As one of the best, most popular e-Commerce platforms on the market, Shopify is one of the most intuitive web applications that enables you to build and launch your own e-Commerce store. Shopify continues to be rated as one of the best e-Commcerce platforms for small businesses due to the fact that it has powerful features, at affordable prices.
In order to determine what pricing tier would be best for your business, let’s take a look at all of Shopify’s offerings.
Shopify’s Pricing And Fees
As of this writing, Shopify has three pricing plans: Basic, Shopify, and Advanced. Unlike other platforms, Shopify does not provide a Free Tier. However, you do have the option of participating in a 14-day free trial period before you begin using other plans.
Let’s take a look at each individual plan as well as its features.
Basic
At only $29 per month, the Basic plan is Shopify’s most affordable option. It includes the following:
- An online store you can customize
- Two staff accounts
- Unlimited products
- Sales channels
- 24/7 customers support
In addition, the Basic plan also offers manual order creation, discount codes, abandoned cart recovery, unlimited contracts, marketing automation, and customer segmentation.
When it comes to transaction fees, Shopify charges 2.9% + $.30 for every online credit card transaction. For online international credit card rates, it’s 3.9% + $.30. For every in-person credit/debit purchase, the rate is 2.7%.
Shopify
The Shopify plan is the most popular. At a significant rate of $79 per month, users can have access to even more features. In addition to the online store and unlimited products, the Shopify plan also offers as many as 5 staff accounts. Inventory can be assigned to as many as 5 different retail stores and warehouses.
You also have the ability to automate manual tasks and build workflows in order to build your business. Users on the Shopify plan get shipping discounts of as much as 88% from UPS, USPS, or DHL.
The transaction fees for the Shopify plan are as follows. Fees for online credit card transactions are 2.6% + $.30. For online international card rates, it’s 3.6% + $.30. For every in-person credit/debit card purchase, the rate is 2.5%.
Advanced
As the most comprehensive plan among Shopify’s offerings, the Advanced plan is perfect for e-Commerce businesses with a massive inventory. This plan goes for $299 a month.
This plan comes with all of the features included in both the Basic and Shopify plans. With the Advanced plan, users have access to as many as 15 staff accounts. They also get up to 8 inventory locations.
Another plus is that it also provided more advanced reporting.
Their transaction fees are as follows. Fees for online credit card transactions are 2.4% + $.30. For online international card rates, it’s 3.4% + $.30. And for every in-person credit/debit card purchase, the rate is 2.4%.
Other major bonus offerings with the Advanced plan include the ability to estimate and collect duties and import taxes at checkout. This enables your customers to see their entire purchase cost in real-time. Finally, the Advanced tier offers custom pricing according to the market. With this feature, you are able to set certain prices in every market.
Additional Costs
Once you have decided on the best Shopify plan that works for you, then you will need to consider the additional costs involved in actually launching your store. If you would like to look into a domain name, it starts at $11 per year if you were to purchase it through Shopify.
For Shopify’s website themes, there is a one-time fee between $100 to $180. If you were to use Shopify’s e-mail capability, you get your first 2,500 sent emails for free. Then they are $1 for every additional 1,000.
If you need to sign up for the Shopify POS, then you will need Shopify’s card reader in order to support both in-store and mobile sales. The one-time fee ranges from $29 to $299.
When you look at all the additional costs, you will be expected to spend as much as $250 to $500 to fully launch your Shopify store. When compared to other e-Commerce platforms’ initial startup costs, Shopify was clearly the more economical option.
Which Plan Will You Choose?
Shopify has featured in the right price point that will cater to your business needs, regardless of the stage it is currently in. The best way to determine which tier is best for your business is to first know what features you actually need.
The best strategy is to launch your store first, based on the best plan, and then add any additional integrations as you need them.