What do brands like Kylie Jenner cosmetics, Pura Vida and 2 Chainz have in common? They have a huge ecommerce presence and they all use Shopify Plus! But that's not all, another thing that they all have in common is a drive and passion for rapid growth.

As an Ecommerce store owner you are always looking for new, innovative ways to broaden your horizons while keeping your customers satisfied. With countless other Ecommerce options emerging every day, the competition is tough and the clock is ticking. Shopify has already proved its mantle as a leading Ecommerce platform for today with a special focus on small to medium sized businesses. But what happens when your business starts to grow big? Shopify has the solution for that too. With the introduction of Shopify Plus, you can now enhance your existing Shopify experience to a level that is fit for a growing business.So read on to find out if Shopify Plus can be the right Ecommerce platform for your business needs and answer the pressing question: "Do I need Shopify Plus?"

What Makes Shopify Plus Different?

If you are familiar with Shopify then you are well aware of the sleek visual design, useful apps and core features that it provides to enhance customer and retailer experience. Shopify plus offers all that and much more. With the aim to provide the absolute best of Shopify, Plus is geared towards businesses looking to scale up and stand out. So which one is best for you? Here are some key enhancements in Shopify Plus that might help you make a decision.

Better Support

Shopify already provides excellent support for merchants but Shopify plus takes it a step further. With Shopify Plus, you get an advanced Plus-dedicated team to address all your queries, concerns and issues immediately. Shopify plus merchants no longer have to be bogged down by the slow response times regular customer help lines have. Shopify understands that for a growing enterprises level business, waiting around to resolve big issues is not an option and can have an alarming impact on the sales and revenue of a business.

If that wasn't enough, Plus also provides you with a Merchant Success Manager and a Launch Manager. The merchant success manager is your guide to success on the Shopify platform. Your success manager can evaluate what your business needs and suggest useful ideas and partners for the success of your store. On the other hand, a launch manager helps you migrate from another platform and launch your store on Shopify Plus. The launch manager will provide technical expertise to help you set it all up.

Efficient Checkout Experience

The checkout experience plays a vital role in a transaction and a bad checkout experience can lead to cart abandonment. No one likes a slow and laggy checkout and Shopify Plus avoids that with extremely efficient and cost effective transaction management. As your customer base grows, you need a fast and effective solution that can improve customer retention. Shopify Plus is built on a scalable cloud architecture which smoothly handles all your transactions while providing your customers a stress-free checkout experience that will keep satisfaction levels at an all-time high.

Fully Customized Checkout

Rapid transaction is just a basic capability that is expected of your ecommerce store, to go the extra mile you need something special. Shopify Plus gives you the opportunity to create a branded and fully customized checkout experience for your customers. This allows for added branding and provides an engagement channel that your marketing and sales team can utilize in the right way.

Multi-language, Multi-currency support

Diversity and inclusivity are the norm these days and businesses which fail to meet these standards get left behind. Your store needs a way to reach out to an international audience, this calls for a multi-language and multi-currency support to provide a uniform customer experience that transcends borders.

Adding support for different languages and currencies is quite a challenge in basic Shopify. While there are some apps which provide translation capabilities, they are not exactly up to the mark. Shopify plus removes this inconvenience with the ability to clone your store into multiple languages. With plus, you can have nine clones of your store while paying for a single plan.

More Bandwidth and Storage

With an unlimited bandwidth and a storage space of 200TB, Plus can handle your growing business and the high traffic rate that it can generate. High volume merchants can also benefit from the increased API access that Plus provides.

Lower Transaction Fees

A great advantage of Shopify Plus is the lower transaction fee it provides. Basic Shopify has a 0.5 to 2 percent transaction fee. With Plus, the transaction fee is below 0.2 percent depending on the revenue generated by your store. However, credit card fees still apply.

As your store grows, the number of transactions will increase exponentially. With a high volume of transactions, a lowered transaction fees can save you a ton of money which makes this feature a huge Plus in our books!

Custom Pricing Plan

Unlike Shopify, Plus doesn't have definite pricing plans for all businesses. There is a custom plan for each customer depending on their business model, needs and revenue. You can request a quote from Shopify Plus and then discuss the specifics to reach a suitable agreement. However, if your monthly revenue is up to $800,000, the fees may start at $2000 USD month and can vary up to the ceiling price of $40,000 per month. Once your store starts making revenue above $800,000 per month the pricing plan changes to 0.25 percent of the monthly revenue.

Shopify Plus – Apps for Success

While Shopify has countless tools that can help merchants grow their business in a number of ways, Plus has added some new features and apps which are a definite game-changer.

1. Shopify Flow

Shopify Flow is every merchant's dream come true. With powerful automation, Flow lets you set up automated backend tasks without the help of any additional programming or coding knowledge. It uses a visual builder which is quick and easy to use for merchants. Here are a few cool things you can do with Shopify Flow:

• Identify your best and highest paying customers and tag them to be notified for future discounts.
• Track inventory changes to notify customers when items are running out to create a sense of urgency that encourages better sales.
• With Flow and Slack integration, your team can be notified through an email or Slack message when a fraudulent or suspicious order is detected.

2. Shopify Scripts

Shopify Scripts is an app only available for Plus users. Through Scripts you can easily enjoy automated features to easily provide promotions, custom pricing, buy one get one free offers, discounts, free shipping and much more. Line item, shipping and payment scripts allow you to create customized experiences for different users. You can provide store-wide discounts or easily target a particular customers or customer groups with this powerful tool.

3. Shopify Launchpad

Shopify Launchpad lets you monitor sales, releases and content changes. Launchpad not only helps you build a custom theme to highlight on-sale products and modify price ranges but also helps in monitoring the customer feedback during sales and events with a real-time analytics dashboard.

Do I Need Shopify Plus?

Now comes the time to answer the pressing question: "Do I need Shopify Plus?”. The answer depends on a number of different factors. While the many features and capabilities of Shopify Plus may entice you, Plus might not be suitable for your business just yet. Here are some things to consider before taking the big leap:

• What's your Annual Revenue?

Shopify payment plans start from $29/ month to $299/month while Shopify Plus has a minimum per month price of $2000/month. Going from around 300 USD per month to 2000 USD per month is a huge leap and you need to ask yourself if your business in growing fast enough to cover that cost. For a basic idea, you can benefit from Plus when your business reaches $1 to 2 million in annual revenue. Map out your finances and see if Plus will be a good investment or a terribly costly one.

• What level of Customization do you Need?

Shopify has many advantages as a hosted platform and provides management and security in a neat package that makes things a lot easier for merchants. However, the level of customizability is still limited. If you need a lot of customization on the backend, even Shopify Plus might fail to deliver. However, Shopify Plus has a higher level of customization than Shopify and its advantages might outweigh the benefits of having your own server.

• Can the Enhancements be Useful for your Business?

Shopify Plus has some unique features which can add some impressive functionality to an Ecommerce store. Despite its many interesting enhancements, Shopify plus might be a wasted investment if your store is not ready for these new features. There is a certain point you need to reach in order to fully reap some of the benefits of Shopify Plus. For example, the efficient and fast transaction mechanisms, the lowered transaction fee, advanced support and other such enhancements are only useful when you have a high volume of traffic.

Shopify Plus for Rapid Growth

With so many huge brands shifting to Shopify Plus, there's no doubt that it is the Ecommerce platform for growth. Many might say that it is only for large-scale, enterprise-level businesses, but in the end it all boils down to your unique business needs.

So if you are an ecommerce owner with a rapidly growing business, plan ahead and make Shopify Plus your first priority.