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Shopify Plus has a ton of features that make them stand out from other e-Commerce platforms. One of the main differences between Shopify vs Shopify Plus is the open app marketplace for standard users and the Shopify Plus technology partner program. And, successful store owners know you should always hire a Shopify expert over a run of the mill agency.

That’s why the partner program is so helpful. So, what exactly makes these certified technology and service partners stand out from the rest? Read on to find out.

What is the Shopify Plus Partner Program?

Anyone running an online store has heard of Shopify, and high-volume sellers have explored the Shopify Plus platform. And, when thinking of making the switch, it’s important to know what help is available. 

The standard Shopify platform has other types of partners such as affiliates and developers.

The Shopify Plus partner program, first launched in 2016, is a directory of hand-selected technologies and services that have been vetted by the platform itself.

Partners are proven to have expert e-commerce and platform experience, so they can be trusted by any Shopify Plus merchant.

Both technology and service partners have access to an exclusive resource database to help them grow with the Plus platform and continually provide better service to their users. The community works together as a team, collaborating to create a Shopify Plus partner ecosystem; this gives merchants access to a holistic growth platform rather than standalone services and software options.

Access to Shopify Plus Partners is one of the biggest merchant benefits of upgrading to Shopify Plus.

Not on Shopify Plus? Check out our review (or our comparison with the standard Shopify plan) to help make your decision.

How are the Shopify Plus Partners Selected?

Anyone who wants to become a Shopify Plus partner goes through a rigorous screening process. Applications are taken seriously and only top agencies and software solutions are chosen.

How Many Partners are There?

Currently, Shopify Plus has 65 technology partners and 127 service partners (51 agencies and 76 solutions). Like the platform itself, the partner program is an exclusive community. While these numbers are likely to grow with the platform, they probably won’t scale as quickly as the standard Shopify options because of what it takes to get in. 

Technology Shopify Plus Partners Overview

With a standard plan, you have access to nearly any Shopify app you can think of. With a Plus plan, the platform recommends and enables easy integration with only the best e-commerce software.

Technology partners give merchants seamless integrations with popular tech:

• SEO/ SEM
• PIM
• Search
• EDI

Accessibility to these options helps online store owners accelerate growth through the use of advanced software.

What Technologies are Available?

26 different types of e-commerce software are available from technology partners in the Shopify Plus partner program. Everything from affiliate marketing to POS and warehouse management can be enhanced with an app. 11 of these options work with the Shopify Flow app, which turns tasks into automation.  

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Not all Shopify Plus apps are yet compatible with the Flow interface, but those that are stand out from the rest. Take a look at compatible apps in the Shopify Plus partner technology section to see what they can do for your online sales operations.

1. dotdigital Engagement Cloud

Image source: dotdigital

The Engagement Cloud by dotdigital can help you build committed, enduring relationships with your customers. Connect with and empower your shoppers with a suite of tools including email, mobile, social, and advertising. Implement automation, segmentation, and rich customer profiles.

In a nutshell, this is an advanced customer relationship management (CRM) platform to integrate with your Shopify store. It collects, stores, and analyzes data about your customers to help you make the most informed shopper interaction decisions.

2. Gorgias

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Use Gorgias, the complete Shopify helpdesk, to help your customer service representatives view all of your messaging platforms from one location. Your reps can edit customer orders without leaving the app. And, you can automate answers to simple, frequently asked questions, freeing up time for your team to focus on answering more complex queries.

Trust a top rated solution to provide your shoppers and customers with the best possible service experience of your e-commerce brand.

3. Klaviyo

Image source: Klaviyo

One of the most full-featured e-commerce email marketing campaign platforms is available on Shopify Plus with Flow integration. Klaviyo makes your email campaigns more intelligent and effective through powerful segmentation, detailed analytics, and informative reports.

This platform shines brightly in a sea of fierce competition because it has everything you need to create, implement, automate, and analyze your email marketing efforts with the least amount of work. Users are satisfied and it’s made the cut.

4. Listrak 

Image source: Listrak

Listrak is a customer data empowered digital marketing cloud that promises to deliver results. From a 360-degree customer profile to customer insights, AI personalization, and conversion rate optimization (CRO), this platform will help you orchestrate all of your cross channel marketing promotions.

Compared to other similar platforms, Listrak users have three times higher engagement, six times higher revenue, and two times higher conversion. Overall, it is a trusted solution to bring your marketing efforts to the next level.

5. LoyaltyLion -

Image Source: LoyaltyLion

Loyalty Lion knows that an online merchant’s future success depends entirely on its existing customers. So, they deliver a solution for web retail store owners to create data-fueled loyalty programs as unique as their brand. This app is proven to help businesses increase customer retention and sales.

In addition, it’s trusted as a solution for thousands of e-commerce companies worldwide. It enables top-of-the-line rewards programs that can award a specified amount of points for any action taken on the connected website and more.

6. Nosto

Image source: Nosto

Nosto helps you personalize the customer experience you deliver. It collects data to analyze shoppers’ omnichannel behaviors and purchases. The world’s leading digital commerce AI can give your website visitors targeted, personalized recommendations based on what trends it recognizes in their behavior.

Top machine engineers, data scientists, and PHDs have been working for the past seven years to continually improve the patented technology. If you want to inspire your customers, this app is well worth looking into.

7. Bronto

Image Source: Bronto

Leading the way in e-commerce email marketing, Bronto by Oracle integrates seamlessly with Shopify Plus. The API is versatile with many tools to help you deliver optimized campaigns. You can store customer data and purchase information in the existing CRM, or integrate it with another. Create personalized email campaigns that you can send at the right time, to the right shoppers.

Automation is handled through an easy-to-use drag and drop interface, so most merchants aren’t overloaded with the frustration of learning new, complicated technology.

8. Smile

Image source: Smile

Smile.io is the solution that can help you turn first-time shoppers into lifetime buyers. The app is reward program management made easy. You can design a program your way, then make changes instantly, in real time. Using the system will negate the need for your IT or dev team to work on your promotions by simplifying the processes.

You can view your program member details to see what actions users have taken and see their points balances and other information. A simple reporting dashboard will help you see important customer data that can help influence better future campaigns.

9. Swell Rewards 

Image source: Swell

Another great reward platform management platform (created by Yotpo) on the Shopify Plus technology partner program is Swell. Using this app, you can create tailored customer experiences using multiple campaign options. Maximize engagement and enhance your brand with 15 out-of-the-box campaigns that will drive high-value purchase behaviors.

The flexible program logic includes granular campaign settings that enable you to customize your program to your own specific goals. Using the VIP tiers, you can encourage your customers to take actions that drive them up the ladder for higher reward benefits.

10. Tapcart 

Image source: Tapcart

Tapcart will help you retain customers by creating your own aesthetically appealing mobile app. Sync it with your store and experience eight times more sales from customers who download and use your app. Nurture more customer loyalty, improve your buyer retention, and boast about your newfound 26-second average checkout time.

The beauty is that you can design and update your app from anywhere, including your mobile phone. So, change your colors and fonts and upload new content on the go. Leverage built-in oush notifications to get your customers back after shopping. Tapcart integrates with many other e-commerce apps available with Shopify Plus.

11. Yotpo 

Image source: Yotpo

Leverage a full-suite e-commerce solution to create more happy customers and drive more online sales.

• Reviews and Ratings
• Visual Marketing
• Loyalty and Referrals
• Customer Insights

You can use Yotpo to showcase user-generated content (UGC) across your website, easily collect reviews, and display your visual content with reviews to optimize your brand image. In addition, you can Q&A for more detailed product descriptions.

Use your UGC across multiple marketing channels and build loyalty programs that encourage repeat purchases.

Related: Our list of the best Shopify apps on the market.

Service Partners Overview

Shopify Plus service partners are the best of the best agencies and solutions for e-commerce business services. Those who leverage them know they are the smartest options for building their brand.

Service partners work in a wide range of fields.

• Product Development
• Retail Strategy and Activations
• e-Commerce Business Strategy
• Functional e-Commerce Strategy
• Technical e-Commerce Strategy
• Brand Strategy and Identity (Marketing)

Expert agency knowledge assures high-volume sellers the most robust strategies, including customer service, increasing their likelihood of success. Service partners are likely to understand the tools available from technology partners, so they open highly-targeted, specialized doors for online store owners.

What Services are Available?

According to the service partners page on the Shopify Plus website, Between the 127 service partners recommended by Shopify Plus, there are solutions and agencies in 40 countries and 22 industries providing 19 different services.

1. 3-D Modeling - Leverage one of five trusted 3-D modeling services to help your business achieve commercial success. In e-commerce, this is a powerful way to compete with the best.

Furniture retailers and others have been using this technology to deliver three-dimensional image representations of what their products will look like in the customer’s home. Work with agencies and solutions that already know your audience and best practices.

1. Accessibility Compliance - You should adjust your website for accessibility. Why? Because you create better experiences for customers with disabilities. This fact is just as true as it is offline -- there’s a reason brick and mortar businesses install wheelchair ramps and use braille.

Your digital store is no different. Getting an expert to help you will improve your reputation and brand recognition because you will become more inclusive.

1. Automation With Shopify Flow - Being the first ecommerce automation platform to streamline manual tasks, Shopify Flow has become a must-have for high-volume online stores. Integrating your store with the system will free up time for your team so you can focus on the tasks that really matter.

You can even use the platform to track, analyze, and report on how well your automation helps your bottom line. Doing so informs your future automation strategy. You should select a service that understands your needs.

1. Brand Strategy and Brand Identity - Customers purchase products because of a story that they have bought into. I believe it was Seth Godin who said something along the lines of, “If we all made purchase decisions based on the truth, everyone would drive a used Honda.”

Your brand identity is your story, and it’s why people choose to purchase from you or click away forever. Shopify Plus’ partner brand services work with companies like you every day and know what it takes to tell a tale of success.

1. Business Strategy - Your business strategy is your company’s foundation. It is everything you stand on. All e-commerce companies need a strong business strategy to survive. And, they need to continually make updates based on the insights they receive about their sales.

So, you need to have someone analyze your business plan, from time to time, helping you make adjustments where they are needed. Choose someone you can trust from the Shopify Plus partner program directory.

1. Content Strategy and Development - The fundamentals of creating a successful content marketing strategy are complex, to say the least. Many online store owners get this part wrong from the beginning.

One of the best ways to make sure your content is helping you drive sales is to hire an expert. Choose a vetted partner to give yourself the highest chance for success and rest easy knowing you’re making the right moves.

1. Digital Marketing Strategy and Execution - Just because your store exists online doesn’t make you a digital marketing expert. After all, the two are not mutually exclusive. It’s important that you work with others who understand this.

Your service provider should see what creates success and what causes failure daily. Use the partner of your choice to ensure the highest chance of increased ROI from your digital marketing efforts.

1. Fulfillment Services - Outsourcing the fulfillment process to a third-party vendor can improve your operations by freeing them up from a lengthy returns process and human error on your part. Put someone trustworthy in charge of your order fulfillment so you can focus on running a business without excess stress.

If they’re in the partner program, you can rely on them to live up to their word, otherwise, they wouldn’t be there.

1. International Expansion - If you’re looking for an undeniable opportunity to scale your operations, look no further than international expansion. By selling your products overseas, you open new sales channels worldwide.

And, if you implement your ideas with best practices in mind, you’re most likely to see increased sales and profits with your online store. Make the most of your exports and new stores with someone who knows exactly what to do and has proven their expertise.

1. Mobile App Development - The development of mobile apps for sales has revolutionized the way people shop. Use an app to send push notifications to your shoppers, provide an enhanced and convenient experience, and watch the sales roll in -- if you do it right anyway.

Find a consultant who works on a daily basis with brands like yours to shine on the Shopify Plus platform. If you get this right, your sales could start to increase faster than you think.

1. Ongoing Website Management - You already know that your online store isn’t a “set it and forget it” machine. It requires maintenance. And, the more often you upgrade your website, the better.

Furthermore, not everyone knows the ropes of the inside of Shopify Plus’ e-commerce platform. Since the partner service developers have undergone rigorous scrutiny before being able to join, you are most likely to find a solution with one of them.

1. Product Development - When it’s time to come up with new products to sell in your store, you need a lot of information. But, what factors are most likely to bring you success? And, what factors are likely to cause your inevitable failure as an online store? Work with someone who knows so that you don’t have to make a costly mistake.
2. Retail Strategy and Activations - Your business strategy should include -- but won’t always be synonymous with -- your retail strategy. While you may end up getting lucky with a business strategist who also has retail strategy expertise, this isn’t always going to be the case. When you need someone to help you determine how you’re going to sell your products, check out the partner program first. This is where you’re most likely to find exactly what you need.
3. Systems Integrations - You’re not going to become a high-volume online seller by cutting corners. You will want to use the best quality and most effective tools you can afford. But, you don’t want to get tied into any contracts you can’t uphold, and you shouldn’t have to take risks with your software.

So, find an integration specialist from a trusted source to make the most of your Shopify Plus store operations. Make sure the tools you use are compatible with one another to avoid customer-end hiccups that could destroy your sales.

