Design

Technology

E-commerce is the fastest growing segment of retail. Whether you are starting an online store, scaling, or looking to migrate, choosing the right platform is crucial to the success of your business. Two of the most popular solutions for enterprise e-commerce are Shopify Plus and Adobe Commerce Magento. In this article, we will compare Shopify Plus and Magento. It is important to take the time to do your research because you want to pick the platform that is best for your needs.

## Platform Overview
Both Shopify Plus and Adobe Commerce Magento are among the best choices for growing and enterprise businesses.They are feature rich and power some of the largest brands in commerce. Should you choose Magento or Shopify?

Shopify Plus is a user-friendly Software as a Service (SaaS) product that offers a comprehensive suite of tools to help you build, grow and expand your online business. Shopify Plus is a hosted platform that uses Ruby on Rails (Liquid), and features regular, automatic updating with customizable themes and integrated API’s. Offering enterprise level B2C and B2B capabilities, Shopify Plus caters to high-growth, high-value merchants seeking a long-term e-commerce solution. Many notable brands such as Allbirds, Heinz and Gymshark use Shopify Plus.

Magento 2 is an open-source e-commerce solution owned by Adobe. You can select between two versions: Adobe Commerce, which is an on-premise option, and Adobe Commerce Cloud, a hosted platform version. Magento is a platform-based service (PaaS) and uses PHP on the Zend Framework. Magento has great flexibility and is highly customizable while maintaining the core code. Because it is open source, Magento requires frequent updating, and is more complex than Shopify Plus to use. Companies that use Magento include Colgate, Nespresso and Ford. 


![2.03-1920x1500-DigiFist-BV-ZX-106623.png](https://cmsad.digifist.com/uploads/2_03_1920x1500_Digi_Fist_BV_ZX_106623_33c782ac23.png)

## Comparing Shopify Plus and Magento
We will look at the major differences between Magento and Shopify to help you decide what is the best investment for your business. Both Magento and Shopify have their pros and cons, however data shows that Shopify is the more popular choice with merchants. According to 2022 research provided by SimilarTech, when comparing Shopify vs Magento, Shopify has 543,364 live websites, while Magento has 93,278. What makes Shopify the preferred choice? 

### 1. Ease of Use
Shopify Plus is much easier to use than Magento, which is appealing for merchants who want to focus on their business, and not on development. Shopify Plus gives you access to a variety of beautiful, responsive themes that are customizable so you can build the online store of your dreams without needing to have a deep understanding of code. The admin panel is user-friendly, allowing you to easily add updates to your store, like new products, or train an employee to do it. 

With Magento commerce, the learning curve is steep. It’s open source, so it’s a much more complicated platform than Shopify to use. You will most likely need an experienced 
Magento developer to custom build your store and be retained to perform necessary, regular updates post-launch. Because of this, it may be difficult to build the store you envision on Magento, and you will not be able to easily perform updates as your store grows.

### 2. Security Updates and Patches
When it comes to comparing security updates and patches for Shopify Plus vs Magento, Shopify Plus comes out on top again. As mentioned earlier, Shopify Plus is a SaaS solution, while Adobe Commerce is open-source. 
Shopify will automatically push security updates to their system. This is great for both merchants and customers because you can rest assured that your site will stay secure. Further, because these updates happen automatically, there is no risk of your site suddenly going down because you missed scheduled maintenance.

Magento 2 is open-source: this is exciting from a tech perspective because it means it is a robust platform that is continuously being upgraded. However, this benefit may also be a detriment if you are a merchant because it affects reliability and is costly to maintain. For high-volume merchants, maintenance on Magento can often be a daily task. Constant security patches, complex hosting, high developer costs and lead times are some of the major drawbacks. Updates can happen suddenly: your site might crash during a peak sales time, or customizations you’ve painstakingly built might break during an upgrade. In short, be prepared to spend a lot more time and effort maintaining your site if you choose Magento over Shopify Plus. 

### 3. Adding new functionality
When adding new functionality, most merchants are looking for great useability that is simple to install. With Shopify Plus, integrations and new functionality use available API’s, meaning non-technical users are able to install them. Shopify apps are known for being high-quality and thoroughly tested.

Magento enterprise does have more extensions than Shopify Plus, but the process to install them is much more involved and labour intensive. Similar to performing site upgrades, when adding new functionality you will most likely need to bring in a magento developer, have them install the new functionality locally, push to staging, test, then deploy, costing you time and money.

### 4. Themes
Themes are important because they form the look and feel of your store. Shopify has over 100 themes.They feature different styles and layouts and can be customized for various use cases without going into the code, making them very user-friendly. Shopify themes look great on desktop and mobile which is important because research shows that 80% of smartphone users have made an e-commerce purchase in the last 6 months. While a few themes are free to use, a downside with Shopify is that you will need to pay for most themes. They range in price from $140 - $350 USD.

Magento also has an excellent range of themes to choose from. Out-of-the-box themes that don’t require customization cost $100 USD on average. If you’re looking for a custom theme, be ready to open your wallet: Custom themes run from $600 - $45000 USD.
 
### 5. Marketing
You’ve built a great e-commerce store, now you need customers to find it. Effective marketing is essential to the success of your business and growth of your brand. Shopify understands this and offers a suite of marketing options that far outshine Adobe Magento, once again leading the pack as the more thorough e-commerce solution.

Some of the marketing options available to you as a Shopify merchant include being able to sell directly on social sites like Instagram and Facebook, multilingual marketing to sell in a variety of languages, and [Customer Engagement Tools](https://www.shopify.com/editions/summer2022#customer-engagement-tools). And best of all, these marketing tools offer easy installation with app installs. The Shopify app store is always up to date and is very secure compared to Magento.
 
Magento does offer marketing tools but they are less sophisticated and not as easy to use. Most options can be found on Marketplace, and you will most likely need a back-end developer familiar with Magento to integrate them. 
 
### 6. Technical Debt
Technical debt is defined as the implied cost of rework by choosing a limited solution, instead of choosing a better option that might initially take longer but save time and money in the long run. Because of the need to continuously update Magento, when comparing Shopify vs Magento, there is a deeper technical debt associated with Magento.
 
The rapid iteration of Magento 2’s open source code means constant updates, most of which you will require a developer to do. These updates, if not addressed in a timely manner, run the risk of crashing your online store, affecting sales and disrupting your customer journey. You don’t have this technical debt with Shopify Plus: it is simpler, easier to use, and updates automatically, so you can expect less hiccups post-launch.
 
### 7. Pricing
When comparing Shopify vs Magento 2, the direct software costs can be similar, especially if you factor in payment processing fees. Both platforms have a base transaction fee, billed monthly or yearly, and a licensing fee which is determined by transaction volume.

The Shopify Plus pricing structure is straightforward: Shopify Plus starts at $2000 USD a month, and charges a third-party transaction fee. For example, if you use PayPal, you will pay 0.15% per transaction. You can use Shopify Payments for free. Shopify Plus is a hosted platform, so all hosting payments are covered by your subscription fee. [Contact us](https://www.digifist.com/en/help-center/contact-us) to learn more about Shopify Plus pricing.

By contrast, prices for Adobe Magento Commerce start at $22 000 USD a year, and $40 000 USD a year for the cloud-based edition. Like Shopify Plus, Magento commerce calculates the final sale price based on average sale volume for your business. While initial software costs may be similar, as talked about above, there is more technical debt associated with Magento which makes it the more pricier option long-term. These costs include hosting if you choose Magento Commerce, initial development, design and deployment of your site, as well as the reliance on a Magento developer to perform regular, ongoing maintenance and security updates.

