Shopify is one of the most popular e-commerce platforms, providing a strong foundation for businesses of all sizes. But if you’re running a growing e-commerce store, it’s just a matter of time before you start thinking about whether the ‘advanced plan’ can give you the flexibility and functionality you need or if it’s holding you back, and that’s where Shopify Plus comes in.
Shopify Plus is an enterprise-level offering, designed to give growing businesses greater flexibility, automation, and support. However, an upgraded plan comes with a significant increase in cost, so it’s important to really consider whether your business will benefit from the additional features – and if those features are worth the cost.
If you’re unsure whether it’s time to make the move, keep reading as we discuss some of the key signals that are indicating an upgrade, as well as any considerations you should factor in.
Shopify vs Shopify Plus: What’s the Difference?
First things first, it’s important to understand the differences between the two plans, with such a significant price increase from Advanced to Plus, you’d rightly expect the latter to offer far more for your money.
Of course there are more basic plans available for smaller businesses at a much cheaper monthly price, but for the purposes of this article, we’ll only be comparing the features of Advanced and Plus, because if you’re considering the move to Plus, you likely will have surpassed the more basic plans already. Below is a table comparing some of the benefits you’d receive from upgrading:
| Feature | Shopify Advanced | Shopify Plus |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly Cost | £259 | £1,800 |
| Staff Accounts | 15 | Unlimited |
| Checkout Customisation | Yes | Yes, more extensive |
| Expansion stores | No | Up to 9 |
| Staging stores | Limited | Unlimited |
| API Limits | Standard | Up to 500% Higher API Limits |
| Support | 24/7 Chat | Priority Support & Resources |
| B2B | 3 Catalogues | Unlimited Catalogues |
It is also worth noting that the difference in monthly subscription cost doesn’t fully represent the difference in cost between Shopify Advanced and Shopify Plus. Shopify Plus can offer lower transaction rates, meaning that for businesses processing a high volume of sales, the savings made on transaction fees can help offset the higher monthly subscription cost. For some high-volume merchants, these savings could potentially even outweigh the additional cost of the Plus plan.
This means the decision isn’t simply about whether a business can justify the price increase each month. The overall cost needs to be considered alongside transaction volume, payment fees and the additional functionality which would benefit the business.
The biggest differences
Seeing the differences laid out in a table is one thing, but knowing what they actually mean and what they can do for your business is another.
Whilst Advanced gives substantial checkout customisation, Plus offers significantly more control – which can be a selling point. Plus offers more advanced checkout extensions that offer the ability to create different checkout experiences for different audiences. This can provide more streamlined flows, better branding consistency, and feature integration. For example, adding customer reviews and UGC onto checkout pages, to help improve conversion rate.
Checkout customisation
As such, if your business needs complex checkout logic, highly customised experiences, or differing checkout journeys, Plus is a viable option.
Multi-store management
Shopify Plus lets you manage up to ten online stores under your plan, controlling billing, stores, users, and analytics in one place. This is ideal for businesses that need to create separate stores, or connect to physical locations. If you plan to expand internationally, it becomes essential. Without upgrading, you’d need to manage each store under separate accounts, and whilst Advanced can be used for international sales, Plus is designed to support it.
B2B Capabilities
Advanced includes features like accounts and locations, payment terms, volume prices, and B2B checkouts, but Plus builds on this by adding unlimited B2B catalogues, the ability to create profiles for B2B customers, and other unique tools that allow you to sell directly to other brands.
Support Levels
The advanced plan comes with 24/7 chat support, but Plus offers more dedicated and prioritised support. This also includes access to the Merchant Success Program, which is full of workshops, webinars and account managers who can provide more bespoke guidance and onboarding advice.
Of course, there are several other features present in Plus that may be a deciding factor, but the ones highlighted above are some of the more compelling across industries. However, the question isn’t just about how many extra features it has, it’s about whether they can help solve the problems or meet the needs of your business.
Signs that you’re ready to upgrade to Shopify Plus
The right time to upgrade depends on how your e-commerce business is operating. There isn’t always a single operational problem that triggers the need for Shopify Plus, but here are some of the key signals that indicate it’s time to move to the next plan.
Your business is growing rapidly
Rapid growth can put pressure on how your business works. As order volumes, customers, and even product catalogues increase, the processes you were using and that once worked well can become difficult to manage and unsustainable. Shopify Plus is built with larger-scale operations in mind, making it easier to support continued growth without your ecommerce setup becoming a bottleneck.
For example, Shopify Plus provides additional resources for managing higher-volume operations, including increased API limits that can be useful when you’re connecting Shopify with other systems. Plus also provides additional stores and users under the same organisation, which can make it easier to scale your ecommerce setup as your business grows.
Your operations are becoming more complex
Managing a growing business can involve increasingly complicated processes, from fulfilment and inventory management to customer segmentation, pricing and more.
If you’re realising that your staff are spending too much time manually managing repetitive tasks or working around the limitations of more basic plans, Shopify Plus automation features could help make these operations smoother, freeing up your staff to focus on other areas of the business.
For instance, Shopify Plus allows access to more advanced automation capabilities through its tools, allowing businesses to automate processes based on set, customisable conditions. This could include automatically tagging high-value customers, flagging certain orders for review or triggering internal operations if inventory levels change.