1. Virtual and Augmented Reality - Hand-in-hand with 3-D modeling, virtual and augmented reality can serve you by bringing your products into the customer’s home before they ever make a purchase. Work with someone seasoned with the intricacies of the processes.
2. Website Audit and Optimization Strategy - Your website audit and optimization strategy will fall in line with your digital marketing, but won’t always be the same. Instead, sometimes you will need someone to come in and go over your website with a fine-toothed comb to tell you what you could be doing better, and what you’re already doing well.
3. Website UX Design and Development - A user experience (UX) designer will audit your website, much like referenced above, but their focus will be on how a customer will experience your site as opposed to search engines, etc. Consult an expert by checking out the partner program directory.
4. Wholesale/ B2B - Are your a wholesale or B2B seller who seems to run into the problem that people assume all best practices are suited to B2C operations? If so, you’ll need wholesale and B2B services to keep your strategy on track.

Your market is completely different than someone in retail, so get help with your strategy from someone who knows your audience well. Choose a wholesale specialist to consult with about your operations.

1. e-Commerce Strategy - Now, this one should be a no-brainer, and you’ve made it this far, so you’re an expert, right? Well, wouldn’t it be nice to work with someone who is an expert in your niche, on your platform, and knows today’s best practices?

Probably, yes. So, make sure you’re getting the right person by looking in Shopify Plus partner directory first.

Final Thoughts

Are you ready to grow your Shopify store, or looking to upgrade to Shopify Plus? Learning about the partner options available with the platform will help you make an informed decision. And, there’s more where that came from. Subscribe to the Gorgias newsletter to receive more industry knowledge to help you make the right e-commerce decisions.

Without a doubt, Shopify is one of the most popular e-commerce platforms. Entrepreneur magazine ranks it as one of the Top 6 Ecommerce Platforms for Small Businesses. And Inc. Magazine ranks Shopify in their list of Top Seven E-Commerce Platforms. What’s more, Market Watch calls Shopify “the leading multi-channel commerce platform”.

Headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Shopify is an e-commerce platform for both online stores and retail POS (point-of-sale) systems. Shopify describes itself as “One platform with all the ecommerce and point of sale features you need to start, run, and grow your business.”

According to Shopify, more than 800,000 businesses in 175 countries use its e-commerce platform. For the calendar year 2018, the platform’s total gross merchandise volume exceeded $41.1 billion. In a recent earnings forecast, Shopify expects 2019 revenue to be between $1.48 billion and $1.50 billion.

Out of the box, Shopify offers a low threshold for entry and is easy to set up and use. Shopify offers several basic plans and pricing models for a variety of business types and sizes. Their entry pricing model serves as an excellent example for current and future startups to emulate.

However, for more robust businesses and existing enterprises looking to migrate to a new e-commerce platform, there is Shopify Plus. Launched in 2014 the Plus option is geared towards enterprise level businesses. As a result, it is more robust. In this article, we’ll explore Shopify Plus, look at Shopify Plus pricing, and compare it to a few other e-commerce platforms.

Advantages of Shopify Plus

While Shopify is adequate for your average e-commerce outfit, larger enterprises have more extensive c-commerce needs. Consequently, these companies need better-than-average solutions. As a result, many flagship brands, including Kylie Jenner, Red Bull, and others, use Shopify Plus.

Even though all of Shopify’s options (including Shopify Plus) use the same dashboard, editor, and help center, Shopify Plus offers these enterprise-level companies much more functionality than any of Shopify’s other plans.

For example, Shopify Plus comes with unlimited staff accounts along with personalized help and support. On top of that, it can handle over 10,000 transactions per minute. This means that large-volume retailers don’t need to worry about whether their site will crash. Marketing educator, consultant, and SEO specialist Nate Shivar lists a several of Shopify Plus’ other main advantages.

• Scaling Reliability — Proven infrastructure which supports enterprise-level businesses or business’ scaling up to that enterprise level; also beneficial for retailers who need seasonal scaling to accommodate increased holiday traffic
• International Deployment — Built-in tools like geo-targeting, currency, and language options to easily and quickly expand internationally
• APIs, Integration & Extensions — Add-on friendly and easily extensible with its own App Store ecosystem
• Predictable Pricing — Starts at $2,000 per month, which includes a lot of beneficial services:

• Development and Maintenance — Includes hosting, servers, bug fixes, order management, bandwidth, feature implementation, and file storage are all part of the platform
• Technical Support and Account Management — Dedicated account manager for each client
• Marketing — Includes many standard marketing tools

All of these features make Shopify Plus an ideal option for launching an e-commerce site or adding e-commerce options to existing sites.

Check out our in-depth post of the benefits of Shopify Plus for more information.

The Base Costs of a Shopify Plus License

As stated above, the Shopify Plus annual licensing fee starts at $2,000 per month. So you could plan on spending at least $24,000 per year on the license alone. In addition, you will spend an extra percentage depending on your revenue. Since Shopify Plus bases pricing on usage and sales volume, the license cost increases when you exceed $800k in a month.

On top of the basis licensing fee, Shopify Plus also has a fee structure based on revenues. This is the actual pricing of the platform. There is a ceiling to this pricing — the maximum license fee is $40,000 monthly. For example, according to Shopify Plus pricing, a $1,000,000 per month company pays $2,500 in monthly licensing fees. In order for that same merchant to pay the maximum $40,000 monthly license fee, they would need to reach $16 million in monthly sales.

So what does $2,000 a month buy you on the Shopify Plus platform? This monthly license covers a number of services, including:

• Hosting Fees
• Maintenance Costs
• Version Upgrades
• Native Multi-channel Capabilities
• Shopify’s POS solution — along with integrated selling solutions for eBay, Facebook, and Amazon
• Account Management — including a dedicated Launch Manager and Account Manager who typically provides:

• General Shopify support and suggestions
• About 3 hours per month of basic front-end development work
• Guidance for growing your store
• Onboarding support
• General Shopify Plus solutions advice

Overall, the Shopify Plus pricing structure is competitive. Especially considering that this cost includes hosting. Specifically, this pricing positions the platform on the lower end for enterprise-level e-commerce solutions.

But what if you already have an e-commerce presence? Can you migrate to Shopify Plus? The short answer is ‘Yes’. If your business already has an online store, but have thought of switching to a new platform, then this Shopify Plus pricing guide is perfect for you. This guide won’t dive into the technicalities of migration, but it will mainly focus on options and pricing.

Moving an Existing E-commerce Site to Shopify Plus

An increasing number of retailers have chosen to move to Shopify Plus including MVMT, Gymshark, Hawkers, puravida, and Emma Bridgewater. Of course the Shopify Plus website touts all the platform’s features, benefits, and perks. However, Shopify does not explicitly list the cost of migrating your site from your current e-commerce platform to Shopify Plus.

In general, the lack or standard pricing for moving your site to Shopify Plus is mainly because each business is unique. Specifically, Shopify Plus asks you to contact them, so they can walk you through the process, plans, and pricing.  This makes sense, especially considering that your specific Shopify Plus pricing depends on several factors including scale, revenue, traffic, and others.

Side Costs of Shopify Plus

Although Shopify doesn’t outline the side costs of migration, at the same time, there are some sample prices from third-parties that serve as solid guidelines. Based on a hypothetical mid-level Shopify Plus project, we’ve outlined some more specific pricing for a mid-level enterprise’s first year of using Shopify Plus. Overall, a mid-level user could expect to spend between $130,200 and $270,200 during their first year with Shopify Plus. Below is a cost breakdown:

• $60,000 to $200,000 — The average build cost for a Shopify Plus site; depends on the scope of the project and complexity of the site
• $24,000 annually — Annual Shopify Plus licensing cost, starting at $2000 per month; this increases based on your revenue level
• $36,000 annually — BAU development costs
• $7,200 annually- Third party services for shipping, personalization, search, etc.
• $3,000 annually (about $250 per month) — Average yearly app costs

Factoring in Costs for Shopify Apps

Shopify Plus has a great deal of functionality. At the same time, third-party apps boost and extend its capacity even further. These apps meet needs like enhanced SEO tools, enterprise-level functionality, and enhanced site personalization. As a result, when talking about Shopify Plus pricing, be aware that you’ll need to spend money on additional apps for improved functionality of your e-commerce site.

In general, the norm for Shopify Plus third-party apps to pay a monthly licensing fee. One of the great benefits of this pricing model is the low cost of entry. Yet at the same time, paying a monthly fee for numerous apps tends to add up. If you are accustomed to Magento, which generally offers one-off license fees for apps, this will require an adjustment to your budgeting.

So even though you’ll spend less money up front, your total monthly costs for Shopify Plus apps may be more than you’re accustomed to. What’s more, apps have different monthly costs — licensing fees for Shopify Plus apps range from $50 to $500 each. However, one major benefit of monthly app licenses is that if you don’t like an app or find you don’t need it, you simply stop using it and find another app.

Be aware that if your business requires a specialized, custom-made app, then you’ll pay a premium for it. For example, development firms tend to charge $90 to $175 per hour for built-from-scratch apps. So the actual cost of the app will depend on its complexity, function, and size.

Related: Our list of the best Shopify apps for ecommerce merchants.

Site Design and Build Costs

Regarding site design and build, Shopify Plus does offer templates you to purchase. Yet if you choose a template, you’ll inevitably want to personalize it to differentiate your site from all the other e-commerce sites out there. This means you’ll pay for personalization, either in the form of a tailor-made site or a heavily-modified template.

Whether you do this design and build work in-house or contract with a design firm or a freelancer, it is important to factor in this cost. Depending on your needs, the estimated cost for this service might range between $75,000 and $100,000 (or more). And of course, the actual cost hinges on the complexity of your site and your business’ specific needs. Larger merchants with more complex needs will spend considerably more during the design and build process.

When migrating your site to Shopify Plus, make sure you work with a firm or freelancer who specializes in this platform. Overall, the firm you choose should be both creative and practical. This means they should deliver a unique, attractive, user-friendly site which also delivers exceptional functionality on every level.

Because of this, finding the right agency to build your site is key to success. Consider working with a Shopify Plus Technology partner to ensure you get the build possible.

Payment Processing Costs Via Shopify Payments

On top of the licensing fees, every merchant pays payment processing costs to a payment processor. This is true whether you use Shopify Payments or third-party processor. At the same time, you might find lower charges by using a third-party payment processor. In addition, be aware that Shopify does charge a 0.15% fee if you use a third-party payment provider.

Shopify Plus Pricing Compared to Other Platforms

How does Shopify Plus pricing stack up to other e-commerce platforms? Below we examine a few of the most popular platforms and compare them to Shopify Plus:

Shopify Plus vs Shopify

When talking about Shopify Plus, it’s helpful to introduce regular Shopify. With this plan, you get a 14-day free trial period without any up-front setup fees. Simply you can jump in and set up your store while you decide which pricing plan best fits your needs. There are three monthly pricing options:

• Basic Shopify (for starting your new business) - $29 per month
• Shopify (for growing your business) - $79 per month
• Advanced Shopify (for scaling your business) - $299 per month

Each of these plans comes with different options and levels of service for your business. All three come with an online store, sales channels, 24/7 customer support, unlimited products, the Shopify POS app, and other features. Yet, as you can imagine, the more you pay, the more options you get for your business.

For example, the Basic plan includes 2 Staff Accounts while the Shopify and Advanced Shopify include 5 and 15 Staff Accounts respectively. In addition, Advanced Shopify has exclusive features like an Advanced Report Builder and Third-party Calculated Shipping Rates. However, Shopify Plus definitely has even more to offer.

Read our in-depth comparison of Shopify and Shopify Plus.

Shopify Plus vs Magento 2 Commerce

First released in 2008 by Varien, Inc, Magento is an open-source platform. Written in PHP, Varien originally developed this e-commerce software with the help of volunteers. Varien released the first general-availability version of Magento on March 31, 2008. After changing hands a couple of times, Adobe later acquired the platform. On November 17, 2015, Magento 2.0 was released.

Overall, Shopify Plus is less expensive than Magento 2 Commerce. According to Ecommerce Guide:

The ‘Total Cost of Ownership’ of a website built on Shopify Plus tends to be cheaper than a site built on Magento 2 Commerce.

The site also suggests that this lower cost makes Shopify Plus a better option for businesses that are currently at lower revenue levels. The article also details a few other costs comparisons between Shopify Plus and Magento:

• Design/ Build Costs — Magento Commerce builds tend to cost more than Shopify Plus projects. One reason for Shopify Plus’ lower build cost is that the builds involve less integration work and less backend development. In the end, less time working on the build means you spend less money up front. Specifically, Ecommerce Guide estimates spending about $100,000 for a Shopify Plus build and between $150,000 to $500,000 for a Magento 2 Commerce build.
• License Fees — Although both Shopify Plus and Magento 2 Commerce come with a license fee, Shopify Plus charges on a monthly fee while Magento charges an upfront, annual license fee. As is the case with Shopify Plus, Magento also bases the fee on your business’ revenue level. However, Magento bills you up front annually as ‘Gross Merchandise Value’. So for Magento Commerce licensing fees, expect to pay about $2,000 per month if you’re at the lowest monthly level fee.
• Hosting — As stated above, the $2,000 per month Shopify Plus license fee includes hosting. Shopify Plus hosting includes security patches, SSL certificates, PCI compliance, and other things. In comparison, Magento offers two options. Magento 2 Commerce Cloud has a similar hosting package but at a slightly higher monthly fee. Magento’s base cost is around $3,333 which includes the license and hosting.
• Site Maintenance — For monthly maintenance, fixes, and updates, Shopify Plus is typically cheaper than Magento.