![2.02-1920x1500-DigiFist-BV-JG-121020.jpg](https://cmsad.digifist.com/uploads/2_02_1920x1500_Digi_Fist_BV_JG_121020_21daa8fc14.jpg)

## Looking to migrate to Shopify Plus?
Merchants are transferring their e-commerce stores from Magento to Shopify. It’s the better overall solution for business owners who are looking for a simple, easy to use platform that minimizes ongoing maintenance costs, and offers all of the key functionality you would expect in an enterprise solution including B2B, B2C, and international selling.

If you’re thinking about transferring your business to Shopify Plus, [work with a trusted partner](https://www.digifist.com/en/help-center/contact-us) to help plan the scope and timeline of your migration. Consider how you can improve your existing e-commerce store by exploring the features that come with Shopify Plus. Shopify offers a 14-day free trial to help introduce you to the platform. Why not try it out now to see what Shopify has to offer. [Contact us](https://www.digifist.com/en/help-center/contact-us) to learn more. We’d be happy to assist you.


Shopify vs Magento: Full Comparison

Shopify and YouTube announced a collaboration in July 2022, allowing eligible merchants to sell their products directly on YouTube. Shopify YouTube combines the strength of Shopify as the best e-commerce solution, with the popularity of YouTube as a video streaming platform so viewers can shop while they watch.

Connecting your Shopify or Shopify Plus store to YouTube is a powerful way to boost your sales and promote your brand. YouTube is the second most visited website in the world, with 2.6 billion users. 42.9% of the online global population visits YouTube every month and 68% of YouTube users watch videos to help them make a purchase decision. Given these jaw-dropping stats, chances are that your customers are probably browsing YouTube, and you are missing a huge opportunity if you aren’t there with them selling your products. 

<iframe width="933" height="525" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Z-fbruBE2pE" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

## Shopify YouTube Features 

Conversion rates through YouTube shopping are 10x higher than conventional e-commerce. Shopify has built a number of features into Shopify YouTube to position merchants for success. These include:

**1. Increased visibility**: Shopify YouTube offers multiple options to feature your products on YouTube shopping, including in end-screens, directly underneath your content and other places across the platform. This increased visibility can help amplify sales and expand brand recognition.

**2. Sync products to YouTube instantly**: The catalogue on your Shopify store automatically syncs to YouTube, ensuring product names, images, pricing and inventory details are always up-to-date. This means if something is out of stock on your Shopify store it’s automatically updated on YouTube, and you won’t disappoint customers with an out of stock message. 

**3. Live Shopping**: Integrating your Shopify or Shopify Plus store with YouTube opens up access to additional features like YouTube Live Shopping. According to YouTube data, channels that feature a weekly livestream increase their subscribers by up to 40%, with viewers spending 70% more time watching their live content.

**4. Onsite Checkout:** This is an exciting feature designed to create higher conversion rates by minimizing clicks and maximizing user experience. Onsite checkout lets you tag or pin products during a Shopify live stream for an interactive, watch-to-shop experience. The audience can check out while your stream continues picture-in-picture, without having to click through to your Shopify store. Onsite checkout is currently only available for creators and viewers in the USA, with plans to extend the feature to additional countries. 

**5. Manage your sales in Shopify** - When you integrate Shopify and YouTube, YouTube sales and performance will display in your Shopify admin alongside all of your other store data. This gives you one-stop tracking to easily review and compare analytics, customer behaviour and trends from all of your sales points in one accessible, organized place.

### Shopify YouTube Eligibility

To connect your Shopify or Shopify Plus store for YouTube shopping, you must have a YouTube channel that meets the following criteria:
A monetized channel with at least 1000 subscribers and 4000 watch hours
Reside in a country where theYouTube Partner Program is available
Content can not be marked “Made for Kids”

### What is a live shopping video?

A live shopping video is an online livestream where merchants can sell their products to viewers in real-time. Also known as live commerce, creators combine entertaining content with product integration, and viewers can connect, interact and chat with the creator directly. This has enormous potential to help increase conversion and build brand trust. 

Live shopping is incredibly popular in China where it has transformed retail. In 2020, 66% of consumers reported that they had purchased goods via live shopping in the last year. Live shopping sales in China are expected to hit $423 billion by the end of 2022. Live shopping is not yet as popular in Europe and North America, but it is gaining steam. It’s estimated that by 2026 live shopping could account for 20% of all e-commerce sales globally.

## YouTube Live Shopping

YouTube’s live stream feature is called YouTube Live. Shopify live shopping merchants can stream on YouTube using webcam, mobile or encoder streaming. There is a chat function that creators can enable or disable during their livestream, as well as live chat moderation tools to prevent harassment and create a safe space for creators and viewers. These tools include the ability to assign moderators, create a blocked words list, flag inappropriate chats for review, and activate slow mode. 

Live streaming on YouTube is free. To sell with Shopify, you will need a Shopify store and a YouTube channel that meets the requirements listed above in the “Eligibility” section.

Viewers can browse YouTube Live to find live streams they are interested in viewing. Popular content categories include beauty, fashion, gaming, music and learning. You can subscribe to livestream channels to be notified of upcoming live broadcasts, events and premieres. 

### Best practices for creating YouTube live shopping content

It is important to learn how to use YouTube live stream shopping to maximize viewer engagement. The best Shopify livestreams connect with their audience and feature interactive elements like quizzes and giveaways. Quality matters! Pay attention to your set, lighting, camera and script. A high production value will reflect positively on your brand, products, and you as a merchant.

Follow these additional tips to create YouTube live shopping streams that build your audience and positively promote your products:

**1. Be Personable and Approachable:** Building a relationship with your viewers is one of the most important things you can do to grow your channel and create repeat customers. Focus on storytelling rather than hard selling your products. Create content that is inspiring, entertaining, educational and interesting, that you would want to watch. Think about how you can incorporate your products, almost as if they are a recurring character in your story. From here, sales will follow naturally.

**2. Call to Action:** Perfect your call to action (CTA). During your Shopify livestream, let viewers know where to find your products and how to purchase them. CTA’s should be thoughtful, well-crafted and seamlessly integrated into your storytelling.

**3. Stream Length:** Wondering how long your YouTube livestream should be? The ideal stream is 20 to 40 minutes. If it’s too short, it will not feel substantial. Too long and it will feel overwhelming to viewers and you will lose engagement. A livestream on YouTube can be a maximum length of 12 hours.

**4. Expect viewers to join 5 to 10 minutes into the stream**, so use this time for introductions and light-talk, and start presenting your core content at the 7 to 10 minute mark. Be sure to promote your livestream prior to the event. YouTube will automatically archive the stream post-broadcast. 

**5. New Product Drops:** Research conducted by YouTube shopping indicates viewers are most excited to shop when there is a new product. Time-bound product releases, and limited runs are also popular because they create FOMO. Special offers and sales also engage viewers to buy.

**6. Popular Formats:** Some of the most popular YouTube livestream shopping formats are tutorials, demonstrations, and interviews with influencers. Behind-the-scenes livestreams are also popular because they are a great way to humanize a brand or product while making viewers feel like they are getting priority access to you. 

