Upgrade to Shopify Plus or migration? To help you understand your options, we have listed Shopify Plus pricing and features.
Shopify is without a doubt one of the most well-known e-commerce platforms. Entrepreneur Magazine ranks Shopify as one of the Top 6 Ecommerce platforms for small businesses. Inc. Magazine also ranks Shopify among the Top Seven E-Commerce Platforms. Market Watch also calls Shopify the “leading multi-channel commerce platform.”
Shopify, a Canadian e-commerce platform, is based in Ottawa, Ontario. It offers both online and retail point-of-sale (POS) systems. Shopify is described as “One platform that offers all the ecommerce features and point-of-sale features you need to launch, manage, and grow your business.”
Shopify claims that its e-commerce platform is used by more than 800,000. The platform’s total gross merchandise volume was $41.1 billion in 2018. Shopify forecasts that 2019 revenue will be between $1.48 and $1.50 Billion, according to a recent earnings forecast.
Shopify is easy to use and has a low entry barrier. Shopify has a range of pricing plans available for different types of businesses. Shopify’s entry pricing model is a great example for future startups.
Shopify Plus is for businesses with more resources and those that have already migrated to an e-commerce platform. The Plus option was launched in 2014 and is targeted at enterprise-level businesses. It is therefore more robust. This article will explore Shopify Plus and examine Shopify Plus pricing. We’ll also compare Shopify Plus to other e-commerce platforms.
Shopify Plus: The Advantages
Shopify can be used for a basic e-commerce shop, but larger businesses have greater c-commerce requirements. These companies require better-than-average solutions. Shopify Plus is used by many top brands such as Kylie Jenner, Red Bull and many others.
Shopify Plus, which includes all Shopify options, has the same editor and dashboard as Shopify Plus. However, Shopify Plus provides enterprise-level businesses with more functionality than any other Shopify plan.
Shopify Plus, for example, offers unlimited staff accounts and personalized support. It can also handle more than 10,000 transactions per hour. Large-volume retailers won’t have to worry about their website going down. Nate Shivar, a marketing consultant and SEO specialist, lists several other benefits of Shopify Plus.
- Scaling Reliability — A proven infrastructure that supports enterprise-level business or business’ scaling up at that enterprise level. Also beneficial to retailers who require seasonal scaling to support increased holiday traffic
- International Deployment — Built in tools such as currency and geo-targeting to help you quickly and easily expand internationally
- APIs, Integration and Extensions — Easy to add-on with the App Store ecosystem.
- Predictable Pricing — Starting at $2,000 per Month, which includes many beneficial services
- Development and Maintenance — Hosting, servers, bug fixes and order management are all part the platform. File storage and bandwidth are also available.
- Technical Support and Account Management — A dedicated account manager for every client
- Marketing — Many standard marketing tools included
Shopify Plus is a great option to launch an ecommerce website or add ecommerce options to existing websites.
The base cost of a Shopify Plus license
The Shopify Plus annual license fee is $2,000 per month. You could expect to spend at least $24,000 annually on the license. Depending on your revenue, you’ll also pay an additional percentage. Shopify Plus prices based on sales volume and usage. Shopify Plus licenses increase if you spend more than $800k per month.
Shopify Plus has a fee structure that is based on revenue. This is the actual price of the platform. This pricing has a limit — the maximum monthly license fee is $40,000 Shopify Plus pricing states that a $1,000,000 monthly company would pay $2,500 per month in licensing fees. To pay the $40,000 monthly maximum license fee, that merchant would have to make $16 million monthly in sales.
What does $2,000 per month get you on Shopify Plus? The monthly license includes a variety of services such as:
- Hosting Fees
- Maintenance costs
- Version Upgrades
- Native Multi-channel Capabilities
- Shopify’s solution for POS — with integrated selling solutions from Amazon, eBay, Facebook and Facebook
- Account Management — including a dedicated Launch Manager, Account Manager, and a Manager who usually provides:
- General Shopify Support and Suggestions
- A minimum of 3 hours per month is spent on basic front-end development
- Guidance to grow your store
- Support for onboarding
- General Shopify Plus solutions advice
Overall, Shopify Plus pricing is very competitive. This is especially true when you consider that the cost of hosting is included. This pricing puts the platform at the lower end of enterprise-level ecommerce solutions.
