Is your business scaling bigger than ever, but the standard Shopify features are insufficient to ease things up? This is a sign telling you to upgrade to Shopify Plus.
Lucky for you, LitExtension – #1 Shopping Cart Migration Expert has just the right solution and everything you need to know when upgrading to Shopify Plus. Below is the list of all the key points which we will go through in today’s article:
- An overview of Shopify Plus
- Signs you should upgrade to the Shopify Plus plan
- Exclusive Shopify Plus benefits
- Steps on how to upgrade to Shopify Plus with ease
Buckle your seatbelt, there’s a lot waiting for you!
Power Your Vision on Shopify with LitExtension
Our team of experts can safely transfer your business data, products, customers and orders to unlock more growth on Shopify Plus's robust platform. Let us provide a customized migration proposal.
What is Shopify Plus?
Unlike the standard Shopify plans, which aim at newcomers or small-to-medium business sizes, Shopify Plus is the go-to for enterprises.
It offers the most robust features for complicated inventory and high traffic, from shipping fulfillment, analytics tracking, and omnichannel sales to multiple integrations. All exclusive features Shopify Plus provides will be discussed in length later.
For this reason, it is no surprise that Shopify charges a much higher price when it comes to Shopify Plus pricing. If the standard plans only range from $39 – $399/month, then merchants will have to pay at least $2000 monthly when upgrading to Shopify Plus.
Gain insight into Shopify and how it works with our article on Shopify review: Is Shopify the crown jewel of the eCommerce world?
When Should You Upgrade to Shopify Plus?
At some point, your current eCommerce platform or standard Shopify pricing plans are not enough to fulfill your requirements. If you are still sitting on the fence about whether to upgrade to Shopify Plus, our checklist below might be helpful:
- Your monthly sales reach $800,000 or when you receive more than 100 transactions per minute.
- You are attempting to go global, which requires a highly customized website for separated regions.
- More third-party app integrations are needed so that your website can function properly.
- You need more staff accounts to manage and run your business.
- Overspending on things like IT, maintenance, and transaction costs.
Let’s take a look at Skin Inc. as an example.
They struggled to find the right tools to enhance each consumer's shopping experience. Making even minor adjustments to the website required the help of a software engineer, and the mobile experience was sluggish and cumbersome. During peak shopping times, when traffic levels were higher than usual, these problems were much more severe.
That’s when they decided to upgrade to Shopify Plus in 2019. Thanks to the platform's scalability, Skin Inc. could rapidly release multiple iterations of the website, each tailored to a unique set of target audiences.
Marketing apps and customer loyalty programs may be easily integrated with Shopify Plus. More precise, data-driven direct marketing campaigns and improved CRM administration result from Skin Inc.'s use of these technologies for personalized consumer engagement.
If you see yourself as one of the cases, then no more thinking; you know it’s time!
How Can Shopify Plus Benefit Your Business?
Since Shopify Plus is designed for hypergrowth businesses, it will obviously come with some exclusive and effective features to adapt to your scaling needs. Keep reading, and you’ll have your answer on “Is Shopify Plus worth it?”.
1. Incredible speed optimization
Shopify Plus's lightning-fast servers are one of its most valuable features. When you upgrade to Shopify Plus, instead of sharing a server with other shops, yours is the only one on the server.
When other stores generate a huge volume of visitors to their sites, your shared server's performance may suffer. When you upgrade to Plus, you won't have to worry about slow or unreliable connections to the server.
In another scenario, if you are moving from open-source platforms, you will no longer have to worry about finding other third-party solutions to handle your enormous amount of customers. The Shopify Plus server can take away that burden for you, allowing us to focus on the business solely.
2. Enhanced customization level
Shopify Plus brings your customization abilities to the next level, allowing you to polish every corner of the website. Their advanced customization tools include:
- Branding features
- Animations
- Bespoke checkout page
- AR and 3D product displays
- And so much more
We must say that there are almost no limitations to your storefront design when you upgrade to Shopify Plus.
