Shopify suits small to medium businesses with essential features, while Shopify Plus offers advanced tools for large enterprises needing greater customization, automation, and multi-store management.
If you’ve been exploring options for building your online store, you’ve likely come across Shopify and Shopify Plus. Both are powerful platforms, but they cater to different types of businesses. Shopify is generally considered a go-to platform for small to medium-sized businesses, offering a straightforward and user-friendly experience. On the other hand, Shopify Plus is designed for larger enterprises that require more advanced features and customizations.
Let’s explore each platform’s offerings and compare their pricing, support, design flexibility, management features, etc.
Shopify is a cloud-based e-commerce platform that lets you create, personalize, and manage a web store. It’s easy to use without being technical or coding savvy. With Shopify, you can sell products, manage inventory, process payments, and handle shipping from one central platform.
Shopify offers a range of features that make it a popular choice for businesses of all sizes:
Shopify Plus is Shopify for businesses that need more features and customizations. It shares Shopify’s core functionality but provides extra capabilities and tools to support large-scale operations.
Shopify Plus comes with all the features of the standard Shopify platform, plus a suite of additional features tailored for enterprise-level businesses:
Shopify Plus is built to handle the complexities of running a large-scale e-commerce business. It’s designed for companies that need more than what the standard Shopify plans offer and are ready to invest in a platform that can support their growth.
One of the most significant differences between Shopify and Shopify Plus is the pricing. Understanding the cost structure of each platform is crucial in determining which one is the right fit for your business.
These plans are designed to accommodate different business sizes and needs. The more you pay, the more features and support you get. For example, the Advanced Plan includes advanced reporting and lower transaction fees than the Basic Plan.
Shopify Plus has no fixed pricing structure like the standard Shopify plans. The cost of Shopify Plus is customized based on your business’s needs, sales volume, and specific requirements. While the starting price is $2,000 per month, it can go higher depending on the complexity of your store and the additional features you require.
Which One is More Cost-Effective? If you’re running a small to medium-sized business, the standard Shopify plans are likely sufficient for your needs and more cost-effective. However, if your business is growing rapidly, has a high sales volume, or requires more advanced features, the additional capabilities and support you receive can justify your investment in Shopify Plus.
Access to reliable support and exclusive programs can significantly impact your business’s success when running an online store. Shopify and Shopify Plus both offer robust support options, but some key distinctions can influence which platform is right for you.
Shopify provides 24/7 customer support to all users on all plans. Support is available via telephone, e-mail, and live chat. Shopify’s customer service team can help you set up your store, fix an issue, or learn how to use a feature at any time.
Shopify offers immediate support and a Help Center with tons of videos, guides, and frequently asked questions (FAQs). These resources have covered everything from setting up your store to advanced topics like SEO and marketing strategies. For all those who’d rather learn at their own pace, Shopify has an excellent Help Center available.
While Shopify’s standard support is sufficient for most small to medium-sized businesses, Shopify Plus takes support to the next level, offering a more personalized and hands-on experience.
One of the standout features of Shopify Plus is access to a dedicated Merchant Success Manager (MSM). This is not just your average support representative; your MSM is a strategic partner who works closely with you to optimize your store’s performance, implement new features, and help you scale your business. They help you through complex challenges, give advice, and enable you to make the most of Shopify Plus.
Shopify Plus users also get access to Shopify Plus Academy, a learning resource center. The academy provides advanced courses, coaching, and webinars to help you and your staff find out how to maximize your knowledge. Whether you need marketing help, a store design improvement, or general knowledge about operating on Shopify Plus Academy, you can get insight and practical knowledge.
Another exclusive program for Shopify Plus users is the Launch Team Support. When you upgrade to Shopify Plus, you cannot figure things out alone. The Launch Team is there to help you transition smoothly from your previous platform or Shopify plan to Shopify Plus.