### How to connect your Shopify store to YouTube shopping - a step by step guide

Follow this guide to connect your Shopify or Shopify Plus store to YouTube. If you need help setting up your Shopify Plus store or integrating it with YouTube, reach out to DigiFist, a Shopify Plus agency.

**To connect Shopify to YouTube:**
1. Sign into YouTube Studio and on the left menu select “Monetization”
2. Click the “Shopping” tab. This channel will only be visible if your channel is eligible
3. Select “Connect store”
4. Click “Shopify”, then select “Continue” 
5. Click “Go to Shopify”. Shopify will open in a new tab. Make sure you are logged in to Shopify.
6. Select “Add App” to add the Google channel. At the top right click “Add sales channel”
7. Select “Connect Google account” and sign into the same Google account that manages your YouTube channel. Complete all store requirements on the next page. 
8. Connect your Shopify merchant account, or create a new one if you don’t have one. You will then be asked to enter your phone information and verify your identity via text message. This two-factor authentication is to ensure security. Agree to the Terms of Service, and select “Complete setup”.

From here, you can sync your products with YouTube. Under the next section, click ‘Get started’. Confirm your channel meets the Shopify YouTube eligibility requirements and click “Continue”. Select your YouTube channel from the drop down menu, agree to the Terms of Service, and click “Complete set up”. Congratulations, you are ready to sell on YouTube!

You can also change the retailer connected with your YouTube channel, connect multiple stores to your channel, and disconnect your Shopify or Shopify Plus store from YouTube.

Shopify YouTube integration is an exciting, new way for Shopify and Shopify Plus merchants to sell products and promote their brand. YouTube is the second most visited website in the world, and live shopping is rapidly growing in popularity. Harness the power of Shopify YouTube. Upload your Shopify store to YouTube and let viewers shop while they watch. Contact Digifist, a Shopify Plus agency, we’d be happy to help you.

YouTube Live Shopping with Shopify 

The business to business (B2B) e-commerce market is exploding. By 2025, it’s expected that 80% of all B2B commerce transactions will happen online, and the value of the global e-commerce market will hit $7.7 trillion dollars USD. B2B e-commerce makes good business sense: Selling wholesale online, you have access to a global marketplace and the potential to create higher order volumes with less time and cost per sale compared to traditional direct to consumer (DTC) commerce.

Whether you’re an experienced B2B seller expanding online, or entirely new to wholesale, Shopify Plus B2B has all of the features you need. Shopify B2B is built directly into the Shopify admin, allowing you to sell wholesale and DTC from one platform and store, using the full power of Shopify. You can combine Shopify’s trusted, user-friendly e-commerce platform with the added functionality needed for B2B into one, easy to use solution, while accessing the customization tools that are unique to Shopify Plus.

This article will walk you through the core Shopify B2B features, blended and dedicated stores, the difference between Shopify B2B and Shopify Plus Wholesale Channel, and a checklist of things to consider when starting your Shopify B2B online store.

## Do I need Shopify Plus for B2B?
Yes. B2B on Shopify is only available on Shopify Plus and is included in your Shopify Plus subscription at no additional cost. Shopify Plus prices vary based on the volume of your business. If you’re interested in setting up a B2B online store, or want to upgrade to Shopify Plus [contact us as a Shopify Plus Agency and speak to a Plus expert](https://www.digifist.com/en/help-center/contact-us).

<div style="padding:56.25% 0 0 0;position:relative;"><iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/760286752?h=d74697740b&badge=0&autopause=0&player_id=0&app_id=58479/embed" allow="autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></div>

## Shopify B2B Features
Let’s take a look at 7 of the top features that come with Shopify B2B so you can harness the full potential of the e-commerce platform.

### 1. Company profiles
In Shopify B2B, [companies](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/b2b/companies) are the business to business customers that you have assigned a company profile to.

With this feature, you can create a list of wholesale company profiles and add up to 50 locations per company. Each location can be customized to have separate price lists, payment terms, checkout options, and shipping addresses. This means that your B2B customers can log-in to your store, select the location they are purchasing for, and receive the prices, payment terms and shipping options that have been set up for that location, creating a curated experience for both buyer and seller.

![Company_profiles_screenshot.png](https://cmsad.digifist.com/uploads/Company_profiles_screenshot_8ebeb467b8.png)

### 2. Price Lists
The [price lists](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/b2b/price-lists) feature is a user-friendly way to set up custom pricing for your B2B clients without having to rely on complicated apps or tags. You can set fixed or percentage-discounted prices for all of your products, and offer unique price lists to different companies or locations. Price lists can contain both an overall percentage and fixed prices, allowing you to modify pricing on products that are more expensive to produce or where you are seeking a higher profit margin.

Shopify B2B wholesale allows you to create an unlimited number of price lists in your B2B store. You can assign a maximum of 25 price lists per company location. 

![Price_lists_screenshot.png](https://cmsad.digifist.com/uploads/Price_lists_screenshot_1e345cccb6.png)

### 3. Payment Terms
One of the most important parts of a commerce transaction is knowing when, and how, you’re going to be paid for your product. [Payment terms](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/b2b/payment-terms) lets you set up the length of time a company has to pay for their order. This powerful feature is fully automated, meaning you can assign payment terms, sort and collect payment in the most efficient way possible by tracking data in your admin.

Each company location can be assigned a payment term. Currently, there are two payment options: none and net. None is the default payment term, whereby customers pay at checkout. Net is a flexible payment term, allowing your B2B customers to pay anytime between when the order is placed, and the due date that you have set. The available terms are net 7, net 15, net 30, net 60, and net 90.

![Payment_terms_screenshot.png](https://cmsad.digifist.com/uploads/Payment_terms_screenshot_20ca4a7d76.png)

### 4. Checkout and Self-Serve
If your Shopify Plus wholesale store is configured for both B2B and DTC, your customers will have different accounts in your online store. B2B clients will be prompted to login with their B2B account. From there, they can view the company and location information in their account, see wholesale price lists, and place and review their B2B orders. 

The self-serve option will allow customers to manage aspects of their account on the buyer-side. Here, they can track their orders, and filter by date, order number, and status. B2B customers can also select the company location they are buying for, and edit buyer information.

You can set how your B2B clients access their accounts, depending on your needs. Options include updating your online store settings, sharing the login with your B2B customers directly or via a welcome email, and manually adding the URL to your online store nav.

### 5. VAT validation for EU businesses
If your B2B company is based in the EU, you need to be knowledgeable about VAT regulations and how to set up Shopify tax rules for B2B wholesale customers in the EU. VAT rules differ depending on who you sell to, and in which EU country, as well as the amount of sales you process in that particular country. Further, within your country, jurisdiction rules will deem some B2B transactions tax-free. For these B2B purchases companies must provide an exemption letter. 

Rules for tax-exempt should be configured the right way at checkout. To do this, you can set up a VAT validation API to the checkout of your Shopify store. An external EU vat validation API can be easily connected to any custom field on the checkout page, adding an extra layer of security for fraud prevention.

DigiFist can help you configure these settings. [Contact us](https://www.digifist.com/en/help-center/contact-us) and we’ll be happy to help.

### 6. Managing B2B Customers
As the store owner, Shopify B2B wholesale provides you with tools to manage your B2B customers and how they can interact with your store. You control the customer permissions: You can select the company locations a customer will have access to, and add and delete customers from your store. Currently, a maximum of 10 customers can be assigned to each company location. 

