One of the most important issues related to choosing an e-commerce platform is choosing the right Shopify plan, as it defines your company’s future performance. Shopify offers multiple levels, each with different features for different business sizes and needs: Shopify Lite, Shopify, and Shopify Pro.
In this article, you will learn the differences between Shopify, Shopify Advanced, and Shopify Plus to help you decide on the platform that is suitable for your business.
Some Ways To Choose The Right Platform For Your Business
Choosing the best e-commerce platform determines the success of any business. Shopify has three major plans: Shopify Basic, Shopify Advanced, and Shopify Premium. Shopify has created tools for small and medium-scale businesses and the most advanced one for high-level businesses, which comes with some additional features, professional help, and support. You need to align your business needs with the functionality of each plan to achieve success.
1. Overview of Shopify plans
Shopify offers basic and advanced plans, each designed for different business stages: Established for the testing/developing phase, Growth for the developing/growing phase, and Rapid Growth for larger businesses requiring complete customization/sophisticated services.
- Shopify Basic: Shopify Basic is primarily suited for companies with more minor sales and stores that have recently launched an online store. It offers core capabilities that allow a prospective online store owner to get a site live quickly with very little expense.
- Shopify Advanced: This plan is designed for businesses that need more functionality than the Basic plan to better manage their growth. It includes more detailed reports, specific customization opportunities, and design.
- Shopify Plus: Designed for growing or expanding organizations, it features better automation, further customization, and targeted support. It’s also for established businesses looking for a merchandise management solution that’s flexible, resilient, and significantly cheaper than other enterprise e-commerce offerings.
2. Key Features Compared
Shopify has three packages: Basic Shopify and Shopify Advanced, which include typical e-commerce features, plus enhancement packages like Shopify Plus, which consists of a script editor, Shopify Flow, and advanced business account solutions for larger companies.
A. Customization & Design Flexibility
Shopify and Shopify Advanced:
- These plans enable business owners to choose from the Shopify theme store, which offers different templates they can use as the layout of their business; some templates are sold while others are free.
- Many adjustments can be made using the Shopify theme editor; however, the customization options are somewhat limited.
- HTML, CSS, and JavaScript can be modified, but there are limitations.
Shopify Plus:
- Shopify Plus enables further customization and the full ability to manage the checkout process through the Shopify script editor. This allows for additional script input to change shipping, payments, and discounts throughout the business.
- Shopify Plus comes with Shopify Flow, a flexible automation solution for defining a sequence of relevant actions for inventory updates, order labeling, and fraud detection.
B. Performance and Scalability
- Shopify and Shopify Advanced: Both plans allow selling multiple products and are suitable for expanding a business, but they can become restrictive when the number of transactions increases significantly.
- Shopify Plus: Shopify Plus is built for larger businesses and companies. It is faster and can handle thousands of orders per minute. The convenience of dedicated resources and pre-allocated servers These two features enable Shopify Plus to run at exceptional speeds during Black Friday, etc.
C. Support and Account Management
- Basic support is available throughout the day and at night via email, phone, or chat. However, we noticed in the Process Street review that there is no specific support team or account manager.
- Shopify Plus: Shopify Plus offers direct and personalized account management services. This includes a Launch Manager to help with the app setup and onboarding process, as well as a Merchant Success Manager who helps with app optimization, suggests apps and otherwise provides customized support. Furthermore, employing Amazon experts can significantly increase your chances of success with your Shopify store, as it leverages Amazon-related services while overcoming the challenges of their algorithms and incorporating Amazon listings into your Shopify store. This allows the two systems to operate in a hub and spoke model, enabling the management of their inventory while using other e-commerce platforms.
D. Transaction Fees and Payment Processing
- Shopify and Shopify Advanced: Third-party payment gateways are charged at regular transaction rates, but through Shopify Payments, which is Shopify’s payment processor, transaction fees are eliminated, but credit card fees apply.
- Shopify Plus: Shopify Plus eliminates transaction fees during the first month; this can be beneficial for businesses that want to make a large number of sales. Also, due to the availability of Shopify Payments, credit card rates are lower on Shopify Plus than on Shopify Basic or Shopify.
E. Advanced Reporting and Analytics
- Shopify: Limited reporting, while the primary information storage handled mostly basic sales reports.
- Shopify Advanced: Additional reporting features, such as precisely detailed profit margins, detailed customer reports, and enhanced custom reporting options, are available.
- Shopify Plus: Shopify Plus has all the features of Shopify Advanced, plus the ability to export data from Shopify’s API for customized reporting. This makes it possible for businesses to design highly specific analytics dashboards and gain much clearer insight into enterprise performance.
F. Integrations and API Access
- Shopify and Shopify Advanced: Each plan allows the integration of apps into the Shopify App Store. However, Shopify’s API is limited.
- Shopify Plus: Shopify Plus offers more API access, which includes linkages with various systems such as CRM, ERP, and inventory systems, which is essential for many large or complex companies. Additional API calls can always be made, and source control on third-party software and internal MRP systems can be a bit more fluid with SDS.
3. Price Comparison
Shopify Basic costs $39 per month, Shopify Advanced costs $399 per month, and Shopify Plus costs around $2000 per month, depending on business needs and number of transactions.
- Shopify: Starts at $39 per month (subject to any recent changes in Shopify’s pricing).
- Shopify Advanced: $399 per month is suitable for businesses that require complex functionalities but not at the ‘enterprise’ level.
- Shopify Plus: It ranges from $2000/month and can vary depending on the specific business, natural transaction volume, and needs. This higher investment brings better features, support, and scalability options to your site, along with increased functionality of its environment.
4. Use Cases For Each Shopify Plan
Start meets the basic needs of all new startups; Advanced is designed for high-scale startups that need growth and customized provisions; and Plus is an ideal service for businesses that immediately need a high level of expertise, personalized attention, and tailored solutions.
- Shopify Basic: Best suited for small businesses, new organizations, and organizations with relatively low turnover rates.
- Shopify Advanced: Designed for mid-market businesses that need advanced functionality but are more flexible than that provided by Shopify Plus, a growing customer base, a need for detailed reports and custom options, and the ability to expand without switching to a new platform.
- Shopify Plus is suitable for merchants who sell large quantities of goods, run a more significant business, or need a personalized approach to Internet commerce. It is used when multiple global brands are adopted, and a solution that can connect to various complex systems is required.
Conclusion: Which Shopify Plan is Best?
- For small and start-up businesses: First of all, Shopify has affordable basic plans that are equipped with robust e-commerce features that can grow with your company.
- For medium-sized or growing businesses, Shopify Advanced is an excellent value for money. It offers all the features that larger businesses need while increasing the scale of reporting and customization for companies just above this level of growth.
- For enterprise-level businesses or high-volume sellers: This makes Shopify Plus the best choice as it is fully customizable, flexible and comes with a dedicated support system. Higher investment costs initially but better overall cost per unit or operation due to operational efficiency, increased accuracy, and lower expenses.
Who should use Shopify, Shopify Advanced, and Shopify Plus depends on the business, the number of sales required, and the company’s expected future expansion. Understanding how the features and costs of each platform work for your business goals will allow you to choose a Shopify plan that can become a good foundation for long-term growth.
