Discover the Key Differences: Order Workflows in BigCommerce vs. Adobe Commerce

In this article, we discuss the differences between Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento 2) and BigCommerce in relation to order workflows. You will see how each system behaves so you can determine which is a better fit for your needs.

Order Workflows

Order capabilities

Grid filters

One of the first things you will notice in Adobe Commerce is the common grid component (unaffectionately known as uiComponents in the developer community). Developers can easily create new grids and can heavily customize the grid.

For the sake of simplicity, we will compare the Order grid controls. Grids are similar across the board in Adobe Commerce. They aren’t as consistent on the BigCommerce side, but it’s fairly close.

Note that we aren't going to comment on the inline edit capabilities of Adobe Commerce. In our experience, few use this feature and it often causes trouble.

Adobe Commerce

Any column’s value can be filtered. There are rich capabilities for dropdown lists and date ranges—in context.

BigCommerce

Columns are filterable, along with easy search options. While visually different, the net result is the same. Note that this is not in-context and you are directed to a different page.

Order view

Adobe Commerce

Adobe Commerce's order view has plenty of "air"—on a separate page. The downside is that you have to scroll quite a little.

BigCommerce

Here is a completely different paradigm: orders are integrated into the master grid view. This makes jumping from one order to the next potentially easier—no managing multiple tabs.

Order view extensibility

Adobe Commerce

Everything on the order page is editable. While the basic order business logic is often left "as-is", we regularly see changes to how this is displayed.

Merchants can collect and include any piece of information on this page.

BigCommerce

If you wish to make changes, you must rebuild the order interface. The good news is that BigCommerce has an excellent API that gives access to literally everything necessary for a rich deployment—the bad news is that this is an investment.

Additionally, developers can leverage a separately-hosted application to store any additional data fields necessary.

BigCommerce can match Adobe Commerce's extensibility, but this is one area that it requires more investment to achieve this goal.

Resend order email

Adobe Commerce

Click the button—and the email is sent.

BigCommerce

And, another click. Different location, but same great taste.

Order statuses

Adobe Commerce

An interesting and freeing concept is the difference between order Status and order State. Status is user-selected, while State is system-selected. State can have a default Status. Multiple Statuses can be associated with a State—and the user can select which Status is currently applicable within what has been assigned to the State.

To manually change the status of an order, utilize the Order Notes area.

You can also create and rename any order status in Stores > Order Status. This provides almost unlimited capability for customization.

BigCommerce

The system selects order Status.The user has the capability to rename the Status as desired. The user can change the order's Status—however the system will still override the manually-selected status. There is no "On Hold" status, however "Declined" can be renamed.

Reorder / Duplicate / Copy Order

Adobe Commerce

Simply click the Reorder button. The existing order details will be copied to a new order form.

BigCommerce

There is no capability to do this in the Admin area. However, you can navigate to a customer and log into (impersonate) their account. You can then Reorder the order. This is made even easier in the B2B edition.

This is fairly trivial to add with a custom integration through the BigCommerce API. Note that this action would be accessible within My Apps, so it is still not fully integrated into the order display.

Edit Order

Adobe Commerce

The Edit button is visible UNTIL the order is invoiced (funds are captured). Editing an order cancels the current order and places a new order, thus meaning a new charge is placed on the payment account.

However, you can edit the Billing and Shipping addresses. This does not affect order totals (as in changing the tax rate).

The administrator can see the items the customer currently has in their cart and can easily move them into the order.

BigCommerce

Click the Edit button on an order. The order details are edited and a new order total is calculated. This does not synchronize with the online payment provider—manual action must be taken. The order number remains the same.

Order notes and customer-facing comments

Adobe Commerce

Notes are by default hidden from the customer's view. They are visible in the timeline area.

BigCommerce

Administrators can easily add new comments, both public and private. The public comments are also provided by the customer and are shown on the order view. Internal notes are visible when selecting View Notes on the Order Action menu. Additionally, the B2B edition unlocks the capability to easily add fields.

Generating PDF Invoices

Adobe Commerce

PDF invoices are accessed by clicking into an invoice and clicking Print. You can configure the logo and address displayed. A developer or 3rd-party module is required to make changes to the invoice.

BigCommerce

You can easily locate the PDF Invoice generation on the order actions menu. A developer is required to change the look and feel: this is a trivial task.

Minimum Order

Adobe Commerce

You can easily set the minimum order amount in Store Configuration. This is configurable per storefront.

BigCommerce

This capability does not exist out of the box. However, a developer can add this into the theme with a trivial amount of work.

Custom shipping rates (admin)

Adobe Commerce

A separate module is required to give the admin control over setting unique rates for an order.

BigCommerce

When creating or editing an order, the administrator can select specify a method name and cost.

Customer-completed orders

Adobe Commerce

This is not native functionality, and neither is there a 3rd-party module. Building this capability is not trivial.

BigCommerce

The administrator can create a new order, flag it as a draft, then send a link to the customer to complete the order. This makes it easy for the customer to review what was ordered.

Exporting orders

Adobe Commerce

A 3rd-party module is required to accomplish this.

BigCommerce

Administrators can export a select list of orders or all orders. You can control which columns (including product and customer details) are included. These are saved into presets for easy access.

Extensibility

Adobe Commerce

Open source means everything is customizable. While this is the standard selling point, this idea misses critical information: every customization and 3rd-party module increases the ongoing maintenance costs. For example, a 3rd-party module should fix issues or add new features but potentially brings other breaking changes. This requires additional development time to troubleshoot, increasing costs.

BigCommerce

Customizing the business logic behind orders or the order display are two of the few areas that represent a significant expense. It's impossible to add custom features to the existing BigCommerce order view.

If changes are necessary, your developer will create a new application that lives in the left sidebar. This would somewhat or entirely replace the default order view. The downside of a partial replacement is you have to go to two places to manage an order.

Building the new order area will represent more work than simply customizing what's already there. The good news is that all of this is available through the API.

How do customers return products?

Reducing friction for customers who need to return or exchange merchandise will increase their happiness, even if they aren't satisfied with their purchase.

Adobe Commerce

Adobe Commerce has a powerful RMA module that accommodates most use cases right out of the box. Store administrators can enable RMAs for specific products. New fields can be added to the RMA process. Administrators can configure live return shipping rates. Products are ushered through the process—but have to be manually entered into a credit memo.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce has RMA capabilities. Administrators can customize the values of these fields. Administrators then assign statuses to returned items. They can issue store credit, or manually create a credit memo.

How are refunds processed?

Adobe Commerce

Store administrators can create (confusingly) two types of Credit Memos: offline and online. Given an online order, the Store administrator needs first to select an Invoice to refund. Taxes are recalculated through this process. The Store administrator has the option to return items to inventory. They can also adjust the refund totals, for example, for a restocking fee. Administrators can also return to store credit.

BigCommerce

Store administrators can refund specific items, all or part of the shipping amount or order total. They can also adjust the final refund total for a restocking fee. They can also add comments to the return. The returned value can be returned online through the original payment provide, to store credit or offline.