When a B2B customer logs in with a new customer account, they will be emailed a verification code. This extra layer of security ensures B2B buyers are authenticated before they can view wholesale products, pricing, and place and track orders, ensuring that your sensitive information remains with the customer authorized to see it.

### 7. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software integration
Many large-scale B2B companies that onboard Shopify Plus B2B already have enterprise resource planning (ERP) software in place to organize product information, control inventory and track orders. Integrating this with other platforms, such as Shopify, can prove difficult and time-consuming for a business.

To remedy this, Shopify launched the [Global ERP Program](https://news.shopify.com/the-best-in-commerce-joins-the-best-in-enterprise-shopify-launches-global-erp-program). This program gives high-profile ERP partners like Microsoft, Brightpearl and Oracle Net Suite the power to build a suite of certified apps directly integrated into the Shopify App Store, removing the need for Shopify Plus merchants to turn to third-party apps to connect their ERP to Shopify.  

Shopify B2B is an evolving platform, with purpose-built B2B features continuously being developed and launched. Upcoming planned releases include B2B API rules, easy reordering, quantity price breaks, quantity purchasing rules to set product minimums and maximums, and contextual publishing to hide or reveal products to selected B2B customers. 

## B2B Wholesale: The difference between blended and dedicated stores

When setting up your B2B store on Shopify, you will need to decide whether you want to open a blended or a dedicated store. Both have advantages and disadvantages, so it’s important to choose the one that is best for your commerce needs.

**Blended:** A blended store accepts both B2B and DTC orders. B2B customers must log-in and be authenticated via their B2B account to access wholesale pricing, products and checkout. This type of online store is good if you are looking to keep things simple: Data and information can be managed through one dashboard for both B2B and DTC, saving time and minimizing effort. 

The downside of a blended store is that many features can’t be segmented, and will apply to both B2B and DTC customers. For example, B2B and DTC will have the same online store experience; if you activate gift cards both B2B and DTC customers can use them, and shipping options and rates will be the same. A blended store is a good solution if you don’t need different settings for your B2B and DTC customers. If you do, a dedicated store may be a better solution.

**Dedicated:** This is a separate online storefront used only by your B2B clients, allowing you to create a custom buying experience that is detached from your DTC store. With a dedicated store, you can set up unique B2B discount codes, notifications, themes, gift cards, shipping and rates. You can also pull analytics specific to your B2B customer base. 

The benefit of a dedicated store is that you can clearly segment your business data and customer experience between your B2B and DTC online stores. The downside is that it is more work to set up and maintain: You will need to [create a new store](https://www.digifist.com/en/help-center/contact-us), manage the B2B and DTC stores separately, and retrieve independent data for both stores. A dedicated store is a good choice if you need to differentiate between your customer bases.

## Shopify B2B vs Shopify Plus Wholesale Channel

Shopify B2B offers greater customization than the Shopify Plus Wholesale Channel and is the future of B2B selling on Shopify. B2B on Shopify is built directly into the Shopify admin, meaning the powerful tools and features available on your DTC store can be harnessed for B2B. By contrast, the Shopify Plus Wholesale Channel is a separate entity disconnected from the core Shopify platform. Its customizations are limited, and it does not have the functionality enjoyed by Shopify DTC and B2B. 

In addition, the Shopify B2B marketplace allows the option of choosing a blended store or a dedicated expansion store and lets wholesale merchants access APIs to connect existing ERP’s and CRM’s. New features will not be added to the Plus Wholesale Channel as the focus is on Shopify B2B as the best online wholesale solution for buyers and sellers alike.

## Considerations when starting your Shopify B2B store
The Shopify Plus B2B platform is continuously growing and evolving. Whether you choose a blended or dedicated B2B solution, it’s important to note the following considerations when setting up your store: The maximum B2B order is 500 different products per customer, and each company location can have a maximum of 25 price lists. Subscriptions are not currently compatible, and B2B customers will initially need to log into your store with a new account which will be validated with an access code sent to their email.

The following is a list of features that are available on Shopify B2B but not included in the initial set up by default. Contact DigiFist if you would like these features enabled on your Shopify B2B store: 

- Gift card purchases
- Discounts	
- Scripts that affect line item discounts
- Recovering abandoned checkouts

Finally, the following is a list of features not currently available on Shopify B2B;
- Local delivery
- Accelerated checkouts
- Tipping
- In-store pickup for online purchases
- Changing the customer for B2B order
- Scripts affecting payments or shipping
- Editing checkout.liquid file to customize checkout
- Selling non physical products, like services

The online opportunity for B2B is massive and growing. Shopify B2B is the best ecommerce solution for your wholesale store. It’s highly customizable, powered by the core Shopify platform, and lets you select between a blended or dedicated expansion store. With its impressive list of features, it’s the B2B ecommerce platform you’ve been waiting for. Are you ready to set up your store? [Contact DigiFist as Shopify Plus Expert ](https://www.digifist.com/en/help-center/contact-us)to get started today.

Shopify Plus B2B features - How to Get Started

Shopify and Lightspeed are well-known e-commerce and point-of-sale (POS) platforms. Shopify is a complete commerce solution that lets you sell on the web, mobile, social media, online marketplaces, bricks and mortar stores and pop-ups. Shopify is used by more than 1.75 million businesses in 175 countries around the world. Lightspeed is a POS and e-commerce software provider based in Montreal, Canada. Founded in 2005, more than 45,000 businesses process over $17 billion in transactions annually using Lightspeed.

This article will compare both Shopify vs Lightspeed e-commerce platforms and Shopify vs Lightspeed POS systems. We will start by looking at Shopify vs Lightspeed as an e-commerce solution.  

## Shopify vs Lightspeed E-commerce

Shopify and Lightspeed have some similarities: They are fully hosted, all-in-one platforms that let you sell online and offline through a variety of channels including web, social, mobile and in-person using their POS systems. Both are configured for B2C and B2B commerce and international selling. Shopify and Lightspeed are good choices for beginners as they are easy to use. 

Where the platforms differ greatly is in the origin: Shopify was purpose-built to be an all-in-one, complete commerce platform. Lightspeed was originally designed as an e-commerce plug-in for content platforms like WordPress, Wix and Squarespace. These origin stories play an important role in how the platforms have developed. 

Let’s examine 5 differences between Shopify and Lightspeed and also look at pricing plans to help you decide which one is the best for your business.

### 1. E-commerce Themes and Design Capability

Shopify is one of the most popular e-commerce platforms in the world and is much more comprehensive and customizable than Lightspeed e-commerce. You don’t need to be a designer or developer to build a Shopify store. Simply pick a [theme](https://www.digifist.com/en/themes/all), customize the look of your store with the online store builder, and add features and additional functionality with apps, resulting in a highly sophisticated e-commerce experience that you can scale as your business grows. You can use your domain name and connect it to Shopify from your store admin panel. If you have a large e-commerce site that needs more customization, [contact Digifist](https://www.digifist.com/en/help-center/contact-us), a Shopify Plus agency.

Lightspeed e-commerce was originally developed as a widget to add e-commerce functionality to existing content platforms. You can build a full e-commerce store with Lightspeed but sites are less sophisticated and not as customizable compared to Shopify. Lightspeed comes with a theme that integrates with your existing site, adopting its colours, and overall look and feel. You can customize simple, predetermined widgets on your store front, such as adding or hiding different blocks like “About us”, "Customer Feedback" or “Contact Details”, changing fonts, and adding or hiding buttons. To adjust the store design you will need to modify the CSS, which means you have to know how to work with code or hire a developer to do the work.

