BigCommerce Improves App Development Capabilities and Functionality for Third-Party Developers

Rhea-AI Summary

BigCommerce (BIGC) has announced three major enhancements to improve app development capabilities for third-party developers. The initiative includes:

• A redesigned app development portal with more intuitive workflow
• Unified Billing feature allowing developers to use BigCommerce's billing infrastructure
• A new partnership with Gadget.dev providing hosting and API connectivity

The updates aim to streamline the app development process and expand the marketplace's functionality. The Unified Billing system particularly benefits tech partners by eliminating the need to manage separate payment processing systems, allowing developers to focus on product development. Early adopters, including Obundle and Expedite Systems, have reported positive experiences with the implementation, citing simplified recurring payments and comprehensive documentation.

Positive

• Platform enhancement improving app development efficiency
• Streamlined billing process reducing developer overhead
• Potential for marketplace growth and increased app adoption

Negative

• None.

Insights

Platform Ecosystem Analyst

BigCommerce's three-pronged product launch represents a strategic enhancement to its ecosystem development capabilities that could strengthen the company's competitive position in the composable commerce market. The new developer tools address key friction points in the app development lifecycle:

The redesigned development portal and Unified Billing feature directly tackle two critical barriers to entry for third-party developers - technical complexity and revenue management. By offloading billing infrastructure to BigCommerce, developers can allocate more resources to feature development rather than payment processing logistics.

The Gadget.dev partnership further streamlines development by providing ready-made hosting and API connectivity, essentially creating a more efficient on-ramp for new marketplace contributors.

These improvements target a important growth vector for ecommerce platforms - the breadth and quality of their app ecosystems. For investors, the strategic value lies in BigCommerce potentially attracting more developers, expanding marketplace offerings, and generating additional platform revenue through app store commissions.

While not an immediate revenue driver, this infrastructure investment demonstrates BigCommerce's commitment to the platform business model, where ecosystem network effects can create sustainable competitive advantages against both legacy platforms and emerging composable commerce alternatives.

Investment in BigCommerce developer community lowers the barrier to entry for app developers to build and monetize apps within the company’s marketplace

AUSTIN, Texas, March 04, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BigCommerce (Nasdaq: BIGC), a leading provider of open, composable commerce solutions for B2C and B2B brands and retailers, today announced a three-pronged product launch that strengthens the app-building experience for developers, extending the BigCommerce platform’s overall functionality.

This launch includes:

• A redesigned app development portal built for modern app developers and featuring a significantly more intuitive workflow
• Unified Billing, a new feature that allows third-party solution providers to leverage BigCommerce billing infrastructure, making it easier to build and launch apps
• A new partnership with Gadget.dev, a third-party solution that provides out-of-the-box hosting, infrastructure and a built-in connection to BigCommerce APIs
  

"By empowering app developers with a more seamless development experience, we believe this release will have a significant impact on the overall breadth, adoption and app experience in our marketplace," said Troy Cox, chief product officer at BigCommerce. "It further strengthens our commerce platform where businesses can easily plug in and swap out exactly the capabilities they need, empowering both our partners and customers to scale faster and create more compelling customer experiences."

With Unified Billing, tech partners building apps for BigCommerce can now transfer the billing responsibility for their apps over to BigCommerce, eliminating a time-consuming process and empowering them to focus on building new products and feature enhancements.

"Integrating BigCommerce Unified Billing into our BigCommerce apps was a smooth and painless process,” said Corbin Kolehmainen, lead developer at Obundle. “The comprehensive documentation provided clear, step-by-step instructions that guided us through every stage of the implementation, complete with working example queries that can be dropped right into your code. With the seamless API integration and straightforward configurations, we were able to align our billing functionalities with BigCommerce's unified system in no time. It's really nice to not have to worry about building a custom payment processor. Trials and recurring billing are all handled for us automatically, allowing us to focus on delivering value to our customers."

"Unified Billing has allowed us to simplify the recurring payments process for our app,” said Mike Germain, owner of Expedite Systems, which built the InStockNotify app for BigCommerce. “It is an easy-to-implement solution for us and eliminates the hassle of store owners having to maintain payment methods in multiple places to run their store.”

To become a BigCommerce tech partner, click here: https://www.bigcommerce.com/partners/become-a-partner/

About BigCommerce
BigCommerce (Nasdaq: BIGC) is a leading open SaaS and composable ecommerce platform that empowers brands, retailers, manufacturers and distributors of all sizes to build, innovate and grow their businesses online. BigCommerce provides its customers sophisticated professional-grade functionality, customization and performance with simplicity and ease-of-use. Tens of thousands of B2C and B2B companies across 150 countries and numerous industries rely on BigCommerce, including Coldwater Creek, Harvey Nichols, King Arthur Baking Co., MKM Building Supplies, United Aqua Group and Uplift Desk. For more information, please visit www.bigcommerce.com or follow us on X and LinkedIn.

BigCommerce® is a registered trademark of BigCommerce Pty. Ltd. Third-party trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners.

Media Contact:
Brad Hem
pr@bigcommerce.com

FAQ

What are the three new features BigCommerce (BIGC) launched for developers in March 2025?

BigCommerce launched a redesigned app development portal, Unified Billing feature, and a partnership with Gadget.dev for hosting and API connectivity.

How does BigCommerce's new Unified Billing benefit app developers?

Unified Billing allows developers to transfer billing responsibility to BigCommerce, eliminating custom payment processing and automating trials and recurring billing.

What impact will these development improvements have on BigCommerce's marketplace?

The improvements are expected to increase the breadth and adoption of apps in the marketplace, enabling businesses to better scale and enhance customer experiences.

Which companies have already implemented BigCommerce's new Unified Billing system?

Obundle and Expedite Systems (InStockNotify app) have successfully implemented the Unified Billing system.