Upgrade to Shopify Plus: All You Need to Know!

Are you looking to expand your business but finding that regular Shopify plans lack the necessary features to do so effectively? It might be time to upgrade to Shopify Plus. Shopify Plus is specifically designed for eCommerce stores that operate at more advanced levels of complexity. 

However, if you’re concerned about the process of upgrading to Shopify Plus, there are several factors you should take into account. We understand your concerns and are here to help. In this article, we will provide you with all the information you need to know about upgrading to Shopify Plus. Let’s dive in and explore the details!

Table of Contents:

What is Shopify Plus? Its Price? 

Before diving into why and how to upgrade to Shopify Plus, let’s first explore what exactly it is. Shopify Plus offers the same core dashboard and features as Shopify. However, it provides more robust features and tools to help businesses manage their operations, grow their sales, and expand into new markets.

Regular Shopify is ideal for individuals looking to establish and run small to medium-sized businesses. Meanwhile, Shopify Plus is designed for enterprise-level businesses. Think about Nestle, Budweiser, Kylie Jenner, etc. With its superior capabilities, Shopify Plus offers a comprehensive solution that meets the complex needs of large-scale enterprises.

Naturally, the enhanced features and capabilities of Shopify Plus come at a higher price point compared to regular Shopify. To be more specific, Shopify Plus requires a minimum monthly fee of $2,000 for a Shopify Plus license. Additionally, there are other costs to consider when evaluating the total cost of ownership for Shopify Plus, including:

• Website construction costs
• Payment processing fees
• Additional app fees
• Site maintenance fees

To make it easier for you to compare and grasp the benefits of Shopify Plus, we have provided a comprehensive table below.
Feature

Feature	Shopify	Shopify Plus
Shopify	SMBs	Enterprise-level businesses
Shopify Plus	$5-$399/month	$2,000+/month
Target market	Core eCommerce features	Additional enterprise-level features
SMBs	24/5 email and chat support	24/7 priority support

 

Benefit of Upgrade to Shopify Plus

As stated, upgrading to Shopify Plus costs much more than regular Shopify. So why do we spend more money on it when Shopify is inherently quite optimized for an online store? Here are the reasons for you!

Personalized checkout experience

Shopify Plus offers a number of features that enable merchants to create a personalized checkout experience for their customers. This can help to:

• Increase conversion rates
• Reduce cart abandonment
• Improve customer satisfaction

These features include:

• Custom checkout themes and templates: Shopify Plus merchants can create custom checkout themes and templates that match their brand and reflect their target audience. This allows merchants to create a checkout experience that is both visually appealing and easy to use.
• Custom fields: When you upgrade to Shopify Plus, you can add custom fields to the checkout process to collect additional customer information. This information can be used to personalize the checkout experience by pre-filling shipping information or recommending products based on past purchases.
• Multiple payment options: You can offer a variety of payment options to their customers if you upgrade to Shopify Plus. These options include credit cards, PayPal, and Shopify Pay. They give customers more flexibility and choice when checking out.
• Shopify Flow: Shopify Flow is a powerful tool that allows you to automate the checkout process. This can help to reduce checkout abandonment and increase conversion rates.

Access to Script Editor

If you upgrade to Shopify Plus, you can access a powerful tool called the Script Editor. It enables you to effortlessly write and run scripts using a simplified version of the Ruby programming language. These scripts serve various purposes, including

• Task automation: With the Script Editor, you can automate various tasks, reducing labor costs and improving overall efficiency.
• Third-party integration: The Script Editor allows seamless integration with third-party applications. Thus, you can streamline their operations and enhance your business workflows.
• Customized shopping experiences: By leveraging the capabilities of the Script Editor, you can create exceptional and unique shopping experiences for your customers. Thereby, you are setting yourself apart from your competitors. 

