Service · BigCommerce Development
Bespoke BigCommerce Web Development for UK Brands
Custom BigCommerce storefronts for UK brands, built on Stencil by a senior team. No bloated theme forks, no app-glue holding the cart together. Performance tuned to Core Web Vitals before launch, native SEO structure preserved, integrations sized to your operation. Free scoping call and a fixed-price quote within 48 hours.
What we do
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Stencil-native theme work
We build BigCommerce themes in Stencil the way the platform expects: Handlebars templates, SCSS, a properly bundled JS layer. No bolting a third-party page builder on top, no forked themes nobody can maintain. Your team gets clean theme code your next developer can actually read, plus the Page Builder regions merchandisers need to run promotions without raising a ticket.
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Catalyst headless when it earns its keep
When a classic Stencil build will not stretch far enough, we ship headless on Catalyst, BigCommerce's Next.js framework. Faster page transitions, full design freedom, GraphQL Storefront API on the back end. We only recommend it when the commercial case is real, not because headless sounds impressive on a slide.
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Multi-storefront for cross-border UK brands
BigCommerce's Multi-Storefront lets you run one catalog across several storefronts: UK, EU, B2B, wholesale. We architect the channels, price lists, customer groups and currency handling so a UK brand selling into Ireland, Germany or the US is not maintaining three duplicate stores by hand.
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Core Web Vitals and native SEO
BigCommerce ships strong SEO foundations out of the box: server-rendered HTML, clean URLs, native canonicals, sitemap, schema hooks. We tune the theme to hit Lighthouse 95+ on key templates and keep LCP under 2.5s, CLS under 0.1, INP under 200ms. Paired with our /services/bigcommerce-seo/ work if you want both.
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B2B features and Open Checkout
BigCommerce B2B Edition gives you Quotes, Buyer Portal, Customer Groups and Company Accounts as standard, not as a paid app. Where you need full control of the checkout flow itself, Open Checkout lets us rewrite it end to end. Useful for brands with non-standard payment, tax or finance journeys.
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You own the theme
Code lives in your BigCommerce account and in a Git repository you own. No license keys held hostage, no agency lock-in. If you decide to take the build in-house or move to a different partner in two years, you can. We hand over the Stencil theme, the docs, the deployment scripts, and a recorded walkthrough.
How a BigCommerce build with us actually runs
Fixed price, fixed scope, fixed timeline. Most BigCommerce builds we deliver run 6 to 9 weeks from kickoff to launch, depending on integrations and migration complexity.
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Scoping call
A 45-minute call where we work out what you actually need: classic Stencil or Catalyst headless, single store or multi-storefront, B2B or DTC, which integrations matter, where the current site or platform is hurting. You leave the call with a clear recommendation, not a sales pitch.
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Brief and information architecture
Within 48 hours of the call you get a written brief, a fixed-price quote, and a proposed sitemap and template list. We map catalog structure, customer groups, price lists and channels up front so the data model is right before a single template gets coded.
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Design and build
Design in Figma against your brand, sign-off page by page, then Stencil theme development in a connected staging store. You see progress weekly on a real BigCommerce environment, not a static mockup. Page Builder regions and content widgets get configured for the editors who will actually use them.
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Integrations, QA and launch
ERP, OMS, 3PL, accounting, ESP, reviews, search: whatever the operation runs on. We test the full purchase journey on staging, run accessibility and Core Web Vitals checks, dry-run the migration if there is one, then cut over with redirects in place and analytics verified.
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Handover
Stencil theme repo, deployment scripts, written documentation, recorded Loom walkthroughs for your team, 30 days of post-launch support included. After that, optional retainer or hand back to your in-house team, your call.
What custom BigCommerce development actually looks like in 2026
BigCommerce sits in a specific spot in the UK ecommerce market: mid-market brands that have outgrown Shopify's operational ceiling or are escaping the cost and maintenance burden of Magento, but do not want to run their own infrastructure. A serious BigCommerce build in 2026 is not a theme download and a logo swap. It is Stencil theme work, a properly modelled catalog, integrations into the systems the business actually runs on, and a launch that holds up to Core Web Vitals before Google starts grading it.
The platform's native framework is Stencil: Handlebars templates, SCSS, a JS bundle, and a CLI that lets us develop locally against a real BigCommerce store. It plays a similar role to Shopify's Liquid or WordPress's PHP template hierarchy, but with the SaaS guard rails BigCommerce gives you for free. No Composer dependencies to patch, no plugin ecosystem to police. Customisation happens through theme code, the Storefront and Catalog APIs, and a curated Apps Marketplace. That is a feature, not a limitation, if you have ever inherited a Magento 2 build with thirty modules and no upgrade path.
When a classic Stencil storefront will not stretch far enough, BigCommerce has a serious headless story. Catalyst is their Next.js based reference framework, GraphQL-first, deployable to Vercel or your hosting of choice. It is the rough equivalent of Shopify's Hydrogen, with the difference that BigCommerce has been quietly winning headless commerce contracts for years. We use Catalyst when a brand needs page transitions a classic SaaS storefront cannot deliver, or wants to share a design system between web, app and POS. We do not use it because the slide deck looks better.
For UK brands selling cross-border, BigCommerce's Multi-Storefront is genuinely useful. One product catalog, multiple storefronts per region or brand, with currency, language, price lists and customer groups handled at the channel level. A UK fashion brand selling into Ireland and Germany is not maintaining three duplicate stores manually, with all the inventory drift and merchandising overhead that creates. Architecting Multi-Storefront properly at the start is one of the easiest ways to pay for the platform investment within a year.
