Shopify ecommerce solutions benefit both sellers and shoppers. The underlying technology that buttresses all five Shopify product offerings is flexible and easy to use, lending retail businesses the ability to cultivate and maintain robust online customer experiences designed to draw online attention and generate revenue. Buyers, on the other hand, gain access to digital marketplaces with logical navigation features, clean visual designs and simplified checkout options.
Shopify and Shopify Plus share these core attributes but the two platform variations have key distinctions and therefore serve different retailer demographics. Ecommerce companies that are interested in implementing Shopify would be wise to look into these disparate iterations, assess their unique capabilities and gain an understanding of what their differences mean operationally.
Basic distinctions between Shopify and Shopify Plus
There are numerous code- and service-level specifications that separate Shopify and Shopify Plus. However, some of these items stand out, including:
- Price: Basic Shopify comes with a $29-per-month price tag, making it the best option for small businesses just getting off the ground. The core Shopify platform starts at $79 per month, while Advanced Shopify has a monthly fee of $299. Shopify Plus pricing is trickier to assess since all installations are project-based, meaning developers work for retailers to design, develop and launch entirely custom ecommerce instances.
- User base: An estimated 500,000 retail business leverage Shopify today while far fewer — around 2,500 at last count — take advantage of Shopify Plus.
- Uptime: Sellers running Shopify have historically seen uptime rates of 99.99%, which amounts to less than an hour of system downtime per year. Shopify Plus comes with a 99.98% uptime guarantee, amounting to around one hour and 45 minutes of downtime annually.
- Target demographic: Basic Shopify is built for retail businesses that are just beginning their ecommerce journeys and searching for simplified, streamlined experiences. Shopify Plus offers these same core attributes but facilitates more customization and scalability, and supports higher order volumes.
Core attributes of Shopify
The Shopify platform offers templates and themes that allow sellers to create and roll out attractive and easy-to-manage online stores. The solution can be quickly customized and expanded to support new sales channels or handle unlimited numbers of products and other inventory items. Additionally, Shopify offers one-step order fulfillment and basic analytics and reporting tools that business leaders can use to monitor sales and company growth.
In short, Shopify offers everything a modern retail business needs to establish itself in the post-Amazon era and maintain a sustained and successful ecommerce presence with minimal technical overhead but without risking site quality. There is a good reason more than 500,000 retailers from across the globe trust the platform, after all. That said, the Basic Shopify does have limitations that tend to come to the fore when order volumes reach a certain threshold. It is here that Shopify Plus implementation starts to look like an attractive option.
As mentioned above, there are plenty of different features available with Shopify Plus that separate it from Basic Shopify. Sellers considering more expansive ecommerce builds or with climbing order volumes should explore these major points of distinction.
Major attributes of Shopify Plus
Shopify Plus offers all of the capabilities that come with Basic Shopify but is backed by the kind of enterprise-grade infrastructure that supports more effective sales and marketing experiences. As such, some of the features associated with Shopify Plus are available in Basic Shopify yet reach new levels when paired with the former’s support services and therefore pay dividends for sellers with advanced ecommerce needs.
These key features include:
- Ordering and transaction modules that can handle as many as 10,000 checkouts per minute.
- A dual content delivery network connectivity system that ensures all systems remain online.
- Standardized API modules that allow for quick and easy data integration with advertisements and applications within an enterprise ecommerce strategy.
- Social commerce support extensions for Facebook Shop and Pinterest’s Product Pins.
- Responsive website templates that function on desktop, mobile and tablet devices.
- Dedicated software development resources for native mobile application development.
- Integration with Amazon Marketplace.
- Software development kits for multiple channels, including Ebates, Wanelo and Houzz.
- Rapid service delivery through a cloud configuration designed for an average build-to-launch timeline of 90 to 120 days.
These capabilities add up to make Shopify Plus the ideal option for rapidly growing brands, as it can help them make the transition from startup to mature, large-scale seller. Furthermore, Shopify Plus comes equipped with service and support benefits that ensure smooth platform experiences. For instance, launch managers are available to assist new Shopify Plus adopters and can address a number of deployment issues, from obtaining SSL certificates to customizing checkouts. The Merchant Success Manager solution — this includes a combination of special resources, web platforms and training materials — helps retailers chart out and execute success roadmaps.
But what do all these specific features really mean when it comes to developing and following an ecommerce strategy? Following launch, Shopify Plus distinguishes itself in that regard via:
- 1. Efficient transaction management for simplified checkout experiences: Modern customers have little patience for sluggish website operations. Lagging loading times and overly complex functions lead many to log off. Most sellers cannot afford to lose customers in this manner. Fortunately, Shopify Plus mitigates the risk of such losses unfolding by lending retail companies the ability to build streamlined checkout pages without taking on extra expenses. Shoppers can easily order their items and submit payment without experiencing hold ups.
Shopify Plus can handle up to 10,000 checkouts per minute, as discussed above. But that figure alone does little to explain how the platform supports this impressive functionality. Are implementers expected to pay for the robust backend components needed to handle this high volume of transactions? If not, how can Shopify Plus scale based on projected order and sales volumes?
The platform is constructed on top of flexible cloud architecture and backed by load balancing systems that ensure sites always have the requisite processing bandwidth needed to handle order volumes of all sizes. This result is an immensely cost-effective checkout system that can lay the groundwork for positive customer experiences and catalyze sustained sales success. - 2. Extensive order management flexibility: Of course, facilitating user-friendly checkout is not as simple as offering quick page load times and rapid transaction options. Other complications can get in the way of success here and push shoppers to abandon their shopping carts and the items in them. Fortunately, Shopify Plus has retailers covered here too. The solution offers dual-channel sales capabilities, allowing sellers to easily tell the difference between B2C shoppers and B2B wholesale customers. This means that the whole shopping experience is unique based on which channel is in play. With Shopify Plus, retail businesses can achieve this without building separate sites.
In addition to this dual-channel flexibility, the product boasts an Avalara integration module, giving retailers the ability to use the third-party program for managing sales tax and other APIs that can streamline the checkout process. And Shopify Plus does not just improve checkout performance — it also helps sellers oversee compliance operations and meet the needs of customers across different demographics with ease. - 3. Branded checkout experiences: Retailers that can cultivate and manage streamlined checkout processes that handle high volumes of customers with varied needs certainly have a leg up on the competition. However, there is more to be gained here with Shopify Plus, which allows retail companies to configure customized, branded checkouts that make customers feel at ease — no one likes entering their credit card information into a nondescript payment portal — and encourage repeat business through carefully conceived branding and advertising. In the end, branded checkout make everyone happier, communicating to shoppers that they are in safe digital territory while opening up new commercial opportunities for sellers, even after the deals are done.
Choosing the right platform for you
Not every retail company needs Shopify Plus. The convenience and performance of Basic Shopify is more than enough for many sellers — especially those just joining the ecommerce marketplace. Of course, for larger retailers with existing web-based storefronts that are looking to grow their digital footprints, exploring Shopify Plus could be the best route. Either way, Pixafy can offer assistance.
We develop and deploy sophisticated online stores based on Shopify ecommerce platforms, including Basic Shopify and Shopify Plus. Our award-winning Shopify developers work with retailers of all sizes to craft digital shopping experiences that meet customer needs and lay the groundwork for organizational growth.
Connect with us today to learn more about our Shopify development and support services, or to further explore Shopify Plus pricing.