Lower transaction fees

Another attractive reason to upgrade to Shopify Plus is that this plan has lower transaction fees than most other Shopify plans. To give you a clearer perspective, here’s a breakdown of the transaction fees across different Shopify plans:

• Shopify Starter: This plan has a transaction fee of 2.4% + 30 cents for online transactions and 2.4% + 0 cents for in-person transactions.
• Shopify Basic: The transaction fee for this plan is 2.6% + 30 cents for online transactions and 2.5% for in-person transactions.
• Shopify: The transaction fee for the Shopify plan is 2.6% + 30 cents for online transactions and 2.5% for in-person transactions.
• Shopify Advanced: This plan has a transaction fee of 2.4% + 30 cents for online transactions and 2.4% for in-person transactions.
• Shopify Plus: Shopify Plus offers the lowest transaction fees of any Shopify plan, 2.15% + 30 cents in-person per transaction

There are a few reasons why Shopify Plus merchants can receive lower transaction fees, including:

• Shopify Plus has its own payment processing system, which is more efficient and cost-effective than third-party payment processors. 
• Shopify Plus merchants typically have higher sales volumes, meaning they can negotiate better rates with payment processors.

Sell across different platforms

When you upgrade to Shopify Plus, you can help you sell across different platforms in a number of ways:

• Multichannel selling: Shopify Plus allows you to sell on various online sales channels, including your online store, marketplaces, social media platforms, and more. By connecting each sales channel to Shopify, you can keep track of your products, orders, and customers in one place. This makes managing your inventory and sales easier across different channels, saving time and reducing complexity.
• Robust integrations: Shopify Plus offers specialized apps and channels that are designed for high-growth merchants. These advanced Shopify apps can help you optimize your selling strategies and reach a wider audience. Additionally, Shopify Plus integrates with popular platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Google, and YouTube. This allows you to promote and sell your products on these platforms from one central back office 

Unlimited bandwidth

• Shopify Plus offers customers unlimited bandwidth, meaning your store can handle traffic without slowing down. Having unlimited bandwidth can provide several benefits for your Shopify Plus store, as follows:

• Improved website performance: When your store has enough bandwidth, it can handle more visitors and pageviews without a noticeable slowdown. This is especially important if you expect a surge in traffic during peak shopping seasons, such as Black Friday or Cyber Monday.
• Reduced risk of downtime: With unlimited bandwidth, you don’t have to worry about your store crashing or going down due to heavy traffic. This can help you avoid losing valuable sales and customers.
• Increased scalability: Unlimited bandwidth allows your store to scale to meet your growing needs. So, if you’re experiencing rapid growth, you can rest assured that your store can handle the increased traffic.
• Improved SEO: Website performance is a factor that Google considers when ranking websites in search results. A faster website with unlimited bandwidth can help you improve your SEO and attract more organic traffic.

Strong POS

Another great benefit if you upgrade to Shopify Plus includes a FREE Shopify POS Pro plan. This advanced POS solution surpasses the standard POS Lite plan. It gives you enhanced control over your checkout process and a suite of premium features, including

• Streamlined operations: It facilitates faster workflows and smoother transactions with improved efficiency in features designed to optimize your retail operations.
• Granular staff management: You can enhance staff management with unlimited POS PINs. This POS can also create custom roles, ensuring seamless control over access permissions and task delegation.
• Data-driven insights: You can gain a deeper understanding of product performance and inventory trends with comprehensive inventory reporting. This report provides actionable insights to guide your business decisions.

Extensive B2B features

If you want B2B business on Shopify, please upgrade to Shopify Plus. It provides an all-in-one platform that allows businesses to manage B2B and direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales in one place. This means that B2B businesses can seamlessly integrate their wholesale operations with the rest of their business without additional apps or coding.

Moreover, Shopify Plus allows businesses to create company profiles, set up customer-specific product publishing, and offer personalized pricing to their B2B customers.

Responsive mobile storefront

All of the above benefits are great, but that’s not all that upgrading to Shopify Plus can do. Shopify Plus offers a mobile store builder that allows users to create iOS and Android apps for their online stores. By harnessing the power of the Shopify Plus mobile store builder, users can transform their online store into a cutting-edge mobile app that surpasses the capabilities of their mobile website. Obviously, if you don’t have enough budget to start investing in a standalone sales application from the beginning, Shopify Plus is the unit of choice.

Expert support

Ultimately, if you upgrade to Shopify Plus, you can access 24/7 priority support from Shopify experts. This level of personalized support can be beneficial for businesses requiring immediate assistance or facing complex issues. 

Additionally, Shopify Plus hosts an extensive ecosystem for merchant support and has award-winning Agency Partners that can guide B2B eCommerce. 

When is the Right Time to Upgrade to Shopify Plus?

