Shopify vs. Shopify Plus, The Difference and Which One is Best?

Shopify vs. Shopify Plus, The Difference and Which One is Best?

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18 October 2022

By attalime

Trying to find the right e-commerce platform and juggling to choosing between Shopify vs Shopify Plus? Shopify is a subscription-based Software as a Service (SaaS) selling platform that enables small businesses to build an online store through one streamlined dashboard with its user-friendly features. Shopify is suitable for those who have a small e-commerce store. Why? Because it offers small businesses more relevant features at affordable costs. Even though each plan of Shopify has a monthly fee, the features are adequate and scalable for small businesses. 

And let’s talk about the costly version of Shopify, Shopify Plus. Shopify Plus is a fully hosted, enterprise-level e-commerce platform and a website builder. As stated before, Shopify Plus will be a great fit for medium-sized and large e-commerce stores or enterprise level. Since it comes with a hefty price of US$2.000 per month, the features, functionality, and customizable experience or options are way better than Shopify. It enables medium to large e-commerce stores to grow and leverage their business.  

The Main Differences between Shopify vs Shopify Plus

In business, being meticulous about the price is normal. And it might be related to some of you questioning Shopify vs. Shopify Plus; which one is best? What difference between Shopify and Shopify Plus might be worth the price for my business to invest in an e-commerce platform? Here is the difference between Shopify vs Shopify Plus. 

1. A dedicated account manager 

Shopify provides phone, email, and live chat support for their users. When things get tough, you can hire a Shopify expert. 

Contrary, Shopify Plus provides your store with personalized and dedicated support. You will get a Launch Engineer for your website to guide you through the store setup/migration process. And whether it’s third-party integration or finding a partner to work on a business-specific project, the Launch Engineer will be there to help you.

2. Unlimited theme customization with Liquid

The standard Shopify plan allows you to customize Shopify theme templates using the editor but switching to a completely new theme is difficult.

Meanwhile, the Shopify Plus plan is highly customizable and allows you to access Liquid, Shopify’s theme language. With Liquid, you can make code-level changes in your backend and have more control.

3. Limitless staff accounts

Another feature to consider is staff accounts. The basic Shopify plan only allows a small number of limited staff accounts.

While Shopify Plus allows you to add unlimited staff accounts and enable additional permission settings.

Any number of team members can be given access to work on your online store, and you can have more control over staff actions in your store admin.

4. More control and customization options at the checkout page

As a store owner, it makes sense that you want to pay personal attention to your high net worth customers and their behavior on the checkout page.

Shopify Plus lets you customize your checkout experience based on cart values ​​and other criteria.

Additionally, users can interact with Shopify Scripts. The script editor gives you more control and allows you to customize shipping methods, customer fields, and payment options. Not so with Shopify. A special app is required to customize the checkout experience.

5. More API integrations

You might already know that any website requires APIs that facilitate integration with third-party apps. So does Shopify Plus. To help users get the most out of third-party apps, Shopify Plus includes advanced API resources such as GiftCard, User, and Multipass.

For your information, GiftCard is an alternative payment method, while Multi-pass login allows seamlessly redirects website visitors to your Shopify store with no separate login credentials or customer database sync required. And User allows you to add, delete, edit, and view employee account information. Additionally, Shopify Plus allows you to integrate custom apps or create your own private apps.

6. Dedicated and special apps

Shopify Plus users also have access to some exclusive Shopify apps through the app store, which is not available to regular Shopify users:

  • A wholesale channel to help users with their high volume B2B sales.
  • Shopify Flow, an e-commerce automation platform. The simple visual builder can automate many customer-facing tasks and office processes in-store and across apps. Save and execute the triggers, conditions, and actions you set for tagging loyal customers, sending backorder requests, and much more. All of this does not require any coding on your part. 
  • Launchpad helps you plan and automate flash sales, product launches, or sales campaigns. After the event ends, you can instantly undo your changes.
  • The script editor allows you to create personalized experiences during the cart/checkout stages. Small codes help you apply discounts and customize shipping and payment options for your customers. It helps reduce the number of abandoned shopping carts.
  • A Transporter app that imports customer, product, and order records into your Shopify store. It makes it easy to send customer records between branches.
  • Bulk account inviter invites customers imported from another platform or store to activate their account on your online store. This app is useful after importing customer accounts from another platform or store.

7. Integration capabilities with existing platforms

The number of apps you can connect to your Shopify store is endless, but for fast-growing and complex businesses, it may make more sense to integrate with your existing platform via Shopify’s API. Examples are the following platforms:

  • Product information management (PIM)
  • Enterprise resource planning (ERP)
  • Inventory and order management (IMS and OMS)
  • Customer relationship management (CRM)
  • Third-party logistics (3PL)
  • Warehouse management software (WMS)
  • Global fulfillment partners

8. Pricing

The biggest difference between Shopify and Shopify Plus is its pricing and plans. The Standard Shopify plan has flat, straightforward pricing tiers, making it easy to pick the best option for your business. The basic plan rate is US$29/month, the Shopify plan is US$79/month, and the advanced plan rate is US$299/month. You can try any of them with a 14-day free trial to help you decide which best suits your needs and budget. 

