One of BigCommerce’s greatest strengths is its app ecosystem. With hundreds of apps available in the BigCommerce App Marketplace, merchants can extend their store’s functionality without custom development — adding capabilities for marketing, operations, customer experience, analytics, and more.
But with so many options, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Which apps actually deliver value? Which ones are worth the monthly fee? And how do you avoid the dreaded “app bloat” that slows down your site and complicates your tech stack?
In this curated guide, we’ll highlight the top BigCommerce apps across key categories, explain what to look for when evaluating apps, and share best practices for managing your app ecosystem.
Why Apps Matter
Apps extend BigCommerce’s native capabilities in ways that would otherwise require custom development. A well-chosen app can:
- Save Development Costs – Why build something custom when a proven, maintained app already does it?
- Accelerate Time to Value – Apps can be installed and configured in hours, not weeks.
- Provide Ongoing Maintenance – The app developer handles updates, bug fixes, and compatibility testing.
- Offer Best-in-Class Functionality – App developers specialise in their domain (email marketing, reviews, shipping, etc.) and build features that a generalist developer might not think of.
Category 1: Email Marketing and Automation
Klaviyo
Klaviyo is the undisputed leader in e-commerce email and SMS marketing. Its deep BigCommerce integration syncs customer data, order history, browsing behaviour, and product catalogue data — enabling highly personalised automated flows.
Key features:
- Abandoned cart recovery emails and SMS
- Post-purchase follow-up sequences
- Win-back campaigns for lapsed customers
- Product recommendation emails based on purchase history
- Advanced segmentation and predictive analytics
- Revenue attribution for every email and SMS campaign
Why It’s Essential: Email marketing typically generates 36–42 for every $1 spent. Klaviyo makes it easy to capture this ROI through automation and personalisation.
Omnisend
A strong alternative to Klaviyo, Omnisend offers email, SMS, and push notification capabilities in one platform. It’s particularly popular with smaller merchants due to its free tier and user-friendly interface.
Category 2: Reviews and Social Proof
Yotpo
Yotpo is a comprehensive platform for reviews, ratings, visual UGC (user-generated content), loyalty programs, and referral programs. Its BigCommerce integration displays reviews on product pages, collects reviews via post-purchase emails, and syndicates reviews to Google Shopping.
Judge.me
A more affordable alternative, Judge.me provides robust review collection and display features at a fraction of Yotpo’s cost. It supports photo and video reviews, in-email review forms, and Google Rich Snippets.
Why Reviews Matter: 93% of consumers say online reviews influence their purchase decisions. Displaying authentic reviews builds trust and increases conversion rates.
Category 3: SEO and Content
Ahrefs (or SEMrush)
While not BigCommerce-specific apps, Ahrefs and SEMrush are essential tools for any e-commerce SEO strategy. They help with keyword research, competitor analysis, backlink monitoring, and technical SEO audits.
Schema App
Schema App helps you implement structured data (schema.org markup) on your BigCommerce store, improving how your products appear in Google search results (rich snippets with prices, ratings, availability).
Why SEO Matters: Organic search drives 30-40% of e-commerce traffic for most stores. Investing in SEO tools pays dividends through sustainable, free traffic.
Category 4: Shipping and Fulfilment
ShipStation
ShipStation is the most popular shipping solution for BigCommerce merchants. It aggregates orders from multiple channels, compares carrier rates, prints labels, and sends tracking information back to BigCommerce.
Key features:
- Multi-carrier rate comparison (USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL, and more)
- Automated shipping rules (assign carriers based on weight, destination, or value)
- Batch label printing
- Branded tracking pages and notifications
- Returns management
ShipBob
For merchants who want to outsource fulfilment entirely, ShipBob provides a network of fulfilment centres with BigCommerce integration. You send inventory to ShipBob’s warehouses, and they handle picking, packing, and shipping.
Category 5: Conversion Optimisation
Justuno
Justuno provides pop-ups, banners, and on-site messaging that capture email addresses, promote sales, and reduce cart abandonment. Its AI-powered product recommendations and exit-intent technology are particularly effective.
Privy
Similar to Justuno, Privy focuses on email capture, cart abandonment, and cross-sell messaging. Its simplicity makes it a great choice for merchants who want quick results without complex configuration.
