BigCommerce’s parent company changed its name from BigCommerce Holdings, Inc. to Commerce.com, Inc. after acquiring the domain for $2.4M, unify its three brands to better position itself for the rise of agentic commerce. It also changed its stock ticker on the NASDAQ from $BIGC to $CMRC.
Commerce CEO Travis Hess wrote:
“Launching the Commerce brand is about more than a new name and logo. It is a clear declaration to our customers, partners, investors and team that we are doubling down on innovation to give brands, retailers, manufacturers, distributors and wholesalers the flexibility, connectivity and care to help them move faster, scale smarter and grow on their terms. Agentic commerce requires a new playbook, and Commerce is here to deliver it with an open ecosystem built for speed, intelligence and flexibility.”
For clarification… BigCommerce is still the e-commerce platform that will compete with Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento — and its previously acquired companies, Feedonomics and Makeswift, still exist. Initially when I read the news, I thought all three platforms were coming together, but that’s not the case. This is more of a Google <> Alphabet or Facebook <> Meta scenario than a platform consolidation.
I predict… that major acquisitions (plural) are on the horizon. I feel like this move sets the stage for BigCommerce to acquire / acqui-hire as a holding company without being tied to their original e-commerce CMS path. Definitely an AI acquisition coming soon, if Meta doesn’t pay $14B for every AI company first.
Something had to give, right? The other day a potential client e-mailed me about how they are moving from BigCommerce to Shopify and needed help with the migration. He wrote:
“We chose BigCommerce back in 2015 when it wasn’t so obvious that Shopify was going to be the winner. Back then it felt like they were still neck and neck, but now it feels like we’re missing out not being on Shopify.”
That’s what merchants think about BigCommerce now!? That the race is over and Shopify won?!
While I think that the rebrand makes sense, it doesn’t change the fact that BigCommerce (the CMS) has an uphill battle ahead to reposition itself as a platform for 2035, not a platform of 2015.
BigCommerce is betting big on Agentic Commerce. I hope it doesn’t prove to be like Facebook betting big on the metaverse. However if agentic commerce does take off, I think that BigCommerce is positioning itself nicely to do the dirty work.
Juozas Kaziukėnas wrote a couple weeks ago:
“No one wants to be where the AI agents are shopping at – everyone wants to build AI agents that do the shopping.”
While Amazon and Shopify are (currently) taking more closed door / walled garden approaches to agentic commerce until the market finds an equilibrium, BigCommerce is like — All good. We’ll be where the AI agents are shopping at.
It’s a position that fits with their historic openness in other areas like payments and SaaS. And it could create a scenario where merchants are on Shopify, but also increasingly want to be part of the new Commerce ecosystem so that they can have the best of both worlds.
Exciting times for the company. A fresh start. I wish them the best of luck with the rebrand and the new direction. Also I can’t afford to keep dollar cost averaging my $BIGC, so I’m hoping this is the right move. 🤣
What are your thoughts on the rebrand? Join the conversation on LinkedIn.