At the end of the day, Shopify Plus is generally less expensive than Magento 2 Commerce. At the same time it depends on your business’ specific needs.

Shopify Plus vs WooCommerce

For small to large-sized online merchants that use WordPress, WooCommerce is a popular open-source e-commerce plugin. Designed specifically for WordPress, it launched September 27, 2011. The fact that the plugin is free (the base product) easy install makes it an attractive to businesses of a certain size.

In a comparison article, Simon Gondeck puts Shopify Plus up against Woo Commerce. He bases his comparison on several factors. Gondeck uses the example of a lower mid-market ecommerce business making between $1 million and $10 million in annual sales.

For a Shopify Plus site, he estimates the build cost (design and development) to be around $30,000. The monthly license fee is $2,000 per month, but Gondeck adds an estimated $2,000 per month for ‘developer maintenance costs’. At the end of the first year, he estimates the cost for a Shopify Plus site to be about $78,000. However, once the site is fully developed, the second year cost would drop to an estimated $48,000 per year.

For WooCommerce, Gondeck estimates the build cost to be about the same as Shopify Plus (around $30,000). However, he believes WooCommerce has lower month to month maintenance fees and costs. Although the developer maintenance costs are similar (about $2,000 per month), the monthly license fee (which includes the domain and hosting costs) is only about $200 per month. With all the costs totaled up, WooCommerce comes in at around $55,200 for the first year with an ongoing annual cost of about $26,400 per year.

Yet in the end, Shopify Plus pricing comes out slightly higher than WooCommerce in a head-to-head comparison. Gondeck recommends Shopify Plus for its simplicity and ease of use out of the box. He specifically recommends this e-commerce platform “for larger businesses with no current ecommerce presence.”

Shopify Plus vs BigCommerce Enterprise

Founded in 2009, BigCommerce develops e-commerce software for businesses. According to the company, the BigCommerce platform has processed $16 billion in total sales.

Like Shopify, BigCommerce has also launched an enterprise-level platform, BigCommerce Enterprise. Launched in May 2015, the platform was designed to accommodate high-volume retailers. And like Shopify Plus, BigCommerce also hosts some big name brands such as Skullcandy and Ford. So how does Shopify Plus pricing compare to BigCommerce Enterprise?

As we’ve already said a couple of times, Shopify Plus pricing starts at $2,000 per month with increases based on your sales volume. Also, Shopify Plus has no hosting fees, support fees, or monthly maintenance costs. In contrast, BigCommerce Enterprise’ pricing various greatly. Like Shopify Plus, BigCommerce doesn’t explicitly list prices for the Enterprise platform. However, according to WebMakeWebsites, you can get a basic plan for around $400 per month.

However, Nate Shivar puts the BigCommerce Enterprise’s monthly price at around $1,000. Yet, depending on your business’ capacity and needs, the high end of the monthly fee can add up to $15,000 per month. In the end, Paul Rogers states:

The pricing of Shopify Plus and BigCommerce generally comes out very similar — the licensing is comparable (with BigCommerce Enterprise being based on order volume and Shopify Plus being a GMV model with a minimum fee) and build costs are generally in the $75k – $200k bracket for both, in my experience. Shopify Plus does have some additional charges if you choose to use an external payment provider, but this is relatively low (0.25%).

Like Shopify Plus pricing, your actual BigCommerce pricing monthly depends on your sales, traffic, and other factors.

In Conclusion: Advantages of Shopify Plus

Without a doubt, Shopify is one of the top e-commerce platforms available today. And with Shopify Plus, enterprise-level businesses benefit from exceptional functionality to meet all their e-commerce needs. Compared to popular platforms like Magento, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce, Shopify Plus is a great platform for new e-commerce sites or for companies looking to migrate to a more robust platform. So whether you’re already at the enterprise level or you have plans to scale up to the next level like Campus Protein, Shopify Plus is certainly one of your best e-commerce options.

Still on the fence? Read our in-depth review of Shopify Plus.

Gorgias is a customer support helpdesk providing flawless customer service for Shopify stores. Currently, we partner with over 1,000 merchants and our Starter plan is only $10/month. Get started for free or schedule a demo today! Or Contact Us Today to learn more about what we can do for your Shopify site.

Running a business is a challenge on its own — throw in constantly changing search engine optimization (SEO) tactics and it can be difficult to keep your head above water.

Let’s be clear: SEO is a big project. But when done right, it boosts your site’s visibility, traffic, and bottom line. And even if you don’t have a full-time webmaster on staff, there are a few quick-win opportunities you can do to boost SEO on your site and main product page.

First, we’ll give you a clear definition of what SEO means for Shopify stores and why it’s beneficial. Next, we’ll give you tips to optimize your store. We tackle technical SEO first because it impacts your entire site — and other efforts won’t yield results with poor technical SEO. Then, we’ll zoom in and offer some on-page and off-page SEO strategies that'll get more eyeballs on your product pages.

What is Shopify SEO (search engine optimization)?

Shopify SEO is the process of setting up your Shopify website so search engines (like Google) promote it to people searching for the kinds of products you sell. 

If you want potential customers to find your Shopify store, you need strong SEO efforts that'll boost your website's search rankings and visibility. Specifically, you need to think about technical SEO and on-page SEO, both of which we cover below.

Technical SEO vs. on-page SEO

Technical SEO refers to the optimization of your website's overall performance rather than the content of your website. Before focusing on on-page SEO strategies, you need to cover site-wide technical aspects:

• Make sure your website’s code is clean so search engines can find, crawl, and index your pages
• Ensure your website’s pages load quickly, so Google can confidently promote your website
• Optimize your website for mobile, so Google knows your website is worth promoting for all devices

(Don’t worry — we have a whole section on technical SEO where we walk through each of these to-dos in detail.)

On-page SEO involves optimizing the content of your website’s individual pages to rank higher on search engines. This requires optimizing HTML tags, making sure each website has a relevant and finable URL, and publishing content that is high-quality and relevant.  On-page SEO is all about your content.

Technical SEO appeals directly to search engines. While on-page SEO does that as well, it also appeals to human users and how they experience your website. 

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📚 Related reading: On another ecommerce platform like WordPress, Magento, or BigCommerce? No problem. Check out our more general guide to ecommerce SEO.

Why is search engine optimization (SEO) important for Shopify stores?

“If you build it, they will come” unfortunately it doesn’t apply to the ecommerce industry. You need to do more than just set up shop — you need to make it easy for consumers to find you. That’s where SEO comes in.

Improves your store’s visibility

According to a Wolfgang Digital report, 43% of ecommerce traffic comes from organic Google searches. If you want to make sales, you need to optimize your website to maximize your chances of it showing up at the top of relevant search engine results pages (SERPS).

Great SEO improves your chances of popping up when people Google the types of products you sell — even if they don’t know the specific product name. For example, Nordstrom, Famous Footwear, and Adidas nail SEO and show up as top search results for broad terms like “sneakers for men”:

 SEO (and the tips we share below) determine your store’s visibility within Google’s search results and help more customers find your store. 

Improves your store’s user experience (UX)

SEO isn't just about keywords — it's about making your site user-friendly, accessible, and well-organized. Optimizing your site for search involves reducing page load times, properly linking pages across your site, and eliminating dead links and pages. All of these changes will improve customers' shopping experience on your website, even if you never rank on Google.

Offers higher return on investment (ROI) than other marketing strategies

Optimizing your site for search might be a big project, but it has much higher ROI potential than other growth tactics. Ads and other paid marketing strategies have extremely high upfront costs, and they quickly fade to the bottom of peoples' feeds (until you dump more money in). 

Organic traffic is the opposite: SEO has no upfront monetary investment (though it can take a while for SEO efforts to start yielding results). But organic website traffic from your SEO efforts doesn't fade away — it compounds. Once your website starts climbing search results, Google typically rewards you more, boosting your ranking for other search terms and providing additional traffic month over month for no additional cost.

📚 Recommended reading: Our VP of Success’ guide to customer service ROI.

Technical SEO checklist to improve your ecommerce site

Your site needs to be functional before Google will start promoting your website in search results. Technical SEO is all about improving your website’s performance and foundation, and it’s the first step to being discovered.

Make sure you’re following these tips to optimize your ecommerce website.

Make your website crawlable

If you want search engines to find your site, help them out by making it crawlable. Crawling refers to the automated process where search engines send bots to read the page. 

Google crawls a webpage when any of three things happen: 

• A new link points to the page
• A webpage sees a significant boost in traffic
• An XML sitemap — essentially, the blueprint of important links on your website — is submitted to Google

Google will eventually crawl your page without a sitemap.xml file, but newer sites lacking traffic and external links should submit a sitemap so Google can crawl and then index your site ASAP.

Something called a robots.txt file goes hand in hand with your sitemap.xml file. The robots.txt file instructs crawlers on which pages to avoid and which pages to crawl. It can even block crawlers from visiting your site altogether. 

This is part of a larger strategy called faceted navigation, where you instruct Google on which pages to notice and avoid.

Shopify already has robot.txt files that prevent crawling from happening on specific pages such as the shopping cart or checkout page. You’re free to change that and edit your robot.txt files — by creating a robots.txt.liquid file — to disallow other pages from being crawled, or add extra sitemap URLs. 

Search engines will only index your content if it’s crawled and then categorized as “worthy.” Here are some tips we suggest to make your site crawlable:

• Edit your Shopify robots.txt file by creating a robots.txt.liquid file
• Block any page paths with robots.txt files to prevent crawlers from indexing pages that don’t have search value

Resolve any 4xx errors

If you own any pages that have dead or broken links, your site will instantly be off-putting to crawlers and consumers. All old URLs require redirects to avoid any “Not Found,” “Unauthorized,” or “Forbidden” errors.  — usually 404 or other 4XX errors. 

For ecommerce websites, these errors often stem from discontinued products or sitemap issues.

Ensure 4xx errors don’t impact your SEO by doing the following:

• Use 301 redirects to fix any old or permanently broken links
• Make sure these pages are excluded from your site map by editing the robots.txt file
• Find broken internal links with a tool like Sitechecker

Have a flat site architecture

The structure and organization of your web pages will affect how search engines decide to rank you, as well as the customer’s experience when navigating your site. You need a smart, sensible site structure if you want to scale your business and optimize your website.

Implement good linking and arranging techniques like these so that Google understands your Shopify website’s layout and where to find the essential information:

• Pages should be no more than 3 clicks from any other page: A permanent navigation bar that links to all your main pages is a must
• Pages should be as few clicks from the homepage as possible: Avoid burying pages under multiple layers, like /product/categories/shoes/women/heels/kitten-heels
• Pages should be grouped by relevant keywords/topics
• The homepage should link to your most important pages

Remember, less is more. There’s no need to overly complicate your site architecture, as it'll just confuse customers and search engines.

The same applies to your URLs. Consider a “flat” URL structure over a “hierarchical” URL structure. Optimizing your URLs this way results in a simple site architecture that requires fewer clicks to get from page to page.

A flat URL might look like “example.com/collections/blue-shoes” while a hierarchical structure might look like “example.com/collections/shoes/blue.” See how the hierarchical URL makes each page further from the domain.

📚 Recommended reading: Our guide to product categorization and organization for ecommerce websites. 

Add Shopify tags and product schema

Shopify tags and product schema can both help optimize your website by helping search engines understand your products. This understanding makes it easier for engines to rank you appropriately.

Shopify tags

Shopify tags are a tool Shopify introduced to categorize items. They don’t appear in front of customers but help Shopify and yourself understand your website’s organization. Shopify tags don’t affect SEO on their own, but they naturally go hand in hand with other efforts (like product schemas) that have a great impact on SEO. 

Here’s how we recommend using Shopify tags:

• Identify important keywords (like “summer” and “winter”)
• Create Shopify tags for these keywords
• Add tags to relevant products without overdoing it

Don’t rely on these keywords to be your page’s content, or use them as your product description. Continue to utilize them as organization tags, but now you can have your cake and eat it by gaining a boost in technical SEO in the meantime.

Product schema

A product schema is great for making your ecommerce search results stand out. It displays rich snippets such as price, reviews, ratings, and more in product search results.

Check out how Nike’s shoe shows reviews and shopping links in a Google Image search result:

Install an app like Schema App Total Schema Markup to integrate product schema into your site. Or, you can edit the code of your store’s theme, which is a bit trickier, but it doesn’t require you to pay for an app.

Consumers can view this valuable product information before even visiting your site. If you showcase these properties, your products are more visible and you’re more likely to get clicks and conversions if people like what they see.

Product page SEO tips that impact your product discoverability

Now that we’ve covered technical, sitewide SEO, we can zoom in on product pages and start making them SEO-friendly. 

Focus on these tips once your technical SEO is up to par, and make sure you have everything checked off before launching your ecommerce website.

Relevant title tags

One of the most important pieces of an SEO-optimized page is the title. The title tag is the first thing a search engine sees about your page. 

Think of the title tag as the headline you submit your page to Google with. If a store is selling shoes for men, they’re going to put that in the title along with the name of the store and perhaps a catchy adjective. This is helpful for search engines indexing the content to understand the main point of a page.