### 2. E-Commerce Product Functionality

Shopify and Lightspeed offer a comprehensive suite of product functionality tools to manage everything from product inventory to sales and secure checkout on your e-commerce store. When looking at production functionality Shopify is the more feature-rich option and is easier to use than Lightspeed.  

Shopify has no product limits with any of its plans. Lightspeed restricts the number of products you can add to your store. The free plan gives you a maximum of 10, while the Venture plan allows 100. Only the Unlimited plan removes product limits, but it is cost-prohibitive at $99.00 a month. The Basic Shopify plan is $29.00 a month, making Shopify the better choice if you have a store with multiple products or one that you plan to scale and diversify.

You can create product categories with Shopify and Lightspeed, but it is simpler with Shopify.
With Shopify, you can [set selection conditions ](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/collections)to automatically include matching products. You can also manually create collections. With Lightspeed, you create smart categories with criteria. This is a good feature to have if you have a store with many products, but it is harder to implement than on Shopify.

Lightspeed has no product option limits as part of its default setting, offering an unlimited number regardless of the plan you choose. Shopify’s default setting allows you to have three options for each product you sell. You can add variants using metafields which can be accessed via your Shopify admin settings. 

When looking at payment gateways, both Shopify and Lightspeed are great choices. Lightspeed offers more than 70 payment gateways, while Shopify boasts over 100 payment providers around the globe, including its product [Shopify Payments](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/payments/shopify-payments), which removes third-party transaction fees for orders processed through Shopify Payments, Shop Pay, Shop Pay Installments, and Paypal Express.

### 3. Selling Online in Multiple Currencies

You can build global partnerships and sell internationally with both Shopify and Lightspeed in different ways. As with many other platform features, Shopify is better than Lightspeed for selling in multiple currencies. 

Shopify has developed and built [Shopify Markets](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/markets) to make selling internationally easy, Shopify Markets lets you choose the areas around the world you want to sell in, then helps you set up, launch, optimize, manage, and grow your international business. Customers can view prices, pay for their orders, and receive refunds all in their local currency. In addition, if you are a Shopify Plus merchant, you have access to a feature that will automatically adjust the currency on your site for the IP address of the website browser. If you are not a Plus merchant, there are third-party apps that will do the same thing.

To sell internationally with Lightspeed you will need to download the Currency Converter or Auto Currency Switcher app so customers can see prices in their native currency based on their browsing location. The monthly cost for the app will be added to your base subscription price. Lightspeed does not currently support checkout in all currencies. This means that while a customer can view the cost of a product in their native currency they might not be able to pay with it, causing frustration, a poor customer experience and lost sales. 

### 4. E-Commerce Marketing Tools

Shopify has an exhaustive list of marketing and customer engagement tools, including a professional blogging template, and the ability to create custom email campaigns. This will help you advertise effectively and reach your target audience, even if you don’t have a background in marketing. You also have access to powerful SEO tools to edit title tags, product details and meta descriptions on your site, and can create product ads on social sites like Facebook. 

Lightspeed offers options for marketing and SEO but they are not as versatile or well-developed as Shopify. You can create email campaigns but there is no blog template, which is a missed opportunity to engage customers. As with Shopify, you can create ads to deploy on sites like Google and Facebook and review data from your marketing channels in a single dashboard. SEO tools are basic but can be enhanced by adding a plug-in like Yoast or integrating the store with SEO-friendly content platforms like WordPress and Squarespace.

### 5. Dropshipping

Shopify has invested considerable resources to provide merchants and customers with a seamless, easy-to-use dropshipping experience with more than [280 dropshipping apps](https://apps.shopify.com/categories/finding-products-product-sourcing-dropshipping?locale=nl) and integrations. You can even access a guide on product trends and how to find products to sell online to help you build your perfect store. 

Lightspeed can be used for dropshipping, but is far more limited,  supporting only [12 dropshipping integrations](https://www.ecwid.com/apps/dropshipping), including Printful, Sprocket and Alibaba. If you are an entrepreneur who wants to manage time and money, dropshipping with Shopify is your better choice. 

## Shopify vs Lightspeed Ecommerce Pricing

**Shopify offers 3 pricing tiers and Shopify Plus:**
- **Basic Shopify Plan at $29 per month:** This plan is recommended for new e-commerce businesses that may have occasional in-person sales.
- **Shopify Plan at $79.00 per month:** This is designed for growing businesses selling online or in person
- **Advanced Shopify Plan at $299 per month:** This plan is recommended for businesses that are scaling and need advanced reporting.
- **Shopify Plus starts from $2000** - This is Shopify’s enterprise commerce platform and is a great choice for large businesses selling B2B or B2C online and in person. Pricing starts at $2000 a month with the total cost based on overall sales volume. For more information about Plus pricing, [contact DigiFist](https://www.digifist.com/en/help-center/contact-us), a Shopify Plus agency.

**Lightspeed has 4 plans,** including a free plan which allows you to create a one-page e-commerce website with up to 2 product categories and 10 products. The other plans are:
- **Venture at $19 per month:** Venture builds on the Free plan, offering additional features like selling on Facebook and Instagram, granting access to the App Market and upping your product availability from 10 to 100 products.
- **Business at $39 per month:** This plan gives you everything in Venture plus features like 2 staff accounts, an abandoned cart saver, and the option to sell up to 2500 products.
- **Unlimited at $99 per month:** This is Lightspeed’s largest plan and the only one that offers unlimited products. With Unlimited, you get everything in the Business plan plus additional features like POS integration and the ability to sell via branded mobile apps

## Shopify POS vs Lightspeed POS

Shopify’s POS system was launched in 2013 and has had many iterations to integrate offline and online sales, orders, products and payments. You need a Shopify plan to use Shopify POS: Your Shopify e-commerce store is where you will manage customers, inventory, and account details. The Shopify POS app is used for customer-facing activities and in-store settings.

Lightspeed is a cloud-based POS solution geared toward retailers and hospitality. You can sync it with the Lightspeed e-commerce platform, giving you the ability to manage in-store and online inventory, and analyze multi-channel sales data.

## Is Lightspeed better than Shopify?

Both Shopify and Lightspeed are two of the best POS systems on the market with an impressive list of features and excellent inventory controls. As a general rule, if your business is primarily e-commerce based, Shopify POS is recommended as it’s an e-commerce-first solution and is backed by the Shopify e-commerce platform which is more powerful and robust than Lightspeed e-commerce.

Let’s compare the core features of Shopify vs Lightspeed POS to help you choose the one that’s best for your business. We’ll look at how they stack up for inventory management, hardware and sales tools, and also review pricing plans for both POS systems.

### 1. POS Inventory Management

Both Shopify and Lightspeed POS systems have robust inventory management features that help you manage your business. You can set up and track inventory across multiple locations, import and export, transfer between locations, and change prices in bulk. Lightspeed’s inventory management system is slightly more developed, but Shopify has a powerful inventory location tool which makes it the better overall choice for inventory management. 

