Is your online store using Shopify, or would it benefit from all the extra features of Shopify Plus?
In this article, I’ll go over the biggest differences between Shopify and Shopify Plus and discuss what type of e-commerce stores should be thinking about making the jump to Shopify Plus.
What is Shopify Plus?
Shopify Plus is regular Shopify with added features (hence the Plus).
When deciding on the right platform for your online store, the first thing you’ll notice is the price.
The most advanced version of Shopify comes in at $299 per month, whereas Shopify Plus starts from $2,000 per month upwards (pricing is done on a case-by-case basis).
With this hefty price tag (keep in mind the minimum amount you’ll pay is $2,000 per month), is Shopify Plus worth it?
Here’s what you get for those extra dollars.
Worldwide store options
Shopify Plus lets you have up to nine store clones to grow your business overseas.
You can create co.uk. co.au, co.th etc. stores and personalize the entire shopping experience by language, currency, and season.
On regular Shopify you can dynamically change the pricing based on a user’s location, but there’s not too much you can do beyond that.
Unlimited accounts for team members
Does your business have more than 15 team members using Shopify?
Shopify Plus provides you with unlimited staff accounts, which is ideal for bigger stores as it makes everything smother and more secure (employees don’t have to share passwords).
Lower transaction fees (my favorite feature)
Shopify Advanced charges a 0.5% fee per transaction.
Shopify Plus charges a 0.15% fee per transaction.
That’s a saving of 0.35% per transaction with Shopify Plus.
Depending on how much revenue you churn each month, Shopify Plus may end up being cheaper than the regular Shopify after calculating transaction fees.
Keep in mind that if you choose to use Shopify Payments there is 0% fees on Shopify and Shopify Plus.
Advanced checkout features (my second favorite feature)
After the lower transaction fees, my second favorite feature of Shopify Plus is the advanced checkout features.
When a prospect reaches your checkout page, with Shopify Plus you have the ability to add free products to their order when they use a discount voucher, can enable auto address completion, and can create bespoke fields such as gift boxes or fields to retrieve additional customer information.
But that’s not all, with Shopify Plus you’ll be able to get your own custom EV SSL certificate which is not possible on Shopify.
(source)
EV SSL is the green bar you see to inform the customer that the page is encrypted. It’s ideal if you’re selling high-ticket items (it will reduce abandon cart rates).
Wholesale features
Are you thinking about selling items in bulk or entering B2B markets?
With Shopify Plus you can create a backend password protected store for B2B clients. Here you’ll be able to use tiered pricing, bespoke bulk discounts for each user, shipping rates, and a feature where you can review an order before the buyer is invoiced.
Extra promotional tools
Shopify Plus users have exclusive access to apps such as Launchpad.
Launchpad is a tool that lets you automate and schedule promotions in advance.
For example, if you’re running back-to-back sales, then by using Launchpad you can tell it which items to show on which dates, which discount to offer, which items to place on the front page, and when to take them off.
Once you input the data, Shopify Plus will automate everything and show the right items on your selected dates.
For Shopify to do this, you need to do this manually, which can be time consuming.
Script Editor is another Shopify Plus exclusive app.
Script Editor lets you create scripts that can modify the price and properties of items in a customer’s cart. Scripts can be used to automatically add discounts, free items, shipping, and more.
Extra support
Every Shopify Plus customer receives ongoing priority support during the launch and afterwards.
When you set up your Shopify Plus store, you’re given a Launch Manager and then are provided with a Merchant Success Manager throughout your entire membership.
Flow
Flow lets you automate various business tasks automatically, without using code.
For example, you can create rules to automatically order stock when items hit a specific level and remove items from view online when stock is at 0. It will also send emails to the marketing team to let them know when to pause and resume ad campaigns when an item is out of stock.
You can also set it up to send email alerts to team members to review high-risk orders before accepting payment.
Flow can even take into account how often a customer orders and provide bespoke discounts based on their order history, therefore increasing customer loyalty.
If you ship products worldwide, Flow works with Avalara AvaTax which automates taxes and filing for over 12,000 tax jurisdictions.
Shopify Plus is for enterprise-level e-commerce businesses
Shopify Plus has dozens more features, but the ones listed above are, in my opinion, the biggest selling points of Shopify Plus.
Whether Shopify Plus is for you or not depends on numerous factors such as sales revenue, team size, growth plans, product inventory, target market, and more.
If you’re still unsure as to whether your e-commerce store will benefit from using Shopify Plus, contact us today for a free personal consultation about your brand’s current position and future goals.
MuteSix works with dozens of e-commerce brands that use both Shopify and Shopify Plus. We’ll quickly be able to advise you on the right platform for your business.