Shopify Plus is a comprehensive ecommerce platform for high-volume businesses and enterprises aiming to scale globally.

Shopify Plus powers over 10% of all U.S. ecommerce transactions, with Shopify merchants generating more than $1 trillion in revenue by using the platform. [1] These figures witness the outstanding value offered by Shopify Plus to its users. 

Who should consider Shopify Plus?

Shopify Plus is not suitable for all businesses. It was developed for medium-to-large enterprises that turnover more than $ 1 million in annual sales, or at least $84,000 a month. For businesses of this size, the scalability and customization levels offered by Shopify Plus are key reasons for migrating to this enterprise-level ecommerce platform. 

An Alternative To Shopify Plus For Newcomers

If you’re a newcomer to Shopify, the Plus might not be the right fit for you just yet. However, if you’re looking to start small and explore ecommerce with a scalable option, Dropbuild’s dropshipping stores are the perfect place to start. With Dropbuild, you can have a fully functional store ready in 7 days. Their focus on building conversion-optimized Shopify stores means you can enter the market quickly while avoiding the complexities of managing your own inventory.  

👉 Learn how Dropbuild can help you launch a dropshipping store

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Why you should change to Shopify Plus

Shopify Plus has a number of advanced features not available to users of lower subscription plans. These features offer a level of customization, platform development, and integration with existing technology required by a business generating over $ 1 million in annual revenue. 

Total control and perfect integration

Shopify Plus is a central operating system for your online business, connecting all aspects of your processes. Its suite of customizable and extensible solutions integrates seamlessly with existing tech stacks, eliminating the need to spend resources on making generic software work for commerce.

You will spend less time and money managing multiple platforms with flexible integrations, APIs, and automated workflows across campaigns. 

Optimized for performance

Shopify Plus is optimized for speed and scalability, guaranteeing 99.99% uptime for your online store and the ability to process up to 10,000 transactions per minute, per store without your site crashing. This makes the platform an ideal fit for online stores that experience extensive traffic peaks during flash sales and product launches. 

Furthermore, Shopify takes care of server management, hosting, performance optimization, security updates, and upgrades. 

Headless ecommerce for flexibility 

For businesses seeking to bring creative ideas to life, transforming any digital screen or device into a sales channel, Shopify’s headless API layer enables bespoke storefronts. Tools like Hydrogen (a React-based toolkit) and Oxygen (a global hosting solution) allow businesses to deploy quickly without sacrificing quality. 

You have the ability to use both Shopify’s tools or integrate your own because the platform separates your back-end infrastructure from your front-end customer touchpoints, so you get more control over your buyer and developer experiences.

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Source: Shopify

Higher sales and engagement

With Shopify’s powerful, best converting checkout, businesses experience an average of 15% higher conversion rates.  Features like Shop Pay - a fully customizable one-click checkout can further lift conversions up to 50% compared to guest checkouts. 

With Shopify Audience your business can:

• Increase your retargeting conversions by up to 2%
• Cut customer acquisition costs by up to 50%
• Exclude 40% more existing customers on average
• Connect your store to key marketing channels [2]

With a monthly ad spend of $105,000, Shopify Audiences will help you acquire 504 000 potential new customers versus 252,000 with current ad targeting. 

Robustly built for enterprise development

Shopify Plus is trusted by industry leaders across 175 countries, thanks to the platform’s robust infrastructure. [1] It supports over 300 points of presence worldwide, ensuring seamless customer experiences and stable operations no matter where your audience is. 

The benefits gained by using Shopify Plus come from a list of advanced features that support businesses to scale and expand their ecommerce stores. The features work synergistically, allowing you to create a Shopify store specifically suited to multiple target audiences. 

Key features of Shopify Plus

1. Fully customizable storefronts

In a competitive market, businesses require an engaging online storefront to set them apart from competitors. Shopify Plus provides the flexibility to build custom themes using Liquid, Shopify’s templating language, and to create personalized customer experiences with tools like Shopify Functions and checkout extensions. 

This level of customization enables enterprises to design storefronts that reflect their brand identity and cater to specific audience segments. While standard Shopify plans offer a wide choice of storefront templates, it is only Shopify Plus that offers the level of customization required for creating a personalized shopping experience. Even Advanced Shopify cannot offer the same flexibility. 

2. AI-enhanced search and discovery

Extensive product catalogs are unique to larger enterprises and make it essential for customers to search and find products quickly and easily. Shopify Plus incorporates powerful AI tools that analyze user behavior and product signals to enhance search functionality. This leads to higher customer engagement and increased sales by ensuring that shoppers can easily discover products that meet their needs.

3. Integrated omnichannel selling

The ability to sell seamlessly across multiple platforms, including online, offline, and social platforms, is a benchmark for enterprises with a high sales volume. Shopify’s POS system provides the ability to sell almost anywhere, including brick-and-mortar stores, markets, and pop-up shops. The Shopify POS app is available for only iOS and Android devices.

Shopify POS syncs with Shopify to track your orders and inventory across your retail locations, online store, and other active sales channels. You can even view and manage your store's orders from the app.

