Shopify Plus is one of the most popular ecommerce platforms available today. If you are part of a fast-growing brand looking to increase your online sales, you may be considering Shopify Plus.
Today, we will examine what Shopify Plus offers, its advantages, as well as some of its competitors. If you want to learn more about Shopify Plus' benefits and how we can help your business grow, keep reading.
What is Shopify Plus?
So, what is Shopify Plus? In the simplest terms, Shopify Plus is an ecommerce platform designed to help medium-to-large enterprises continue growing. The platform accomplishes this by giving the user automation and scheduling features. These features, and many more, make it easier to deal with a high volume of sales.
Shopify Plus Pricing
If you are considering Shopify Plus for your business, you may be asking yourself this question - 'How much does Shopify Plus cost?'. Shopify Plus pricing starts at $2,000 a month. However, you can also choose to pay a variable rate if your business volumes are high enough. Shopify Plus transaction fees are zero, unlike lower-tier Shopify plans.
Why Shopify Plus?
You may ask, 'why Shopify Plus?' There are many ecommerce platforms on the market today, so why use this one? Shopify Plus' feature list is long, but the primary benefits Shopify Plus can bring to your business include:
Incredible Customization.
Shopify Plus’ feature list is extensive. Whether you want to change your homepage's layout, color, theme, or content, Shopify Plus has you covered.
Reliability.
With 200TB of storage, unlimited bandwidth, and a world-class support center, you can sell with confidence with Shopify Plus.
Faster Setup Time.
Within 90 days, you can start selling without any further setup. Compared to other traditional vendors, this is remarkably quick.
Shopify vs Shopify Plus
If you are considering Shopify as your platform of choice, you should be aware of some of the differences between Shopify and Shopify Plus. The main differences between these platforms are:
Usability.
Shopify Plus is a little more complicated than basic Shopify due to the increased number of apps available and customizable scripts.
Cost.
Shopify Plus costs $2,000 per month or a fee based on how many sales your business makes. On the other hand, Shopify costs between $24 and $289 per month.
Apps and Integration.
While Shopify has access to over 8,000 apps, Shopify Plus allows you access to apps with more advanced functionality, such as a script editor or a bulk customer inviter.
Shopify Plus Requirements
Let's say you want to get started on Shopify Plus. What are Shopify Plus' requirements for joining their platform? There are a few things you should keep in mind before choosing Shopify Plus as your ecommerce platform. These include:
Revenue.
Shopify Plus is perfect for medium-to-large enterprises. If you do not have enough revenue to afford the $2,000 per month, you won't be able to use Shopify Plus.
Sales in multiple countries.
One of the main benefits of Shopify Plus is the ability to easily sell across borders by using international domains. If you don't make sales in multiple countries, Shopify Plus may not be worth the money.
Technical requirements.
Particular themes, applications, integrations, and other features may not work or be suitable for your site, at least not without a dedicated programmer. Keep these technical requirements in mind before investing in Shopify Plus.
Who Uses Shopify Plus?
If you are still unsure about Shopify Plus, you may want some confirmation from others about its benefits. If you want to know who uses Shopify Plus, just some of the most famous Shopify Plus customers include Gymshark, Staples, Heinz Magnolia, and Simba.
Do I Need Shopify Plus?
Even if you find all of these features interesting, you may still be wondering, 'do I need Shopify Plus?' This question is fair; Shopify Plus is designed for enterprise clients and is therefore significantly more complex than standard Shopify while costing much more. There are three main criteria you should consider before upgrading to Shopify Plus:
- How much revenue are you making? Shopify Plus is designed to help businesses scale quickly. As a rule, you should be making over $1,000,000 per annum in Shopify revenue before upgrading. Shopify Plus costs at least $24,000 a year - you need to be sure you can (1) afford Shopify Plus and (2) get enough value out of it before deciding to invest in Shopify.
- Do you need all the features Shopify Plus offers? Shopify Plus is chock full of features. It needs to be considering the price and the clients it is targeting. However, if you have all the features you need for the short-to-medium term, you may not need to upgrade.
