"backorders": "string",
"manage_stock": "string",
"is_stock_managed": true,
"on_sale": true,
"create_at": {
"value": "string",
"format": "string",
"additional_fields": {},
"custom_fields": {}
},
"modified_at": {
"value": "string",
"format": "string",
"additional_fields": {},
"custom_fields": {}
},
"tax_class_id": "string",
"special_price": {
"value": 0,
"avail": true,
"created_at": {
"value": "string",
"format": "string",
"additional_fields": {},
"custom_fields": {}
},
"modified_at": {
"value": "string",
"format": "string",
"additional_fields": {},
"custom_fields": {}
},
"expired_at": {
"value": "string",
"format": "string",
"additional_fields": {},
"custom_fields": {}
},
"additional_fields": {},
"custom_fields": {}
},
"tier_price": [
{
"qty": 0,
"price": 0,
"additional_fields": {},
"custom_fields": {}
}
],
"group_price": [
{
"id": "string",
"group_id": "string",
"price": 0,
"store_id": "string",
"quantity": 0,
"start_time": "string",
"expire_time": "string",
"additional_fields": {},
"custom_fields": {}
}
],
"images": [
{
"id": "string",
"http_path": "string",
"file_name": "string",
"mime-type": "string",
"size": 0,
"create_at": {
"value": "string",
"format": "string",
"additional_fields": {},
"custom_fields": {}
},
"modified_at": {
"value": "string",
"format": "string",
"additional_fields": {},
"custom_fields": {}
},
"alt": "string",
"avail": true,
"sort_order": 0,
"type": "string",
"additional_fields": {},
"custom_fields": {}
}
],
"product_options": [
{
"id": "string",
"product_option_id": "string",
"name": "string",
"description": "string",
"sort_order": 0,
"type": "string",
"required": true,
"available": true,
"used_in_combination": true,
"option_items": [
{
"id": "string",
"product_option_item_id": "string",
"name": "string",
"sort_order": 0,
"price": "string",
"weight": "string",
"quantity": 0,
"type_price": "string",
"sku": "string",
"is_default": true,
"additional_fields": {},
"custom_fields": {}
}
],
"additional_fields": {},
"custom_fields": {}
}
],
"u_upc": "string",
"u_mpn": "string",
"u_gtin": "string",
"u_isbn": "string",
"u_ean": "string",
"related_products_ids": [
"string"
],
"up_sell_products_ids": [
"string"
],
"cross_sell_products_ids": [
"string"
],
"dimensions_unit": "string",
"width": 0,
"height": 0,
"length": 0,
"discounts": [
{
"id": "string",
"name": "string",
"modifier_type": "string",
"value": 0,
"from_time": "string",
"to_time": "string",
"customer_group_ids": "string",
"sort_order": 0,
"additional_fields": {},
"custom_fields": {}
}
],
"additional_fields": {},
"custom_fields": {}
}
],
"additional_fields": {},
"custom_fields": {}
},
"additional_fields": {},
"custom_fields": {}
}
API2Cart makes it easy for developers to integrate their eCommerce solutions with BigCommerce and other platforms without having to manage each API individually. Also, by using API2Cart, SaaS providers can focus on growing their business rather than spending time on technical integrations.
Conclusion
Finally, integrating with the BigCommerce API can unlock significant opportunities for eCommerce SaaS providers, giving them access to a large and growing customer base while enabling them to offer valuable features for BigCommerce sellers. However, the integration process can be complex, time-consuming, and costly. Using a unified API solution like API2Cart can streamline the development process, saving time and reducing costs while ensuring that SaaS providers remain competitive in the ever-evolving eCommerce landscape.
Ready to simplify your BigCommerce integration? Try API2Cart’s 14-day FREE trial today and see how easy it is to integrate with BigCommerce and other platforms!
