Shopify Plus Versus Shopify Advanced

Shopify Plus is a relatively new offering. For most of Shopify’s lifespan, they have been known for being an SMB solution not designed for the enterprise. That all changed with plus, and in 2018 their growth has accelerated in the enterprise.
Many looking at using Shopify are often confused as to what value it will really bring them. It has grown in value since launch and will continue to do so. Shopify Plus has everything that is in Advanced, thus the simplest way to do determine which one you want is to evaluate what Plus offers.
Plus comes with the following major differences:

Up to 9 Accounts/ Clone Stores:

With Shopify Plus you can run multiple instances all under the same Plus license fee. This is especially helpful if you are trying to run different stores, different brands, or maybe variations of stores for different countries and regions. If you go with Advanced you would have to pay for each one of these instances to the point where you might not be saving any money anyway. These store clones (e.g. .co, .com, .com.uk, .com.aus, etc) allow your business to grow internationally and accommodate tailored experience based on location. Each store can be customized with different languages, currencies, trends, or products to best suit the local market.

Avalara built in:

Avalara is the most robust tax platform for sales tax automation in North America. They have recently gone public and will surely expand more internationally. They are a great fit for any company that wants to take the hassle out of sales tax compliance. Now you can actually save money since this is just built into Plus rather than paying them a separate fee and integrating them into your eCommerce store.

Wholesale Shopping:

This functionality allows you to enter into the realm of B2B by granting access to an entirely separate store dedicated to reaching a new set of customers. This wholesale/ B2B option gives users the ability to enable a multiple of options such as tiered/ custom pricing per buyer, custom shipping rules, bulk discounts, special products only available to wholesalers, and the capability of editing and modifying orders before sending out invoices.

Shopify Scripts:

Plus users are awarded access to the Script Editor App allowing for custom scripts to be integrated and run each time a customer performs an action such as adding an item to their cart. The app covers systems like shipping, payments, and product specials. One of the most common uses of the Script Editor is running promotions on certain items that are tagged for discount ahead of time.

Lower Payment Gateway Fees:

The difference in transaction charge fees between Shopify Plus and Advances is less than half of a percent but when considering a business that is doing a million or even tens of millions of dollars in sales, the difference could surmount to something quite substantial. An account that subscribes to Shopify Advanced is charged .5% per transaction, while Plus accounts are only charged .15% per transaction.  Here it is time to crunch the numbers and estimate annual transaction fees based on your expected sales and estimate the savings you could receive if you upgrade to a Plus. A merchant expecting $1M in sales would be charged $2,500 on Advanced and $1,500 on Plus, totaling an instant savings of $1,000 annually. Exponentially higher sales would constitute exponentially higher savings.

Shopify Flow:

Shopify Flow is an app you can install only with Shopify Plus that allows you to automate basic eCommerce tasks. Its focus is on helping you automate and drive efficiencies related to products, orders, and customers. You can read more about Shopify Flow on the app store itself.

More Flexible Checkout:

Plus users are allocated enhanced checkout capabilities which can increase conversion rates and your bottom line. A customized checkout process can ensure brand consistency with design and functionality. Some of the features available to be added to Plus checkout schemes include social login via multipass, enabling address autocomplete, adding discount codes to give free product and other custom fields such as a gift message box.

More Admin Accounts:

As the merchant, your growth whether it be internal or external should not be limited. With Shopify Plus, there is access to unlimited staff accounts. Yet, with a Shopify advanced plan, accounts are limited to a maximum of 15. Plus gives you more flexibility in growing your team and giving them the access they need to in turn grow the business.

Enterprise Support:

Merchants that purchase Shopify Plus are granted exclusive priority to support systems that add instant value and assistance while using the system. The added support includes a Launch Manager and a Merchant Success Manager who is dedicated to your team’s success. The launch manager is focused on facilitating processes during build and migration while the Merchant Success Manager will provide ongoing assistance after migration to ensure smooth sailing post-launch. These managers can help bridge the gap between the merchant and the platform as they sit on both teams. They are tasked with ensuring all goes as planned with any hiccups along the way being taken care of both quickly and efficiently.