When’s the right time to upgrade to Shopify Advanced? We’ve found that ecommerce businesses that turnover around £135,000 and need more user accounts are probably the best fit for Shopify Advanced. But it can differ on a case-by-case basis.
This comprehensive breakdown of the differences between Shopify and Shopify Advanced should help you get closer to figuring out if it’s the right time for you to upgrade (we’ve shown how we work it out a little later on).
Shopify’s a popular ecommerce platform. It was founded in 2006 and quickly evolved to become one of the leading platforms globally. “Shopify Plus” was launched in 2014, and you can find out about the differences in Shopify Plus in our other blog ‘Shopify vs. Shopify Plus’.
When we say “Shopify vs Shopify Advanced” we’re really talking about three tiers of pricing: (1) Shopify Basic, (2) Shopify, and (3) Shopify Advanced. We can essentially ignore Shopify Basic for this comparison and just focus on the key differences between Shopify’s standard and Advanced pricing tiers.
Shopify is aimed at small teams, whereas Advanced is designed for scaling businesses. Which is sort of a broad-term because businesses of all sizes are liable to ‘scale’. Here are what we see as the key differences between the two:
Businesses get to add up to 5 additional staff accounts. But! Does this mean 1 owner + 5 staff accounts or 5 accounts total? Well, we’d never actually double-checked that so we spent some time checking with a Shopify Advisor. Turns out that “for the Shopify plan, you can have 5 staff account + 1 owner.” So that’s 6 accounts in total.
By the same logic, Shopify Advanced users get 16 total accounts.
Standard Shopify users get a checkout that can process around 4,000 checkouts per minute (CPM). On Shopify Advanced, that capacity gets boosted to 40,000 CPM. Apparently, it’s not going to make the biggest difference though, as Shay from Shopify states, “generally speaking most stores are perfectly equipped to handle a flash sale, regardless of the plan they are on.“
Apart from the clear difference between monthly rates for each plan, Shopify Advanced users generally save around 0.1 to 0.3% on every transaction. For stores with good conversion rates and larger average order values (AOV), these numbers can add up.
For example, a store that processes about 60 orders a day with an AOV of £75 will make an average of £135,000 per month. At this rate, businesses would save about £250 in transaction fees a month by using Shopify Advanced, but that doesn’t include the plan fees.
After monthly fees are applied (£65 per month for Shopify Standard and £344 per month for Shopify Advanced) Shopify Advanced businesses will spend £27 more than standard users every month, the difference between £2,801 for Standard and £2,828 for Shopify Advanced. Which is probably negligible.
This is probably the most important consideration for most businesses. If you really need more user accounts, it’s worth it. But, if you have no need for additional users then it’s probably worthwhile to wait it out and stick with Shopify’s standard plan.
Aside from price and user accounts, there’s not a lot of difference between the two plans.
If your business is making ~£135,000 per month then it’s worthwhile upgrading to Shopify Advanced for the extra 10 user accounts and minimal cost difference.
If you’ve greatly exceeded those revenue figures and you’re making £800k+ annually, then it could be worthwhile taking a closer look at the benefits of Shopify Plus.
Rates here start at £1800 per month on a 3-year term, a significant increase on Shopify Advanced prices, but there’s a bunch more features that your business might find ‘essential’. Our other blog explores the significant differences between Advanced and Shopify Plus.
It’s time to evaluate your business needs, challenges, and revenue to decide if it's the right time to upgrade.
Consider the benefits of additional user accounts, improved transaction rates, and enhanced support offered by Shopify Advanced or Shopify Plus.
Assess how these features align with your growth objectives and operational requirements to make an informed decision.
Hopefully this breakdown gives you enough information to figure out what Shopify tier is right for your business.
If you’re not sure, get in touch with us. Digital Six has 25 years in ecommerce development and marketing: if you’ve got an issue, chances are we’ve fixed it already.
The Shopify help centre has lots of help on all Shopify topics.
Our article on Shopify vs. Shopify Plus if you're ready for the next tier of Shopify.
Our Shopify Plus development services for when you need some expert partner insight.
The r/Shopify Sub-Reddit has some handy tips and latest news.
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