Below, the title tag is “Casual Shoes for Men - Steve Madden”:

Title tags are short — 50-60 characters is the recommended max — but hold a lot of power. Search engine algorithms heavily value the title tag when determining the page’s content.

Every page on your website should have its own title tag that is both relevant and unique. It should describe what is on that individual page — otherwise, Google will be confused about which page of your site to show for which search term.

Enticing meta descriptions

Your meta descriptions are 155-character “snippets” of your web page summarizing the page’s content. Some search engines use meta descriptions to display a preview in search results.

Your product meta descriptions should include your target keywords, but they also need to speak to the reader in a way that entices them to click through to learn more and ultimately make a purchase.

Unique product descriptions

When writing product descriptions, you want to be unique. 

All content you create should be original, as to avoid duplicate content in the eyes of search engines. So, don’t just copy and paste content from manufacturer websites or use the same descriptions for multiple products.

Google won’t remove your website from search results if you have accidental duplicate content, but it will affect your organic traffic when Google is unsure which page to prioritize in search rankings.

So, if you want a fully-optimized web store —trust us, you do! — you can’t just copy and paste sales text from your own pages either.

If duplicate content exists at multiple URLs, search engines struggle to decide which page to rank and you can miss out on valuable organic traffic. Beyond making pages unique, canonical links can help Google prioritize your best content.

You don’t want a product page description for your women’s red Converse sneakers that has the same text as your women’s blue Converse sneakers with the color descriptions swapped out.

Instead, when the products you’re selling are similar, combine them in a single product page with multiple variations and focus your energy on describing the common features in a way that gets visitors to convert.

Descriptive images

Ecommerce store owners put a lot of emphasis on using great product images on their websites. They hire commercial photographers, photo editors, and even graphic artists. But, many of them forget or are ignorant of the fact that your images also need to be described to search engines.

So, let’s take a look at how Google understands your pictures through alt text (or alternative text), image title tags, and image descriptions.

The following photo isn't a scientific example of what a search engine actually sees when they crawl an image on your store. But, it provides an idea of how much Google knows when looking at a picture alone.

Think of this picture as an illustration to showcase why you need to add image alt text and title tags to your photos — without the following, Google can’t fully understand what’s in your image.

• Alt text is what site visitors will see when an image doesn’t load on your site.
• Image title tags are the file name of your images.
• Image descriptions are the optional text you can include on your product pages to describe your image.

Search engines will read the above text fields for each image to bring things back into focus.

Try to use your main target keyword phrase at least once in the alt text of your image to fully optimize your pages for search engines.

Check out this guide to adding alt text to your Shopify site’s images.

Desirable user experience (UX)

Your website’s ecommerce UX is in a category all on its own. Many web designers focus solely on UX, which determines the way a shopper experiences your online store.  

So, what exactly does UX have to do with SEO? In addition to reading the indicators on your pages, search engines also measure how long visitors stay on your pages. If your bounce rate is high — meaning users move away quickly — modern search algorithms will rank your pages lower.

On the flip side, when search engines measure the traffic that stays on your site for more time, they'll rank your site and pages higher. They’re essentially assuming there’s something good to see because people want to stay and read, watch, or shop.

Consider adding an informative FAQ section or help center to decrease your bounce rate. If it’s well-written and addresses any potential pain points, chances are customers will stay on this page longer, and search engines will take note of this.

One of the greatest determining subfactors in the quality of your store’s UX — what really gets qualified shoppers to stay on your site — is your navigation menu and search features.

Usable navigation features

Shoppers are only going to purchase products when they find what they’re looking for, so you need to make it easy for them.

The following navigation features will optimize your navigation and search.

Autocomplete

Adding an autocomplete feature to your search bar is another way to get shoppers to stay on your site longer. It gives consumers new ideas about items that they may be interested in and encourages them to try new products.

Filtered and faceted search

You might hear the terms “filter” and “faceted navigation” used interchangeably — both refer to the act of sorting search results for relevance. Filters allow customers to narrow results based on categories. Faceted navigation is the process of using multiple filters at once to help customers find the exact product they’re looking for. 

Help users browse your site with ease by offering a faceted search experience.

📚 Recommended reading: Our guide to the best Shopify theme (after analyzing over 13,000 themes). 

Subcategories in the display menu 

Make sure your navigation menu displays categories, subcategories, and individual collection pages. This way, it’s easy for shoppers to find what they need, rather than taking multiple steps to navigate to a specific category page.

Promotional banners 

Another great feature to improve customer UX and keep people shopping in your ecommerce store is to include a promotional banner (or pop-up) above the fold. Let people know what items are on sale and about any other discount offers, contests, and more.

That said, too many banners can drag down your page’s load speed and disrupt your shopping experience. Chat campaigns are a subtler alternative to sharing announcements and promotions, with an easy path to a human agent to continue the conversation. 

Easily accessible customer support

Chat boxes and self-service support tools can help your customers find what they seek. Ideally, your customer will be able to find products on their own, but you need to give shoppers an easy way to find new products or seek recommendations if need be.

Take a look at Jaxxon’s chat widget, which automatically lets shoppers request a list of new products or connects shoppers with live agents if they have follow-up questions.

🧰 Tool: Learn more about how to offer this kind of self-service support in your chat widget with Gorgias’ Automation Add-on. 

Ecommerce marketing SEO tips that impact your brand’s reputation and recognition

Once your on-page and technical SEO is fueled with best practices, it’s time to look at your off-page SEO. Remember, a well-working website and thorough product pages are key before you begin embarking on any marketing efforts.

As you scale, you'll need to start monitoring and taking action on off-site reviews, websites linking back to you, and brand mentions on social media.

Backlink building

It’s crucial to create and implement an informed link-building strategy. Unfortunately, it’s also a harder strategy since it relies on links coming from other websites that you don’t control. 

Google rewards websites with many diverse backlinks because they say a lot about your website’s reputation and authority. If high-quality sites are linking to your Shopify store, then Google will trust you and rank your page higher.

Again, it’s about other people taking action — which is a little bit out of your control. That doesn’t mean there aren’t things you can do to invest in a good linking strategy and start gaining backlinks.

Here are some of the best places to start:

• Get listed in niche directories
• Ask blogs to review your product
• Appear as a guest on someone’s podcast
• Reach out to journalists
• Join relevant communities
• Create and share free tools
• Run contests
• Partner with influencers
• Offer sponsorships

Most existing backlink building services are cheap, which usually means they’re not exactly trustworthy. Linking is one area of your SEO strategy that you’ll need to invest time and effort into learning and implementing if you want to see off-page SEO results.

Content marketing

In ecommerce, content marketing refers to your blog, off-site guest posts, social media posts, stories, videos, and other content that helps move traffic to your product pages. Unfortunately, most brands get it wrong.

Many online stores launch a blog only to share news about their store and product features. While customers might need to know about updates and promotions, this kind of info is better left to press release submission sites and targeted subscriptions (to your qualified leads and existing customers segment).

Instead, what online stores should be doing with their content is solving their customers’ pain points. Articles, infographics, and videos should build trust, establish authority, nurture customer loyalty, and eventually lead consumers to make a purchase.

When it comes to SEO for content marketing, you should focus on keyword phrases that are relevant to the problems that your products solve (and have a high search volume, which you can check in tools like Ahrefs) — not the products themselves.

For example, if you’re selling women’s blue shoes, here are some topics you might want to write about:

• What should I wear to an interview?
• 10 best accessories to wear with your brown pants suit
• This is what Ariana Grande wore to the Oscars

By providing your shoppers with expert fashion advice, these topics (if written well) will eventually lead people to your email list and later your product pages. It’ll also increase your reputation as an authority in the space and gain you more trust with your audience.

So, while content is an amazing tool to help you scale your ecommerce operations, just remember that it isn't all about you, but rather helping your target audience.

When embarking on a content marketing journey, remember to do keyword research so you can make sure your content is getting in front of your target audience.

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How to use keywords to rank your Shopify store higher

Just as linking is an important indicator for search engine rankings, so are keywords. Keywords tell search engines what the content of your site looks like, and it’s used to match up against what consumers are looking for in search engine results. Proper keyword implementation is an effective SEO strategy that’ll rank your Shopify store even higher.

1) Figure out which search terms you want to rank for

You already know you want to rank higher for the target keywords your potential customers are searching for. But, how do you know what they are?

Here are some general Shopify SEO rules of thumb:

• Choose 1–3 target keyword phrases for each product page, landing page, and piece of content
• Make sure your content is easily-readable, descriptive, and relevant to the page topic — never over-optimize
• Solve the problems your customers regularly face
• Include your keywords in your page titles and sprinkle them throughout your content
• Monitor your competitors

2) Create a list of potential search phrases

One of the easiest ways to define your list of target search phrases is to use an SEO tool or seek inspiration from your potential buyers. Feel free to get creative, but use real data to make informed decisions when doing keyword research.

Leverage advanced SEO tools

Ahrefs, Moz, and SEMRush are the most popular tools among modern SEO professionals. Each offers a suite of tools to help you make informed decisions to optimize your content. If you feel like you have an intermediate or advanced understanding of SEO, check out these tools. SEMRush and Moz offer free trials and you can try Ahrefs for $7 for the first week.

Use beginner SEO tools

Alternatively, beginners might want to use a tool like Long Tail Pro or even Google Keyword Planner. Use these to measure your potential keyword competitiveness and make informed decisions about your search marketing efforts.

Do a Google search

Are you selling blue sneakers? Find related keywords with a simple Google search. Check out the related searches list at the bottom of the page.

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Between SEO tools and search engines, you should be able to generate a preliminary list of search phrases to optimize your Shopify or Shopify Plus store. From there, you’ll still need to narrow it down a bit.

3) Focus on long-tail keywords

Long tail keywords are three to five-word search queries that are specific to your page content (in this case, your products). Usually, they're much easier to rank for than general search phrases.

If you’re selling blue shoes, it’s going to be much more competitive to rank for “blue shoes” because it’s a general term. So, instead of general terms, keyword phrases like “women baby blue sneakers” and “toddler royal blue sneakers” are likely to generate more traffic and ensure that traffic is targeted and qualified.

In most cases, you'll want to remove general search phrases from your preliminary target keywords list. Instead, stick to long-tail search phrases.

4) Pay attention to other ranking factors

Even when your keywords are perfectly targeted to your products, more factors increase the likelihood of improving your pages’ search engine rankings. So, learn what else you need to watch for.

Here are the top competitive ranking factors to consider:

• Quality of existing competitor pages
• Number of high-quality backlinks to competitor pages
• Competitor pages domain ranking or domain authority

In a nutshell, you need to make sure that you can create content and build links better than your competition. Keep in mind that your competitors will have the freedom to update their content should you outrank them later, so make sure to monitor your pages and those that rank on page one for the same keywords.

The best SEO apps to improve your ecommerce site’s SEO

SEO strategies don’t mean much if you have no way to see if they’re working. If you want to achieve your goals and continue growing each year, you need to use some of the tools at your disposal that’ll allow you to track your site’s performance. 

1) Google Analytics

All ecommerce store owners should invest some time into learning Google Analytics. A free tool — which can easily be connected to your Shopify store — it's one of the easiest and most insightful ways to see if your SEO efforts are working.

Google Analytics lets you monitor organic search traffic and user engagement with your site. Look at how your rankings change when you adjust certain on-site components, and pay attention to how people find your site and what they’re doing when they get there.

Use this information to better understand your customers and try out new SEO strategies.

2) Google Search Console

Shopify allows you to submit your sitemap to Google Search Console. Your sitemap file is generated automatically by Shopify, and you can submit it so that your site is found and properly indexed by Google.

Once your sitemap is added, use Google Search Console to identify high-traffic pages, measure click-through rates, analyze your site’s performance, and much more. It’s an invaluable tool that takes some time to understand, but the benefits are worth any learning curve.

3) Yoast

You’ll be happy to hear that Yoast is available on Shopify. It comes in handy as a keyword research tool that optimizes your site with keywords and assesses the SEO strength of your pages with the help of structured data. Get real-time feedback on how your titles and descriptions perform on social media or Google search.

Your technical SEO is also taken care of with Yoast. It’s constantly updated to automate any code errors that affect your site’s performance or speed and be up-to-date on the latest SEO practices.

4) SEO Manager

Cost: $20.00 per month

Free Trial Available: 7-day

Star Rating: 4.7 (1,728 reviews)

Function: This app helps store admins understand and implement Shopify SEO tactics to get ranked by search engines. It has over 20 features — only 5 of them are available with other existing apps.

📚 Recommended reading: Our list of the 40+ best Shopify apps to grow your store.

5) Image Optimizer

‍Cost: $4.99 per month +

Free Trial Available: No, but there is a free plan

Star Rating: 4.8 (759 reviews)

Function: This app automatically adds image ALT tags and image file names to your product photos based on templates customized by you. You can compress images to minimize file size and increase site speed and page speed. It also converts png images to jpeg format.

6) SEOMetriks Marketing Tools

‍Cost: $7.99 per month

Free Trial Available: 7-day

Star Rating: 4.8 (22 reviews)

Function: This app empowers you with a step-by-step Shopify SEO roadmap. It delivers crucial SEO data and simplifies your search marketing processes.

