2. Welcome to the Bigcommerce family!
In conjunction with the “Getting Started” section of your control panel, this guide
will walk you through all the steps to set up and open your new online store.
The control panel is your ecommerce command center. You’ll use it to add and
manage products, view orders and shipments, manage customers, check analytics
and accomplish all the other day-to-day tasks of running your store.
Here are two key areas that will be helpful as you get ready to open your store:
Store Settings: Click the gear icon in the bottom-
left of your control panel to set up everything
from product image sizes to homepage SEO to
order invoice forwarding.
Educational Resources: Click the question mark
in the bottom-left of your control panel for quick
access to valuable resources like:
Support Portal: Step-by-step tutorials on managing your store
Bigcommerce University: In-depth videos walk you through running and growing a
successful business
Community: Get help from Bigcommerce store owners, staff and Partners
Your Bigcommerce control panel

3. What is a product category?
Categories help organize your products so customers can easily find what they’re
looking to buy. For example, if you sell homeware, a few of your categories might
be Art, Furniture and Tableware.
You can create as many categories and subcategories as you need, and products
can be associated with multiple categories. It’s a good idea to plan out how you’ll
organize your products before creating categories.
How to create categories
Adding products
Your products are the most important part of your store. Without them, what would
people buy from you? Luckily, setting them up is easy.
How to add products to your store
PROTIP:
A clear category structure will simplify navigation and increase conversion. Drag
and drop or drag and indent to move categories or create sub-categories on the fly.
Categories & products

4. Setting product options
Some products have options for
your shoppers to choose from, such
as size, color, style, etc. Bigcommerce
lets you offer unlimited product
options, and they’re simple to add
and manage.
How to add product options
Managing inventory
You can track your product inventory by product or option to stay up-to-date with
your stock levels.
How to set up inventory tracking
Bigcommerce includes a powerful content management system that allows you to
quickly and easily add new pages to your site.
Adding pages to your store
To improve customer confidence in your store, provide them with more information
by adding content like About Us, FAQ and News pages.
How to add a page to your store
Additional webpages

5. Creating blog posts
Blog posts are not only a great way to communicate to potential shoppers and
customers, they’ll help boost your search engine ranking.
How to use the built-in blog
What is a payment gateway?
A payment gateway is a processing solution that lets you accept credit cards online.
We automatically set up a gateway for you so you can start taking orders quickly,
but you can also select from up to 60+ additional options.
What is a merchant account?
A merchant account is another way to get paid by customers. It’s a bank account
that lets you accept payment by credit or debit cards.
How to configure checkout/payment methods
Payment gateways
PROTIP:
Submit a test order after configuring your payment methods to ensure that everything
is set up correctly and you’re ready to take orders.

6. If you sell physical products, you’ll need to set up at least one shipping zone before
customers can buy from you. You can also choose to offer benefits like free or flat-
rate shipping to your customers.
How to set up your shipping zone
Taxes can be a little scary and confusing, but Bigcommerce makes it easy to charge
the right rates with automatic US sales tax calculation and support for multiple tax
configurations.
How to establish your tax settings
When you sign up, we automatically give you a .mybigcommerce.com store name.
Once you’re ready to launch, you’ll want to move to your own domain name in
order to improve SEO and build your brand. You can buy one through Bigcommerce
or use one you already have.
How to purchase a domain name
How to set up a domain you already have
Domain namewww
Tax
Shipping

7. An SSL certificate protects your customers during checkout. We include a shared
certificate so you don’t need to purchase one in order to begin receiving orders. If
you want to keep shoppers on your domain name during the checkout process, you
can buy your very own certificate right from your control panel.
How to buy your own or install an existing SSL certificate
How to add a GeoTrust secure seal to your footer
Tools to drive traffic
Once you launch your online business, it’s time to start driving traffic so you can
make sales. The Marketing section of your control panel has all the tools you’ll need
to get shoppers to your store. Here are a few to get you started:
How to create and edit marketing banners
How to create and use coupon codes
How to build customer groups
How to create and use discount rules
Multi-channel marketing
You can expand your reach even further by listing your products across a variety of
marketing channels.
How to sell on Facebook with SocialShop
SSL certificate
Marketing tools

8. How to sell on eBay
How to sell on Google Shopping
Add on marketing apps
Bigcommerce has dozens of apps to help you increase your traffic and sales,
including integrations with email marketing, customer loyalty, social media and
online advertising platforms. Just click the app store icon in your control panel to
browse our app market.

9. Need help? We’ve got you covered!
Whether you need to talk to our expert support team or would rather
DIY with articles and videos, we’re here for you.
Support Portal
Read step-by-step
instructions
Bigcommerce University
Watch in-depth
video tutorials
Community Forum
Ask questions & have
a discussion