- Are you planning to sell internationally? Shopify Plus allows you to create up to 9 identical stores for different countries, which account for distinct currencies and languages. If you are not planning on selling your goods across borders, Shopify Plus may not be necessary.
Key Shopify Plus Features
There are a huge number of Shopify Plus features that you can use to help your business grow. Just a few of the most powerful include:
Customizable Checkout. Do you want to run a time-based discount for customers that click a particular link? Shopify Plus helps you accomplish this and so much more.
Shopify Flow. Automation is vital for ecommerce, and Shopify Flow is one of the best in the industry. You can create simple IFTTT (if this then that) procedures to, for example, automate email responses, dramatically improving the efficiency of your business.
Multichannel Integration. Have you ever lost a sale because a customer simply got distracted, leaving all their purchases in their cart? Shopify Plus can rectify this with its multichannel integrations, allowing you to remind customers to complete their sales.
1. Scalability of Shopify Plus
Why do so many brands use Shopify Plus? In one word - scalability. Shopify Plus is perfect for businesses expecting rapid growth soon. Why? With cloud-based infrastructure and easy automation, the platform gives you and your team more time to make and sell rather than deal with the intricacies of a legacy system. Shopify Plus is fantastic for rapidly growing businesses due to these features.
2. Shopify Plus Checkout Customization
If creating a unique checkout experience is a top priority, you need Shopify Plus.
Shopify Plus' checkout customization options are extensive, allowing you more control over your pricing options, social media integration, and your checkout's appearance.
Shopify Plus allows you to tell a unique story with your checkout, making your store more memorable and something customers will want to return to.
3. Shopify Plus Flow
Do you want to set up an email campaign to inform your customers about a new sales campaign? Shopify Plus makes this a breeze. With Shopify Plus Flow, you can automate many simple tasks. Shopify Flows are highly customizable and perfect for management, marketing, and design.
4. Shopify Plus Integrations
Do you utilize Microsoft Office Suite, Quickbooks, or similar apps to help run your business? If so, you need to use Shopify Plus Integrations. With Shopify Plus Integrations, you can easily manage many of your company’s administrative applications from one place. Being able to control and change information within Excel and Quickbooks gives you more time to focus on selling, rather than analyzing numbers and spreadsheets.
5. Shopify Plus APIs
Shopify Plus brings a lot of fantastic features to the table. One of these is several exclusive APIs only available with Plus. The most popular Shopify Plus APIs include:
User API
Have you hired multiple employees recently? With the User API, you can easily manage staff permissions and see who has access to what.
Discount Card API
Discount cards are a great way to get new people interested in your products. With this useful API, you can create different discounts, such as free shipping or percentage discounts.
Gift Card API
Are you planning a Holiday Sale? If so, the gift card API will help supercharge your sales. With a gift card, you can start the process of turning a stranger into a returning customer.
6. Shopify Scripts
Do you need to change your site to capitalize on a new opportunity? If so, you should consider using Shopify Scripts. Scripts are small customizations that allow vendors to write code for specific problems.
What separates Shopify Scripts from the rest is the hosting. Shopify hosts these custom pieces of code on its servers. You don't need to worry about extra code slowing down your website, allowing you to focus on attracting more customers with unique offers.
7. Unlimited Staff Accounts
A rapidly growing business needs to be able to quickly onboard staff to excel in their role. This task is already difficult without IT issues. However, with only five staff members on the standard Shopify plan, you will run into these problems. If you are rapidly growing, you need the unlimited staff accounts available with Shopify Plus.
8. Shopify Plus Fraud Protection
Fraud can lose your business revenue and, more importantly, destroy your customer's trust. The dangers of fraud are why Shopify Plus fraud protection is worth considering for your business. With Shopify Plus, you can create workflows to immediately identify and stop suspicious transactions, saving you time, money, and worry.