7) Plug in SEO

‍Cost: $29.99 per month +

Free Trial Available: 14-day and free plan

Star Rating: 4.7 (2,567 reviews)

Function: This app automates Shopify SEO audits while delivering worthwhile search marketing recommendations. It integrates with Google, Bing, other search engines, Langify, and Locksmith.

8) Benchmark Hero

Cost: Free

Free Trial Available: N/A

Star Rating: 4.9 (317 reviews)

Function: This app automates the SEO audit process while you work on building pages. It delivers benchmarks and analytics while also suggesting action items for you to take.

9) AMP

Cost: $9.00 per month +

Free Trial Available: No, but there is a free plan

Star Rating: 5.0 (529 reviews)

Function: This app optimizes Google-accelerated mobile pages, increasing your store’s mobile traffic. It integrates easily with review apps.

Note: In addition to the available marketplace apps, you can also leverage helpful Shopify SEO tutorials to read current best practices straight from the horse’s mouth.

Remember: SEO is meaningless without great conversion

SEO is how you get people to visit your site, but if people aren’t placing orders, that traffic — and all the effort and dollars you spent on marketing — goes to waste. 

Once traffic arrives on your site, your new mission is converting customers or turning browsers into buyers. A great shopping experience — complete with informative product pages, proactive customer support, and a streamlined shopping cart and checkout process — is your best bet to grow your store and maximize profits.

Take a look at our guide to ecommerce conversion rate optimization (CRO), written in partnership with ecommerce CRO agency Swanky, to learn how to turn your website traffic into paying customers.

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Shopify is the most popular ecommerce platform in the US, with one-third of the national market share according to Oberlo. With access to data from millions of stores of all sizes, Shopify has unique, data-driven insights into the state of ecommerce.

We compiled 37 of the most relevant and interesting Shopify statistics for merchants using the platform — many of which will be interesting to merchants who host their online stores on other platforms like Wix, WooCommerce, or Squarespace. You'll gain some practical info about what’s going on in ecommerce, which can give you some valuable insights for your own ecommerce business.

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Statistics about Shopify store traffic and performance

It's always useful to know where your ecommerce store's traffic is coming from. Knowing effective strategies for boosting your store's traffic is even more useful. With that in mind, here are a few statistics on Shopify store traffic that can help you figure out how to drive more visitors to your own store.

79% of Shopify traffic comes from mobile devices

Year over year, mobile searches continue to make up a larger percentage of all online searches. This is true for online shopping as well, with 79% of all Shopify traffic now coming from mobile devices. This is one of the most vital ecommerce statistics to pay attention to as you design your online store; if you don't optimize your store for mobile devices, you will likely drive away many potential customers. As a result, ensuring that your website looks great and functions well when viewed from a mobile device is vital.

Want to increase traffic to your Shopify store? Check out our Shopify SEO guide for growing ecommerce merchants. 

Repeat customers generate 300% more revenue than first-time shoppers

We studied data from over 10,000 merchants who use Gorgias and found that customers who place more than one order end up generating 300% more revenue. While these repeat shoppers only make up 21% of most brands’ total customer base, they make up 44% of overall revenue. 

Happy customers are the best fuel for growth. They leave reviews, generate referrals, place large orders, and provide monthly recurring revenue at a much lower cost than first-time shoppers. 

Email boasts the highest conversion rate for Shopify stores with a rate of around 4.29%

According to data from BuiltWith, email marketing remains the most effective way to generate ecommerce sales. Marketing emails from Shopify sellers convert at a rate of about 4.29% — higher than SMS marketing, social media marketing, and pay-per-click advertising. While email may seem like outdated technology, it's one that the vast majority of your customers still use daily. As a result, email campaigns remain the most effective marketing tool that online businesses have at their disposal.

Related reading: Learn more email marketing automation tips that drive sales (without driving your customers crazy).

70% of shopping carts get abandoned before checkout

According to Baymard Institute, 70% of shopping carts never turn into orders. The rate jumps up to nearly 86% on mobile devices, too. The most common reason for abandoned purchases is unexpectedly high pricing for shipping and other fees, and many of the other top reasons include speed bumps in the checkout process:

If you’re trying to reduce your cart abandonment rate, take advantage of Shopify POS’s simplicity and eliminate any unnecessary steps. Also, do everything possible to offer free or reduced shipping, and advertise it across your website. 

Related reading: Learn how to reduce and recover abandoned carts on your Shopify store.

The top-performing brands on Shopify have revenues of over $10 billion

Many brands use Shopify to generate massive amounts of online sales — so much so that Shopify has processed billions of dollars in sales in the past few years alone. Recent research shows that the total annual revenue for all Shopify stores in 2021 was a little over $4.6 billion. If you add this 2021 gross merchandise volume (GMV) to all of the annual revenue totals since 2015, you get a little over $10 billion, so it's pretty apparent that Shopify has come to dominate the global commerce market.

Proactive live chat boosts average order value by 10-15%

Shopify stores that proactively reach out to customers to answer questions, provide support and discounts, and share recommendations motivate shoppers to place larger orders. According to Shopify data, average order value (AOV) rises 10-15% after a live chat conversation. And according to Gorgias data from over 10,000 merchants, proactive live chats can lift a brand’s overall revenue by 13%.

Proactive chats give shoppers the opportunity to ask questions, confirm shipping dates, and double-check sizes, all of which help reduce cart abandonment. And talking to a human agent before making a purchase enriches the experience customers have while shopping — much like an in-store shopping associate.

“Customer service shouldn't just be reactive, putting out fires. We want to be proactive. And that’s what Gorgias helps you do. You go talk to customers, make sure they're having a great experience. You don't use it just to solve problems, but to create new relationships and create sales.”

— Caela Castillo, Director of Customer Experience, Jaxxon

Learn more about the power of reaching out to customers in our ultimate guide to proactive customer service. 

Top online stores lead in customer experience (CX) 80% of the time

Great customer experience is one of the most impactful elements of a successful ecommerce brand. Customer experience is the entire process a customer undergoes, from first discovering your brand to purchasing and receiving your product. 

If your customer experience leaves customers satisfied and eager to do business with your brand again, your company's growth rate is bound to improve. In fact, companies that prioritize the customer experience outperform those that don't 80% of the time, according to Shopify.

Looking to boost your revenue? (Who isn’t?) Check out our CX-Driven Growth Playbook, which shares 18 tactics to improve CX and lift revenue, from data of over 10,000 merchants who use Gorgias.

The cost of acquiring a customer is 60% higher than 5 years ago

One well-known rule of business is that acquiring new customers is always more expensive than marketing to your existing customer base. Unfortunately, this rule is now more true than ever thanks to the rising customer acquisition costs. Today, the cost of acquiring a new customer is roughly 60% higher than it was five years ago. 

With customer acquisition costs continuing to rise, retaining the customers you acquire and maximizing your average customer lifetime value is key to maximizing growth without dumping your entire budget into marketing spend.

Paid advertising for Shopify stores may be 15%-20% less effective

For a long time, pay-per-click advertising was the cornerstone of digital marketing. But it didn't take long for consumers to become so saturated with online ads that they mostly ignored them. Today, paid advertising for Shopify stores is not nearly as effective as it used to be. Shopify cites research that shows that paid advertising is now 15%-20% less effective for most online sellers than it was at the height of its performance.

Using Shopify Inbox for support and sales? See why Gorgias is the top Shopify Inbox alternative.

Customers are twice as likely to purchase an item that offers a 3D image

One of the few drawbacks of the global ecommerce market is that buying products online doesn't allow customers to see the product for themselves before purchasing it. Using 3D images, augmented reality, and virtual reality are just a few effective ways to bring your products to life and give your customers a better idea of what they are getting for their money. 

According to Shopify, 3D images alone make customers twice as likely to purchase a product. “Costs of [photoshoots] add up,” said Ryan Walker, co-founder of HORNE furniture. That’s part of the reason HORNE uses AR to show off products such as the Serge Mouille lamp. 

Most Shopify stores see 20% more tickets during Black Friday and Cyber Monday

According to historical data from over 10,000 merchants who use Gorgias, most brands experience a 20% bump in customer support requests during the holiday season. Usually, the biggest increase is standard-fare questions, such as shipping questions, return requests, and “Where is my order?”

This is an especially daunting challenge for brands without a helpdesk because they don’t have the tools to: 

• Manage self-service resources
• Automatically provide helpful answers to questions
• Prioritize customer service requests

And while those teams are racing to answer piles of repetitive tickets, they can’t quickly answer urgent pre-sales questions and end up losing sales. If this sounds like you, take a look at how Gorgias integrates with Shopify to help ecommerce brands provide better customer service and drive revenue. 

Check out our ultimate guide to Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) to learn strategies to deal with that spike, maintain a great customer experience, and retain customers in the first quarter of the following year (and beyond).

📚 Related reading: Black Friday/Cyber Monday trends and statistics

Statistics about Shopify stores

As the biggest ecommerce platform, Shopify stores boast some pretty impressive numbers — no matter what you sell. Here are a few Shopify stats that shed light on what you can expect from hosting your store on Shopify.com.    

Total sales on Shopify are an estimated $543 billion

Since the platform launched in 2006, the total number of Shopify sales has climbed to an estimated $543 billion. While this is just a percentage of all ecommerce sales, it's a sizable percentage nonetheless. Today, Shopify's market covers customers worldwide, and Shopify stores generate billions of dollars in sales each year.

There are over 4 million ecommerce stores built by Shopify

One key indicator of Shopify's growth is the number of Shopify stores created since the platform's launch. Today, there are over 4 million ecommerce stores built by Shopify, spanning countless countries, languages, and industries.

Over 2 million merchants use a Shopify platform

In 2022, over 2 million merchants used Shopify to create and host their online stores. Given that there are about twice that many live websites built using Shopify, this means that each merchant creates an average of two unique Shopify websites.

In the spring of 2022, the average Shopify customer’s revenue per shopper was $90

A July 2022 survey of 2,608 Shopify stores finds that the average total revenue a Shopify merchant earns per shopper is $90. This means that as a Shopify merchant, you can expect about $90 in Shopify revenue for each customer you acquire — if your store falls in the median range. The top 10% of Shopify stores, meanwhile, generate an average revenue of $343 per customer.

There are more than 100 website themes available to Shopify users

Shopify themes are a big part of what makes the platform appealing and are one of the most important of Shopify's merchant solutions. When you create your Shopify store, you will have over 100 different unique website themes to choose from that allow you to customize the look and layout of your site.

This wide range of themes makes it easy to create a website that perfectly matches your company's branding and helps set your brand apart from the competition.

Ready to refresh your Shopify store? See our picks for the best 32 themes based on our analysis of over 13,000.

The average cost of a shipping container is now over $10,000 — four times higher than a year ago

The rising costs of shipping services these days is one of the most concerning ecommerce statistics. Simply purchasing a single shipping container now costs an average of $10,000, and this doesn't even factor in additional transportation expenses such as carrier rates and demurrage/detention fees. The rising cost of shipping services highlights the importance of cost-effective supply chain management, which Shopify strives to help its users achieve.

On the topic of shipping, 66% of ecommerce customers expect it to be free. Check out our helpful guide to find out how your ecommerce business can continue to offer free shipping — despite rising shipping costs.

Trying to improve your shipping and fulfillment? Read our review of Shopify Fulfillment Network to see whether it could be the right solution for you. 

Statistics about the Shopify company

Shopify has come a long way since being founded in 2006. Today, Shopify and Shopify Plus are used by merchants all over the world, who sell products on their own sites as well as Facebook, Instagram, eBay, Amazon, and more.

Here are six Shopify statistics and trends that show just how far the platform has come in the past two-and-a-half decades.

Shopify has over 8,000 apps in its app store

Utilizing third-party apps and integrations is one of the best ways to optimize your Shopify store. Thankfully, Shopify offers plenty of these third-party apps to choose from. With over 8,000 apps available on the Shopify app store, you shouldn't have any trouble finding the solutions you need for marketing, sales, customer support, order fulfillment, and beyond.

If you’re a Shopify store owner looking for new apps to improve your ecommerce website, check out our lists on:

• The best customer service apps on Shopify
• The best social media apps on Shopify
• The best live chat apps on Shopify
• The best overall Shopify apps

Shopify has over 10,000 employees

When Shopify first launched, the company only had five employees. Today, over 10,000 people work for Shopify. These employees fill many roles: designers that develop new Shopify themes, engineers that keep the platform's software updated, marketing professionals who help market the Shopify platform to ecommerce sellers, etc.

Shopify has over 780 experts in its network

Along with offering thousands of third-party apps in the Shopify app store, Shopify also provides its merchants access to a network of over 780 third-party agencies and freelancers known as "Shopify experts." These Shopify experts help with marketing and sales, store design and setup, content writing, branding, and a range of other services. Best of all, each freelancer (and agency) in the Shopify expert network is handpicked by Shopify to guarantee quality services.

Shopify's valuation is around $50 billion — a nearly $49 billion increase from its IPO

In August 2022, Shopify reached a valuation of $50.07 billion, marking almost a $49 billion increase over Shopify's $1.27 billion valuation when the company went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2015. This highlights how large a share of the global commerce market Shopify has claimed over the past seven years. While Shopify is the most popular platform in the US, it ranks fourth globally with 10% of the global market share, according to Statista — higher than Amazon! If you combine Shopify and Shopify Plus, the total market share is around 12%.

