“Can an open SaaS e-commerce platform compete with Shopify by offering unrestricted payment-provider choice and a partner-powered embedded finance marketplace rather than building proprietary financial infrastructure?”
Founded in 2009 as an SMB-focused SaaS e-commerce platform, BigCommerce has progressively moved upmarket toward mid-market and enterprise merchants, emphasizing open SaaS architecture with zero transaction fees and broad payment-provider choice as a differentiator against Shopify. Rather than building proprietary payment rails or financial products, BigCommerce has adopted an embedded-finance-as-marketplace strategy—offering pre-integrated third-party PSPs, BNPL providers, tax engines, and lending solutions directly within its control panel. The 2020 IPO provided resources to deepen B2B and headless commerce capabilities, while embedded finance layers (tax automation, merchant financing, insurance) remain partner-powered rather than in-house.