Benefits of Shopify Plus: When Should You Migrate to Shopify Plus?

As an eCommerce business owner, you’ve likely invested significant time and resources into building your online store. If you’re currently using Shopify Advanced and wondering whether upgrading to Shopify Plus is worth it, this guide will help you evaluate the benefits, challenges, and steps involved in the migration process.

Why Upgrade to Shopify Plus?

Shopify Advanced is an excellent platform for mid-sized businesses, but Shopify Plus is designed for high-growth, high-volume enterprises. Here’s a breakdown of the key reasons to consider the upgrade:

While Shopify Advanced supports growing businesses, it has limitations when it comes to handling massive traffic spikes and complex operations. Shopify Plus, on the other hand, is built to handle thousands of transactions per minute, ensuring stability during peak sales periods.

Unlike Shopify Advanced, Shopify Plus provides you with a dedicated account manager and priority support. This ensures faster resolution of issues and strategic advice tailored to your business needs.

With Shopify Plus, you gain access to exclusive features like Shopify Checkout Extensibility, B2B, and advanced apps. These tools automate workflows, simplify product launches, and enable you to run a wholesale business alongside your DTC (direct-to-consumer) operations.

Comparing Shopify Plans vs. Shopify Plus

If you’re considering upgrading from Shopify Advanced to Shopify Plus, understanding the differences is crucial. While Shopify Advanced is robust for growing businesses, Shopify Plus is designed for enterprises with higher demands. Here’s a detailed comparison across critical features to guide your decision:

Shopify Cost and Pricing

Shopify Plus plan

Starts at $2,300/month or a negotiable percentage-based fee (capped at $40,000/month). Reduced transaction fees, often lower than Shopify Advanced, making it cost-effective for high-revenue stores. Ideal for businesses scaling rapidly or generating significant monthly sales.

Shopify plus stores capable of processing over 10,000 transactions per minute, ensuring stability during peak times like Black Friday.
Supports multiple storefronts under one admin, simplifying operations for businesses expanding internationally or managing multiple brands.

If your business is scaling rapidly, dealing with high sales volumes, or expanding into new markets, Shopify Plus provides the tools and infrastructure to meet your needs. While Shopify Advanced is ideal for medium-sized businesses, the additional investment in Shopify Plus is well worth it for enterprises seeking advanced features, automation, and scalability. The choice ultimately depends on your growth trajectory and operational complexity.

When Should You Migrate to Shopify Plus?

Deciding to migrate to Shopify Plus is a significant step for any eCommerce business. While Shopify Advanced is a powerful platform, it may not meet the growing demands of high-volume or rapidly scaling businesses. So, how do you know it’s time to make the leap? Here are the key indicators:

• High Sales Volume: If your store processes a large number of transactions or generates substantial monthly revenue, the reduced transaction fees on Shopify Plus can lead to significant savings. This is particularly important for businesses where even small percentage reductions translate to thousands of dollars.
• Frequent Traffic Spikes: Experiencing high traffic during peak seasons or promotional events like Black Friday can push Shopify Advanced to its limits. Shopify Plus is built to handle massive traffic spikes without compromising site speed or uptime, ensuring a seamless customer experience.
• Need for Customization: As your business grows, so does the need for a unique shopping experience. Shopify Plus offers full access to Liquid code for advanced theme and checkout customization, enabling you to stand out from competitors and optimize conversion rates.
• Expanding Internationally: If your business is scaling into new regions, Shopify Plus simplifies global operations with multi-currency and multi-language support. Its multi-store management feature allows you to operate multiple storefronts under one account, streamlining your international strategy.
• Operational Complexity: For businesses managing complex workflows, Shopify Plus provides powerful automation tools like Shopify Flow and Launchpad. These features automate tasks such as inventory updates, customer segmentation, and campaign scheduling, saving time and reducing manual errors.

If your business aligns with these scenarios, it’s time to consider migrating to Shopify Plus. The platform not only supports growth but also equips you with the tools to future-proof your business and stay ahead in a competitive market.

Shopify Functions

Shopify Functions enable developers to extend and customize Shopify’s backend logic, offering powerful capabilities to meet specific business needs. With Functions, merchants can implement tailored solutions such as unique discount rules, custom shipping rates, or specialized payment methods directly within Shopify’s infrastructure.

Unlike traditional apps, Shopify Functions run serverlessly, ensuring high performance and scalability without requiring external hosting. They integrate seamlessly into the platform, allowing businesses to enhance store functionality while maintaining reliability and speed. By leveraging Shopify Functions, merchants can deliver personalized experiences and advanced features, ensuring their stores are equipped to handle the unique demands of modern eCommerce.