Shopify’s stock has seen a sharp decrease (76%) in 2022 compared to last year, likely due to the economic slowdown. However, experts want to remind merchants that Shopify’s growth is still steady — this drop is largely a come-down from unprecedented growth in previous years, a result of the massive spike in online shopping caused by the pandemic.

Are you shopping for a new ecommerce platform? Check out our posts comparing Shopify with Magento, BigCommerce, and Shopify Plus. 

Some key brands that use the Shopify platform include GymShark, Heinz, Lord & Taylor, and Crate & Barrel

When most people think of Shopify, a small ecommerce business is probably the first thing that comes to mind. While it's true that Shopify strives to make its platform an ideal solution for companies of all sizes, many massive brands use Shopify Plus. Along with GymShark, Heinz, Lord & Taylor, and Crate & Barrel, a few other notable brands that use Shopify websites include Pepsi, Tesla, Nestle, and Staples.

Looking to keep up with top ecommerce brands? Check out our review of Shopify Plus, which powers most of the largest merchants on the platform. 

Shopify recently launched LinkPop, a customizable link-in-bio tool

Shopify is constantly working to develop new tools for its merchants, and LinkPop is one of the platform's latest offerings. With LinkPop, Shopify merchants can easily add shoppable links to their social media bios and turn their social media profiles into additional online shopping avenues. 

Statistics about global ecommerce

After being founded in Canada, Shopify has expanded into a global ecommerce platform. Today, sellers all over the globe use Shopify and the brand has become a pillar of modern ecommerce.

Shopify has expanded to exist in 175 countries

Since 2006, Shopify has expanded to offer its platform to sellers in over 175 different countries, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and China. No matter where you are located in the world, you'll be able to build a professional ecommerce store using Shopify.

Shopify is available in 20 different languages

Shopify offers sellers the ability to create websites in over 20 different languages. This lets sellers select their preferred language so that all of the instructional content on the admin side of their store is in their native tongue. It also means that if you're a Shopify store owner, you can create multiple versions of your website to target customers in various locations. 

You can even use third-party tools like Langify to detect a visitor's native language and automatically translate your website's content into that language when they load it on their browser.

Global ecommerce sales are expected to hit $7 trillion by 2025

The final ecommerce statistic that we want to look at highlights just how much opportunity there is for ecommerce sellers in the coming years. Shopify cites projections that the global ecommerce market will hit $5.5 trillion in 2022, and further projections estimate that global ecommerce sales will reach a total of $7 trillion by 2025. If both figures turn out to be accurate, online retail will account for a little under a quarter of all retail sales in 2025.

Accelerate your customer support by 20%+ and see a sales boost by 5%+ with Gorgias

Keeping up with Shopify trends and statistics can be a useful way to inform your ecommerce strategy. Of course, seeing positive data come from your own company is even more rewarding.

Gorgias is a customer service platform purpose-built to integrate with customer support platforms like Shopify. With Gorgias, online sellers can automate around 20% of their customer support and see an average sales boost of more than 5%. Our integration with Shopify allows agents to edit Shopify orders, see a customer’s entire Shopify order history (and more), and automatically pull up-to-date Shopify data (like order status and estimated arrival date) — all without leaving the helpdesk. Learn more about how our Shopify integration contributes to a customer service program that moves fast and drives sales.

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According to data from Kepios, there are a total of 4.62 billion social media users in the world as of January 2022 — accounting for well over half of the earth's population. In other words, if you want to go where your customers are as a Shopify store owner, social media platforms are mission-critical.

Social media may be a great opportunity but it isn't exactly low-hanging fruit. Social media is complex and time-consuming. Even seasoned digital marketing professionals can get bogged down by tedious tasks, low-return initiatives, and frustrating obstacles when it comes to marketing products to potential customers on social media.

The good news is that utilizing the right Shopify social media apps can go a long way toward making your social media marketing campaigns more efficient and effective. To help you choose the ideal apps for your social media marketing and social media customer service needs, let's take a look at the 10 most powerful social media apps currently available on the Shopify app store.

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1) Outfy - Automate Social Media by Outfy

With Outfy, store owners are able to automate much of the work that goes into managing social media profiles by curating, scheduling, and publishing posts automatically. In addition to its convenient automation features, Outfy also enables you to easily create high-quality collages, videos, and GIFs to promote your products and boost brand awareness on social media.

Shopify rating ⭐4.8 (1214)

Price: From $15/month

Key features

• Provides a range of customizable promotional post templates
• Auto-generates and publishes promotional posts based on a number of predefined settings
• Makes it easy to turn your product pictures into collages, videos, and animated GIFs
• Hashtag research for helping you select the most effective hashtags for your promotional posts to reach your target audience

What users think of this app

• Exceptional for auto-generating social media posts 
• Easy to set up and use 
• Hashtag research tools make it easy to select the ideal hashtags for promotional posts

Related: Our guide to customer service automation — set repeatable, low-impact tasks to autopilot.

2) Chatdesk - Email & FB Support by Chatdesk

According to data from Microsoft, 90% of Americans use customer service as a factor in deciding whether or not to do business with a company. With Chatdesk, you are able to outsource your customer support responsibilities to a team of hand-chosen customer support agents who are already fans of your brand. In addition to providing 24/7 live chat and email support, Chatdesk customer support agents also respond to all social media comments, mentions, and direct messages in real-time.

Shopify rating ⭐5.0 (14)

Price: Free plan available

Key features

• Customer support agents are hired and trained on your behalf, and Chatdesk makes an effort to hire agents who are already "superfans" of your brand
• Social media integration for responding to comments, messages, and mentions across all major social media networks
• Provides 24/7 support options to your customers

What users think of this app

• Reliable U.S.-based customer support agents 
• Social media integrations are ideal for turning social media platforms into additional customer support channels. 
• Exceptional for driving conversions with pre-purchase chat conversations

For Gorgias customers, learn more about our Chatdesk integration here. 

3) Facebook Messenger Marketing by ShopMessage

Facebook Messenger Marketing is a Shopify app by ShopMessage that allows you to create automated Facebook Messenger marketing flows. These flows are triggered based on a wide range of customer actions, such as cart abandonment and first-time purchases from new customers. This app also offers customizable opt-in popups designed to help you grow your Facebook Messenger subscriber list and shareable links that will direct to a FB Messenger marketing flow when clicked.

Shopify rating ⭐4.3 (129)

Price: $9/month

Key features

• Messenger Menu feature provides customers with a concierge-like experience by giving them on-demand access to targeted product recommendations, support links, or interactive FAQs
• A guaranteed minimum ROI in your first paid month or you receive a full refund
• Create Facebook ads that direct to FB Messenger marketing flows

What users think of this app

• Excellent customer support 
• Targeted product recommendations boost conversion rates 
• Series for important revenue-driving initiatives like lowering cart abandonment and upselling at checkout

For Gorgias customers, learn more about our ShopMessage integration here. 

4) Octane AI: Quiz Growth Tools by Octane AI

According to data from DemandGen, interactive content elicits twice as much engagement as static content. Interactive content such as surveys and quizzes in particular can be especially useful for providing ecommerce store owners with zero-party data on their customers. 

With Octane AI, you can create customizable surveys for your Shopify store, which you can use to learn what your customers like and dislike about their experience with your brand and products. Octane AI also gives you the ability to create customizable quizzes that you can use to provide customers with targeted product information and recommend new products. Best of all, quizzes and surveys created using Octane AI are easily shareable across all social platforms.

Shopify rating ⭐4.8 (200)

Price: From $50/month

Key features

• Octane AI popup gives personalized product recommendations, which users can access and add to their carts
• Integrates with Klaviyo to target your SMS and email marketing campaigns based on data collected using Octane AI
• Dynamic quiz functionality lets you display different questions and Octane AI popup styles based on the demographics of the customer viewing them

What users think of this app

• Product recommendation quizzes lead to increased sales 
• Quizzes are customizable and easy to create 
• Collects valuable zero-party data 

For Gorgias customers, learn more about our Octane AI integration here. 

5) Recart: SMS & Messenger by Recart

Recart is an SMS, email, and FB Messenger marketing tool that lets you create popup opt-ins for growing your email list. It also offers a variety of automated flows and templates that you can use to make your FB Messenger marketing strategy more efficient. Additionally, Recart provides built-in SMS stats and a real-time dashboard for you to track your campaigns.

Source: Recart

Shopify rating ⭐4.8 (5506)

Price: Free plan available

Key features

• Edit templates with a no-code, drag-and-drop editor
• Personalize your campaigns with condition splits
• Integrate the tool with others, such as Klaviyo, Gorgias, and Drip

What users think of this app

• Excellent for growing subscriber lists 
• Abandoned cart recovery flows are highly effective 
• Lots of useful integrations 

For Gorgias customers, learn more about our Recart integration here. 

6) 20+ Promotional Sales Tools by Zotabox

Zotabox is a platform that offers over 20 different useful sales tools, including customizable banners, countdown timers, social sharing buttons, customizable forms, and push notifications. Whatever you might need to make your social media marketing efforts a success, there's a high likelihood that you'll find what you're looking for on Zotabox.

Shopify rating ⭐4.8 (469)

Price: From $12.99/month

Key features

• Embed videos on your website
• Add customizable forms and live chat windows to your site
• Source and display Facebook and Google reviews on your site

What users think of this app

• Excellent triggering options for popups 
• Lots of useful solutions in one package 
• All of the tools are highly customizable

Related: How to transform live chat into your a top sales tool.

7) Instafeed: Instagram Feed by Mintt Studio

Instafeed is an app that displays your Instagram feed on your website. Instafeed also enables you to tag products in your Instagram posts in order to create a shoppable Instagram feed.

Shopify rating ⭐4.9 (1183)

Price: Free plan available

Key features

• Display Instagram content in an on-site widget for social proof through user-generated content (UGC) 
• Expand the reach of your Instagram profile to your store visitors
• Turn your Instagram profile into a social commerce channel via the option to tag products in Instagram posts

What users think of this app

• Improves the visual appeal of a Shopify store 
• Great for converting Instagram into an additional sales channel 
• Easy to set up and customize 

Related: Our guide to Instagram for customer service.

8) Facebook Channel by Shopify

Facebook Channel is an app by Shopify that automatically syncs products from your store to your Facebook account, making it easy to sell and promote products on Facebook. Facebook Channel also allows you to easily create a variety of Facebook Ads campaigns, including audience-building campaigns and dynamic retargeting campaigns.

Shopify rating ⭐3.5 (3785)

Price: Free to install, additional charges apply

Key features

• Tag products in Facebook or Instagram posts
• Create a custom storefront for your Facebook Shop
• Access a variety of templates for setting up Facebook advertising campaigns

What users think of this app

• Seamless integration with Shopify  
• One of the easiest ways to get a Facebook store up and running 
• Makes it easier to set up effective Facebook advertising campaigns  

Related: Our guide to Facebook Messenger for customer service.

9) Minta Automated Social Videos by Minta Technology

With Minta Technology, Shopify store owners can construct professional social videos and design image posts using a variety of attractive pre-built templates. Minta Technology also gives you the option to schedule social media posts for automatic publishing.

Shopify rating ⭐4.8 (520)

Price: Free plan available

Key features

• Embed videos on your product pages
• Schedule posts up to two months in advance with the content scheduler
• Create fully-branded images and videos for social posts with ease

What users think of this app

• Saves a lot of time otherwise spent scheduling and publishing posts 
• Makes bland social media posts much more unique and eye-catching 
• An impressive variety of templates to choose from 

Related: Our guide to product photography to set customer expectations and boost sales.

10) Gorgias - Live Chat & Helpdesk

Gorgias is an all-in-one customer service helpdesk platform for Shopify stores. Gorgias offers a range of features designed to help you improve your online store’s quality of customer support, while simultaneously reducing your customer support team's workload. 

But what makes Gorgias such an excellent social media Shopify app is the fact that Gorgias integrates with Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. This allows your customer support agents to respond to messages and mentions across all social media channels from a single, user-friendly dashboard.

Shopify rating ⭐4.4 (533)

Price: From $10/month

Using Shopify Inbox? Compare Gorgias vs. Shopify Inbox.

Key features

• Connect your social logins with your helpdesk: Generate a customer support ticket anytime someone messages your brand, replies to a post, or creates a post mentioning your brand on WhatsApp, Facebook, or Instagram
• Live chat windows that can be easily transitioned to an email 
• Automated Rules and templated Macros to improve your customer service quality and speed

What users think of this app

• One-click integrations with your social media accounts and other ecommerce tools (for marketing, shipping, customer reviews, referrals, and more)
• Automate tedious customer support tasks to save time for your customer support staff and maximize their impact
• Very helpful for prioritizing customer inquiries to ensure that the most important inquiries receive the fastest possible response
• Excellent customer support to help you set up the tool and optimize your Rules, Views, and Macros
• Convenient to have messages from all social channels (Facebook Messenger and comments, Instagram DMs and comments, and WhatsApp conversations) in one place

Related: The best customer service software on the market.

Gorgias lets you manage all of your Shopify social media apps, minus the headache

Choosing the right social media apps for your ecommerce tech stack can provide you with a number of powerful capabilities, from the ability to automatically publish posts across numerous social networks to the ability to turn your social media profiles into convenient customer support channels.