9. Launchpad Shopify Plus
If you want to schedule exciting events like inventory restocks or sales, you should look at Shopify Plus' Launchpad feature. With launchpad, you can coordinate events by increasing inventory levels, scheduling changes in themes, and other features that make planning a breeze.
10. Multi-Currency Shopify Plus
If you are planning to sell across borders, you need Shopify Plus. Why? Multi-currency sales. With multi-currency sales on Shopify Plus, you can easily sell across borders, giving you access to the growing global market.
11. Shopify Plus B2B
Shopify Plus B2B is a feature with many benefits and a fantastic place to start if you want to start wholesale selling. With Shopify Plus' wholesale channel, you can build a store dedicated to B2B and manage it, all in one place.
12. Shopify Plus POS
Interacting with customers face-to-face and dealing with a new location are some of the biggest challenges you will face when bringing your online business into the real world. However, one thing that shouldn’t be a challenge is your Point of Service.
Shopify Plus POS brings all the benefits of Shopify’s online platform to a brick-and-mortar store. With Shopify’s POS tools, you can integrate your online and physical stores, connecting them to the same databases and inventory management systems. These integrations make the jump from online to physical much easier.
13. Shopify Plus Analytics
Do you want to optimize your business’ performance and find out what your customers like? If so, you need Shopify Plus analytics. Analytics gives you the complete picture of your business necessary to improve performance and sales.
Analytics offers many more options than standard plans, including behavior and customer reports, as well as a live view of your store. With these, you can get into the details of your business, allowing more precise improvements than what you could achieve with a standard package.
14. Shopify Plus Certified App Program
Trustworthy software is vital for scaling your business. Shopify Plus apps are the best on the market today. Certified by Shopify, these apps meet the company’s exacting standards.
Some of the most popular apps improve marketing automation, affiliate marketing, and checkout conversions. Check out the Shopify Plus certified app program to discover apps that might expand your business.
15. Shopify Plus Merchant Success Program
Subscribing to Shopify Plus is a big decision and a heavy investment. To get the most out of it, enroll in the Shopify Plus Merchant Success Program. In this program, you will be paired up with consultants, engineers, and other Shopify Plus merchants to help make your store the best it can be.
Shopify Plus is not the only major ecommerce platform on the market today. In this next section, we will compare Shopify Plus to two of its major competitors, WooCommerce and Magento to see how their offerings stack up.
WooCommerce vs Shopify Plus
Another ecommerce platform utilized by many companies is WooCommerce, an extension to WordPress that turns that platform into a functioning online store. Compared to Shopify Plus, WooCommerce is:
- Less Expensive. The most expensive WooCommerce subscription costs 32 dollars a month - substantially less than the 2,000 dollars a month of Shopify Plus. Even including all plug-ins and hosting, WooCommerce is much more affordable.
- Slower to load. Shopify Plus, on the other hand, is much more efficiently designed.
Your customers will spend far less time waiting with Shopify Plus than with WooCommerce.
Shopify Plus vs Magento
Shopify Plus vs Magento is another major rivalry within ecommerce. Both companies offer quality enterprise platforms, though there are several differences:
- Shopify Plus is more expensive, costing $24,000 a year vs Magento’s $22,000 a year.
- Shopify Plus comes with specialized IT support. Magento comes with nothing similar.
- Shopify Plus pays for web hosting, while you must pay for your own with Magento.
Shopify Plus Agency
Are you passionate about sustainability? Do you want Shopify Plus experts in your corner to help you grow? Thooja is a Shopify Plus agency dedicated to helping sustainable brands build and improve their store. While getting started with Shopify Plus is exciting, it can also be challenging.
This is why working alongside Thooja could be one of the best decisions for your business. We are experts that have worked with many sustainable brands, optimising their websites so they can focus on what they love.
Is Shopify Plus Worth It?
So, is Shopify Plus worth it? Shopify Plus is a fantastic investment if you have enough sales in the present and a clear ability to grow in the future. If you’re not sure if it is for you, let’s chat, and find out how we can improve your store, contact us today.
