As an Elite Agency Partner, Mira Commerce works with BigCommerce to deliver versatile enterprise solutions for mid-market and enterprise level brands around the globe. In 2019, BigCommerce upgraded its platform to support more features that merchants need in order to grow their B2B and B2C businesses. The new V3 Catalog Model for BigCommerce stores comes with a variety of additional features from an API standpoint, such as omnichannel support, variants management, more intuitive options, SKU-level attributes, and much more.
Many BigCommerce stores have already upgraded from BigCommerce V2 to the new V3 Product Experience model, but some older storefronts still have yet to complete the migration. If you are in the second group, you have probably seen a banner on the product screen in your control panel letting you know you’re eligible to upgrade. If you’re still questioning whether migration is for you, Mira Commerce can help!
V2 vs. V3
The differences between the old and new BigCommerce Product Experience are both functional and design related.
- Navigation placement – In V2 the products sections are organized in tabs at the top of the screen, while in V3 the list is along the left hand side. This change was implemented to improve customer experience for mobile users.
- Faster APIs – The V3 API offers many improvements designed to power efficiency and support the inclusion of subresources within a request. Custom meta fields now exist and information can be added directly to products via the control panel, which results in fewer API calls.
- Option Organization – In V2 options are organized into option sets which are then applied to products. In V3 options are organized into two types: Variant options and Modifier options. Variant options have unique SKUs to track inventory, and they’re required on products, whereas Modifier options allow for further customization of a product without the need for inventory tracking, and they can be required or optional.
Why Upgrade?
If your store is still using the V2 Legacy Experience, there are a few points to consider before preparing for migration to the V3 catalog. If you want product option data values entered explicitly rather than inherited from the parent product, or if you want automatic SKU generation upon creation of variant options rather than manually entry or use SKU generation formulas, you may want to consider upgrading to the V3 Product Experience.
In addition, if you want to add custom information to products without using the API, edit product details on a single page instead of in separate tabs, manage product options directly on product pages, or assign specific sale or MSRP prices to individual variants of a product, you should switch to V3. This also applies if you intend to create products with options that would exceed the V2 600 SKU per product limit.
Next Steps
No matter what stage of the migration process you are in, Mira Commerce is here to assist. Our 18 years of experience powering ecommerce websites and building custom applications, in tandem with the technical mastery and dedication of our developers, makes us the most trusted partner for your migration needs.
Let Mira Commerce enhance your ecommerce storefront today! Contact hello@miracommerce.com for more information about our BigCommerce V3 migration package and service options.