Shopify provides enough support for most small- to medium-sized businesses through its 24/7 support and large Help Center. Its accessibility to help and resources makes it a reliable option.
However, Shopify Plus provides more individualized support if you need more individualized attention, strategic guidance, and exclusive resources for your business. The dedicated account manager access to the Shopify Plus Academy and Launch Team Support is unmatched service, especially for larger businesses with complex operations and big growth plans.
Shopify and Shopify Plus offer excellent support. However, Shopify Plus’s service and exclusive programs make it the right fit for businesses that need more than basic customer support.
One of the most important considerations when creating an online store is the design of your website. The design is the first thing your customers notice, which is crucial in shaping their shopping experience. Both Shopify and Shopify Plus offer a range of themes and customization options, but they differ significantly in flexibility and control.
Shopify has a clean interface that extends its theme customization options. Shopify provides several pre-built themes for different industries and looks. These themes are expertly developed, responsive, and optimized for mobile devices and desktops, so your store looks good on any screen.
Shopify makes customizing your store’s theme a breeze without learning coding. It features a drag-and-drop editor that allows you to alter your store’s design in real time. You can modify fonts, colors, and layouts with a few clicks.
Shopify’s themes are customizable but limited in some ways. The drag-and-drop editor lets you make simple changes, but more substantial changes (changing the page structure or adding interactive elements) may restrict you. You must hack into the theme’s code (knowledge of Shopify’s templating language, Liquid) or pay a developer.
For many businesses, the customization options in Shopify’s editor are enough. But if you want more control over your store’s design or have special needs that can’t be met with the themes available, these limitations might be limiting.
Shopify Plus gives businesses more control and customization of the design flexibility that Shopify offers. Shopify Plus uses the same themes as the standard platform but allows more customization.
The biggest advantage of Shopify Plus is the ability to create customized themes. This means that, unlike standard Shopify plans, you’re not locked into the structure and layout offered by pre-built themes. With Shopify Plus, you can create a theme from scratch or customize an existing theme to your requirements.
Shopify Plus gives you access to all of Shopify’s liquid codes to customize them in depth. This includes changing the checkout—one of the biggest design differences between Shopify and Shopify Plus. You can add custom fields, modify the layout, and integrate third-party tools that help users experience checkout with Shopify Plus.
One cool thing about Shopify Plus is the capability to customize the checkout. On standard Shopify plans, checkout customization is limited to adding a logo or changing the color scheme. Still, you can’t change the structure of the checkout page itself. Shopify Plus, however, lets you personalize the checkout entirely to better suit your customers. This can be useful for businesses with particular checkout needs, like niche markets or complex products.
A further advantage of Shopify Plus is its support for multilingual and multi-currency features. Shopify provides some support for these features, but Shopify Plus lets you build a custom experience for your international customers. You can create custom storefronts for specific regions using their language, currency, and Shopify payments. Such customization is required for companies that operate worldwide and wish to provide a localized experience to their consumers.
Shopify Plus also includes the Shopify Script Editor, which allows you to write custom scripts that automate parts of your store. For instance, you could write scripts that apply discounts automatically, alter the behavior of your shopping cart, or personalize the shopping experience based on customer data. The control isn’t available on regular Shopify plans, and it may be a game changer for companies looking to provide a far more branded shopping experience.
The choice between Shopify and Shopify Plus ultimately depends on the control and customization you need for your online store’s design.
The right tools and features for managing an online store could be the difference between running a profitable e-commerce business. Shopify and Shopify Plus provide robust management options, but Shopify Plus is more complex for larger businesses. In this section, we compare the management functions of Shopify and Shopify Plus to discover which is much better for running your store.
Shopify offers solid inventory management tools to track your stock, manage product variations, and set up alerts for low inventory. These tools are included in your dashboard to help you monitor and update your inventory in real-time.
Shopify lets you sell across multiple channels—your online store, social media, and physical retail locations. Your inventory is synced across these channels, preventing overselling and maintaining accurate stock levels.
