IDC MarketScape: BigCommerce Named a Headless Commerce Leader for Midmarket and Enterprise

With the ecommerce landscape becoming more competitive each year, brands and retailers must have access to the latest tools to stand out against competitors and successfully scale their businesses. Today, it’s clear that a modernized, composable solution that enables brands to integrate best-in-breed technology is the key to achieving ecommerce growth.

As a pioneer of composable commerce, BigCommerce has been named a Leader in the 2024 IDC MarketScape Midmarket and Enterprise headless commerce platforms vendor assessments.

Further justifying its ranking, Meghan Stabler, Senior Vice President of Marketing at BigCommerce, delves into the report’s rationale, analyzing why BigCommerce’s API-first architecture positions it as the standout choice for both reports.

IDC: The premier source for data-driven ecommerce insights

Global market intelligence agency IDC is known for providing data-driven insights for technical audiences. Its specialized expertise makes it a leading source for knowledge and forecasts designed to inform business decisions in industries such as ecommerce.

“IDC is a specialist firm in technology market intelligence and is widely recognized for its data-driven inputs. IDC is a highly credible go-to for practitioners, IT delivery teams, CIOs, and technology vendors looking for market intelligence and forecasts,” explained Stabler.

With extensive knowledge of the ecommerce industry, IDC has its finger on the pulse of what businesses need to stay resilient and generate future growth. The answer is a robust, composable platform that empowers brands to integrate leading technologies — as highlighted in IDC MarketScape’s headless digital platforms reports.

BigCommerce named a Leader for Midmarket and Enterprise

After evaluating 27 midmarket and 23 enterprise headless digital commerce vendors, BigCommerce was named a Leader in both of IDC's worldwide headless commerce 2024 reports.

A few key strengths that led BigCommerce to outperform competing 2024 headless digital commerce vendors are its developer- and user-friendly interface, Open SaaS ecosystem, and MACH architecture, which empowers users to build an ecommerce site best suited for their business.

“Consider BigCommerce if you are a fast-growing, experience-driven brand looking for a multitenant SaaS headless digital commerce platform. Buyers should consider BigCommerce when business agility, tech agility, and experiences are core differentiation strategies,” stated IDC MarketScape.

The IDC MarketScape Enterprise digital platforms report reinforces that a one-size-fits-all approach to ecommerce is a thing of the past. To foster growth in today’s competitive landscape, brands need a composable, headless platform that gives them the power to integrate cutting-edge technologies so they can deliver the top-tier experience shoppers crave.

Being named a Leader in both the Midmarket and Enterprise reports further validates BigCommerce’s ability to seamlessly support scaling brands — making it the only platform a business could need.

“BigCommerce doesn’t sell a different platform for enterprise and midmarket companies. Having one platform recognized as a Leader for both markets is tremendous and confirms our ability to scale as you grow,” remarked Stabler.

BigCommerce has ample years of experience crafting a world-class composable solution that sets it apart from other ecommerce platforms. With over 4,000 headless implementations, partnerships with top technology companies, and the ability to support any size business or market segment, brands can feel confident hosting on BigCommerce versus competing headless vendors.

“Composable commerce is what we've been building, advancing, and pushing for a number of years now, and it's great to see that work is reflected not only in what the platform does but also in how major brands and retailers are adopting it,” explained Stabler.

The future is composable

Composable commerce is the next frontier of ecommerce and the most effective way to facilitate growth. Coined by Gartner, this type of framework involves building your store with modular components rather than the traditional all-in-one approach.

This MACH-based architecture allows brands the flexibility and openness to create a site that matches their exact business needs, enabling them to incorporate top-of-the-line technologies such as an outside CMS or a custom-built checkout.

Breaking a site’s components into smaller building blocks also allows businesses to see what’s working and what’s not, adjust individual elements rather than the entire site, and easily add new components as their brand grows.

As highlighted in IDC’s headless commerce platforms 2024 assessments, taking advantage of a composable framework is essential to stay competitive in the digital landscape. By choosing an API-first platform, brands have the power to optimize their sites for the customer experience and future growth. This solution can even result in a lower total cost of ownership since you only pay for what you need.

“APIs are the building blocks of software that allow you to innovate, grow, and do something very different. They let you construct applications with both internal and external services, allowing you to build whatever your business needs to succeed,” explained Stabler.

The final word

With consumers holding businesses to higher expectations, brands and retailers face heightened competition — raising the stakes when it comes to the ecommerce platform they host their online store on.

“There is an urgent call to action for brands and retailers to consider what their 2025 looks like because competition is becoming more fierce and consumer expectations have heightened. Businesses need the ability to deliver a fantastic shopping experience,” said Stabler.

As pointed out in the IDC Enterprise headless commerce platforms report, future-proofing your business with a composable platform ensures you can adapt and grow with the constantly changing ecommerce landscape. BigCommerce has penetrated the ecommerce industry for years, positioning itself as a leader in scaling online brands. By choosing BigCommerce, businesses can feel confident knowing their platform can support their growth and enable them to build their ideal online store.

“Brands need to host on a modern commerce platform in order to grow. If their platform doesn't allow them to take a composable API-first approach, they’re not running on a modern commerce platform,” explained Stabler. “BigCommerce is a modern commerce platform. It’s open, extensible, and has connections to today’s best-in-breed solutions that allow you to integrate, test, learn, and grow.”

Download the Midmarket and Enterprise IDC MarketScape headless commerce reports for a more in-depth look at why BigCommerce is this year's Leader.