Lucky Orange
Lucky Orange provides heatmaps, session recordings, and surveys that show you exactly how visitors interact with your store. This data is invaluable for identifying UX issues and optimisation opportunities.
Category 6: Payments and Financing
PayPal
BigCommerce’s native PayPal integration supports PayPal Checkout, PayPal Credit, and Venmo — covering a significant percentage of online shoppers who prefer PayPal.
Afterpay / Klarna / Sezzle
Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) solutions allow customers to split purchases into interest-free instalments. These apps have been shown to increase average order value by 20-30% and improve conversion rates.
Category 7: Customer Support
Gorgias
Gorgias is a helpdesk built specifically for e-commerce. It centralises customer inquiries from email, chat, social media, and phone — and integrates deeply with BigCommerce to display order information, process refunds, and modify orders directly from the helpdesk interface.
Tidio
Tidio provides live chat, chatbots, and email marketing in one platform. Its chatbot builder is particularly useful for automating common customer queries (order status, shipping policies, returns).
Category 8: Analytics and Reporting
Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
While not a BigCommerce app per se, setting up GA4 correctly on your BigCommerce store is essential for understanding traffic sources, user behaviour, and conversion funnels. BigCommerce offers built-in GA4 integration.
Glew
Glew is an e-commerce analytics platform that connects to BigCommerce and other data sources to provide unified reporting on customers, products, channels, and marketing performance. Its automated reports and dashboards save hours of manual analysis.
Category 9: Loyalty and Rewards
Smile.io
Smile.io allows you to create a branded loyalty program with points, VIP tiers, and referral rewards. Customers earn points for purchases, social shares, reviews, and referrals — then redeem points for discounts.
LoyaltyLion
A more enterprise-focused loyalty platform, LoyaltyLion offers advanced segmentation, custom reward rules, and integrations with email marketing and review platforms.
Category 10: ERP and Back-Office Integration
Celigo
Celigo is the leading integration platform for connecting BigCommerce with NetSuite, Salesforce, and other back-office systems. Its pre-built BigCommerce-NetSuite connector handles orders, inventory, customers, fulfilment, and financial data synchronisation.
Breadwinner
For businesses using Salesforce as their CRM, Breadwinner syncs BigCommerce orders, customers, and products into Salesforce for a unified view of the customer.
Why ERP Integration Is Critical: Without ERP integration, order processing, inventory management, and financial reporting require manual effort that doesn’t scale. For businesses running NetSuite, a BigCommerce NetSuite integration automates data flow and eliminates the operational bottleneck.
How to Evaluate BigCommerce Apps
Before installing any app, consider:
- Reviews and Ratings – Check the app’s reviews in the BigCommerce marketplace. Look for patterns in positive and negative feedback.
- Feature Fit – Does the app effectively address your particular need or solve the problem you’re trying to fix? Avoid installing apps with features you don’t need.
- Performance Impact – Some apps add JavaScript that slows page load. Check your website performance both before installing the app and again after it has been added.
- Pricing – Understand the pricing model (flat fee, usage-based, percentage of revenue). Calculate the total annual cost.
- Support Quality – How responsive is the app developer’s support team? Check reviews for support-related feedback.
- Integration Compatibility – Does the app work well with your other tools (email platform, ERP, CRM)?
- Data Privacy – What data does the app access? Is it compliant with GDPR, CCPA, and other privacy regulations?
Avoiding App Bloat
It’s tempting to install every app that looks promising, but app bloat is real:
- Performance Degradation – Each app may add scripts, stylesheets, and API calls that slow your site.
- Complexity – Managing dozens of apps with different admin interfaces, billing cycles, and support contacts is time-consuming.
- Conflicts – Apps can conflict with each other, causing unexpected behaviour.
- Cost Creep – Small monthly fees add up quickly. A dozen apps at 50/month, $7,200/year.
Best Practice: Audit your installed apps quarterly. Remove any that you’re not actively using or that aren’t delivering measurable value.
Conclusion
The right BigCommerce apps can dramatically enhance your store’s functionality, customer experience, and operational efficiency. By carefully evaluating apps across key categories, monitoring their performance impact, and avoiding unnecessary bloat, you can build a lean, powerful tech stack that supports your growth.
At Anchor Group, we help BigCommerce merchants select, implement, and integrate the apps that matter most for their business. Whether you need help choosing a review platform, setting up an email marketing automation, or integrating your store with NetSuite, we’re here to help.
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