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4. Automation and efficiency

Automation tools like Launchpad offer store owners the ability to schedule a flash sale, product release, or sales campaign. Launchpad works with Shopify Flow, allowing you to create automated workflows. 

The ability to automate the time-consuming and repetitive tasks within a large enterprise leads to more efficient processes across the board. Both Launchpad and Shopify Flow can be found in the Shopify App Store, and quickly connected to help you launch campaigns within minutes.

5. Enterprise-grade wholesale features

Businesses engaged with B2B operations need specialized features to handle wholesale transactions and Shopify Plus’s wholesale feature provides this. Traditionally, B2B customers avoided online channels, believing the process was too complex to deal with online. With increased technological capabilities, this mindset has shifted and buyers now use online platforms to conduct their own information. 

Shopify Plus has responded to this need for independent information collection and pricing by developing features suited to wholesale selling, including:

• Customized pricing and percentage discounts for specific customers or groups
• Automation and review of customer signups
• Letting customers purchase, track, and reorder products
• Reviewing orders before invoicing
• Streamlining inventory and order management
• Flexible payment options like Shopify payments, PayPal, and credit card payments

6. Global expansion capabilities

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Businesses currently in international markets or planning to expand globally are guaranteed support for multiple currencies, languages, and regional compliance. Shopify Plus enables enterprises to operate up to 10 clone stores tailored for different markets, supporting multicurrency pricing, localized content, and tax compliance. This facilitates regional checkout experiences that can lead to better conversion rates in diverse markets.

7. Extensive developer support

Shopify has over 45 000 developers focused on making changes and adaptations to the platform, with 800 features and updates released in the last three years, but enterprises may still require a level of customization and development apart from the work already being done. This is provided by extensive developer support through its Storefront API, CLI, and comprehensive documentation. This empowers development teams to efficiently create bespoke solutions that align with business objectives.

Shopify pricing and related costs

Shopify offers unbeatable value for high-growth businesses. These can be broken into fixed costs, which are the minimum subscription fees, Shopify Plus, or variable fees, which are worked out according to the total sales revenue. 

Fixed Costs

Shopify Plus starts at $2,500 per month, with discounts for long-term commitments. This price includes hosting, maintenance, and access to exclusive features.

Variable Costs

For high-volume businesses, Shopify Plus charges a percentage of sales revenue (e.g., 0.4% of D2C sales). This structure often makes Shopify Plus more cost-effective for enterprises compared to platforms with fixed transaction fees. Furthermore, there are additional costs for custom development for bespoke features, third-party apps and plugins, and data migration, and onboarding services. 

Total Cost Of Ownership (TCO)

Shopify Plus boasts a 33% lower TCO than competitors like Magento Enterprise and WooCommerce, thanks to reduced implementation, operational, and maintenance costs. [1]

When is Shopify Plus worth it?

1. You have a high-sales volume business

If your annual sales turnover is between $ 1 million and $ 2 million, this is the optimal stage for you to mitigate to Shopify Plus. At this stage, the turnover and high transaction volume will justify the cost of Shopify Plus.

2. Your business is scaling globally

For businesses expanding into new regions, Shopify Plus makes the expansion easier and faster. The ability to clone up to 10 stores and adapt the currency and language for each target audience without complex coding means you can deploy quickly into new markets. 

3. You have complex B2B or omnichannel requirements

Shopify Plus helps you unlock new revenue streams without the overheads. Tapping into new commerce opportunities is as fast as turning on a sales channel managed in one powerful back office. Shopify has been recognized as a platform leader by IDC and Gartner. Businesses are requesting Shopify by name as the preferred solution in all segments globally, especially enterprises. [3]

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Pros and Cons of Shopify Plus

Before closing our comprehensive review of Shopify Plus, a summary of the pros and cons of Shopify Plus is helpful for solidifying the key points.

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How does Shopify Plus help you sell more, grow faster, and scale your business?

Shopify Plus gives you all the power you need to scale and manage your business across online, retail, and B2B—without the weight and cost of traditional commerce software.

For enterprises it is worth the cost of migrating to Shopify Plus if revenue is over $ 1 million and there are strategies in place to expand into global markets or target additional audiences. 

The powerhouse of features, combined with highly flexible customization features and access to Shopify’s resources, provides the ability to expand quickly and forcefully into desired markets around the world. 

For a monthly subscription of $2,300 per month (3-year plan) combined with a high level of dedicated support from Shopify developers, account managers, and partners, Shopify Plus is a worthwhile investment for medium-large enterprises.

While Shopify Plus offers incredible value for large enterprises, newcomers can enter the ecommerce market by purchasing less expensive Shopify plans. One entry point with plenty of opportunities is dropshipping. If you’re serious about venturing into ecommerce, Dropbuild will build you a conversion-focused Shopify store in 7 days, tailored to your needs. 

👉 Skip the steep learning curve of building your own store and get started with Dropbuild.

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References:

1. Shopify.com

2. https://www.shopify.com/audiences

3. https://www.shopify.com/partners

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