Two genuine differentiators we will quote when the comparison comes up. First, BigCommerce charges no transaction fees on top of payment processing, regardless of plan. Shopify charges 0.5% to 2% on top of Shopify Payments unless you are on Plus. On a £2m turnover UK brand, that is six figures of margin a year. Second, BigCommerce Open Checkout lets us rewrite the checkout end to end in JavaScript. Shopify only offers Checkout Extensibility on Shopify Plus, and even then within strict boundaries. If your business needs a non-standard checkout journey, finance options, B2B approval flows, BigCommerce gives you more rope.
BigCommerce is the right call when you are mid-market or moving up to it, when you sell B2B or hybrid B2B/DTC, when multi-storefront cross-border matters, or when you are escaping Magento. It is not the right call for low-AOV impulse retail brands where Shopify's app ecosystem and conversion-optimised checkout will outperform it, for pure content sites that should be on WordPress, or for single-region brands turning over under £200k a year where the platform cost outweighs the benefit. If your project sounds closer to a Shopify build, see our Shopify web design page. If you are not sure which platform fits, our ecommerce website development page covers the platform-agnostic version of this conversation.
What you get from a build with us: a Stencil theme in your repo, a properly modelled catalog and channel setup, integrations tested end to end, Core Web Vitals tuned before launch, redirects mapped if you are migrating, and a team that will tell you when BigCommerce is not the right answer instead of selling you a build that will fail in eighteen months. Free scoping call, fixed-price quote within 48 hours, 6 to 9 weeks to launch.
What clients say
Recent case studies
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Case study · Google Ads for ecommerce
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Frequently asked questions
How much does a custom BigCommerce build cost?
Build cost depends on scope. A single-store Stencil theme rebuild on top of a clean catalog sits at the lower end. Multi-storefront cross-border, B2B Edition with custom Open Checkout, or a full Catalyst headless build sits at the upper end. We quote fixed price, not day rates, and you get the quote in writing within 48 hours of the scoping call. No surprises billed at the end.
How long does a BigCommerce build take?
6 to 9 weeks from kickoff to launch for most projects. Classic Stencil theme builds on a clean catalog land at the lower end. Catalyst headless builds, Magento migrations with significant data cleanup, or multi-storefront builds with several integrations push toward 9 weeks or beyond. We give you a week-by-week plan after the scoping call so the timeline is yours to hold us to.
Why BigCommerce instead of Shopify?
BigCommerce charges no transaction fees on top of payment processing, which on a £2m turnover saves real margin compared to Shopify outside Plus. It includes B2B Edition features (Quotes, Buyer Portal, Customer Groups) without a paid app stack. Open Checkout gives you full checkout control without needing Shopify Plus. The trade-off is a smaller app ecosystem and a smaller pool of UK developers. For mid-market and B2B, the maths usually favours BigCommerce. For low-AOV DTC, Shopify often wins.
Should we go headless with Catalyst, or stay on classic Stencil?
Default to classic Stencil unless there is a real reason not to. Stencil is faster to build, cheaper to maintain, and BigCommerce hosts it for you. Catalyst (headless on Next.js) earns its place when you need page-transition speed a SaaS storefront cannot give you, when you are sharing a design system across web and native apps, or when your design ambitions outstrip what Stencil's templating allows. We will tell you honestly in the scoping call which side of that line you fall on.
Can you build B2B functionality on BigCommerce?
Yes, and it is one of the strongest reasons to choose the platform. B2B Edition ships with Quotes, Buyer Portal, Company Accounts, Customer Groups, multi-tier price lists and credit limits as standard. We configure all of it as part of the build, integrate with your ERP or accounting system for credit and invoicing, and where the buyer journey needs to differ from the DTC flow, we use Open Checkout to rewrite it. Suitable for trade, wholesale, and hybrid B2B/DTC brands.
How does Multi-Storefront work for cross-border selling?
BigCommerce Multi-Storefront lets you run several storefronts (separate domains, currencies, languages, price lists, customer groups, even themes) off one product catalog. A UK brand can run uk.example.com, ie.example.com and de.example.com without maintaining three separate stores or three separate inventories. We architect the channel structure, set up the price lists and tax handling, and configure currency conversion at kickoff so you are not retrofitting it later. Saves significant operational overhead compared to running parallel stores.
We're on Magento and want to migrate. Can you handle that?
Yes. Magento to BigCommerce is one of the more common moves we deliver for UK brands tired of the maintenance burden and hosting costs. We map the catalog, customers, orders and content, dry-run the migration on staging, build the Stencil theme to match (or improve on) the current design, set up 301 redirects URL by URL to preserve SEO equity, and cut over with a rollback plan in place. Most Magento migrations land in the 9 to 12 week range depending on customisation depth.
Do we own the theme and code after launch?
Yes, fully. The Stencil theme lives in your BigCommerce account and in a Git repository you own. We hand over the repo, the deployment scripts, written documentation and recorded Loom walkthroughs at launch. If you decide to take the work in-house or move to another developer in two years, nothing stops you. No license keys, no proprietary frameworks, no agency lock-in. The platform handles BigCommerce itself, you handle the code, we are a service partner not a gatekeeper.