Ecommerce Platform Deep Dives: Shopify

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Shopify Plus offers enterprises the functionality, performance, and flexibility needed to power serious growth. It allows big brands to scale without impacting the user experience. 

Whether you’re looking for an ecommerce platform that supports your company’s expansion into new markets or want to diversify your product catalog, Shopify Plus is a compelling option. 

But how do you know if it’s right for your enterprise? And if you’re already using Shopify, how do you know if migrating to Shopify Plus is worth it?

This guide is your masterclass on Shopify Plus. It covers features, integrations, customizations, and the benefits of upgrading. We also offer tips for enterprises seeking growth with advanced ecommerce solutions.

 

What Is Shopify Plus?

Shopify Plus is the enterprise version of Shopify. It’s built off the standard version, so it comes with all the helpful features Shopify users have access to, plus extra functionality to suit the needs of large-scale ecommerce brands. 

This advanced ecommerce platform is specifically designed for online sellers with annual revenues exceeding $1 million, making it a good fit for both established global brands and growing companies interested in expanding to new markets. It’s a popular choice with well-known brands like Hunter Boots and Herschel Supply Co., and it makes up over 10% of the worldwide ecommerce software market.

 

Shopify Plus Benefits: What Does Your Store Stand to Gain? 

If you’re an enterprise primed for growth, the Shopify Plus platform has a lot to offer. It comes with everything you need to sell on multiple online storefronts, appeal to diverse markets, and capture useful analytics every step of the way to continually improve shoppers' online experience.

From practically endless customization potential to lower costs, here are some of the most impactful benefits of switching to Shopify Plus.

Lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

Lower fees can make Shopify Plus cheaper than other, less robust ecommerce platforms for high-sales companies.

The subscription fee starts at $2,300 a month but with Shopify Plus for enterprise companies, the transaction fees are lower than they are for Shopify Advanced. As a result, businesses with high enough monthly sales can potentially spend less overall on Shopify Plus. 

Access to a Merchant Success Team

Shopify Plus customers have direct access to a dedicated merchant success manager — the Merchant Success Team is a specialized benefit offered to most Plus users. 

This high-level support enables businesses to get more out of the platform. It can be a massive help when navigating the complexities of Shopify Plus or making changes to your online stores. This benefit includes personalized consultations and assistance when launching and optimizing stores. 

Advanced APIs

With advanced APIs, Shopify Plus users can integrate with existing systems, including critical tools such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), and inventory management. 

Connecting business apps also allows for the creation of automated workflows across multiple stores and the access to real-time performance analytics. 

Premium Tools

Shopify Plus has premium tools not found in the Basic, Shopify, or Advanced versions. 

These include Shopify Markets, a must-have tool for e-commerce brands with stores in different countries. Users can quickly customize shopping experiences for different customer segments. Shopify Markets also has a function for grouping stores by region to make international expansion more fluid. 

Shopify Flow is another premium tool. It lets users create automated workflows based on designated triggers, conditions, and actions. 

For example, when a customer places a new order that exceeds $100 USD, the system places a tag on the account. Creating custom automated workflows like this can help segment customers, improve personalization, and generate deep insights into buyer behavior and trends. 

Unlimited Bandwidth

Another key Shopify Plus benefit is the unlimited bandwidth and web hosting. Enterprise businesses can have confidence that their ecommerce solution will handle complex website requirements, new stores, and changes without slowing down. 

 

Shopify Plus Features: The Ultimate List 

There are also a lot of great features that help Shopify Plus users better engage with customers and boost sales. With such a rich set of features, there’s nothing you can’t do with this advanced ecommerce solution.

  • Shopify Storefront Renderer: Helps reduce storefront response times.
  • WebP Image Conversion: Optimizes site speed.
  • ShopPay: Speeds up the checkout process, which also helps to boost customer satisfaction.
  • Intuitive Editor: Lets you customize stores and checkout pages on the front end without involving your development team. 
  • AR, Video, 3D: You can incorporate these high-tech features on product pages, offering a better user experience (UX).
  • Full Customized Checkout: Full ability to customize your checkout for an enhanced customer experience (branding, upsell, post-purchase upsell opportunities, and pixels for customer behavior) on all pages. 
  • Shopify Flow: Automate tasks so you can focus on growing your business with additional Plus-exclusive access to write custom code with Flow Editor. 
  • 80+ Shopify Plus Certified Apps: Access to apps designed for large merchants, such as Recharge and Extend. 

 

Two Enterprises Driving Growth with Shopify Plus

Guidance is an award-winning Shopify Plus partner. Here’s how we helped Hoonigan and K-Swiss reach new heights with Shopify Plus.

Hoonigan

Our expert team helped Hoonigan, a motorsport lifestyle brand, enhance its content by moving to Shopify Plus. 

We integrated the new site with the Hoonigan YouTube channel and structured it using custom short codes to deliver a rich user experience while reducing site management requirements. 

Read more about how we helped Hoonigan achieve a 52.17% revenue increase and 35% more transactions. 

K-Swiss 

Our Shopify Plus developers replatformed nine ecommerce sites under the K-Swiss, Palladium, and Supra brand umbrellas. 

The global brand chose Shopify Plus to reduce licensing costs and make it easier for non-technical users to manage new content and promotional updates.

During the migration, we also improved the product pages, integrated with their ERP, and developed a custom code base to streamline the tailoring of international pages. 

Learn more about how Guidance helped K-Swiss Global Brands increase efficiencies with Shopify Plus. 

 

Benefit from a Smooth Transition to Shopify Plus with Help  from Guidance

Shopify works well for small to mid-sized businesses. But for ecommerce stores with a large footprint, Shopify Plus is the way to go. From integrations and the ability to customize workflows to apps specifically designed for enterprise stores, this advanced ecommerce platform allows growing companies to keep growing, increase sales, and become more efficient. 

Guidance has won numerous awards for our ecommerce solutions with this platform, including the IMA Best In Class Ecommerce award. We can take your store to new heights with Shopify Plus. Contact us today to learn more.

Written by Guidance
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