Shopify Plus software pricing is more complicated than the Standard plan. It is because your final total fee is based on your sales volume. Merchants or companies should pay a minimum of US$2,000 per month for standard setup and integration. Once you reach US$800,000 in monthly sales, Shopify Plus will switch to a revenue-based model, which maxes out at US$40,000 per month.

9. The wholesale channels

Another difference between Shopify and Shopify Plus is the wholesale channel. As your business grows, there will always be customers who want to buy in bulk. And it’s natural to expect enterprise-level platforms to facilitate wholesale sales.

The wholesale channel helps you to create a separate, password-protected storefront based on your online store. It means you can offer wholesale buyers the same product at a special price or wholesale-only products. Alternatively, you can provide custom price lists and discount codes. 

Shopify Plus allows merchants to optimize the wholesale channel by sending invoices, tracking orders, leveraging existing product data and integrations, and facilitating B2C and B2B transactions. You can manage everything from one place.

10. Merchant Success Program

Merchant Success Program is one of the most attractive from Shopify Plus that helps users get the most value from the platform. You will get assistance and help with integrations, third-party products and platforms, and training so you can reach and unlock your full potential.

In addition to 24/7 support, our team will assist you in finding approved Shopify Plus Partners who are ready to help keep you up to date with industry trends. Shopify Plus users also get access to other resources that might be useful for your business. The resources include Shopify Facebook Community, Partners Directory, where you can access technology, agency and solution partners, exclusive beta programs, and Shopify Plus Academy for guidance on using the Shopify Plus platform.

11. A unified dashboard with in-depth analytics options

Shopify Plus dashboard allows users to manage all your stores, analytics, staff accounts, user permissions, and automation tools in one place. It also offers a complete overview of your business, promotes teamwork, and improves automation for multiple stores or locations.

Meanwhile, Shopify Plus offers the same analytic resources as the Advanced Shopify plan for analytics. The difference is the powerful insights that can be uncovered using the analytics tools available from Plus’s technology partners. Shopify Plus users can get customized and tailored solutions for managing the analytics and reports that aren’t available with Advanced Shopify.

Shopify vs. Shopify Plus, The Pros, and Cons

Both Shopify and Shopify Plus have their own pros and cons. And to give you a better perspective and consideration of which one is best for your business, here are the details of the pros and cons of Shopify and Shopify Plus.

Shopify

Pros Cons
Capabilities to sell on multiple channels like Facebook, Instagram, and Amazon Limited special integrations
Excellent inventory system Transaction fees are required if you don’t use Shopify Payments
Having better e-commerce features than other website builders Themes cannot be switched without reformatting the content

Shopify Plus

Pros Cons
Limitless staff accounts No monthly fixed price according to the offer.
The capability to handle over 10,000 transactions per minute Suitable for enterprise-level business
Dedicated customer help and support Must have time to invest in your e-commerce website

How to Decide between Shopify vs Shopify Plus?

Shopify offers users powerful e-commerce features, and sometimes many merchants wonder if they need to upgrade to the “plus” version of the platform to sell online.

There’s no easy and specific answer to this question because every e-commerce project differs and depends on the goals and needs. But to make it easier to decide whether to upgrade to Shopify Plus or not, you can ask yourself and answer the following questions. 

  • Do you have many brick-and-mortar stores that need POS (point of sales) functionality? 
  • Do you have advanced API requirements and need to develop a custom tool/app for your Shopify store?
  • Do you have a large customer base spread worldwide, which means automatic currency conversion is a key advantage here?
  • Do you need to work with a large number of storage locations?
  • Do you want full control over the payment process?
  • Do you need to manage many Shopify stores in one place?
  • Do you have a very large team that needs access to the Shopify dashboard?

If you tick most of those questions, then it means you can consider upgrading into Shopify Plus. 

The Takeaways

Shopify and Shopify Plus offer the same services when it comes to dashboards and basic e-commerce functionality. The main differences are that Shopify Plus offers more flexibility, more integration and customized support options, and more access to your store’s underlying code.

Well, it has great features but comes with a hefty price of about US$2,000 monthly. If your store has made millions of sales, Shopify might be a pretty great fit for your business. But if you haven’t made it, then you better stick with the Shopify platform. Unless you need the features that come with Shopify Plus and think those new features will pay off. 

If you’re ready to level up your business with Shopify, Lime Commerce, an official Exclusive Shopify Partner in Indonesia, will ready to help to get your store up and running. We have over eight years of experience delivering excellence to our clients with different niches and needs. Talk to us to consult or discuss how we can help accelerate your business growth. 

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