Switch to Shopify Plus: When to take that next step

As an enterprise solution, Shopify Plus offers a number of advantages over classic Shopify. The only question is, when is a company actually "enterprise" enough to make the switch? Moving to the system too early would not be advisable, as the plus in features naturally comes with a price increase, which we do not want to conceal. However, it could be almost worse if you switch your system too late, because a lower level of automation, higher transaction costs and other disadvantages of Shopify compared to Shopify Plus might inhibit your processes.

We would like to use this post to show you phases in the development of a company where a switch to Shopify Plus can be worthwhile.

What is Shopify Plus?

The scalable and powerful enterprise commerce platform Shopify Plus was launched in 2014. The background was that Shopify wanted to attract larger e-commerce customers instead of losing those whose needs went beyond the capabilities of the traditional system. Therefore, the difference lies mainly in the options offered by the two versions.

How much does Shopify Plus cost?

The prices for Shopify Plus are negotiable and depend on sales. However, they are usually between $2,000 and $40,000. If you look at the ongoing operating costs for 5 years, they are about 350,000€ with Shopify Plus - so compared to other store systems such as Spryker (over a million euros), Shopware (over 500,000€) or Magento/ Adobe Commerce Cloud (700,000€) much more cost-efficient.

What are the advantages of Shopify Plus?

Shopify Plus customers benefit from several advantages over other systems. Shopify is a cloud-based system, for merchants this already means that system updates and backups happen automatically and there are no system changes to worry about. Other Shopify Plus benefits include:

• Greater stability and scalability

• Merchant Success Manager

• Customizable checkout

• Up to 10 stores included

• Custom interfaces

• Shopify Flow for automated workflows

• Exclusive apps

When it comes to Shopify disadvantages, the in-house CMS has to be named. Especially for creating your own blog, this can be a bit cumbersome. However, by implementing a headless CMS, such as Storyblok, a scalable and intuitive solution can be found here.

When is it worth switching to Shopify Plus?

When is your business big enough to make the move to the enterprise platform worthwhile?

That's a question many online retailers ask themselves. One metric that is often used in the decision-making process is revenue. But unfortunately, there's also no blanket answer to the question of what level of sales revenue makes Shopify Plus worthwhile. However, a rule of thumb is often sales of at least $800,000 per year.

However, you should not change your e-commerce software based on the amount of your sales alone. We have summarized for you all the other clues that indicate that switching to Shopify Plus could be worthwhile for you.

You sell a lot of products

An important factor in determining whether a switch is worthwhile is the transaction costs. With Shopify Plus, these are relatively low, at just 0.25% of sales for all payment methods except Shopify Payments. By comparison, with the standard Shopify, these costs range from 0.5% to 2%. So if the transaction costs of your current e-commerce software are significantly higher than this value, a switch could be well worth it for you.

You want to internationalize your company.

A very common reason why online store owners switch to Shopify Plus is that they can create up to 10 different stores there. This allows them to operate individually in different markets, all of which have their own domain. Merchants can customize the language and content of their store for each target country, as well as set different payment methods, prices, currencies and shipping conditions. Their domains can be managed centrally.

You need a personal contact person

In many cases, customer service is also a decisive factor for switching. This is because Shopify Plus, with its so-called Merchant Success Manager, clearly stands out from the classic support of other e-commerce solutions. With this system, you no longer have to talk to a different person in the customer support department of your store system every time and describe your concerns anew. Instead, your personal support manager can provide you with quick and informed assistance.

Your system should work even in exceptional situations

On promotion days like Black Friday and in the run-up to Christmas, your store is likely to be exposed to very strong traffic. Even then, switching to Shopify Plus can pay off for you. With the enterprise solution, you can go through up to 11,000 checkouts per minute. That's important, because there's nothing more frustrating than not being able to serve customers who are willing to pay.

You want to offer your customers a personalized shopping experience

Switching to Shopify Plus is also an option for you if you want to offer your customers a customized shopping experience with personalized content. For example, with access to Shopify Scrips, the program offers the ability to create personalized experiences for your customers in the shopping cart and at checkout. Shopify Scrips are small pieces of code that you can easily implement in your store. The big advantage here is that this can be done directly in the Shopify environment, making automations and custom tweaks fairly easy to set up.

Besides this option, there is also the possibility to personalize details of the checkout process. However, this point has already been optimized by Shopify through extensive A/B testing so that custom adjustments are not even necessary in most cases.

You want to automatize your processes

In your current e-commerce software, it's still too complicated for you to add automations on your own? Then switching to Shopify Plus could be the right way for you. Actions that normally have to be done manually or programmed can be easily automated there with Shopify Flow. For example, you can specify that customers who spend more than 500€ are marked as VIP and receive personalized emails.

In the context of process automation, Shopify Launchpad, which is exclusive to Shopify Plus, is also an important tool. It allows online retailers to set their store elements to automatically turn some of them on and off at different times.

This can also be useful for certain events, like Cyber Monday. Besides the start and end time of your promotion, you can also set custom themes for them.

Latori customers who switched to Shopify Plus

Latori has already helped several national and international companies switch to Shopify Plus. Here are some of them.

Asphaltgold

Asphaltgold is one of the best-known retailers for sneakers in the DACH region. In July 2021, the Darmstadt-based company's online store was relaunched under Shopify Plus. This was necessary because the company regularly sells strictly limited editions of coveted sneakers. Whenever such a release started, traffic exploded and the old store collapsed. That's why Latori migrated the store to Shopify Plus.

At the same time as the launch, the in-house smartphone app for sneaker innovations and raffles was released. The corresponding Shopify app, which connects the smartphone application to the Shopify store, was also developed by Latori.

LIVE FAST DIE YOUNG

The international streetwear brand LFDY also switched from another store system to Shopify Plus with the help of Latori. As the brand became more and more successful and generated higher click numbers, the company decided to make the switch.

Shape Republic

Shape Republic, one of the leading retailers of feelgood food for women, was also dissatisfied with the old system and decided to switch to Shopify Plus. The company especially wanted to benefit from the numerous features of Shopify Plus that could not be implemented with the old system Magento.

Conclusion

With more than 7,000 online stores now on Shopify Plus, it's clear that Shopify has built an effective solution for large enterprises. The numerous exclusive features on the enterprise platform can significantly simplify the business processes of medium and large stores. The wholesale channel there makes it possible to address a completely different group of customers, and even events where high sales are expected in a short period of time can run smoothly with Shopify Plus.

All in all, Shopify Plus is a store system for larger online retailers that provides additional features for better scalability, more flexibility, and better customer service. If you want to take advantage of the wider repertoire of options for your store, you should consider switching to Shopify Plus.