Shopify’s inventory location tool lets you assign inventory to multiple locations like retail stores, warehouses and pop-up shops. You can prioritize which location you want to fulfill online orders first or fulfill an order based on whichever location is closest. You can also view your inventory history for both products and variants. By comparison, Lightspeed POS only allows one retail location unless you upgrade to a more expensive plan. Further, you don’t have the option to choose your location for inventory fulfillment. Online sales can only be set up to pull inventory from a primary location, meaning you could oversell even if other locations have stock.

### 2. POS Hardware

When comparing Shopify vs Lightspeed POS hardware, Shopify comes out on top. Shopify has more hardware options than Lightspeed and [discloses prices for its hardware upfront](https://hardware.shopify.ca/collections/shopify-retail-kit). Lightspeed lists what hardware they offer but does not disclose the price. This is important because being able to plan and budget is essential to managing a business. Shopify also offers unlimited registers at each location. Lightspeed charges a fee for each extra register you use.

Shopify POS retail kit has the following products. All hardware comes with a 1-year warranty for Shopify POS Lite plans, and a 2-year warranty for POS Pro plans:
- Tap & Chip card reader – $49
- Shopify Dock for Tap & Chip reader – $39
- Shopify Retail Stand for iPad 10.2”/ Air 10.5” – $149
- Shopify Retail Stand for iPad 9.7” – $149
- Shopify Retail Kit 10.2”/ Air 10.5” – $299
- Shopify Casual Kit – $99
- Shopify Mini Dock Cable – $9
- Shopify Mounting Kit – $9
- Barcode scanners - $299-$329
- Label printers $199 - $499 (for wireless until)
- Receipt printers $289-$359
- Cash drawer $139
- 10 lbs shipping scale - $49
- 100 lbs shipping scale - $89

Lightspeed’s POS hardware kit is available for iPad and desktop. The iPad POS hardware kit includes: 
- LAN receipt printer
- Cash drawer
- Bluetooth barcode scanner
- Lightspeed-branded iPad stand
- Receipt paper
- You provide the iPad

Lightspeed’s desktop hardware kit includes:
- USB receipt printer
- Cash drawer
- USB barcode scanner

If you don’t need a Lightspeed POS hardware bundle, you can purchase the following pieces of equipment individually:
- Zebra ZD410 label printer
- Cash drawer
- Bluetooth barcode scanner
- USB barcode scanner
- Epson TM-M30 printer
- Mobile Tap
- WisePOS E
- Proper Stand
- WisePad3

### 3. POS Sales Tools

Shopify and Lightspeed POS have similarities when it comes to sales tools: They are both designed to support e-commerce and in-store sales, accept debit, credit, cash, cheques and gift card payment transactions, and give you the ability to sell subscriptions for products and services.

Where Shopify POS has the edge over Lightspeed POS is when it comes to admin management. Shopify integrates inventory, sales and expenses across all of your sales channels in a single admin platform, letting you view activity for your entire business in one place. Lightspeed is more complicated and less user-friendly because e-commerce and in-store are separated into different admins, meaning you need to sync the two to get a complete picture of the health of your business.

Additionally, with Shopify sales tools you can add an unlimited number of products to your POS and Shopify e-commerce store. Lightspeed limits your products and includes variants in your product limits. The customer experience is also platform agnostic with Shopify POS. Customers can start an order in-store and complete it online. This can help with conversion as it gives customers the time to decide on their purchase without abandoning their cart. This powerful feature isn’t offered on Lightspeed.

### 4. POS Pricing

Price is an important factor when choosing the best POS system for your business. When comparing Shopify vs Lightspeed which is the better value? Shopify POS offers 2 plans and Lightspeed POS offers 4. At first glance, Shopify and Lightspeed pricing seems comparable. However, when examining what comes with the individual plans it’s clear that Shopify POS is better value for money. Shopify comes with perks like an unlimited number of registers. Lightspeed charges for each additional register. Shopify POS plans are also more feature rich. The base plan, Shopify POS Lite, includes e-commerce, POS, payments, and the ability to integrate with accounting and loyalty programs. This is an upgraded, more expensive plan on Lightspeed. 

Let’s examine the plans in detail:

**Shopify has 2 plans to choose from, Shopify POS Lite, and Shopify POS Pro**

**1. Shopify Lite**: Shopify POS Lite is included at no additional charge with all Shopify Plans. POS Lite features include in-person credit card rates starting at 2.4% + 0 cents, mobile POS, order and product management, customer profiles, as well as additional features like customizable checkouts, automatic tax calculation, unlimited products and variants, multi-location inventory, customer loyalty, and analytics.

**2. Shopify POS Pro:** Shopify POS Pro is free for all Shopify Plus merchants. If you are not a Plus merchant, the cost is your Shopify plan + $89.00 a month per location. Shopify POS Pro includes all the Shopify POS Lite features as well as unlimited store staff, smart inventory management, omnichannel selling features, unlimited registers, staff roles and permissions and in-store analytics. Shopify POS Pro also comes with an impressive list of additional features like automatic discounts both in-person or online, the ability to buy online and pick up in store, and the option for customers to buy in-store and have the merchandise shipped to their homes. 

**Lightspeed offers 4 POS plans: Lean, Standard, Advanced, and Enterprise.**

**1. Lean:** The Lean plan costs $89.00 per month and includes access to the Lightspeed POS system and payment processing services. Lightspeed Payments charges 2.6% + 10 cents for card-present transactions, while card-not-present transactions will cost 2.6% + 30 cents. The Lean plan does not give you access to Lightspeed e-commerce or the ability to connect to an accounting platform. There are also no customer loyalty and sales analytics features.

**2. Standard:** The Standard plan costs $149.00 per month and gives you access to sell online with Lightspeed e-commerce. You can also connect a third-party accounting provider to your store. Supported integrations include Omniboost, QuickBooks, Xero, and Sage.

**3. Advanced:** The Advanced plan costs $269.00 per month and includes all the features of the Standard plan plus access to the customer loyalty program, a built-in email campaign builder, and a text and push notification sender. 

**4. Enterprise:** Lightspeed’s biggest plan is the Enterprise plan. It is designed for enterprise-level businesses and is custom priced. This plan includes everything in the Advances plan plus personalized onboarding and launch services, consultation services, a dedicated support team, API consultation, preferred payment rates, and advanced store analytics.

## Migrating from Lightspeed to Shopify

Shopify can integrate with Lightspeed via third-party integrations, but using Shopify for both your website and POS is recommended to unify your in-store and online business. This can help you save time on inventory, increase sales and provide a seamless customer experience.

If you're using Lightspeed Retail or Lightspeed e-commerce you can migrate your products to Shopify. You need to export your data from Lightspeed, and then you can import it to Shopify using the Store Importer app.

If you need help to migrate and launch your store quickly from Lightspeed to Shopify[ contact our expert team](https://www.digifist.com/en/help-center/contact-us). We are Shopify Plus experts and can help you build the store of your dreams.

Shopify vs Lightspeed: Full Comparison

Great news! If you're a merchant using Shopify, you can now take advantage of Google Analytics 4 (GA4) on your Shopify website. The installation process is quick and easy, and we're here to guide you through it with 3 simple steps.

To get started, you'll need a Google Analytics 4 property. From here, you can set up GA4 on your Shopify store with the Google Sales Channel app.

### Step 1: Create a Google account and a Google Analytics account
To use Google Analytics 4 you'll need a Google account. If you already use other Google products like Gmail or Ads, you can use the same account for Google Analytics.

If you don't have a Google account go to [google.com](https://www.google.com/), click sign-in and follow the prompts. You won’t need to use this Gmail account for anything other than signing in and out of Google Analytics.

