Overview
With the prevalence of online shopping in the tech-dominated eCommerce world, every business owner is accelerating their search for the perfect eCommerce platform. And this has become a universal trend post the pandemic. Customer satisfaction is at the center stage, and only a powerful platform can support the load of fulfilling constantly changing customer needs.
Considering the top eCommerce platforms, Shopify and Shopify Plus are widely popular among small and mid-level businesses and even large enterprises. However, not everyone arrives at a radical conclusion regarding choosing the best eCommerce platform for their business.
To be honest, this blog is not about Shopify vs. Shopify Plus. It is more about a comprehensive understanding of which one aligns best with your business objectives. Both the highly functional eCommerce platforms work more or less in the same way. But there are specific parameters where Shopify Plus stands out as a more cost-effective digital commerce platform for high-growth enterprises. It can handle more than 10.149 transactions every minute. Now that is a promising number for a business aiming at a scalable infrastructure.
We are sure, after reading this, you will get a fair idea of what exactly you want, or at least in which direction to proceed to build a successful digital business.
What are Shopify and Shopify Plus?
Shopify and Shopify Plus help in managing the online store. Shopify Plus offers more features to businesses that need more growth, more features, and more data tracking.
Shopify is primarily used by startups and small and medium-sized businesses that need a set of products and management tools with a clean UI. It also provides basic analytics for businesses as well, allowing them to see their best-selling products, total sales, and more. This allows businesses to make informed decisions during their growth. Currently, 1.75 million businesses use Shopify for selling their products and services. Over 1.59 million websites are live on Shopify.
Shopify Plus, however, is aimed at companies that are rapidly expanding and usually characterized as Enterprise businesses. Besides scalability and customisation, Shopify Plus provides companies with more in-depth data, reporting, and integrations. This will allow the businesses to move beyond reporting and use the highly detailed data to improve their forecasting and optimization capabilities.
In other words, the two platforms are based on the same foundation, with Shopify used in daily operational requirements and Shopify Plus features providing businesses with functionalities that are applicable in situations where businesses are using high levels of analytics, automation, and data-driven decisions.
How Shopify Plus Supports High-Growth Brands?
- Unlimited staff accounts for growing teams
- Advanced permission controls for better role management and security
- Up to 9 free expansion stores under one admin for international scaling
- Single organization admin to manage multiple stores centrally
- Customizable checkout (checkout.liquid) for enhanced brand control and user experience
- Free Shopify POS Pro for seamless online + offline sales integration
- Advanced APIs (REST & GraphQL) for deeper integrations and custom development
- Access to exclusive Shopify Plus apps and partner ecosystem
- Shopify Flow automation for workflow optimization
- Launch support & Merchant Success Program for onboarding and growth strategy
- Lower transaction fees with third-party payment providers
- Tax automation and enhanced security features
- Priority support with dedicated account management
Design Flexibility
Shopify is being used worldwide from local vendors to international marketplaces. You can certainly benefit from the stunning storefront you can design without breaking a sweat.
Themes:
Both Shopify and Shopify Plus offer more than 100 customizable themes for you to use, ranging from free to premium. Professional designers have created all these themes keeping in mind the importance of flawless CX. You can choose the perfect one that imprints your brand on the minds of the visitors.
Templates:
You can check out the free templates available on both platforms. Otherwise, the premium ones are within the affordable range, which is a fortune considering it is a one-time investment.
Language Support:
Both the Shopify platforms support a wide range of languages, enabling you to sell across the globe. But here is where Shopify Plus stands out a bit. In Shopify, you can translate your store into 5 different languages, whereas Shopify Plus lets you choose from 20. Look at the dynamics. You can sell locally with improved personalization and boost customer engagement.
Customization:
Using Shopify Plus, you can customize in a much more significant way compared to Shopify. As an example, the script editor can be used to make customizations to your Shopify Plus cart and checkout, something you cannot do when your store is on one of the base Shopify plans.
eCommerce Features
eCommerce features are the essential part of this comparison. After all, we are all a part of this digital commerce fraternity. Our cumulative goal is to render a superior digital commerce experience to the customers.
Multi-Currency:
You can sell your products in multiple locations in more than 130 currencies with Shopify Payment from Shopify and Shopify Plus. The conversion price for each transaction is calculated automatically depending on the real-time foreign exchange rate. Your customers can purchase from anywhere in the world, which ultimately results in a revenue boost.