Additionally, you can use the Script Editor to access the source code for further customization without installing third-party apps. Brands who wish to add unique capabilities to their online shop but can't find a suitable tool will appreciate this useful addition.
3. Functional management tools
These are the “pure gold” offered by Shopify Plus, which will significantly impact your high-volume business. As long as you know what you are doing, improving the efficiency will become less hassle.
The most outstanding tools are Launch Pad and Shopify Flow. Both let you automate almost every part of your company, from customer care and marketing to inventory and order monitoring, risk management, and beyond.
Not to mention, Shopify Plus also allows you to manage multiple stores via its Shopify organization admin effectively. This is extremely important if you are operating both online and offline locations. With a few simple clicks, you can keep track of the analytics, users, and stores in a single dashboard.
On other platforms, every time you need to do something, like create custom workflows, you have to build them from scratch. So to have a user-friendly app like Shopify Flow that allows us to start doing much of this ourselves is very encouraging.
Mehmet Dokumcu – EVP, Digital and Ecommerce, Good American
4. Increased B2B eCommerce
You can do all your wholesale business inside the Shopify Plus dashboard. Product and price posting, quantity restrictions, and payment conditions may be modified to fit the needs of individual buyers. Moreover, you can spend less time maintaining various platforms with adaptable connectors, open APIs, and automated order processing.
Shopify Plus offers you every function needed to get up and running a B2B eCommerce business from the get-go:
- Company profiles: Represent a variety of places and buyers, each with its own set of payment and access requirements.
- Customer-specific product publishing: Provide a more personalized shopping experience by customizing product catalogs for each individual customer or geographical area.
- Flexible payment options: Set up automatic net payment periods, draft orders, vaulted credit cards, and invoices to fasten up the ordering process.
- B2B checkout: Depending on the company's information, the wholesale price might be shown during quick checkout.
- Customer accounts: Verify the buyer's identity before granting them access to the wholesale catalog, pricing, and account management features.
5. Wider customer reach
Shopify Audiences is an advertising platform audience list generator that facilitates customer acquisition and is exclusively free for all Shopify Plus stores.
With Shopify Audiences, you can find potential customers in the United States and Canada. Targeted advertising campaigns can be immediately launched when an audience is transferred to your digital advertising account.
Jonathan Simkhai, an apparel company, thanks to Shopify Audiences has reached its peak with:
- 84% increase in conversion rate.
- Cost per acquisition decreased by 54%.
- Audiences were directly responsible for 89% of their net new customer growth.
6. Cost-effective transaction fees
The transaction fees on Shopify are one of the most concerning topics among store owners when building their website on this platform. Currently, the standard Shopify credit card processing fee ranges from 2.4% + $0.30 per transaction.
On the other hand, the rate is more reasonable if you upgrade to Shopify Plus. You may negotiate Shopify Plus transaction fees based on your store's sales volume and reputation.
In case you are attempting to use Shopify Payments, here are the rates applying for transactions:
- US Visa and Mastercard: 2.15% + $0.30 per transaction.
- PayPal, 2Checkout, Skrill, or other payment methods: add up 0.15% on their processing fees.
- American Express and international credit cards: 3.15% + $.30/transaction
7. Robust POS system
Shopify Plus includes a FREE Shopify POS Pro plan.
Compared to the POS Lite, packed with standard plans, Shopify POS Pro gives you more control over the checkout process with the following features:
- Improved efficiency in exchanges, discounts, local pickup, stock transfers, and additional features that facilitate faster workflows.
- Enhanced management of staff permissions through unlimited POS PINs and the ability to create custom roles.
- Comprehensive inventory reporting for detailed analysis of product performance, providing deeper insights.
- A hardware warranty of 2 years for added assurance.
- Availability of a dedicated retail support team for assistance and guidance.