Just like you know when your pants don’t fit because they’re uncomfortable or restrict your movement, there are signs that your Shopify plan isn’t meeting your needs. Here are a few things to watch out:

• Your store is slow or crashes during busy periods: If it takes too long to load pages or crashes during peak traffic times, it’s a sign that your plan can’t handle the demand.
• You’re spending too much on IT feel: If you’re constantly having to pay for additional bandwidth, storage, or support, it’s time to consider a plan that includes these resources.
• You’re not able to customize your store the way you want: If you’re limited in how you can design your store’s layout, add features, or integrate with other tools, then you’re outgrowing your plan.

If you’re experiencing any of these issues, it’s time to consider upgrading to a Shopify Plus plan. Also, to upgrade to Shopify Plus, you must ensure your store has high annual revenue. Generally, an eCommerce storefront should achieve specific annual revenue to merit upgrading to Shopify Plus. A standard benchmark for considering the upgrade is reaching approximately $1 million in yearly revenue (According to OmniSend). 

Considering upgrading to Shopify Plus? Alongside the platform’s scalability and advanced features, leveraging Shopify Plus development services can ensure your transition is smooth and your store is optimized to take full advantage of Shopify Plus capabilities from day one.

How to Upgrade to Shopify Plus? 

You’ve already decided and have compelling reasons to upgrade to Shopify Plus. Now, let’s dive into the step-by-step process of how to make that transition a reality.

Step 1: Prepare for backup data

Before upgrading to Shopify Plus, it’s essential to have a backup of your store’s data for several reasons:

• Protect against data loss: Even smooth upgrades risk data loss or corruption. A backup ensures you have a copy of your store’s data to restore if any issues arise.
• Roll back to a previous version: If you encounter compatibility problems or unexpected changes after the upgrade, a backup allows you to return to your previous stable store state. It also minimizes downtime and ensures business continuity.

Actually, when upgrading to Shopify Plus, Shopify’s database structure remains unchanged. As a result, the backup process is more straightforward than moving from other platforms. However, you still need to choose a backup method:

• CSV file export: This method is simple. You can export products, customers, orders, gift cards, discount coupons, and themes. Other data types, such as blog posts and pages, must be manually copied and pasted.
• Shopify’s public API: This method requires technical expertise. You can create a backup store using Shopify’s APIs. However, the API may become incompatible, requiring effort to adapt.
• Third-party backup app: Shopify and Shopify Plus recommend this option for the highest level of data protection. Rewind is a popular third-party backup app that constantly adapts to new API versions.

Step 2: Contact Shopify Plus

To upgrade to Shopify Plus, the next step is to contact a Shopify sales representative. They will provide you with comprehensive information on the benefits and features of Shopify Plus, as well as pricing details. Additionally, they will be able to address any questions you may have. Thus, Let’s delve into the details of Shopify Plus and compile your list of questions first.

Step 3: Sign up for Shopify plus

Once you’ve decided to upgrade to Shopify Plus, sign up for the Shopify Plus plan. After you sign up, your store will be upgraded to Shopify Plus within 24 business hours. You will receive an email notification when the upgrade is complete.

Step 4: Customize your store

With Shopify Plus, you have access to advanced customization options to tailor your store to your specific needs. As mentioned, the Shopify Plus admin and exclusive tools are designed to be user-friendly, allowing your staff to manage them without extensive developer support. You can easily customize your store’s design, layout, and functionality using the built-in tools and themes available on Shopify Plus. 

If you require further customization, you can leverage the Shopify Plus Partners ecosystem to find developers who can assist you in creating custom apps or integrations.

Step 5: Approach to Shopify Plus Academy resources

In the final step to upgrade to Shopify Plus, it would be better to access Shopify Plus Academy resources. This is an online training program that provides resources such as courses and webinars to help merchants improve their store’s design, marketing, operations, and more.

You can join the Shopify Plus Academy by logging into your Shopify Plus account and clicking on the Plus Academy option. Significantly, these courses and resources are available for free. 

Is it Worth Upgrading to Shopify Plus? 

To summarize, upgrading to Shopify Plus is a worthwhile investment if you are looking to expand your store. However, it’s important to note that Shopify Plus’s cost is significantly higher than other regular plans. Therefore, it is crucial to ensure that your eCommerce store is financially capable of covering this expense.

Lastly, we encourage you to stay connected with our blog, as we regularly provide valuable and engaging information for eCommerce merchants.