Shopify is one of the most desirable eCommerce platforms for quickly getting a store up and running an online business. The service makes a great option for individuals all the way up to enterprise level companies looking to sell their products or services online. Shopify is an easy top pick for the best eCommerce platform for businesses because of its ease of use, robust features, and scalable yet affordable pricing plans.
If you're thinking of using Shopify for your business, you're probably wondering, "Which Shopify pricing plan is best for me?" You're also probably thinking, "Which Shopify plan is the most cost-effective for me?" Each plan provides different features, and it can be challenging to work out what you need and what you don't. Plus, if you want to choose the cheapest plan, you need to look beyond the price tag and calculate how the different transaction rates will affect your bottom line. Here are some of the Shopify plans you should consider.
Shopify Plans
Here are different Shopify plans at your disposal:
Basic Shopify
The Basic Shopify plan costs $29 per month. This option is best for new eCommerce businesses with occasional in-person sales. You have access to the cheapest Shopify plan that allows you to have a full-functional, standalone website. This price offers you the following core features:
- Fully functional website.
- You can sell an unlimited number of products.
- Unlimited file storage.
- 2 staff accounts, which means 2 separate logins.
- You have 24/7 access to support (phone, email, live chat, Twitter).
- You can create an order manually.
- You can create discount codes.
- You can create discounts on shipping rates.
- Free SSL certificate.
- Access to a blog section on your website.
- Fraud analysis for Shopify Payments.
- Access to POS features to sell at offline locations.
- Sell in 133 currencies.
Shopify Plan
The Shopify plan costs $79 per month. This plan is the best for growing businesses selling online or in-store. This price offers you the following core features:
- Unlimited products.
- 24/7 support.
- Sales channels.
- Manual order creation.
- Discount codes.
- Free SSL certificate.
- Abandoned cart delivery.
- Gift cards.
- Standard Reports.
- You're offered competitive shipping rates from DHL Express, UPS, or USPS, up to 80%.
- Printing shipping labels for orders using a standard printer.
- USPS Priority Mail Cubic pricing.
- Fraud analysis for Shopify Payments.
- Sell in multiple languages.
- International domains and pricing.
Advanced Shopify
This plan is priced at $299 per month. The plan is best for scaling up businesses that require advanced reporting. Here are the core features offered under this plan:
- Online store.
- Unlimited products.
- 24/7 support.
- Sales Channels.
- Manual order creation.
- Inventory locations, up to 8.
- Discount codes.
- Free SSL certificate.
- Abandoned cart delivery.
- Gift cards.
- Advanced reports.
- Shipping discount up to 88 percent.
- Shipping labels.
- Selling in multiple languages, up to 5.
- Fraud analysis of Shopify Payments.
- Shopify POS Lite.
- You will be able to sell in 133 currencies.
- International domains and pricing.
Shopify Plus
Shopify plus is customizable and very fast. The platform entails unlimited bandwidth and web hosting. There is a global content delivery network, cloud-based infrastructure, lightning-fast global servers, and automatic platform updates. This means you can deliver high-speed performance anywhere with global dual content delivery networks. You can reduce storefront response times with Shopify Storefront Renderer, optimize site speed with automatic WebP image conversion and SCSS.liquid minification. Also, you can speed up your checkout by 60 percent with Shop Bay.
To control how your brand shows up, you can customize your online store and checkout with an intuitive editor, or access the code directly. You can also convert more with custom discount logic, online wallets, and subscription APIs. The Shopify Plus allows you to make any device a digital storefront through Shopify APIs and SDKs. You also have an opportunity to innovate with AR, video, and 3D on product pages.
With Shopify Plus, you can keep customer and payment information safe with the highest level of data encryption, bot protection, fraud analysis, chargeback recovery, and auto-reconciliation. You will also not have to upgrade or outgrow your platform again as a result of; access to a proprietary suite of data migration tools, robust theme selection, customization, and mobile support. You will also have guidance through domain set up, redirects, product taxonomies, and documentation.
A Note on Shopify's Transaction Fees
Aside from the monthly cost of a subscription, it's important to be aware of the differences between credit card processing fees and transaction fees when it comes to Shopify's specific pricing model. Credit card fees are charged by Shopify and allow you to accept major credit cards, such as Visa and Mastercard, as payment in your online store.
Shopify charges transaction fees if you use a third-party payment provider to make payments. It covers the charge to integrate Shopify with your chosen provider. However, none of the plans charge transaction fees if you use Shopify's payment processor, Shopify Payments.
For instance, if you're subscribed to Shopify Lite using Shopify Payments, online purchases have credit card fees of 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction. If the purchase was made using a Shopify POS card reader or mobile device app, credit card fees are at 2.7%. If you use a third-party payment gateway, expect to pay a 2% transaction fee for each sale on top of credit card rates.
Which Shopify Plan is Best for Me?
When considering the best plan for you, a good place to start is with the features list. For the mentioned plans, apart from reporting tools and transaction fees, there are also a few differences in the number of staff accounts and inventory locations available, as well as the shipping and global selling features offered. It is very important to weigh up each of the features available in the respective plans. If you want to choose the cheapest plan for your business, you also need to consider Shopify's transaction fees.
Basic Shopify is best for new eCommerce businesses with occasional in-person sales. If you're just beginning, you would want to try the Basic Shopify plan before scaling upwards. Secondly, the Shopify Plan is best suited to growing businesses that are selling online or in-store. Once your business begins to grow, you can then consider the Shopify Plan. The Advanced Shopify plan is best suited for scaling businesses that require advanced reporting. If your business has scaled upwards and it now requires advanced reporting, the Advanced Plan is for you.
At Harlo Interactive, we dedicate time to understanding how people engage with brands digitally, allowing us to create experiences that build loyalty and win hearts. Whether you're building a new website, fine-tuning an existing one, or in need of a digital strategy for your next big idea, we are your digital partner. Contact us to learn more and get started.