8. Responsive mobile storefront
The Shopify Plus membership tier is the only place to get a mobile store builder. Even if you don't know a thing about coding, you can make applications for iOS and Android using this. From our perspective, this is a significant perk if you do not have the financial means to create an app from scratch.
9. Unlimited bandwidth and staff account
You may expect more people to visit your online shop as your business expands. This means that there’s no way your website can crash or slow down during holiday seasons like Black Friday.
Shopify Plus, in contrast to Shopify or almost any other eCommerce platform, provides you with limitless bandwidth. Up to 500,000 page views and 6,000 purchases may be processed each minute on your online store.
On top of that, Shopify Plus also packs you with unlimited employee accounts. You will have more authority in the administrative aspects of your shop.
10. Dedicated Shopify Plus support
Besides 24/7 support, Shopify Plus's Launch Manager provides constant one-on-one assistance and promises to get your company up and running in 90 days or less.
You will also gain access to the exclusive Merchant Success Program. They will provide training and support for third-party integrations, products, and platforms so that you may reach your maximum potential.
We needed to launch in eight weeks. Working with Shopify Plus allows you to do something Herculean like this in a very short period of time. Instead of going around in circles with red tape and reviews, we were actually building stuff and testing it to make sure it worked.
Shayan Zadeh – CEO, Dressbarn
We have conducted in-depth research on the difference between Shopify vs Shopify Plus. So take a look if you want more details!
What to Prepare Before Upgrading to Shopify Plus?
Before making any significant changes to your store, make sure that your previous data has been stored in a safe place. Even though your database is kept unaltered when working with LitExtension, we still recommend performing the backup steps.
⚠️ For those currently using Shopify's standard pricing plans, Shopify will automatically upgrade your store to Shopify Plus. Thus, you can explore the new features in a blink of an eye without having to perform a proper migration process.
1. Backup your database
Before making any significant changes to your store, make sure that your previous data has been stored in a safe place. Even though your database is kept unaltered when working with LitExtension, we still recommend performing the backup steps.
It's important to note that each platform has its own unique procedure for exporting and backing up databases. Therefore, we suggest referring to their official guidelines to carry out this task effectively.
2. Create Shopify Plus store
For this step, the process differs significantly from the standard Shopify pricing plans, where you can simply register for an account and pay for platform usage. This distinction arises because Shopify Plus pricing is intricately tied to your business's current standing and annual sales.
To elaborate, you'll need to reach out to a Shopify representative.
As illustrated in the image, complete the form with your full name, business email address, phone number, and company details. Following this, a Shopify expert will conduct a comprehensive consultation and set up your business profile.
How to Upgrade to Shopify Plus with LitExtension?
With your safely secured data, it’s time we jump to the main part of the article – Shopify Plus migration. Understanding your struggle while balancing between business management and upgrading to Shopify Plus, LitExtension offers the ideal migration package for you.
With All-in-One Migration Package, the Personal Assistant (PA) will take away the burden of manual tasks to upgrade to Shopify Plus and handle your project from start to finish. Through 10+ years of experience, our leading experts have gained insight into Shopify Plus to ensure a smooth, accurate, and secured migration.
Our video below will help you better understand the whole process when using LitExtension’s All-in-One Migration Service:
No more beating around the bush. Let’s get started!
1. Schedule a call
First, book a meeting with our experts to discuss any questions you may have or your specific requirements. To do so, pick a suitable date and let us know your contact information by filling out the form.
⚠️ Please note that the meeting should be scheduled 2 hours in advance so that the LitExtension experts can carefully prepare all the necessary documents.
2. Receive consultation
This is the part where we will discuss your specific requirements for the Shopify Plus migration as well as your current store situation. On the basis of that, the LitExtension experts can recommend the most suitable migrating approach.
If everything goes well, make your way to the payment steps by following this guide. LitExtension's All-in-One migration service currently starts from $139, depending on the number of transferred entities.
