Shopify Plus vs Shopify

What is Shopify Plus and how does Shopify Plus differ from the classic Shopify e-commerce platform?

We explain the differences and reveal which functions Shopify Plus provides for your company and what the respective advantages are.

The most important things at a glance

Shopify Plus at a glance:

• Shopify Plus is an advanced e-commerce solution for large companies with additional features compared to Shopify.

Differences between Shopify and Shopify Plus:

• Shopify is for smaller businesses, while Shopify Plus is for businesses of all sizes.

• Higher costs for Shopify Plus can be offset by lower transaction fees for large companies.

• Shopify Plus offers individual support, customization options in the code and extended functions.

When it's worth switching:

• Switching to Shopify Plus can make sense when the company reaches a turnover level of around USD 800,000 per year.

• Other reasons for the change include high sales figures, stable operations during peak loads, international expansion, personal contact, customization of the customer journey and automation of processes.

How did Shopify Plus come about?

Shopify has established itself as one of the top dogs when it comes to providing small and medium-sized companies with a well-functioning online store. Shopify already serves more than one million stores as a store system. 

However, one group is not taken into account. After a certain size, Shopify reaches its limits. As many companies that use Shopify have also grown with the platform, a solution had to be found. This is how Shopify Plus was born, the store system for big players.

What is Shopify Plus?

Shopify Plus is Shopify's scalable e-commerce solution for fast-growing retailers and large companies in the B2C and B2B sectors.

Shopify Plus is intended to serve all those who have reached their limits with the conventional Shopify plans. Shopify has thus managed to offer the right solution for every possible online retailer.

Shopify Plus therefore offers some functions that are particularly helpful for large companies. The Plus version went live in the USA back in 2014. It finally made it to Germany in 2020.

Companies such as Red Bull, Gymshark and Kylie Cosmetics rely on the enterprise e-commerce solution from Canada and are prime examples of outstanding online stores.

What are the differences between Shopify and Shopify Plus?

The most important differences at a glance:

• Target group: Shopify is designed for small and medium-sized companies, while Shopify Plus can serve companies of any size.

• Prices: Shopify costs vary between USD 29 and USD 299 per month. Shopify Premium starts at USD 2000 and can rise to USD 40,000 depending on turnover.

• Fees: Although the monthly fixed costs are higher, the transaction fees are lower. Shopify Plus can therefore even be cheaper for large companies.

• Support: With Shopify Plus, you have your own support team, including a launch engineer who will help you set up and migrate your store. In addition, every Shopify Plus customer is assigned their own account manager who acts as a contact person.

• Customization: Shopify Plus also offers more options here, even the code in the background can be customized.

• Employee accounts: While the basic plan only allows a limited number of employee accounts, Shopify Plus allows an unlimited number.

• Functions: Shopify Plus already offers many standard functions that need to be extended in Shopify through apps.

When is it worth switching to Shopify Plus?

Since the only reason not to switch from Shopify Basic to Shopify Plus is the price, we want to give you an overview of when it's worth switching.

Although the questions about the store's turnover are obvious, they can only be used to determine whether it is worth switching to Shopify Plus on an individual basis. 

A threshold of USD 800,000 per year can be used as a guideline. If your company is in this range, you should calculate the figures in more detail.

However, there are other points that speak in favor of switching to Shopify Plus, as Shopify may limit your growth. We have summarized classic restrictions for you. 

#1 You sell large quantities

Since the transaction costs are lower with Shopify Plus, it can be worth switching to the Enterprise version from a certain sales volume onwards. While you pay between 0.5% and 2.0% for transaction fees with Shopify, you are significantly cheaper with Shopify Plus at just 0.25% (excluding Shopify Payments). Incidentally, this can also be a reason to switch from another store system to Shopify Plus, as running costs are generally cheaper here.

#2 Your store should remain stable even in exceptional situations

Whether it's Black Friday, Christmas or promotions, many visitors mean a high server load. Your online store must be able to withstand these exceptional situations, otherwise you will lose money. This shouldn't be a problem with Shopify Plus, which can handle up to 11,000 checkouts per minute. So you can be sure that every one of your paying customers will be served.

#3 You want to position your company internationally

Another reason for Shopify Plus can be the up to 10 different stores that can be created here. This means that completely separate stores with their own domain can be created for different countries and thus better adapted to the respective country, its culture and language. Nothing stands in the way of international growth.

#4 You need a personal contact person

Another very helpful feature of Shopify Plus is the Merchant Success Manager, your personal contact who knows your company inside out and can therefore help you with problems faster and better.

#5 You want a completely personalized customer journey

Shopify already offers a lot of freedom in terms of design and also lets you create individual designs. However, some areas such as the shopping cart are still limited. With Shopify Scripts, the user experience can now be personalized here as well. Shopify scripts are small code modules that can be easily implemented in your store. This can be done directly in the Shopify environment, making automation and tweaking very easy. 

#6 You plan to plan ahead and automate

With Shopify Plus, you get a powerful planning tool with Shopify Launchpad. Launchpad offers a comprehensive solution for predictive planning and automation. This function not only enables the targeted forward planning of product releases and marketing campaigns, but also automates the entire store management.

With Launchpad, you can ensure that your products go online exactly when it suits your marketing strategy best. From precisely planned sales campaigns to strategic store changes - everything can be automated efficiently. Integration with other apps from the Shopify App Store expands the possibilities to further optimize your online presence and automate processes at the same time.

So if you don't just want to react, but proactively plan ahead and automate certain processes, the Shopify Launchpad is the ideal addition to your e-commerce strategy. It allows you to exploit the full potential of your online business.

Switching to Shopify Plus, it's that easy

If you want to switch from Shopify to Shopify Plus, you can easily do this via the settings in Shopify. To do this, click on Settings ⇨ Plan ⇨ Change plan and select Shopify Plus. The update will take place within the next 24 business hours and you will be notified by email as soon as the transfer is complete.

Conclusion

With Shopify Plus, the Canadian company has created an effective solution for large companies. More than 7,000 online stores already rely on the enterprise solution. Shopify has thus opened up a whole new market and can now offer the right store system for any size of company.

So if your company is of a certain size or you want to scale your online store and are looking for the right platform, then Shopify Plus may be the right solution for you. As a Munich-based Shopify agency, we already support many companies that offer their products on the Canadian platform. If you have any questions about Shopify Plus and Shopify, you can contact us at any time.