What if you have an existing e-commerce site? Shopify Plus can you migrate? The short answer to this question is “Yes”. This Shopify Plus pricing guide will help you if your business has an existing online store. This guide will not cover the technicalities of migrating, but instead focus on pricing and options.
Shopify Plus: Moving an existing e-commerce site to Shopify Plus
Shopify Plus is being adopted by more retailers, including Gymshark and Hawkers, puravida, Emma Bridgewater, and MVMT. The Shopify Plus website lists all of the platform’s benefits and perks. Shopify doesn’t list the costs of moving your site to Shopify Plus from an existing e-commerce platform.
Shopify Plus does not have a standard price for moving your website to Shopify Plus. This is due to the fact that every business is different. Shopify Plus will ask you to get in touch with them so that they can help you understand the pricing, plans, and process. This is understandable, considering that Shopify Plus pricing will depend on many factors, including traffic, scale, revenue, and other factors.
Shopify Plus Side Effects
Shopify does not provide any information about the migration costs, but there are examples from third-party vendors that can be used as a guide. We’ve provided pricing details for Shopify Plus’ first year as a middle-level enterprise based on a hypothetical Shopify Plus project. A mid-level user with Shopify Plus could expect to spend between $130,000.200 and $270,000.200 in their first year. Here is an example of the cost breakdown:
- Shopify Plus sites cost between $60,000 and $200,000 depending on their complexity and the scope.
- $24,000 per year — Shopify Plus annual licensing cost, starting from $2000 per month; the increase is based on your income level
- $36,000 per year — BAU development costs
- $7,200 per year – Third party services such as shipping, personalization, and search.
- $3,000 per year (or about $250 per month). Average annual app cost
Shopify Apps: Factoring in the Costs
Shopify Plus offers a lot of functionality. Third-party apps can also increase and extend the functionality of Shopify Plus. These apps can be used to enhance SEO tools, enterprise-level functionality, or site personalization. Shopify Plus pricing is a reminder that additional apps will be required to improve the functionality of your ecommerce site.
Shopify Plus third party apps generally have to pay a monthly licensing charge. This pricing model has many great advantages, including the low entry cost. However, the monthly fees for multiple apps can add up. Magento usually charges one-time license fees for apps. This will need to be adjusted to your budget.
Even though Shopify Plus apps will cost less upfront, you may end up paying more monthly. Apps have different monthly fees — Shopify Plus app licensing fees range from $50 to 500 each. The best thing about monthly app licenses? If you don’t like an app, or don’t use it, you can simply stop using it and get another one.
If your business needs a custom-made, specialized app, you will be charged a premium. Development firms charge between $90 and $175 an hour for apps that are made from scratch. The actual cost of an app will vary depending on its complexity, functionality, and size.
Site Design and Construction Costs
Shopify Plus offers templates for site design and build. However, if you select a template to make your site stand out from the rest of the e-commerce websites, you will need to personalize it. Personalization can be either a custom-made site or a modified template.
This cost should be considered regardless of whether you are doing the design and build work yourself, or contracting with a design company or freelancer. The estimated cost of this service can vary depending on your requirements. It could be between $75,000 to $100,000. The actual cost of this service will depend on how complex your site is and what your business needs are. The design and construction costs of larger merchants will be higher if they have more complicated needs.
Make sure to work with Shopify Plus experts when migrating your website. The firm you choose should be creative but also practical. They should create a site that is unique, appealing, and user-friendly, as well as exceptional functionality at every level.
It is important to find the right agency to help you build your website. To ensure the best build, you should consider working with a Shopify Technology partner.
Shopify Payments: Payment Processing Fees
Every merchant must pay the processing fees to a payment processor in addition to the licensing fees. This applies whether Shopify Payments is used or a third-party processor. You might also find lower fees if you use a third party payment processor. Shopify charges a 0.15% service fee for third-party payment providers.
Shopify Plus Pricing Comparison to Other Platforms
How does Shopify Plus pricing compare to other ecommerce platforms? We compare Shopify Plus to a few popular platforms.
Shopify Plus vs Shopify
It’s helpful to talk about Shopify Plus regularly. This plan offers a 14-day trial period for no additional setup fees. You can simply set up your store and then choose the pricing plan that best suits your needs. There are three options for pricing:
- Basic Shopify (for starting a new business) – $29 / month
- Shopify (for growing your business) $79 per month
- Advanced Shopify (for scaling your business) – $299 per month
Each plan offers different levels of service and options for your business. All three plans include an online store, sales channels and 24/7 customer support. They also come with unlimited products and the Shopify POS App. As you can see, the more you spend, the more options your business has.
