Shopify Vs. Shopify Plus: Features Breakdown & Which Option Is Best for You

Shopify Plus is a serious piece of kit. And if you’re the right match, choosing Plus is going to give your ecommerce store scalability, analytics and customization that’s hard to beat. And this isn’t personal opinion or a top-kept secret.

However, it's important to know which Shopify account is best for your business – this could be the perfect time for you to go with the more powerful option.

Comparing Shopify to Shopify Plus

Design and customization in Shopify

Shopify offers over 60 themes, available to Shopify and Shopify Plus stores to make your tone, image, branding (and CTAs) come to life! The price ranges from free to USD$180 and once bought, there’s no monthly subscription.

For those of you who require something a little more unique you can engage with a Shopify Expert (like us) to design and build a custom interface for your storefront.

The difference on Shopify Plus is the ability to utilise scripts to create dynamic features for conversion optimisation, which a certified Shopify Plus expert (like us) can do.

The Shopify Checkout

Getting a customer through to the checkout stage means nothing unless they carry through with the order. It’s a common dilemma – on average 70% of shopping carts lead to abandonment.

So a really important factor to consider when you’re on the fence is the ability to customize your checkout with Shopify Plus. A Shopify Plus expert can create unique upsell customisations to encourage your customers to increase their order size and incentive the checkout experience.

Another big advantage for Shopify Plus is its ability to handle a greater number of order processing, up to 10,000 checkouts per minute. So when Black Friday comes around or any serious peak for your business, such as product launches, Shopify Plus can manage increases in traffic and order processing without issue.

Analytics in Shopify

Shopify provides really decent analytics features, allowing you to view finance, acquisition, inventory, behaviour, marketing and sales reports, though Shopify Plus allows you to create custom reports to fine tune your data results.

If you're looking for more comprehensive analytics you can make use of platforms integrations, such as Glew and Looker, which allow you to take a further granular approach.

Selling in Multiple Channels

One of the driving forces for merchants choosing Shopify is being able to sell in multiple marketplaces via the Shopify dashboard. Shopify offers over 20 multichannel integrations, including Amazon, eBay, Instagram, facebook and Snapchat. If your business model thrives on Instagram, then being able to set up shop using the integration might be a lucrative move. Likewise, if Amazon is a high converting platform for you – then Shopify provides a really significant benefit.

For the large number of merchants who sell Wholesale/B2B, Shopify Plus provides a dedicated Wholesale Channel, making the process of setting up and offering wholesale to selected customers a simple process.

Selling Internationally using Shopify

If international expansion is a priority for you, then it’s good to know that Shopify Plus includes ten accounts to cater for selling in overseas markets. On a side note, if you’re looking to expand overseas, then this series is going to make it a lot easier to understand the steps required. There’s a lot to consider when making that big step. We created the series to help merchants come to grips with everything from timing, domain and SEO options, shipping logistics and everything in between.

Support in Shopify

Shopify offers an email support service on standard Shopify accounts. On Shopify Plus, you can access live chat support along with the additional benefit of your own dedicated launch manager. These launch specialists make sure that your site is fully integrated with Shopify from SSL certificates to custom checkouts.

Shopify Plus Success Managers provide advice on online strategies, implementing custom integrations, API support,  insight into analytics and SEO and conduct site audits. For longer term assistance we get the most out of partnering with a Shopify Plus expert like us.

Monthly Pricing for Shopify & Shopify Plus

Shopify Plus is the more expensive account but by how much?

If you’re just starting out with limited capital then the standard Shopify plan starting at $29 per month, with 2.9% + 30¢ per online transaction rates will be the most suited to your business. There’s always the option to upgrade when it makes financial sense for your business.

The fully hosted Shopify Plus package starts at USD$2,000 per month. Once your transactions hit USD$800,000 or more per month, the fee turns into a revenue-based model and you'll pay 0.25% of your monthly revenue.
Using Shopify Payments your transaction fees are as low as 1.2% + 30c per transaction.

When Shopify Plus is right for your business

Shopify recommends the Shopify Plus account for companies with revenue exceeding USD$1 million per year.

If your business is a large venture and you're looking for a platform that supports further growth, then Shopify Plus is the ideal ecommerce platform. Companies earning between $1M-500M are growing an average of 126% YoY on Shopify Plus. If it’s good enough for Nike, NY Times and Kylie Cosmetics, then the service has proved its ability to cope with scale.

Contact us for advice

If you’re looking for Shopify experts to give you advice right across your ecommerce business, then you can get in touch with us here.

Learn and explore more of the Shopify world:

A new interface coming soon to Shopify Plus
Magento 2 Vs Shopify Plus: Choosing A Platform For Scale
What Are The Best Features of Shopify Plus?