BigCommerce Staging: How to Test Safely

BigCommerce staging is significantly different from Shopify's clone feature. BigCommerce's staging environment is a complete, independent copy of your production store. But even with a full staging environment available, many merchants skip staging tests. Why? Friction. Setting up and refreshing staging takes time and manual effort.

This guide walks through the practical process of testing safely on BigCommerce: how to use staging, what to test, and how to avoid the most common mistakes that developers miss.

In This Guide

1. How BigCommerce Staging Differs from Other Platforms
2. Setting Up a Staging Environment on BigCommerce
3. How to Refresh Your Staging Environment
4. Testing Checklist Before Publishing Changes
5. Frequently Asked Questions

How BigCommerce Staging Differs from Other Platforms

BigCommerce's staging environment is fundamentally different from Shopify's approach, and understanding those differences is essential to using it effectively.

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BigCommerce vs. Shopify

Shopify stores are housed on Shopify's infrastructure. Shopify provides a duplicate store feature that is essentially a lightweight copy: your products, settings, and theme are replicated, but it is a read-only view. You cannot publish from a Shopify duplicate to production. Instead, you make changes on production, copy the store again, and test the new state.

BigCommerce stores are dedicated server instances. When you create a staging environment on BigCommerce, you get a complete, independent copy of your production store running on its own instance. Changes made to staging do not affect production. You can publish from staging directly to production.

This is a critical difference: BigCommerce staging is a true pre-production environment. Shopify's duplicate is a post-production snapshot.

BigCommerce vs. Adobe Commerce

Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento) uses staging environments similar to BigCommerce - separate instances with independent data. However, Adobe Commerce staging requires active infrastructure management (server uptime, database backups, etc.). BigCommerce staging is fully managed: BigCommerce maintains your staging instance automatically.

This managed infrastructure means you can refresh your staging copy without managing server resources or running database migrations yourself.

Why This Matters for Testing

Because BigCommerce staging is a true pre-production environment with managed infrastructure, you can:

• Install apps on staging without worrying they will be charged to your production account
• Perform bulk product edits and test them before deploying to production
• Test theme changes, custom CSS, and JavaScript modifications safely
• Test payment gateway and shipping integration changes without processing test transactions on your production account
• Run full end-to-end testing including checkout flows with test data

Setting Up a Staging Environment on BigCommerce

BigCommerce stores come with a staging environment by default - you do not need to create one. However, you need to access it first.

Accessing Your Staging Environment

To access your BigCommerce staging store:

1. Log into your BigCommerce admin dashboard
2. Click on your store name in the top left (it displays as "My Store Name")
3. You will see a dropdown menu with two options: "Production" and "Staging" (if staging exists)
4. Click "Staging" to switch to your staging environment

You are now in your staging store. Any changes you make here are isolated from production. The staging store has its own URL, typically formatted as: staging-[your-store-name].mybigcommerce.com

Understanding Staging Data

When you access staging for the first time, it is an exact copy of your production store at the time staging was created. This includes:

• All products, inventory, and pricing
• All customers and order history
• All settings, including tax, shipping, and payment methods
• All themes, apps, and customizations

Important caveat: staging data is not automatically kept in sync with production. If you make changes to production after creating staging, those changes do not appear in staging. You must manually refresh staging to pull the latest production data.

How to Refresh Your Staging Environment

The most common mistake developers make is testing against stale staging data. Your staging store might be a copy from two weeks ago while your production store has 500 new products, updated prices, and new customer data.

Refreshing Staging Manually

To refresh your staging environment:

1. Switch to production
2. Go to Settings > Advanced Settings > Staging
3. Click "Create Staging" (this will overwrite your existing staging environment with a fresh copy of production)
4. Confirm the action. BigCommerce will display a warning: "This will overwrite all changes made to the staging environment."
5. Wait for the copy to complete (this usually takes 5-30 minutes depending on store size)
6. Switch back to staging and verify the data is current

This process is manual and requires planning. If you forget to refresh staging, you are testing against outdated data and may miss problems that would affect your actual customers.

Automated Staging Refresh

StagingPro for BigCommerce automates the refresh process. It creates a new staging copy on a recurring schedule (daily, weekly, or before major deployments) without requiring manual intervention. This ensures your staging environment is always current, eliminating the risk of testing against stale data.

Testing Checklist Before Publishing Changes

Once your staging environment is current, run through this checklist before deploying to production.

Theme and Frontend Changes

If you are modifying your store's appearance or functionality:

• Test on desktop, tablet, and mobile browsers
• Test on the most common browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge
• Verify that all navigation links work
• Verify that product images load correctly
• Verify that checkout works end-to-end (do not process a real transaction; use a test payment method)
• Check page load times using a tool like Lighthouse
• Verify that forms (newsletter signup, product enquiry) submit successfully
• Check for JavaScript errors in the browser console (F12 > Console tab)

Product and Catalog Changes

If you are editing products, categories, or inventory:

• Verify that product prices are correct
• Verify that product descriptions are displaying correctly (especially if you changed HTML)
• Check that categories are displaying with the correct products
• Verify that inventory levels are accurate
• Check that product variants work correctly (if applicable)
• Verify that any automated pricing rules or discounts are applied correctly

Checkout and Payment Changes

If you are testing payment gateway, shipping, or tax changes:

• Verify that all payment methods show in the checkout
• Test the checkout flow with multiple payment methods (do not actually process a transaction - BigCommerce has test modes)
• Verify that shipping calculations are correct (test with different products and addresses)
• Check that tax is calculated correctly
• Verify that promo codes apply correctly in checkout
• Check that order confirmation emails are sent

Integration and App Changes

If you are installing or updating apps or integrations:

• Verify that the app displays correctly on the storefront
• Test the app functionality (e.g., reviews app shows customer reviews, upsell app recommends products)
• Verify that the app does not break any existing functionality
• Check page load times after installing the app (some apps significantly slow down your store)
• Verify that the app is communicating with its backend correctly (check for errors in browser console)

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I delete my staging environment?

No. BigCommerce does not allow you to delete a staging environment. If you do not need it, you can simply stop using it.

Will changes to production affect my staging environment?

No. Staging is completely isolated from production. Changes to production do not sync to staging automatically. You must manually refresh staging if you want it to reflect the latest production data.

Can I make changes on staging and publish them to production?

Partially. You can theme and app changes from staging to production. However, data changes (products, inventory, customer data) cannot be published from staging to production - you must make those changes on production directly.

What happens if I make conflicting changes on both staging and production?

BigCommerce does not merge changes. If you make a theme change on staging and a different theme change on production, you must manually decide which version to keep. To avoid conflicts, establish a clear rule: always test changes on staging before making them on production.

How long does it take to refresh staging?

Refresh time depends on your store size. Small stores (under 1,000 products) typically refresh in 5-15 minutes. Large stores (over 50,000 products) may take 30+ minutes. During the refresh, you cannot access your staging environment.

Can I have multiple staging environments?

No. BigCommerce allows only one staging environment per store. If you need to test multiple changes in parallel, you must test them sequentially on the single staging environment.

Related Guides

• Ecommerce Staging & Testing: The Complete Guide
• Adobe Commerce / Magento Staging Guide
• Shopify Staging Environment: Complete Guide
• How to Test Theme Changes Without Breaking Your Store

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