The Basic plan has 2 staff accounts, while the Shopify or Advanced Shopify have 5 and 15 staff accounts respectively. Advanced Shopify also offers exclusive features such as an Advanced Report Builder, Third-party Calculated Shipping rates, and more. Shopify Plus has plenty more to offer.
Shopify Plus vs Magento 2 Commerce
Magento was first released by Varien, Inc in 2008. Varien wrote this e-commerce software in PHP with the help of volunteers. Varien released Magento’s first general-availability release on March 31, 2008.
A website built with Shopify Plus tends have a lower total cost of ownership than one built using Magento 2 Commerce.
Shopify Plus is a cheaper option for businesses with lower revenue levels, as it has a lower cost. This article also compares Shopify Plus to Magento costs.
- Build/Design Costs — Magento Commerce builds are more expensive than Shopify Plus projects. Shopify Plus builds are cheaper because they require less integration work. You will spend less upfront because you spend less time on the build. Ecommerce Guide estimates that a Shopify Plus build will cost around $100,000, while a Magento 2 Commerce build will cost between $150,000 and $500,000 according to Ecommerce Guide.
- License Fees Shopify Plus and Magento 2 Commerce both have a licensing fee. Shopify Plus charges a monthly fee and Magento 2 Commerce charges an upfront, annual fee. Magento bases its fee on the revenue of your business, just like Shopify Plus. Magento charges you annually for ‘Gross merchandise value’. Magento Commerce license fees are approximately $2,000 per month, if you pay the lowest level.
- Hosting — The $2,000 per month Shopify Plus license includes hosting. Shopify Plus hosting includes security patches and SSL certificates. It also conforms to PCI compliance. Magento, however, offers two options. Magento 2 Commerce Cloud offers a similar package, but with a slightly higher monthly cost. Magento’s base price is $3,333 and includes hosting and license.
- Site Maintenance — Shopify Plus is usually cheaper than Magento for monthly maintenance, fixes and updates.
Shopify Plus is typically less expensive than Magento 2 Commerce. It all depends on what your business needs are.
Shopify Plus vs WooCommerce
A popular open-source plugin for e-commerce, is suitable for small- to medium-sized online merchants who use WordPress. It was launched on September 27, 2011, specifically for WordPress. It is a WordPress plugin that’s free and easy to install.
Simon Gondeck compares Shopify Plus to Woo Commerce in a comparative article. His comparison is based on several factors. Gondeck uses an example of a low-mid-market ecommerce company that makes between $1 million to $10 million annually in sales.
He estimates that a Shopify Plus site will cost around $30,000. While the monthly license fee is $2,000, Gondeck charges $2,000 per year for ‘developer maintenance’. He estimates that a Shopify Plus site will cost approximately $78,000 after the first year. The second year’s cost will be approximately $48,000, but the site will be fully developed by the end of the year.
Gondeck believes that WooCommerce will cost about $30,000 less than Shopify Plus. He believes that WooCommerce’s monthly maintenance and support fees are lower than Shopify Plus (around $30,000). Although the developer maintenance costs are comparable (around $2,000 per month), the monthly licensing fee, which includes domain and hosting costs, is only $200 per month. All costs added up, WooCommerce is approximately $55,200 for its first year. The ongoing annual cost for WooCommerce is about $26,400.
In the end, Shopify Plus pricing is slightly more expensive than WooCommerce when compared head-to-head. Shopify Plus is recommended by Gondeck for its simplicity and ease-of-use. This e-commerce platform is recommended by Gondeck for larger businesses that do not have an ecommerce presence.
In conclusion: Shopify Plus’ Advantages
Shopify is without a doubt one of the most popular e-commerce platforms. Shopify Plus gives enterprise-level businesses exceptional functionality to fulfill all of their ecommerce needs. Shopify Plus offers a superior platform to other popular platforms such as WooCommerce, Magento, and BigCommerce. Shopify Plus can be used to create new e-commerce websites or migrate to a more robust platform. Shopify Plus is a great e-commerce platform for companies looking to scale up from the enterprise level to Campus Protein.