Once you've registered a Google account create a Google Analytics 4 account. Now you’re ready to move to Step 2: Create a Google Analytics 4 property.

### Step 2: Create a Google Analytics 4 property
To enable Google Analytics 4, create a [Google Analytics 4 property](https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9304153) to add to your Shopify store. After you create your property, you need to create a [web data stream](https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9304153).

### Step 3: Add the Google Channel app and complete the connection
If you don't already have Google Channel installed you will be prompted to install it during the setup process for your GA4 tags. You don't have to connect to the Google Merchant Center to complete your GA4 tags setup process.

Steps:
1. From your Shopify admin, got to **Sales Channels** > Search for **Google channel**. 
2. In the **Shopify App Store**, navigate to **Google channel** and **Add app**.
3. Complete installation by clicking **Add sales channel**.
4. Click **Connect your Google account**.
5. **Accept** all the access Google channel needs.
6. Click on **Get started**.
7. Click **Connect your Google Analytics 4 property** and select the property you created on **Step 2**.
8. After selecting your property, click on **Connect**.

Certain e-commerce events are tracked automatically after you set up Google Analytics 4 tags. To learn more about event tracking in Google Analytics 4, refer to [Setting up Google Analytics events](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/reports-and-analytics/google-analytics/tracking-ecommerce-events-using-analytics).

**Note**: It is helpful to keep tracking data from Universal Analytics until it gets removed from this section on July 1, 2023.


How to Set Up Google Analytics 4 on Your Shopify Store: A Step-by-Step Guide

The e-commerce platform you choose can play an important role in the success of your business. This article will compare two popular e-commerce platforms, Shopify and Ecwid. It is essential to take the time to determine your target sales channels, consumer base, the functionality you need, and of course, the budget you are working with. Being armed with this information will help you pick the best platform for your store.
 
Shopify is one of the most popular e-commerce platforms. Founded in Canada in 2006, Shopify was purpose-built to be an all-in-one, easy-to-use, complete commerce platform. Currently, more than 1.75 million businesses in 175 countries trust Shopify with their e-commerce sales. Shopify processed $79.5 billion dollars in order value in 2021, and as of May 2022, there are 5.6 million live websites running Shopify. 

A less-popular platform, Ecwid was launched in 2009 as an e-commerce plug-in for content platforms like WordPress, Wix and Squarespace. Ecwid means “e-commerce widget”, highlighting that it was developed to be added to a website rather than work as a stand-alone e-commerce platform. Lightspeed acquired Ecwid in 2021. As of August 2022, there are 183,252 live websites using Ecwid, translating into a 21% year-over-year increase in 2022. The majority of Ecwid stores are based in the United States (31.7%), followed by the United Kingdom (7%), Canada (3.8%) and Australia (3.1%). 

## Shopify vs Ecwid

Shopify and Ecwid have some similarities: They are fully hosted, all-in-one platforms that let you sell online and offline to a global audience through a variety of channels including traditional e-commerce, social, and bricks and mortar using their POS systems. Both are configured to allow B2C and B2B selling and provide comprehensive tools to manage everything from payments to products, inventory and orders. Finally, both Shopify and Ecwid are good choices for beginners as they are relatively easy to use and set up. 

## Is Ecwid better than Shopify?

While the platforms do share commonalities, they also have significant differences. Today, Ecwid can be used as a stand-alone, e-commerce platform, and Shopify can be integrated into an existing site. However, their origin stories play an important role in how the platforms have developed over the years. 

Let’s examine 5 differences between Shopify and Ecwid which will help you decide which one is best for your e-commerce business.

### 1. Product Functionality

**Product Limits**

Shopify has no product limits with any of its plans. Whether you choose Basic, Advanced, or Shopify Plus, you can upload as many products as you want. 

Ecwid, on the other hand, puts a cap on how many products you can add to your store. The free plan gives you a maximum of 10, while the Venture plan allows 100. Only the Unlimited plan removes product limits, but it is cost-prohibitive at $99.00 a month. Compare this to the Basic Shopify plan which is only $29.00 a month, making Shopify the better choice if you have a store with multiple products or one that you plan to scale and diversify.

**Product Categories**

Organizing products into categories or collections makes it easier for customers to find them, offering a clean user experience. You can create collections with Shopify or Ecwid, but it is simpler with Shopify.

With Shopify, you can [set selection conditions](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/collections) to automatically include matching products. You can also manually create collections. With Ecwid, you create smart categories with criteria. This is a good feature to have if you have a store with many products, but it is harder to implement than on Shopify. You can add filters to your collections, but this too is not as intelligent as Shopify’s version, which lets you easily specify whether products need to meet all conditions to be included in a collection.

**Product Options**

Ecwid and Shopify have similar product options, accessible in different ways. Ecwid has no product option limits as part of its default setting, offering an unlimited number regardless of the plan you choose. Conversely, Shopify’s default setting allows you to have three options for each product you sell. You can add variants using metafields. This can be accessed via your Shopify admin settings. You can also install a [third-party app](https://apps.shopify.com/search?locale=nl&q=variants%20options) from the Shopify app store, but this will add costs to your plan. 

**Capturing Custom Data**

Being able to easily capture custom data is an area where Ecwid is better than Shopify. With Ecwid you can simply add an ‘extra information’ field on a product page or at checkout. Giving customers the option to add things like a note on how to fulfill a custom order creates a bespoke experience that can strengthen the customer relationship. Creating a similar text field with Shopify is somewhat more complicated: you will need to add code or an app to fulfill this function. 

**Payment Gateways**

When looking at payment gateways, both Shopify and Ecwid are great choices. Ecwid offers more than 70 payment gateways, while Shopify boasts over [100 payment providers](https://www.shopify.com/ca/payment-gateways) around the globe, including its product [Shopify Payments](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/payments/shopify-payments), which removes third-party transaction fees for orders processed through Shopify Payments, Shop Pay, Shop Pay Installments, and Paypal Express.

### 2. Building a Stand-Alone E-Commerce Store

You can build an e-commerce store with Shopify or Ecwid. That said, from its origins in 2006, Shopify was purpose-built to be a complete commerce platform, whereas Ecwid was originally designed as a widget to add e-commerce functionality to existing content platforms. Because of this, Shopify is the stronger choice if you are looking for a user-friendly, robust, e-commerce platform that can grow and scale your business.

**Overall design look & feel**

Whether you are launching your first e-commerce store, or are an enterprise-level business, There are currently 114 official Shopify themes to choose from. You don’t need to be a designer or developer to build a store: you pick a [theme](https://www.digifist.com/en/themes/all), customize the look and feel of your store with the online store builder, and add features and additional functionality with apps, resulting in a highly sophisticated e-commerce experience that you can easily scale as your business grows. You can use your domain name, and connect it to Shopify from your store admin panel. If you have a large e-commerce site that needs more customization, [contact Digifist](https://www.digifist.com/en/help-center/contact-us), a Shopify Plus agency.

Ecwid was originally built to be an e-commerce add-on, so sites are less sophisticated and not as customizable. Ecwid comes with a set theme that is built to integrate with your existing site, adopting its colours, and overall look and feel. You can customize simple, predetermined widgets on your store front, such as adding or hiding different blocks like “About us”, "Customer Feedback" or “Contact Details”, changing fonts, and adding or hiding buttons. To adjust the store design you will need to modify the CSS, which can prove difficult if you don’t understand how to work with code. 