Shopify Plus offers all the inventory management capabilities of the standard Shopify plans plus more. For instance, Shopify Plus allows third-party inventory management systems and enterprise resource planning (ERP) tools to integrate more complex inventory management across multiple warehouses and locations.
If you manage multiple storefronts under one account, Shopify Plus makes it easy to manage inventory across all your stores from one dashboard. It is especially useful for businesses with multiple brands or different regions.
Shopify’s order management system handles everything from payments to shipments. The platform features order tracking, automatic tax calculation, and integrated shipping with major carriers.
Shopify sends customers automated email notifications regarding their order status, including confirmations, shipping updates, and delivery notifications. It increases customer satisfaction and reduces manual communication.
With Shopify Plus, you get more advanced order management tools. That includes handling high-volume orders, bulk orders, and custom order workflows with Shopify Flow, an automation tool exclusive to Shopify Plus.
Shopify Flow automates order management tasks such as tagging high-value customers, segmenting orders for different fulfillment centers, and setting up automated responses for specific order scenarios.
Shopify offers basic customer management, with customer profiles containing contact details, purchase history, and order preferences. Use this information to personalize your marketing and enhance customer support.
Shopify allows you to segment your customers by location, purchase behavior, and order value. It lets you target your marketing campaigns and offers to specific customer groups.
Shopify Plus extends the standard customer management functionality with deeper customer insights and advanced segmentation options. Create custom segments based on more detailed data, such as lifetime value, purchasing frequency, and customer engagement.
Shopify Plus also includes features for managing B2B (business-to-business) customers. These features include custom pricing, wholesale channels, and custom customer-specific catalogs, which are needed by businesses selling to consumers and other businesses.
Shopify’s standard plans are designed to manage a single store. You can add more sales channels to your account, but each Shopify account only has one storefront. This is enough for most small—to medium-sized businesses with one brand or store.
Shopify Plus lets you manage multiple storefronts from one account—great for businesses with multiple brands, regional stores, or different-language versions of their site. Each storefront can have its own settings, themes, and products, but all can be managed from a single dashboard.
Shopify provides reporting tools for monitoring your store, including sales reports, traffic reports, and customer reports. These reports help you monitor your store’s performance and make informed business decisions.
The Advanced Shopify plan gives you more detailed reports, including custom reports that drill down into specific data points. These reports help you understand your business performance and areas for improvement.
Shopify Plus provides even more advanced reporting and analytics. Create custom dashboards showing the metrics that matter to your business, like conversion rates, customer retention, and average order value.
Shopify Plus connects to third-party analytics tools and business intelligence systems so you can integrate your Shopify data and other data sources to discover much more about your company. It is helpful for large enterprises with complex operations.
The choice between Shopify and Shopify Plus for better management features depends largely on the size and complexity of your business.
Running an e-commerce store successfully requires constant improvement. Both Shopify and Shopify Plus provide options to help you develop your shop. However, Shopify Plus has extra tools to help you grow your company.
Which Platform Offers Better Improvement Tools? If you’re looking for basic tools to improve your store’s performance, Shopify’s features and app integrations should meet your needs. However, if you’re running large-scale campaigns, need more advanced customization options, or are expanding into B2B sales, Shopify Plus offers the additional tools and capabilities to help you achieve your business goals.
Choosing between Shopify and Shopify Plus depends on the size of your business, your growth ambitions, and the complexity of your operations. Here’s a quick recap to help you decide:
It comes down to what you require and where your business is headed. Shopify is a solid starting place for many businesses, and it combines affordability, flexibility, and features. But if you need to expand and need a platform to allow for more complicated tasks, Shopify Plus provides you with the tools and support to grow.
Whether you choose Shopify or Shopify Plus, you’ll be joining a community of successful e-commerce businesses that have leveraged the power of these platforms to build and scale their online stores.
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