BigCommerce Partner Summit 2022

Igniting Growth & The Future of eCommerce

The 2022 BigCommerce Partner Summit returned bigger and better than ever, cultivating a massively successful event. 

Hosted in London’s critically-acclaimed venue, Kings Place, the event buzzed with well over 400 agency and technology partners, all eager to engage, learn and converse about all things eCommerce.

As the leading BigCommerce agency, its annual Partner Summit is always an important day for us.  It’s the day we get to meet with our key partners, align strategies and ensure we’re all on the same page when it comes to delivering for our merchants. 

It’s also the day we get to jump up and dance along to bhangra music but that’s another story…

Before Vice President of Strategic Partnerships, Deepak Anand took to the stage as host (in his usual rockstar fashion – hint – there were bhangra drums) a booming voice delivered an impassioned message. 

“Stay hungry, stay foolish, follow your dream & love what you do”

If I could share the overwhelming feeling at this year’s BigCommerce Partner Summit, it was passion.  Passion for the tech, for partners and most importantly for our merchants. CEO Brent Bellm made it clear that the objective of the summit was to always be “open and transparent” with the vision and the strategy and how we as partners can maximise the results for our merchants by using the platform and by working alongside BigCommerce. 

The Biggest Takeaways

Open Commerce 

BigCommerce (and 5874 Commerce) truly believes in “open commerce”, in offering flexibility to merchants and working with technology partners rather than trying to own everything themselves. This is in stark contrast with the platform’s main competition including Shopify for example, who get 70% of their revenue from their payments gateway.  That all sounds great but what if your merchant needs something different?  Brent Bellm made it clear that choice is the most important thing and that’s why BigCommerce is the world’s best open saas platform. This means the partner ecosystem needs to include the leaders in order to achieve the best integrations. Omnichannel is not an option, it’s imperative. 

Future of eCommerce 

It didn’t go unmentioned that we’re in a cost of living crisis and while BigCommerce isn’t taking anything for granted, they’re still in a strong position.  Jim Herbert advised that recessions can lead to some of the most successful times and provide real opportunities, but of course, world events do have an impact and we have to work with it. The important thing to note is BigCommerce, agencies like 5874 and some of our other tech partners will stand the test of time because we’ve put in the ground work.  Our positions are stable and our merchants are no. 1 and the future of ecommerce is now. 

Humanity of eCommerce

The people behind the technology are key to all our businesses and BigCommerce is no different.  We watched a powerful video made by the BigCommerce team in Ukraine which brought home just how extraordinary the team there is.  The platform’s multi-storefront was literally built in bunkers surrounded by explosions.  So while it can be difficult to know what to do to help, BigCommerce are spreading awareness and have created the Stand with Ukraine app which injects a customisable floating widget linking directly to the donation page of a vetted charity.

Feedonomics Opportunity 

Now that Feedonomics has been acquired by BigCommerce, the platform can combine its best-in-class product optimisation and syndication platform and full-service solutions, which will create the most powerful platform for omnichannel eCommerce.  It’s clear this acquisition will lead to big things and we’re 100% here for all of it! 

Wrapping up, it’s pretty clear that BigCommerce can put on an incredibly impassioned and inspiring summit and there’s many opportunities and paths for eCommerce businesses to take to ensure future success. Here’s to another great year of growth!