Shopify Plus and Checkout customization

The checkout experience plays a pivotal role in eCommerce success, often being the deciding factor between a completed purchase or an abandoned cart. Shopify’s Checkout Extensibility introduces a powerful framework to customize the checkout process, offering Shopify Plus merchants unparalleled flexibility and control. With enhanced security, streamlined integrations, and advanced customization tools, Checkout Extensibility redefines how businesses approach their checkout experience, ensuring better conversions and stronger customer loyalty.

Advanced Customization for Personalized Experiences

One of the standout features of Checkout Extensibility is the ability to create highly tailored checkout experiences. While traditional Shopify plans offer limited customization, Shopify Plus merchants can now use tools like the Checkout and Accounts Editor to design checkout flows that reflect their brand identity and cater to their customers’ needs. Whether adding custom input fields for gift messages or integrating tailored upsell offers, businesses can create a checkout process that feels seamless and personal. These customizations go beyond aesthetics; they enhance functionality and directly impact conversion rates by removing friction points in the buyer’s journey.

Leverage Shopify Apps for Powerful Integrations

Shopify’s Checkout Extensibility is designed to support robust app integrations that allow merchants to enhance their checkout functionality. Unlike the previous checkout.liquid system, which relied on script tags and manual customizations, the new framework ensures a more secure and scalable integration process. Apps can now be seamlessly embedded into the checkout flow, adding features like loyalty program rewards, dynamic discount applications, and flexible payment options such as buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) solutions. These integrations help businesses cater to a broader audience, providing shoppers with the tools and options they need to complete their purchase confidently.

Branding API for Consistent Customer Experiences

Shopify Plus takes branding to the next level with its Branding API, allowing businesses to customize the look and feel of the checkout process. This includes adjusting colors, fonts, logos, and even the layout of the checkout page to align with your brand’s identity. A consistent, professional design helps reinforce trust, an essential factor in reducing cart abandonment. Additionally, you can add branded trust badges, personalized messages, and custom thank-you pages to make the checkout process more engaging and memorable for your customers.

Improved Performance and Security

Checkout Extensibility ensures enhanced performance and security by moving away from legacy systems like checkout.liquid and additional scripts. These older systems, while functional, presented potential vulnerabilities and performance bottlenecks. The new framework integrates seamlessly with Shop Pay, Shopify’s accelerated checkout solution, ensuring faster load times and a smoother transaction process. This improved checkout speed is particularly critical for mobile shoppers, who make up a significant portion of online sales. By delivering a faster, more reliable checkout experience, businesses can boost their conversion rates and keep up with customer expectations.

Deadlines and Migration Considerations

For Shopify Plus merchants, it’s essential to stay on top of the migration timelines to ensure compliance and take full advantage of the new features. As of August 13, 2024, Shopify Plus stores were required to upgrade the Information, Shipping, and Payment pages. Automatic upgrades will begin on January 6, 2025, ensuring a smooth transition for businesses that haven’t yet migrated. For the Thank You and Order Status pages, the upgrade deadline is August 28, 2025. Merchants must remove or replace customizations relying on checkout.liquid, script tags, or additional scripts to fully adopt Checkout Extensibility.

The Future of Checkout with Shopify Plus

Shopify Plus’s Checkout Extensibility represents the future of eCommerce checkout experiences. By offering advanced customization, seamless app integrations, and improved security, the framework empowers businesses to create optimized checkout flows tailored to their audience. For merchants aiming to enhance conversions and foster brand loyalty, investing in Checkout Extensibility is not just an option—it’s a necessity.

Shopify Checkout with Checkout Blocks

Checkout Blocks is a powerful Shopify app designed to enhance and customize the checkout experience for merchants, particularly those on Shopify Plus. By leveraging Shopify’s Checkout Extensibility framework, it enables businesses to implement advanced customizations without the need for coding expertise.

Key Features:

• Dynamic Content: Add banners, images, and personalized messages to the checkout page, enriching the customer experience and reinforcing brand identity.
• Custom Fields: Collect additional information from customers through custom input fields, such as gift messages or delivery instructions, allowing for a more tailored service.
• Payment and Shipping Icons: Display accepted payment methods and shipping options clearly, building trust and transparency during the checkout process.
• Display Rules: Set conditions to show or hide specific blocks based on cart contents, customer details, or shipping methods, enabling a dynamic and responsive checkout experience.
• Address Validation: Ensure accurate shipping information by validating address formats, reducing errors and delivery issues.