You need more advanced automation
This brings us on to the next point. Tasks that are manageable manually at a smaller scale can quickly become time-consuming when you’re processing thousands of orders or managing multiple stores. Shopify Plus can help you to automate some of these tasks, creating more efficient workflows by reducing time-consuming manual processes.
For example, automated workflows can be used to identify orders that meet a set criteria and trigger actions such as tagging orders or triggering fulfilment processes, without manual staff intervention, while more complex workflows can help manage processes across multiple storefronts.
You want checkout customisation
The checkout is a critical part of the customer journey, and customising it can be a game-changer. If your business has specific checkout requirements, complex purchasing journeys or needs greater control over the checkout experience, Shopify Plus may provide the additional flexibility you need.
For example, a business could add increased functionality or third-party integrations into the checkout, such as product upsells, add-ons, more delivery options, loyalty rewards, additional payment methods, or create a more tailored experience based on segmented customer groups. This can be particularly useful where a standard checkout isn’t tailored to any specific purchasing journey.
Integrations are becoming more complex
As an ecommerce business grows, so does the number of systems it relies on. You may be connecting Shopify with CRM, inventory, fulfilment, customer service or other business platforms.
If your existing integrations are becoming difficult to manage or your current Shopify plan is limiting what you can reasonably integrate, Shopify Plus could provide greater flexibility.
The higher API limits in Shopify Plus are useful for businesses that feed large amounts of data between Shopify and other integrations or systems. For example, a retailer integrating Shopify with a warehouse management system and CRM system may benefit from handling a greater number of API requests as order or new customer volumes increase.
You’re scaling your ecommerce business internationally
Shopify Plus can make it much easier for you to manage international growth, as it allows you to manage multiple storefronts, currencies, languages, and more, all in a single platform under one account. If you anticipate that you’ll move into multiple new markets and expect big growth in those areas, Shopify Plus may become an essential. This can be useful when different markets require their own storefront or product ranges.
Shopify Plus vs Shopify Advanced: Is the extra cost worth it?
With all of the above considerations in mind, it’s now time to think about the cost. Can your business feasibly afford such a large monthly price increase?
Shopify Plus is significantly more expensive than standard Shopify, so simply wanting access to additional features isn’t necessarily enough to justify the move. However, the subscription price isn’t the only cost consideration.
As mentioned earlier, Shopify Plus can offer lower transaction rates, meaning that businesses who see a high volume of transactions may be able to mitigate the additional subscription cost through savings on transaction fees.
For example, a business processing millions in sales each month could potentially save more through reduced transaction fees than it spends on the additional Plus subscription. In this situation, the higher plan can make financial sense even if the business doesn’t need every additional Plus feature.
Where this isn’t the case, the decision is more likely to come down to the overall functionality. If automation could save your team hundreds of hours of manual work, or better checkout flexibility could improve conversion rates, the additional investment may be worthwhile.
But if your business isn’t experiencing any problematic limitations with Shopify Advanced, and transaction volumes aren’t enough to qualify for the lower rates, upgrading could just be an unnecessary expense.
Ultimately, your calculation should consider both the additional functionality Shopify Plus provides and any potential savings on transaction fees.
Should you migrate to Shopify Plus?
To conclude, whether you should move to Plus is truly a strategic decision that should be based on your business model, growth plans and current ecommerce challenges.Before making the move, it’s worth assessing both the operational and financial impact of upgrading.
Start by looking at your current monthly transaction volume and the transaction rates you’re paying, as well as the additional functionality you would gain from Shopify Plus. If you’re processing a high volume of transactions, will the lower rates available through Plus offset some of the costs of upgrading?
For example, if a business processes £1 million in transactions each month and upgrading to Plus resulted in a 0.3 percentage-point reduction in transaction fees, that would represent a potential saving of £3,000 per month. Of course, this is a high number to be making each month, but the concept is the same. In this instance, the savings of £3,000 a month would more than cover the cost of the Shopify Plus subscription, which is £1,800.
This is a simplified example, as the rates available will depend on the merchant’s individual circumstances, payment setup and Shopify agreement. However, it demonstrates why for high-volume businesses, the financial considerations for Plus can therefore be quite different from that of a lower-volume business.
The next thing to do is identify where you’re encountering problems with your Shopify setup. Consider how much time your team spends on manual processes, whether your current integrations are causing any issues, whether you need greater flexibility on your checkout processes, and whether you need to manage multiple stores.
If those issues are beginning to affect growth or operational efficiency, Shopify Plus could provide the tools your ecommerce business needs.
Ultimately, the right time to move to Shopify Plus is when the value of the benefits outweighs the cost of upgrading. For some businesses, that value will come primarily from additional functionality and operational efficiencies. For high-volume merchants, lower transaction rates may also mean that upgrading delivers a direct cost saving. The key is to assess your transaction volumes, current costs, operational requirements and future growth plans together, rather than looking at the Plus subscription fee in isolation.
Need Shopify Support?
Still unsure whether Shopify Plus is the right move for your business? We can help you assess whether upgrading makes sense for you. As Shopify Plus Partners, we can review your current setup, transaction volumes, functionality requirements and future growth plans to help you understand whether the move is the best course of action.
If you decide that Shopify Plus is the right fit, we can also provide Shopify support services to help you get the most from the platform. Get in touch to see how we can help and start the discussion on whether Shopify Plus is right for your business.