3. Configure the migration
Now, decide which entities to keep when moving to Shopify Plus, such as products, customers, orders, blog posts, etc. You may discuss the exact number of entities with our specialists for further customization.
If these haven’t fulfilled your requirements yet, please consider our Additional Options. Usually, these will cost you $19 – $39 when using the Basic Migration Package. However, they are included free of charge in the All-in-One service. Thus, just pick out whatever suits your store the most, for instance:
- Migrate Customers Groups into Customer Tags
Shopify doesn't have a way to organize customers into groups, but you may still manage them using tags. As a result, this feature may assist you in transferring your Shopify customer groups into individual customer tags. Once customers are tagged, you may sort them in multiple ways.
- Migrate Categories into Shopify Automated Collections
Instead of sub-categories, Shopify uses collections. If you choose this option, all your categories and subcategories will be converted to Shopify collections. In addition, you may create drop-down menus based on product tags to display sub-categories, precisely as in your standard Shopify store.
The configuration also includes tailoring the store's appearance. Nevertheless, be aware that data that is not standard or was developed by third-party modules or extensions WILL NOT be migrated.
4. Run Demo Migration
To see how our actual migration works, you can have a Demo Migration beforehand. This step allows for a preview of the mapping and data transfer process prior to the actual migration.
5. Review Demo Migration
Take a look at the Demo migration results to see whether there are any issues, or missing fields left behind during the process. Give feedback to your Personal Assistant (PA), and we will have things fixed before moving on to the next step.
6. Activate Full Migration
When you’ve settled down with the Demo Migration, it’s time to perform the Full Migration moving from Shopify to Shopify Plus. All you need to do is sit back, relax, and let the experts do their work. If any possible problems occur during the upgrade, LitExtension Smart Controller will identify them, and we’ll fix them.
7. Migration Result Testing
LitExtension's experts will double-check your new store's database to ensure everything has fallen into place when you migrate to Shopify Plus. Since this is still in the testing phase, you can always ask for additional modifications where relevant.
There you go, your new home. You have successfully performed the Shopify Plus migration. No more planning. It’s time to dig in and maximize your performance!
8. Perform Post-Migration services
You may continue to add new products and accept payments while you upgrade to Shopify Plus. As a result, you must ensure that all of your recent additions and modifications are updated in the new Shopify Plus store. This is when our post-migration services will come in handy:
- Recent Data Migration: All current and future orders and customers will be transferred to the new store without interruption.
- Re-Migration: Run your upgrade again if it hasn’t fulfilled your requirements yet.
- Smart Update: simultaneously import new and previously modified data to your Shopify Plus store.
The number of times you may use these services will not be limited and are completely free of charge within the first three months after you upgrade to Shopify Plus. However, these services can only transfer 10% of your whole data, so please carefully make your decision.
What to Do After the Shopify Plus Upgrade?
So, with your new Shopify Plus store, where do we even start with? Let us walk you through it!
1. Join Shopify Plus Academy
With Shopify Plus Academy, you can learn advanced eCommerce techniques in key areas of your company's operations. The Academy offers over 100 self-guided courses that may be completed at your own speed and in your own time, including marketing acquisition methods, company operations, and the configuration of your checkouts.
From what we have been through, Getting started on Shopify Plus onboarding course is a great place to begin, as it will introduce you to the platform and its many useful features and functions. Or, have a look at How to Go Global course if you're thinking about expanding your company internationally.
2. Integrate multiple channels
Omnichannel integration is one of the perks when using Shopify Plus. You may manage your items and expand your worldwide audience over 100+ social media platforms and 80 online marketplaces.
In case you don’t know where to start or are too busy handling your customers, check out our Shopify Store Development Services for more help. We'll help you set up a Shopify store from the ground up and equip it with the tools needed to succeed.