Checkout Blocks integrates seamlessly with Shopify Markets, supporting multiple languages and currencies, which is essential for businesses operating in diverse regions. The app also offers a branding editor, allowing merchants to align the checkout design with their overall brand aesthetics.

In June 2024, Shopify acquired Checkout Blocks, making its Starter plan free for users. This strategic move aims to accelerate the adoption of Checkout Extensibility among merchants, providing them with robust tools to optimize their checkout processes. (Shopify Community)

For businesses seeking to enhance their Shopify checkout experience with advanced customizations and improved customer engagement, Checkout Blocks offers a comprehensive, no-code solution that aligns with modern eCommerce needs.

Shopify Plus for B2B Wholesale

Shopify Plus is a robust platform for businesses looking to streamline and scale their B2B wholesale operations. Designed to handle the complexities of business-to-business eCommerce, Shopify Plus offers features that simplify wholesale management while delivering a seamless experience for buyers and sellers.

One of the key advantages of Shopify Plus is its ability to manage both B2B and direct-to-consumer (DTC) channels from a single admin panel. This integration eliminates the need for separate platforms, reducing operational complexity and costs. Businesses can efficiently oversee their entire eCommerce ecosystem, whether serving individual consumers or wholesale clients.

Shopify Plus allows you to create personalized experiences for B2B customers. Using its advanced features, you can set up custom product catalogs, tiered pricing structures, and payment terms tailored to individual clients. For example, you can offer specific discounts, tax-exempt purchasing options, or payment terms like net-30 to meet the unique needs of your wholesale buyers.

The platform’s checkout extensibility ensures a streamlined and branded experience for B2B clients. You can add functionality such as purchase order fields, buyer notes, or approval workflows. This flexibility enables a tailored and professional checkout process that aligns with your business operations.

Shopify Plus is built to handle high-volume transactions and traffic, making it ideal for businesses with growing B2B operations. Features like multi-store management and Shopify Markets also enable businesses to expand globally, offering localized experiences for different regions.

By consolidating wholesale and retail operations, Shopify Plus empowers businesses to optimize their workflows, improve client relationships, and scale seamlessly. It’s an all-in-one solution for enterprises aiming to elevate their B2B eCommerce strategy.

Conclusion: The Transformative Power of Shopify Plus

Shopify Plus is more than just an eCommerce platform; it’s a comprehensive solution designed to empower businesses to scale, innovate, and thrive in today’s competitive digital marketplace. With its robust suite of features, Shopify Plus caters to high-growth enterprises, offering the flexibility and performance needed to meet the evolving demands of modern commerce.

One of the key advantages of Shopify Plus is its unmatched scalability. Whether you’re handling high-volume sales, traffic surges during major campaigns, or expanding into new markets, the platform ensures your store remains fast, reliable, and capable of meeting customer expectations. Its infrastructure is built to handle thousands of transactions per minute, making it ideal for businesses that demand peak performance.

Customization is another cornerstone of Shopify Plus. From advanced theme editing with Liquid code to fully customizable checkout experiences, the platform allows businesses to create a storefront that reflects their brand identity while optimizing the customer journey. Tools like Shopify Functions and the Checkout Extensibility framework provide merchants with unparalleled control over their online store, enabling them to differentiate their offerings and maximize conversions.

For businesses with complex operations, Shopify Plus simplifies processes through automation and integrations. Features like Shopify Flow and Launchpad streamline repetitive tasks, freeing up resources for strategic initiatives. The platform’s ability to integrate seamlessly with ERP systems, CRM tools, and third-party applications ensures a unified and efficient workflow.

Support is another area where Shopify Plus excels. With dedicated account managers and priority access to Shopify experts, merchants receive tailored guidance and rapid issue resolution. This level of support ensures businesses can focus on growth while Shopify handles the technical complexities.

In conclusion, Shopify Plus provides the tools, infrastructure, and support necessary to build and scale a thriving eCommerce business. Whether you’re looking to expand globally, enhance your brand presence, or streamline operations, Shopify Plus is the ultimate partner for long-term success in the digital age.

Whether you’re looking to upgrade to Shopify Plus from another Shopify plan or considering a migration from another platform like Magento, WooCommerce, or BigCommerce, Shopify Plus makes the transition seamless. The platform’s advanced APIs and tools ensure your data, design, and operations are moved securely and efficiently.

If you’re ready to take your eCommerce business to the next level with Shopify Plus, contact Mgroup today. Our team specializes in creating scalable, optimized, and custom Shopify Plus solutions tailored to your unique business needs. Let’s build the future of your eCommerce success together!