But here, Shopify Plus goes one step ahead by automatically converting currencies by detecting the customer’s IP address. Also, it helps you customize the rounding-off rules as per your requirements, allowing you to control how the prices will look even in other currencies.
Product and Store Features:
Both Shopify and Shopify Plus have powerful store management features to power your online store in terms of customer management, order management, multiple shipping options, managing fulfillment centers, and returns and refunds. You can also enhance your product pages by leveraging video, 3D support, inventory management, multiple images and variations support, and seamless SEO support.
Apart from all these features that Shopify provides, Shopify Plus will give you access to exclusive apps, including Shopify Flow, Script Editor, and Bulk Account Inviter, all helping you create better shopping experiences.
eCommerce Marketing:
Shopify and Shopify Plus are both sufficient to assist you in promoting and marketing your store as well as enhancing your brand’s visibility through digital marketing services. Social media services like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, as well as features like gift cards, discounts, reviews on your products page, etc., can be easily added to your store using both Shopify and Shopify Plus.
Analytics:
The best part of any eCommerce website is to improve it with time using actionable insights. Shopify analytics lets you review your online store and marketing campaigns and work your way up to success. It gives you an overview dashboard to illustrate comprehensive data minute-by-minute. However, Shopify Plus takes the analytics to a new level with its in-depth reports.
Omnichannel:
One of the exclusive features that Shopify Plus has is omnichannel commerce, which plays a vital role in improving customer experience through various channels, websites, social media, physical stores, etc. Shopify Plus can be utilized to create a long-lasting relationship with your customers by diversifying your stores accordingly.
Shopify Wholesale Channel:
Wholesale commerce can increase your sales and help you expand your business in a short time. And Shopify allows you to sell your products wholesale while opening up functionalities ranging from personalized discounts to franchise stores. Both Shopify and Shopify Plus offer more or less the exact same solutions in wholesale.
However, in Shopify Plus, you can build a totally different wholesale channel and separate it from your D2C sales. And since the channel is branched from your existing store, you can display the same products at wholesale discounts to wholesale customers. You can even create distinct pages for wholesale FAQs, policies, and terms and conditions.
Finally, Shopify Plus allows you to control wholesale orders before invoicing and even automate wholesale customer signups, saving you time and effort on order management.
Headless Commerce:
The buzzword in today’s digital world, headless commerce, is enabling rapid growth in the years to come. Keeping up with the latest innovations, the Shopify Plus Headless Commerce platform has numerous features.
- High level of customizability
- Seamless integration of the store with business and content management systems, including ERPs, PIM, CRM, and CMS
- Enhanced quality of store visuals leveraging GraphQL Storefront API
- Freedom to choose your tech stack for your webstore
- Exclusive support from experienced Shopify Plus Partners
Help and Support
Both Shopify and Shopify Plus promise to cover your business with the best support service in various approaches. But Shopify Plus has its exceptional merits.
Resources:
Shopify offers business owners hundreds of tutorials so they can stay on top of the latest trends and innovations in the platform and learn how to use it via the Help Centre and social media channels.
Community:
If you want to work with other people or share knowledge with them, you can be part of the Shopify Community with over seven hundred thousand business owners, partners, and Shopify developers all over the world.
24/7 Support:
Shopify provides support to solve customer problems at any time. The experts are available to assist you through phone, email contact and live chat support. Business owners who use Shopify Plus receive ongoing assistance with their needs and they receive immediate service.
Launch Manager and Merchant Success Manager:
Another exclusive feature if you decide to go with Shopify Plus. You will get dedicated, profound, and personal support from the Launch Manager and Merchant Success Manager provided by Shopify Plus. Their job is to help you, from launching your eCommerce store to scaling and achieving success.
You can leverage this exclusive feature to make the most of your eCommerce entrepreneur experience and take advantage of the strategic coaching and predictions ahead of the latest business trends.
Website Performance
According to Shopify, it maintains an overall 99.99% uptime, while the number is 99.98% in Shopify Plus. While Shopify Plus may seem a little slower when compared to Shopify, the storefront in Shopify Plus loads 2.97 seconds faster than any other SaaS platform. In short, both platforms can help you minimize the bounce rate and help boost CX.
