Shopify vs Shopify Plus

Do you think of running your e-commerce store on Shopify? Brilliant idea. When you already decided on the selling platform, you are about to select the best plan for your business. The choice is between Shopify and Shopify Plus. Instinctively, you probably want to go big and make yourself feel comfortable. But what are the core differences between these two versions and how to tell which one appeals to you? Let us find out.

Shopify and Shopify Plus Pricing

Shopify lets you choose between three plans. All of them give you access to e-commerce features, such as discounts codes and gift cards. And you can manage the plans from the same Shopify account. Make sure to thoroughly review each one. What you will notice is that the size of your store should help you decide about the type of subscription in the first place. 

For example, if you run a small business with no folks onboard yet, a Basic Shopify will fit you. Advanced Shopify, often connected with Shopify enterprise edition, comes with an advanced report builder and the most favourable transaction model – but that may come in handy when you start noticing your customer base growth.

Shopify Plus pricing is a different story because the plans match customer needs. To get the right solution, you contact a Shopify Plus representative and discuss your store technological and business parameters. Usually, the analysis revolves around your sales, making the price start at 2000 USD monthly. However, if you are hitting some staggering sales numbers, the plan can go beyond that.         

Shopify Tech Support

Shopify offers exceptional 24/7 support via most popular channels such as live chat. Apart from that, they use a Help Center that focuses on guiding in over 20 languages. But that is not all. Thanks to interactive Shopify tech support, you can watch videos on Shopify YouTube channel and join the Shopify community to exchange your experience with other platform users.

In case of Shopify Plus, their team goes an extra mile and makes sure you know what to do at every stage of managing your store, including setting up a Shopify account. From day one, you are assigned with a representative, called a Launch Engineer. They help you look after your store, for example, by advising on adding new apps or performing migration between existing stores.

Shopify Plus Features for Design Lovers

Similarly to other CMSs on the market, Shopify gives you a possibility to customize the layout. And so, you can choose between tens of themes to find a perfect design for your store. Nevertheless, some of them are harder to edit than others, and in most cases, the number of edits that you can make to an existing theme is limited. Fortunately, if you have coding skills, you can use Shopify editor. Before that, though, try to pick up some best coding practices. The key is to customize the code efficiently, even if it requires a helping hand from web development agency.

Shopify Plus comes forward with a different kind of experience. It lets you modify checkout via the checkout.liquid file – which is something many users find particularly important. Why? Because standard Shopify checkout tends to stand out from the rest of your store visually. And there is nothing wrong about that unless the mismatch challenges the customer’s journey and prompts shoppers to abandon the cart seconds before the transaction. Getting full control over styles and content may thus be the reason to choose the Plus version.

Shopify Business Scaling

Shopify has been developed in a way that takes account of third-party software. This feature lets retailers connect their store to applications through API and build robust, more functional e-commerce platforms. While Basic Shopify uncovers hundreds of complementary extensions, Shopify Plus adds something extra to the catalogue already rich in apps.

For example, two improvements associated with the Plus experience focus on payments. These are: 

• Gift card – offers gift card codes that you can use as an alternative payment method. 
• Multipass – lets you use one account to move between the store and other websites that require login.

Apart from that, the users who decide on the upgraded version of their e-commerce can access a bunch of other premium apps. It makes sense to obtain some of them only under specific circumstances, for example, Wholesale as part of the Sales Channel. I encourage you to exploit the potential of several apps, to name:

• Launchpad – suitable for upcoming promotions and product release. You can use it to run sales campaigns and maximize profit in a short time span.

• Shopify Flow – used to introduce conditions and automate processes for different purchasing scenarios. For example, it can check the amount of money customer spent in your store and compare it with the loyalty program requirements. If the customer meets the condition, they are automatically qualified as loyal.

• Script Editor – use it to create a different checkout and cart experience. Thanks to small portions of code, you can personalize payment options for shoppers and manage discounts in line with the number of products in a cart. 

Shopify Plus Advanced Reporting

Comparing to the Basic Shopify plan, the Plus feature goes with an advanced reporting system. This way, you can keep a detailed record of how your business grows, follow analytics and generate reports. Knowing how your customers behave, you can put more attention to meeting their interest and providing even more exceptional service. 

The data that you can review is high-level. You can monitor your selling channels performance, check KPIs and your stock. All this available in a dedicated dashboard that becomes part of your store.