At Gorgias, we are committed to helping our clients make the most of their chosen social media apps by ensuring that Gorgias is capable of integrating with a variety of popular Shopify apps, including Recart, Octane AI, ShopMessage, ChatDesk, and beyond. To learn more about Gorgias's powerful integrations, be sure to check out our social media app integration page.

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As brands have begun to evolve due to COVID-19, subscription offerings have been impacted tremendously. Many founders are baffled about what to do. But, you’re not alone. Learn about the trends we’re seeing with Shopify Subscription businesses and what successful brands are doing as they explore these new waters. 

Read on to learn what’s happening in the subscription service realm and how you can better navigate through the muck to a thriving company in a post-Coronavirus economy. 

eCommerce Subscription Trends From the Last 12 Weeks 

What happened in the eCommerce space due to COVID-19? In our helpdesk ticket platform, we’ve seen the following trends in subscription business customer service: 

1. In the beginning, there was a tremendous spike in subscription cancellations. 
2. Shortly thereafter, we saw an increase in requests for a partial refund. 
3. A few weeks passed before we noticed an influx of solicitations for full refunds. 
4. Most recently, order cancellations came pouring in. 

Now, partial refund requests are going down -- these requests were for shipping costs, specific discounts, and other related transactions. 

On the macro level, overall subscription order processing is up. However, on the micro level, a number of merchants aren’t weathering the storm as well as others. 

Subscription offerings in the higher-value, hobby space seem to be a bit slower than usual. Yet, merchants who offer subscriptions for essential consumer packaged goods have to hustle to keep up with demands.

And, this is not surprising at all. Many people had a knee-jerk reaction to the pandemic while others had a change in priorities. Right now, people are more reserved about making snap-decisions. We can likely expect purchasers and merchants to make more calculated decisions now and into the future. 

Now that we’re working from home, we need new essentials like office supplies and furniture. Plus, for some of the essentials like health and beauty products, we’re now turning online for where we might have gone to a brick and mortar shop before. 

Now, people can’t really hop into the store to pick up tp and other essentials on the way home anymore. So, consumers are looking to find the most convenient way to have them delivered. And, they want to know they have a reliable source of essential products. 

For example, at the beginning of this pandemic, everyone knows there was a tremendous run for toilet paper. And, merchants who offered this product saw 10-15X increases with toilet tissue sales. 

Who Gives a Crap is an Australia-based, charitable toilet paper subscription company. 

When this crisis started, Who Gives a Crap held back stock to accommodate subscribers rather than allowing new customers to order. They chose to prioritize loyalty over acquisition. 

This brand is now thriving because of a steady uptick in consumable goods online. And, while the 10-15X trend may not last, long-term retention and increased revenue are likely. People will want to subscribe to receive preferential treatment. 

Are Higher-Ticket, Hobby Subscription Services Suffering Higher Cancellations & Refunds? 

We don’t have the exact numbers, but just because you offer higher-ticket hobby products doesn’t mean you’re doomed. There are multiple causes for high order cancellations and refunds. 

For example, the supply chain is a key issue. If you don’t have inventory because you’re non-essential or shipping is too slow, you may have to cancel orders and offer full refunds. This happens because you don’t have the ability to fulfill an order, not because of an economic downturn. 

Consumers are also leveraging the freedom to skip shipments and utilize subscription flexibility in other ways. Some people have overstocked or stockpiled on certain products. Then, they realized they didn’t need the quantity, so they now want to pause while still maintaining a relationship with a subscription company.

The UK Independent noticed a trend with sex toys, which fall into the non-essential category -- sales have tripled across the board. While it may have been predictable in retrospect, this isn’t a typical trend for an economic crisis. But, with social distancing, people can’t really go in Tinder dates and they have a lot of time on their hands. So, consumers are spending more money on at-home entertainment. 

(Yet, if your supply chain runs out, no matter your niche, you may still see an increase in order cancellations.)

What are the Products With the Highest Interest for Online Shoppers Right Now? 

Supermarkets aren’t able to service people at their homes in many cases. So, consumers are turning online for many of their daily needs and wants. What we’ve seen is an increase in subscriptions for nearly anything that you use at home. Specifically, here are the products we’ve noticed are in high-demand. 

• Food
• Coffee & Tea
• Alcohol
• Pets (Cat Litter, Pet Food)
• Toilet Paper
• Cosmetic & Well-Being (Natural Deodorant)
• Vape

Underwaterpistol, a leading Shopify Plus service provider, is working with a new client who was planning to launch a natural cosmetic and well-being subscription box prior to the pandemic. While Coronavirus has added some red tape to the logistics of the operations, consumer demand has accelerated rollout for these products.  

Keep in mind that, over the next few weeks, we are sure to see more changes and it will be important to watch them. 

What Do Successful Subscription Brands Do Differently? 

Some of the tactics we see successful brands using are the same across the board. Know what they are so that you can thrive in the subscription business world. 

1. Retain Subscribers with Preferential Treatment 

Preferential treatment is one of the most effective business tactics for subscription companies because it aligns with the core of why people subscribe in the first place: exclusivity. Who Gives a Crap “guaranteed” subscribers would get their products, which motivated people to subscribe.

Pre COVID-19, we did this at Gorgias and we can attest to the power behind the process. Our subscribers were grandfathered-into specific prices and features. And, we experienced high retention because of this. You will have similar results with consumer packaged goods subscriptions. 

2. Leverage a Wider Product Range

Most subscription box companies have core consumable items. They sell between one to three variations of a product. But, many of the successful brands we see leverage add-ons, either relevant to the core offering or not. 

A one-time product add-on is trending right now, especially on longer-time use items. So, if your core offering is toilet tissue, which people go through quicker, and you add another product to your offering that might take longer to use, like toothpaste, it can help you increase one-time sales. This is a smart move even if it feels negative that someone wants to cancel their subscription the next month. 

3. Adapt their Subscription Models to Change

If you can no longer offer your supplies because of a supply chain issue, you have choices: 

1. Sit and wait for this to end while you lose money and loyalty. 
2. Make a short-term investment to resolve the problem for long-term results. 

For example, some sellers can no longer use Amazon’s warehouses for fulfillment (which aren’t only for sales on amazon.com) because the company is only accepting essential items, at least temporarily. So, some of those sellers stop offering their products through FBA. Those merchants lose a ton of business. 

On the other hand, there have been sellers in similar positions who flew out to their suppliers and negotiated dropshipping solutions. And, guess what? These brands’ sales haven’t skipped a beat. 

4. Add Fringe Benefits 

Amazon Prime members get expedited shipment on purchases and discounts. Likewise, subscription companies can offer fringe benefits and free gifts to their subscribers. 

Freshly Picked is an infant moccasin company that implements this strategy well. 

Freshly Picked offers “The Fringe,” a membership that costs $10 month. Fringe members get expedited delivery, discounts, and the $10 is redeemable in the store. So, customers can apply their membership cost to purchases. Using this method, you create a perceived discount without giving up your margins. 

5. Use Shopper Objections to Fuel Membership Benefits

You have your customers who believe in you. Then, you have your non-believers who have objections about why they don’t order or why they don’t upgrade. When you know what causes people not to convert, you can make better business decisions. 

So, find out what makes people NOT order from you. Then, add value to your membership offer by providing those perks exclusively. Look to your customer service requests to discover what some of your audience’s greatest problems are, then solve them. 

6. Implement the Right Tools 

First of all, it’s super important to make sure the tools you use are compatible with one another. Next, you need to use reliable platforms. Third, make sure you leverage the features that are available to you. 

The following tools work well alone, together, and with Gorgias to power subscription businesses. 

Klaviyo 

A constant, consistent message is key. And, Klaviyo can help you deliver this by automating crucial analytics, email flows, and sequences.

Advanced Tip: It can work wonders to push for a new subscription after a customers’ second order. 

ReCharge

Recharge is a must for anyone who wants to process recurring payments at scale in today’s market. 

Little Data

You need to be tracking and monitoring visitor and user behavior. Leverage Little Data for advanced and relevant analytics. 

ChurnBuster 

Reduce customer churn with failed payment recovery options from ChurnBuster. 

LoyaltyLion 

Create data-driven loyalty programs to generate more engagement and subscriber retention. 

7. Communicate Beyond Email 

Email isn’t dead, but you now have an unprecedented opportunity to get in front of people where they are -- on social media and on their phones. Worldwide since the start of Coronavirus 45% of consumers are spending more time on messaging apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. And, brands are paying attention.  

As a subscription service offering, you should use social media and SMS for order updates, upsells, and other customer communications. Don’t limit yourself to email. And, choose tools that enable you to meet your customers where they are. 

8. Deliver a Consistent Brand Message

As always, your brand message is central to your success. Right now more than ever, people want to hear from you. And, if you stay consistent and connected, your customers will stick with you now and into the future. 

Be mindful that each detail is aligned across all communication platforms including your website, social media, email, and offline messaging. You have an unprecedented opportunity to be remembered if your messaging strategy is aligned across all channels. 

9. Incentivize Wisely

Brands that know how to incentivize see higher returns in business. To illustrate, many new subscription companies launch aggressively with 20% discounts for new users. And, while they believe they’re offering more incentive for customers or members to purchase, they’re actually only making a cut to their own profits. 10-15% discounts offer the same psychological incentive at less cost to the merchant. 

One incentive that does work well is to offer a small discount for the new subscriber and the same discount for a friend. This works well because it creates a sense of community and giving for the customer and generates a referral for the business. 

The bottom line is that successful companies seem to inform themselves about incentives that work and apply creative strategies that show proven results. 

Final Thoughts

The online shopping ecosystem is evolving, but that doesn’t mean it’s all doom and gloom. There are actionable steps you can take to stay in the game now and into the future. Stay informed and roll with the punches. Remember that a bit of extra effort now can have a lasting impact on the long-term outcomes of your business.

Quick summary: 

• Shopify Core plans are ideal for small and midsize businesses, while Shopify Plus caters to larger enterprises with around $1 million in gross merchandise value (GMV).
• The primary difference between Shopify and Shopify Plus is pricing. Shopify Core plans range from $5–$399/month while Shopify Plus starts at $2,000/month.
• Shopify Plus provides more storefront functionality, unlimited staff accounts, merchant support, lower transaction fees, B2B selling capabilities, and more overall features.

Choosing the right ecommerce platform to host your online store is no small decision, but sometimes it's hard to know which option is right for your business. Shopify and Shopify Plus are two platforms that get a lot of buzz within the ecommerce community, and many store owners give them rave reviews. 

What’s the difference between the two, and which plan is best for your ecommerce store? The main difference is that Shopify is for small and midsize businesses (SMBs), while Shopify Plus is for larger, or even enterprise-level businesses.

Below, we’ll discuss what each plan offers before diving into pricing structures and key differences between Shopify and Shopify Plus. Whether you’re considering upgrading to Shopify Plus from the regular Shopify plan or migrating from another ecommerce platform (like BigCommerce or Magento), read on to understand which option is right for you.

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What is Shopify?

Shopify is an ecommerce platform that offers businesses a way to promote, sell, and ship their products. It’s widely recognized as being great for beginners, meaning that the learning curve for new ecommerce store owners is minimal, and provides a level of customization that most small businesses find attractive.

Key features of Shopify

• Shopify point of sale (POS)
• Online sales channels
• Security features
• Mobile functionality

What is Shopify Plus?

Shopify Plus is a Shopify upgrade designed for large enterprises making high-volume sales that total around $1 million in gross merchandise value (GMV). The higher price tag unlocks more storefront functionality, automations, support, and integrations than core Shopify plans.

Key features of Shopify Plus

• Allows up to nine storefronts
• Customizable checkout
• Unlimited staff accounts
• Access to a merchant support manager and 24/7 support
• Lower transaction fees
• Allows B2B selling

Pricing: Shopify vs. Shopify Plus

The main difference between Shopify and Shopify Plus lies in pricing, which is tailored to accommodate the unique needs and budgets of merchants.

Core Shopify plans cater to small to midsize businesses (SMBs) and has fixed pricing plans with the cheapest starting at $5/month. In comparison, Shopify Plus is made for larger enterprise businesses, starting at $2,000 per month and is customized to each merchant via quote.

Let’s take a closer look at the breakdown for each plan within Shopify and Shopify Plus.

Shopify pricing

Shopify has five plans depending on your online store requirements and the size of your team.

• Starter: $5 per month
• Basic: $39 per month
• Retail: $89 per month
• Shopify: $105 per month
• Advanced: $399 per month

It’s important to note that all standard Shopify plans are subject to online and in-store transaction fees, as well as non-Shopify payment fees.

Related: Our comparison of Magento and Shopify for ecommerce merchants

Shopify Plus pricing

Shopify Plus pricing plans can only be determined via quote but start at $2,000 per month, plus a percentage of your store’s monthly sales volume. This enterprise-level commitment comes with additional transaction fees, online store development, site launch, third-party services, and add-ons.

Shopify Plus doesn’t provide flat pricing plans. Instead, you will need to contact a Shopify Plus sales representative to receive your quote.

9 key differences between Shopify & Shopify Plus 

Understanding the main differences in the two options is essential to make the best choice for your ecommerce store.

Below, we’ve identified nine ways Shopify and Shopify Plus differ from each other, and what these differences mean for your business.