Pricing
One of the most critical factors while deciding the best eCommerce platform for your business is pricing. Shopify allows you to choose the plan that fulfills your business objectives while suiting your budget. Who says you cannot create an eCommerce store with a lean pocket? You can build your eCommerce store on Shopify, choosing the plan for Shopify development, costing you as little as a pizza.
For Shopify Plus, it is a little on the higher side. However, with a high price, high enterprise power is guaranteed. You can drive your business effortlessly and plan on strategizing rather than managing.
All these plans provide such important features as fraud analysis, multi-currency, abandoned cart recovery, etc. However, the universal reality is that the more you play, the more you get. There are Shopify Lite, Shopify Basic, Shopify Advanced, and Shopify Plus, and all of them depend on your requirements for running an online business.
When Should You Upgrade to Shopify Plus?
The decision to upgrade to Shopify Plus depends on your business requirements and your current organizational development. The enterprise plan shows multiple indicators that demonstrate it should be selected at this point in time.
You should consider upgrading if:
- Your store is experiencing rapid growth in traffic or sales volume
- You are reaching revenue milestones (around high monthly sales levels)
- Your team is growing and needs more staff accounts and advanced permissions
- You require better automation to reduce manual work
- You need advanced checkout customization to improve conversions
- You are expanding into multiple markets or international regions
- You are building or scaling a B2B / wholesale channel
- You are hitting API limits or integration restrictions
- Your current plan’s limitations are slowing down operations or scalability
- You want access to enterprise-level features and priority support
Shopify Plus partners offer businesses operational support when they encounter complex operations and performance issues and face difficulties with business growth.
For growing brands, upgrading is not just about features; it’s about preparing for long-term scalability.
Real-world result
How Southern Season Revived Foot Traffic and Boosted Revenue Through Smart Digital Strategy
How to Upgrade to Shopify Plus?
Upgrading to Shopify Plus is a structured process designed to ensure a smooth transition. Follow these steps:
Step 1: Evaluate Your Need
Make sure that your business needs these advanced features, which may include multiple store management, B2B, scalability, etc.
Step 2: Back Up Your Store
Make sure that you have backed up your data, i.e., products, customers, orders, etc.
Step 3: Contact Shopify
Reach out to the Shopify Plus team to discuss your requirements, pricing, and eligibility.
Step 4: Complete the Upgrade
Sign up with Shopify Plus, and the Shopify team will guide you through the process.
Step 5: Configure Advanced Features
Set up custom checkout, automation tools, integrations, and other Plus-specific features.
Step 6: Test Everything
Check checkout, integrations, and workflows to ensure a smooth launch before going fully live.
Further reading
Free ebookMake the Most of Shopify in 2022 and Beyond
Your complete guide to growing a high-performing Shopify store — from SEO fundamentals and content strategy to converting visitors and turning customers into loyal repeat buyers.
Conclusion
We have given you an exhaustive list of similarities and differences in this Shopify vs. Shopify Plus carnival. If you are looking for an eCommerce platform that offers basic eCommerce functionality and essential features for building and tracking your eCommerce store, Shopify and Shopify Plus will be more than happy to help you achieve your objectives. However, when it comes to better and stronger control and customization, flexibility, and functionality, Shopify Plus does stand apart from all the other competition.
It is for sure that Shopify is indeed a wise choice for small businesses and large businesses. But Shopify Plus is best suited for enterprise-level eCommerce businesses to cater to their demand for a high-powered commerce platform.
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Minal Joshi is a content marketer at Krish with a flair for eCommerce and Digital Commerce aspects. She is a MarTech fanatic with a knack of writing with which, she helps brands to curate, create, & commence digital brand positioning. Sharing insights via articles, case studies, eBooks, Infographics, and other forms of content creation is what she lives for. Being an ardent traveler, when not writing, you'll find her sipping coffee into the mountains or petting a stray.
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21 December, 2022 After WooCommerce, Shopify is the 2nd most loved and used eCommerce platform worldwide. Shopify is an entirely feature-rich eCommerce platform. It offers many drag-and-drop options, and its apps work tremendously for store owners. In addition, Shopify is easy to use as it doesn't require depth coding.
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