So is it worth the upgrade?
Shopify Plus is probably on your radar if:
a) you’re already killing it, and
b) you want to scale your eCommerce business further.
So is it worth the upgrade?
There’s always a lot to consider when contemplating the move to Shopify Plus. To get you started, here’s the snapshot decision-making process we recommend to our clients.
Just quickly: What is Shopify Plus?
Shopify Plus is the biggest eCommerce platform hosting the biggest brands. It’s essentially the top plan on Shopify, as well as the most customisable, efficient, cost-effective and scalable solution for high-volume businesses.
FYI: The monthly licence fee is $2000 USD (compared to $299 for Advanced, the next plan tier down).
Build your business case
What benefits will Shopify Plus provide your business?
Start by mapping these out in order of what you will implement once you move to Plus. Our tip: ensure you clearly detail each expected outcome so you can properly evaluate the ideal timing for each step.
Will it increase metrics?
Which metrics are you planning to increase by moving to Shopify Plus? A lot of clients want to improve conversion rate. For us, we’re a big fan of average order value. Why? Well, it has a big impact on profit.
Gift with Purchase (GWP)
Gift with purchase is generally one of the first things we recommend to new Plus merchants. Do away with the glitchy apps and use Shopify Plus scripts to create rules. For example, you can create a rule that applies a 100% discount to a product and adds it to the cart when the set criteria are met. The cool thing about this type of implementation is you can allow the customer to pick from a selection of gifts in the cart.
How does this increase metrics? Well, if you make the free gift threshold just above your current AOV then customers will add something else to their cart to get the free gift. You might have increased your AOV by $40 while only forgoing $10 for the cost of the product. Therefore, you’re up by $30 and your cost per acquisition is the same—more profit!
Yes, you can also do this with an app. However, it’s a pretty clunky experience for the customer and it’s certainly not as nicely branded/integrated to your site. You can also achieve this with a Shopify automatic discount, but it’s not as interactive and you can only add the code at the checkout, rather than seeing this in the cart.
Configurable bundles
With the clever use of Shopify Plus Scripts, we can create a bundle product page that will allow you to create and configure your own product bundles. The user will have a choice to customise their bundle product variants, allowing them to select options they want—most commonly colours or flavours.
This also utilises the ‘compare at price’ fields on the parent product bundle to show how much the customer is saving throughout the entire process (product page, cart pages, email notifications). All the assigned products from the bundle will be added to the cart and individually discounted so the final bundle total is equal to the price that has been set in the product admin.
Again, there are apps for this. But the built-in experience is so much cleaner.
Similar to the example above, we generally see this increasing average order value, and subsequently profit margins.
Does the investment add up?
Crunch the numbers
For the value you receive, the cost of upgrading may not be as much as you think. Crunch the numbers: app fees, transaction fees and time spent on tasks or in apps. We have developed an internal tool to calculate this if you need some help.
Will it improve efficiency?
Here’s how we use Shopify Plus to speed up tasks for our clients.
— Use Shopify Flow to create automation rules and reduce admin easily. The most widely used application amongst our clients is automatically adding or removing tags on products based on certain criteria. I’m sure you’d be glad to reduce the time spent in the bulk editor!
— Launchpad is a Shopify Plus-specific app that allows you to publish products, themes and Plus Scripts at a specified time and date. This makes running a sale that much easier.
— Dedicated support means you save time—and lots of it. When you’re dealing with technology, inevitably, things go wrong. I’m sure you had one or two situations where you’ve struggled to get support from the Shopify Core (non-Plus) support team. With the Shopify Plus team’s recommendation, you get better access to Plus Partners when you need it.
You can time your upgrade with a website update
If you’re planning on building some new page templates or features, it makes commercial sense to look at upgrading to Plus at the same time. Building a new feature in Plus requires a different approach—where we build most things into the site rather than using apps.
We’re big fans, and so are our clients
When the time is right, Shopify Plus becomes an integral part of a brand’s growth. Time and time again, we’ve seen Shopify Plus be the game-changer our clients need.
We’ve outlined some features we see working well for most clients. However, it is case by case. Please reach out if you’d like to bounce some ideas off us and build your business case.
