Deciding on the right e-commerce platform is a crucial step for businesses looking to establish or enhance their online presence. To help you make an informed decision, in this article we will explore the features that differentiate Shopify Plus from its core version Shopify, and how to choose the best solution for your business.
Difference Between Shopify & Shopify Plus
While Shopify is built for small-medium businesses, Shopify Plus is tailored with enriched features specifically designed for enterprise-level companies. As your brand expands and your needs change, you can upgrade your Shopify account to a higher plan. (Forbes, 2024). We recommend seeking advice from a certified Shopify Agency, such as The Commerce Team Global, to work out which Shopify plan suits your business needs.
Shopify Plus Features
Shopify Plus offers all functionalities found in Shopify, along with these exciting additional tools to support merchants’ growth and expansion:
- Multiple Stores Under One Organisation Account: Shopify Plus allows up to 10 stores (1 primary store + 9 expansion stores) under the same account login. On top of this, users can customise their checkout options to different currencies according to their stores’ localisation. This is how we helped our client BioGaia unify their 4 stores under the same Shopify Plus account. Read the success story here.
- B2B Sales: Merchants can set customer-specific catalogues, payment terms, currencies and connect multiple customers and locations in a single company profile. Users and their customers can add a purchase order (PO) number to B2B orders and draft orders. (Shopify)
- Shopify Plus Academy and Merchant Success Program: Plus users get access to a resource hub with webinars and courses to help merchants improve their e-commerce operations, interface, marketing, and user experience. In addition, they receive a faster, dedicated support from Shopify on platform queries. (Gorgias, 2023)
- Unlimited Staff Accounts: Unlike the Basic, Shopify and advanced plans that include respectively 2, 5, 15 users, Shopify Plus allows large teams access online dashboards, providing unlimited access.
- More flexible API Integrations: Shopify app store features over 8,000 paid and free apps, and Shopify Plus merchants obtain more flexibility to install API integrations with their existing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) or Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technologies. (Gorgias, 2023)
- Event Automation and Real Time Data: The Launchpad tool, available on Shopify Plus, schedules, coordinates, and executes events, such as sales, product drops, and inventory restocks. As an event progresses, merchants can track its success by viewing the app's real-time, analytic dashboard. (Shopify)
- Custom Storefront on Headless Commerce: Shopify Plus users can customise their online stores through headless commerce features. This improves the front-end user experience and simplify the commerce back-end development.
- Lower Transaction Fees: As of January 2024, Shopify charges 2.6% plus $30 cents for online card sales, flat 2.5% for in person sales. While on Shopify Plus, it is 0.15% per transaction for third-party payment processors (credit card fees vary by country). Furthermore, if you use Shopify Payments, this fee is waived. (Forbes, 2024).
In conclusion, migrating to Shopify Plus offers a wealth of benefits for businesses seeking advanced features and scalability. From multiple stores and B2B capabilities to enhanced support and lower transaction fees, it is a strategic move for growth. If you would like to explore your e-commerce potential and looking into migrating to Shopify or to Shopify Plus,
contact us at info@thecommerceteam.com
