Shopify and Shopify Plus have different functionalities and pros and cons with both options. Clients on Shopify and Shopify Plus ask this question: “Should I move to Shopify Plus? Is it worth it?”

Shopify Vs Shopify Plus

Talk about the differences between the functionalities of Shopify and Shopify Plus.

The biggest difference is the ability to optimize the checkout, which from a conversion rate optimization standpoint is huge. Earlier, you were talking about other tax benefits that you have using systems like Avalara and things like that, that are far more complex on Shopify Plus rather than a Shopify Pro.

There are different functionalities. One Optimum7 functionality requires Shopify Plus to implement it because you have to edit the checkout is e-signature functionality. Software and appliance firms can use e-signatures to facilitate business.

Some appliance companies who sell warranties, where they need to dynamically display an agreement on the checkout and fill that agreement with the product details, shipping address, customer’s name and last name, and customer log-in. Shopify Plus makes such a functionality possible.

You can do post-checkout upsells on Shopify Plus. However, you don’t have one-click upsells. Why? For the one-click upsell, you have to be able to alter the checkout, adding custom fields.

Only Shopify Plus allows you access to the checkout SDK. The regular Shopify does not.

When To Upgrade Your Shopify Platform

Suppose a business owner earns one to five million in revenue. At what point in time is it time to go over to Shopify Plus?

You’re outgrowing Shopify Pro when earning $1.5 million, but the biggest issue with Shopify Plus is the price. It has a minimum 2,000 to $2,500 per month fee. You may ask, “Is it worth it just to edit the checkout?” Many people don’t know that Shopify Plus actually gives you better rates on the credit card, so you offset.

For example, consider if the fee is $2,000 a month. That’s $24,000 a year. You can offset half of that because you’re going to a lower rate by keeping your merchant account with Shopify. They can give you better rates than Stripe, Braintree, Authorize.Net, and a couple of other providers for the volume that you are doing.

Concerns About Switching To Advanced Shopify Platforms

Many business owners are hesitant to move over to Shopify Plus mainly because of that $2,000 a month, not knowing that Shopify Plus has better rates. Shopify Plus also gives you a lot more freedom in terms of the type of functionality you can implement and what you can customize, and on Shopify Pro, you’re more restraint.

Shopify Plus is big for B2B functionalities and a lot of businesses don’t also know that. You can manage multiple stores with Shopify Plus from one admin. You can integrate your inventory, products, and pricing from one admin. In addition, you can multi-ship with Shopify Plus, if you’re doing gifts or B2B.

You can put terms on your checkout. Suppose you want to create a customer group and you want to give that VIP customer group net 30 and net 60 terms? That in return will integrate with your ERP, NetSuite, Zoho, or other option. Many functionalities like this exist.

When The Checkout Experience Needs Customization

Consider the CBD industry. There was a law recently that was passed where you cannot ship CBD to residential addresses. Instead, you have to ship to commercial addresses. Distributors have to use a third party API. At checkout, you have to validate if an address is residential or commercial. If it’s residential, you have to show a message: “Unable to ship. You have to enter a commercial address.”

Shopify Plus makes these functionalities possible. Just being able to edit that checkout actually opens a bunch of functionalities, not to mention the fact that your website is going to run faster because Shopify Plus clients are on semi-dedicated servers.

Suppose you’re earning 1.5 and more in revenue. It doesn’t make sense for you to be on Shopify Pro at that moment in time.

Reviewing Your Online Store

When does it make sense for a business to use Shopify Pro?

If you’re just selling a couple of products, or you don’t have any B2B, you don’t really need to optimize the checkout. When you’re in a niche industry, you don’t need Shopify Plus. You’re only going to need it as your business volume grows.

How much money do you want to make? If you can increase with a one-click upsell on Shopify checkout your average order volume by 30%, you just made 30% more money. Which means if you were doing 1.5, now you’re doing two. That’s a $500,000 difference.

If that functionality is available to you, that you can build it for $5,000, another $24,000 for Shopify Plus, that’s $29,000. One should spend $29,000 to make half a million dollars any day.

Then Optimum7 increases the bottom line for the number of new client acquisitions. They have to convince business owners to make that decision. Prospects will look at the money as an expense rather than an investment.

You need to put an ROI, a return on your investment on any functionality and feature. That’s why Shopify Plus makes sense. If you’re a Shopify business store owner and you’re earning between one to $1.5 million, it’s time to make the move to Shopify Plus.