Retail news that keeps industry pros in the know
Retail Brew delivers the latest retail industry news and insights surrounding marketing, DTC, and e-commerce to keep leaders and decision-makers up to date.
BigCommerce, the e-comm solutions platform, filed for a placeholder $100 million IPO. It plans to list shares on the Nasdaq under the linebacker nickname “BIGC.”
- BigCommerce raised over $200 million in private rounds; a June Bloomberg report valued BigCommerce at around $1 billion.
Is the name accurate? Kind of.
- Around 60,000 stores in 120 countries currently use BigCommerce to host their storefronts, ranging from SMBs to larger B2B retail clients.
- The firm’s emphasis on tools to convert checkouts and lower-than-Shopify prices led it to grow 22% year-over-year in 2019, outpacing total U.S. e-comm growth over the same period.
- Still, by revenue, BigCommerce is currently around 5% of Shopify’s size.
Big picture: You may have heard that e-comm is accelerating during the pandemic. That’s created an ideal environment for BigCommerce to go public—even if it’s still much smaller than its rivals.
My takeaway: BigCommerce’s IPO won’t end the storefronts as a service debate for prospective merchants. But if BIGC can continue to offer lower rates than Shopify while expanding its tool suite, investors may believe the market can sustain several competitors.