1) Shopify Plus gives you access to merchant success managers

One of the benefits of Shopify Plus is that users have access to the merchant success program. This exclusive program lets Plus users connect with merchant success managers (MSMs) to optimize their Shopify Plus experience. 

Here are a handful of ways MSMs support merchants:

• Assist you through the setup process, including domain setup, building product collections, redirects, and more
• Suggest industry best practices and tools to streamline your operations
• Quickly redirect technical issues to other Shopify teams
• Provide ongoing support

Note: Plus users do not get a dedicated account manager, but they have direct access to a team of MSMs who are available to solve their business needs.

2) Shopify Plus unlocks access to Shopify Plus Academy

Shopify Academy is an educational resource hub full of advanced resources — like courses and webinars — that helps merchants improve their store’s design, marketing, operations, and more.

For merchants interested in self-guided education, the information on Shopify Academy’s information serves as a supplement to your merchant success manager to gain the knowledge you need to grow your store.

Here are a few titles you’ll find in Shopify Academy:

• How to Drive Sales with your Customer Support Team with Gorgias: Explore strategies for enhancing conversion rates by using the ecommerce helpdesk Gorgias.
• Sell in China with Social Media: Great for merchants pursuing internationalization
• How to Optimize your Page and Site Speed: Great for merchants who want to improve load speeds through backend optimization
• Shopify Tools to Accelerate Your Social Commerce: Great for merchants looking to drive sales and reduce shopping cart abandonment while selling on social media

Related: Our list of the best customer service courses and certifications

3) Shopify Plus gives you in-depth control over your checkout

Between Shopify and Shopify Plus, there is one major difference concerning checkout: The checkout page is customizable on Shopify Plus via checkout extensibility, while the checkout page on core Shopify plans are limited to their selected Shopify theme with no additional customization options.

Exclusive to Shopify Plus merchants, checkout extensibility is a code-free feature that allows checkout pages to have completely custom UI and content. This ability to personalize the checkout experience gives online businesses the power to greatly reduce cart abandonment and transform hesitant shoppers into customers.

On core Shopify plans except Shopify Starter, merchants can use Shopify apps to give their checkout page minor modifications to the backend logic and post-purchase experience.

Related: Our Shopify SEO guide to standing out amongst the competition

4) Shopify Plus offers unlimited staff accounts

Depending on which pricing option you choose, you can add between two and 15 users to your standard Shopify dashboard (in addition to your owner profile). Stores on the Starter plan are allowed two staff accounts.

On the other hand, Shopify Plus offers unlimited staff accounts, allowing large teams access to their online store dashboard. This inclusivity allows effortless collaboration within the team when integrating order management and helpdesk tools like Gorgias. When teams combine Shopify Plus with Gorgias, they get:

• Streamlined customer interactions: Gorgias helps Shopify Plus users enhance customer service by consolidating all support requests, order details, and customer data in one platform.
• Improved order management: Shopify Plus users can efficiently find all relevant order information in the Customer Sidebar, automate responses with Macros, and speed up workflows with Rules. 
• Scalability: Shopify Plus's unlimited user accounts combined with Gorgias's robust automation features make this combination ideal for rapidly growing businesses.

5) Shopify Plus allows more API integrations

The App Store is one of Shopify’s most enticing features. There are well over 8,000 paid and free Shopify apps in the new app store. Shopify itself is responsible for creating only 34 of them to date, but there are hundreds of other third-party app solutions from everything including marketing, order management, store design and customer support.

Notably, this enables easy integration with ecommerce apps like Gorgias, an excellent Shopify app for customer service and order management. You can elevate customer support with Macros, streamline order processes, and enhance the overall efficiency of your store on both a standard Shopify plan or a Shopify Plus plan.

However, Shopify Plus merchants have much more flexibility when it comes to API integrations. These users can integrate their ecommerce store with their existing ERP or CRM systems, which standard Shopify stores cannot.

A few examples of Shopify Plus API solutions include:

• Gift Card: Create unique gift cards that work in the Shopify POS
• Multipass: Unite customer logins for your forum, website, and online store
• User: Retrieve information about staff permissions on Shopify

Related: The best 40+ Shopify apps to optimize your ecommerce store 

6) Shopify Plus has lower transaction fees

Shopify payments are straightforward. Transaction fees are laid out as percentages of the total order volume. The Shopify POS includes a free credit card reader, which conveniently integrates your online and offline sales, no matter which plan you are on. But, what are the differences between Shopify and Shopify Plus’ payment processing and transaction fees?

Standard Shopify Transaction Fees

For businesses using Shopify’s integrated payment system, Shopify Payments, there is no transaction fee as of May 2022. If your business uses an external payment gateway, transaction fees are as follows:

• Shopify Starter: 2%
• Shopify Basic: 2.9% + 30 cents
• Shopify: 2.6% + 30 cents
• Advanced Shopify: 2.4% + 30 cents
• Shopify Retail: 2.7% + 30 cents

Shopify Plus Transaction Fees

Like core Shopify plans, transaction fees are waived if your business uses Shopify Payments. However, for external payment gateways, transaction fees are as follows:

• Domestic: 2.15% + 30 cents
• International/Amex: 3.15% + 30 cents

7) Shopify and Shopify Plus have different promotional discounts

Shopify is designed to set ecommerce merchants up for success. During the checkout process, your page needs to be optimized for high conversion rates. Luckily, promotional discounts can help you achieve just that. Want to run flash sales and seasonal price reductions? Here’s how your ecommerce business can make it happen with Shopify and Shopify Plus.

Standard Shopify Plans’ promotional discount options

There are probably hundreds of apps in Shopify’s add-on marketplace that can help you create discounts to entice your shoppers. Standard plans include the ability to easily create discounts from inside your dashboard. In addition, you can enable shoppers to redeem in-store discounts if you use Shopify’s integrated POS system.

What type of discounts can you create with a standard Shopify plan?

• Fixed-Value: Enable customers to redeem coupons with purchases, such as $5 off an order of $25 or more.
• Percentage: Provide shoppers with discount codes that give them a percentage off of their purchase.
• Shipping: Offer free or reduced shipping on certain orders.
• Buy X Get Y: Give a bonus or gift with specific purchases (available for online sales only).

After you run a promotional discount campaign, you can track its progress using the “Sales by Discount” report. Regular reports provide you with insights about which campaigns are working and which ones aren’t. Use real data to power your marketing campaigns.

Children’s vitamins brand, Hiya, takes advantage of the discount options available with Shopify by doubling-down. First, they offer 50% off first order then follow it up with free shipping. Both promotion types are executable via the discount portal.

Shopify Plus’ advanced promotional discount options

Take your promotions a step further with Shopify Plus. You can increase your cart value with Launchpad, exclusive to the Plus platform. The system automates most aspects of promotional campaigns, discounts, flash sales, and product releases.

Planning and executing an online sale usually involves tedious manual processes. When running a campaign this way, it’s difficult to make real-time optimizations to your campaigns. The add-on makes it much easier, reducing the amount of time spent launching a campaign and the risk for human error.

Here’s what you can expect Launchpad to automate for you:

• Schedule new products and omnichannel campaigns to launch across multiple sales channels
• Generate predetermined discounts for specific products or entire collections
• Stack multiple discounts
• Create and update campaign themes
• Return pricing to normal on campaign end dates

Simba runs percentage discount campaigns for their online store. From a customer perspective, their campaign execution is comparable to that of Hiya above. But, as a Shopify Plus user, you can wager that they use Launchpad to automate the process rather than manually perform the tedious work.

Source: Simba

8) Shopify Plus offers more features for B2B selling

The regular Shopify plan comes with plenty of features that are sufficient for most small businesses and single-store organizations. But larger stores may find the following features and apps, which are only available for Shopify Plus subscribers, worth the higher price tag:

• Shopify organization admin: Manage multiple stores under one organization from a single login
• B2B on Shopify: Create a separate (but unified) Shopify storefront from wholesale customers
• Overview: Get top-level analytics for all the stores under your organization
• Users: Add additional users and manage login and editing permissions for your store
• Launchpad: Schedule and roll out events like promotions, restocks, and product drops
• Script Editor: Create personalized experiences with code that changes your store for certain customer segments
• Bulk Account Inviter: Ask large groups of users to activate accounts on your store (great after migration)
• Transporter app: Ingest customer, product, and other data into your store
• Shopify POS Pro: Sync your POS with your brick-and-mortar store and other stores under your organization

If you’re a Shopify store interested in expanding to B2B selling, you will need to contact a Shopify sales representative to upgrade your Shopify account.

9) Shopify Plus allows you to build custom storefronts with headless commerce

Shopify Plus offers access to headless commerce features not found in Shopify Core plans. With headless commerce, online stores can separate the frontend customer touchpoints from the backend, allowing custom storefronts and immersive shopping experiences. "Going headless" is an excellent choice for enterprise-level businesses aiming to scale, especially with dedicated developers on the team.

On the other hand, standard Shopify plans don't have access to headless commerce and rely on templates and themes for their online store designs. This limitation can be limiting for businesses in the midst of expansion as it restricts them from fully scaling their online presence.

Use Gorgias to grow your Shopify (Plus) store with great customer experience

Shopify and Shopify Plus both have tools to help you reach a bigger audience, scale your business, automate your processes, and stay competitive. If you're trying to decide which one will work best for you, think about the pricing structure that works best for your business, the customization and customer support you need, and the areas of the world you want to reach.

Regardless of your choice, consider how you’ll provide fast, helpful customer service to visitors of your store. Gorgias integrates with Shopify and Shopify Plus and is the only customer service platforms to receive the distinction of being a Shopify Plus Partner. 

Want to know more about Gorgias’s centralized, automation-powered, and revenue-generating customer service solution? Yes, book my demo.

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This week, Gorgias and Simplr announced a partnership to help provide ecommerce brands with a customer service stack that is built to turn contact centers into revenue drivers via 24/7 rapid-response digital customer engagement.

And, with consumers operating on a “NOW” schedule, we’re pretty excited about how this partnership will enable ecommerce brands to engage more customers in valuable CX moments. 

If you put on your consumer hat for a minute, think back to even two or three years ago- a time when we had to wait just a little bit longer for a meal delivery, for the arrival of an online order, or for a customer service email response. Today, everyone’s tolerance for waiting is lower than ever, thanks to the sky-high standards set by world-class companies like Amazon, Netflix, and Spotify. These are the brands that are setting the tone for every other experience your customer is having. Your business is not only competing with others in your industry, you’re competing with the best brands in the world. ‍

Elevated customer expectations in our instant gratification culture have created a new kind of consumer that CX professionals haven’t been forced to deal with before. ‍

We call this consumer the NOW customer.  ‍

For ecommerce brands in particular, the NOW customer, who is always “on” and expects immediacy in every experience they have, both online and offline, is looking for exceptional CX from the brands they shop and engage with -- they won’t (and shouldn’t have to?) settle for anything less.

In the new Simplr Consumer Online Shopping and Customer Service Study, published in December 2020, Simplr found that NOW-centric, exceptional customer service is a must (unless you like losing customers): 

• One-third of consumers say they’ve felt ignored or neglected by brands they shop with
• 47% of consumers have decided not to buy from a brand due to poor customer service
• 41% of consumers have stopped shopping with brand altogether due to poor customer service
  

NOW customers are quicker than ever to leave you and shop with someone else if they aren’t getting the service they expect. So how does the NOW Customer define “exceptional” service? 

From the same study, we found that: 

• 61% of consumers base their expectations for exceptional service off the best retailers they shop with
• 59% of consumers say that fast response times to service questions contributes to making customer service “exceptional”
• 41% say that providing 24/7 service makes for exceptional customer service
• 37% say that being able to communicate with a brand over any channel they want provides exceptional customer service
  

All this boils down to providing fast, always-on service, on the customer’s terms, over any channel they want, 24/7. That’s all. Oh, and if you can’t deliver this type of experience, your customers and would-be fans will leave, and your brand ends up missing out on revenue. No big deal. 

Tongue-in-cheek-ness aside, providing this type of experience has historically been extremely hard, and few brands have actually been able to crack the NOW customer code. 

The fact of the matter is, the traditional contact center model is not able to scale and flex to meet these new expectations.  The fixed and rigid nature forces you to make compromises and tradeoffs that are ultimately trade-downs for your customers- resulting in limited hours and channels, deflection, and slow response times- all because the model you’re using today is so fixed and rigid, along with the costs that go with it. 

Now, brands don’t have to be held back by a contact center model that can’t scale. CX professionals can access a new model and approach the rise of the NOW customer as an opportunity to set themselves apart from the rest of the pack. By taking a “NOW” approach to CX and providing a level of service that boosts your reputation with buyers, you’ll be in a position to take advantage of every revenue opportunity in the moment.

To provide the NOW customer with the service they expect and deserve, and to capitalize on every revenue opportunity, brands should break free from their traditional contact center model and embrace a newer model that was designed to deliver for the NOW customer. This model needs to scale easily, enable you to always be ready and responsive for customers, and engage them whenever and wherever they want.

The NOW customer can’t be ignored. And the brands that will rise in the NOW era will be the ones that have this realization and make the necessary adjustments, well, now.

Find out more about how the Simplr + Gorgias partnership can help you rise to meet the NOW customer and capture revenue opportunities in every moment.

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