All of your integrations with ERP, CRM, marketplaces, payment gateways, and other systems and applications can be handled seamlessly with our service. The wider audience your brand reaches, the higher sales you can gain, so what are you waiting for?
3. Customize checkout page
One upgraded feature is the A/B testing for your checkout process to see which appeals to your customers the most. By doing this, you will be able to increase the checkout time by 60% and conversion rate effortlessly.
We'll make sure that your checkout page is created in a way that is both aesthetically pleasing and functionally sound. Our UX/UI designers will assist you in creating a bare-bones storefront even if you can't think of a single thing to build. Moreover, our team can also refresh your current designs to increase traffic and enhance your site's functionality.
Data Categories for Shopify Plus Migration
Below is a list of data types that LitExtension supports migrating to Shopify Plus. If you have inquiries about supported data types in Shopify Plus migration or can't locate the desired data type in the documentation, please contact us for further support.
Data Entity | Detail |
Products |
|
Product Categories |
|
Manufacturers |
|
Taxes |
|
Customers |
|
Orders |
|
Coupons |
|
Reviews |
|
Multistore |
|
Cms Pages |
|
Multiple Languages |
|
Blogs |
|
Shopify Plus Migration – Recap
We have been working our way through all the necessary instructions on how to upgrade to Shopify Plus. Here's the gist that you may need:
- Meeting Schedule – Set up a meeting with the LitExtension experts.
- Technical Consultation – Discuss your needs in detail for the most suitable approach.
- Migration Configuration – Decide the migration entities and additional options you would go for.
- Demo Migration – Test out the water before the Full Migration.
- Demo Migration Review – Give feedback on the Demo Migration for further customization.
- Full Migration – Ready to upgrade to Shopify Plus.
- Migration Result Testing – Double-check the results and request more changes if relevant.
- Post-Migration Services Utilization – Update your Shopify Plus store with the latest data.
Shopify Plus Upgrade – FAQs
Can you migrate from Shopify to Shopify Plus?
Yes, of course! Shopify offers a seamless migration process for businesses that want to upgrade to Shopify Plus. The migration typically involves transferring your store's data, settings, themes, and customizations to the Shopify Plus platform.
To save time, you can also consider working with the experts from LitExtension’s All-in-One Migration Package. A Personal Assistant (PA) will be in charge of your entire project and will keep you updated with every step of the migration.
Why upgrade to Shopify Plus?
Shopify Plus offers a wide range of exclusive benefits that will help you make the best of your online business. These are customization flexibility, omnichannel features, fulfilling customer support, advanced security systems, and more. Gain further insight into these features here.
What are the requirements to get Shopify Plus?
To qualify for Shopify Plus, you'll need to show that you're making significant sales each month. Your online products, as well as your payment processing, data storage, and security practices, must adhere to all applicable laws and regulations.
Specific requirements and eligibility criteria can vary, so contacting Shopify or a Shopify Plus representative for the most up-to-date information tailored to your circumstances is advisable.
How many websites can you have with Shopify Plus?
With a single Shopify Plus account, you can manage multiple websites or online stores, making handling different brands, regions, or business segments easier. The exact number of websites you can have depends on your specific plan and arrangement with Shopify.
How many customers use Shopify Plus?
Up to the present, there are around 32,990 websites currently using Shopify Plus (according to Builtwith). Some of the most famous names are Unilever, Kylie Cosmetics, Heiz, GymShark, etc. You can take a look at their websites for more inspiration.
Conclusion
To sum up, upgrading to Shopify Plus is a perfect option if you aim to globalize your brand and expand the target customers. Hopefully, our tutorial today has answered all of your questions regarding the topic of how to upgrade to Shopify Plus. If you need a helping hand to move to Shopify Plus, LitExtension – #1 Shopping Cart Migration Expert is here for you!
Lastly, don’t skip through our awesome tips and tricks to scale up your business in the LitExtension Blog or Facebook Community Group.