**SaaS vs Open Source**

Shopify is a software as a service (SaaS) platform, making it incredibly user-friendly. To use Shopify, you simply access it via the internet, freeing you from installing and maintaining software, or from needing to understand code to build and run your store. Shopify is hosted, and secure and offers automatic updating. This means you don’t need to worry about your site going down because of a missing update.

Conversely, Ecwid is open-source PHP. Many developers use PHP to build websites. Open-source can be good for a platform because there is an opportunity for frequent updates and iterations. However, it is more complicated to maintain as your site will not update automatically. You need to ensure security patches and updates are done on time to prevent your site from going down. This is an added layer of responsibility as well as an ongoing cost that you won’t have with Shopify because if you don’t understand PHP you will be consistently on the hook for paying a developer to make it happen. 

**Marketing & SEO**

A well-thought-out marketing plan and attention to SEO are crucial to standing out in the competitive e-commerce space. Comparing Shopify vs Ecwid, as a Shopify merchant, you have access to a powerful suite of marketing and [customer engagement tools](https://www.shopify.com/ca/market), including a professional blogging template, and the ability to create custom email campaigns. You also have SEO tools to edit title tags, product details and meta descriptions on your site, and can create product ads on social sites like Facebook. 

Ecwid offers options for marketing and SEO but they are not as versatile or well-developed as Shopify. Ecwid allows you to create email campaigns but does not offer a blog template, which is a missed opportunity to engage customers. As with Shopify, you can create ads to deploy on sites like Google and Facebook and review data from your marketing channels in a single dashboard. SEO tools are basic but can be enhanced by adding a plug-in like Yoast or integrating the store with SEO-friendly content platforms like WordPress and Squarespace.

### 3. Selling in Multiple Currencies

E-commerce offers access to a global marketplace. Shopify and Ecwid both allow you to sell internationally in different ways, with Shopify once again proving to be the more dynamic platform. 

Shopify has developed and built Shopify Markets. Designed to make selling internationally easy, [Shopify Markets](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/markets) lets you choose the areas around the world you want to sell in, then helps you set up, launch, optimize, manage, and grow your international business. Customers can view prices, pay for their orders, and receive refunds all in their local currency. In addition, if you are a Shopify Plus merchant, you have access to a feature that will automatically adjust the currency on your site for the IP address of the website browser. If you are not a Plus merchant, there are third-party apps that will do the same thing.

As mentioned, Ecwid also allows worldwide selling, but it is a simplified, less user-friendly experience. You will need to download the Currency Converter or Auto Currency Switcher app. With these apps, customers can see prices in their native currency based on their browsing location. There is a monthly cost for the app, which will be added to your base subscription price. Additionally, and importantly, Ecwid does not support checkout in all currencies. This means that while a customer may be able to view the cost of a product in their currency, they may not be able to pay with it, potentially causing abandoned carts and lost sales.

### 4. Dropshipping

Dropshipping is when a merchant accepts customer orders without having stock on hand. Customer orders are passed on to a supplier for fulfillment and shipping. Dropshipping is a great option for new merchants who want to test the waters without having to worry about the hassle of keeping stock, managing inventory and shipping products.

Shopify is serious about setting its dropshipping merchants up for success. The company has invested considerable resources to ensure the platform provides both merchants and customers with a seamless, easy-to-use dropshipping experience.  Shopify has more than [280 dropshipping apps](https://apps.shopify.com/categories/finding-products-product-sourcing-dropshipping?locale=nl) and integrations, giving you a wide variety of options to build your dropshipping store. You can even access a [guide](https://www.shopify.com/ca/blog/product-ideas) on product trends and how to find products to sell online to help you build your perfect store. 

Ecwid can be used for dropshipping, but is far more limited. Currently, Ecwid only supports [12 dropshipping integrations](https://www.ecwid.com/apps/dropshipping), including Printful, Sprocket and Alibaba, curtailing your options and scalability. If you are an entrepreneur who wants to manage time and money, dropshipping with Shopify is your better choice. 

### 5. Point of Sale (POS)

Lightspeed is well known as a leading point-of-sale (POS) system provider that serves the retail and restaurant industries. Its cloud-based POS system is suitable for businesses of all sizes. [Lightspeed POS](https://www.lightspeedhq.com/pos/retail/#) has several features including fast checkout features and customizable receipts and can accept all payment types from credit card to contactless payment.

Shopify also has its own [Shopify POS](https://www.shopify.com/pos). With it, you can turn any mobile device into a POS system, customize the terminal to the needs of your business, and enjoy built-in payment processing.

You can integrate Lightspeed POS with Shopify. However, because this is a complex task, it’s  recommended that you hire a [Shopify expert](https://www.digifist.com/en) to help you.

## Ecwid vs Shopify Pricing

Shopify and Ecwid both offer a variety of pricing plans. When comparing features and price points, Ecwid is not cheaper than Shopify. What matters most is that you are choosing the best platform and plan for the needs of your business. 

Shopify offers 3 pricing tiers and Shopify Plus:
- Basic Shopify Plan at $29.00 per month: This plan is recommended for new e-commerce businesses that may have occasional in-person sales.
- Shopify Plan at $79.00 per month: This is the perfect choice for growing businesses selling online or in person
- Advanced Shopify Plan at $299.00 per month: This plan is recommended for businesses that are scaling and need advanced reporting.
- Shopify Plus - This is Shopify’s enterprise commerce platform and is a great choice for large businesses selling B2B or B2C online and in person. Pricing starts at $2000.00 a month with the total cost based on overall sales volume. For more information about Plus pricing, contact DigiFist, a Shopify Plus agency.

Ecwid has 4 plans, including a free plan which allows you to create a one-page e-commerce website with up to 2 product categories and 10 products. The other plans are:
- Venture at $19.00 per month: Venture builds on the Free plan, offering additional features like selling on Facebook and Instagram, granting access to the App Market and upping your product availability from 10 to 100 products.
- Business at $39.00 per month: This plan gives you everything in Venture plus features like 2 staff accounts, an abandoned cart saver, and the option to sell up to 2500 products.
- Unlimited at $99.00 per month: This is Ecwid’s largest plan and the only one that offers unlimited products. With Unlimited, you get everything in the Business plan plus additional features like POS integration and the ability to sell via branded mobile apps.

## Migrating from Ecwid to Shopify

Shopify was purpose-built to be a complete commerce solution and is the platform of choice if you want to sell B2B or B2C to markets worldwide, both online and in person. If you need help migrating from Ecwid to Shopify or are ready to open your Shopify store, [contact DigiFist](https://www.digifist.com/en), we are a Shopify Plus agency and are happy to help.

Shopify vs Ecwid: Full Comparison

Shopify is one of the most popular e-commerce platforms on the market. Trusted by more than 1.75 million merchants, the platform lets businesses of all sizes sell their products online. Shopify has a number of plans, from Basic up to Shopify Plus. How do you choose between them? What are the differences between Shopify and Shopify Plus?

The core Shopify plan is a great choice for small and medium sized businesses looking for a simple, cost-effective way to power their online stores: it has a selection of user-friendly templates, customization options, and excellent customer support.

As your business scales, that’s where Shopify Plus comes in. Shopify Plus is a supercharged experience, designed for enterprise-level businesses. An omni-channel platform, it has all the same, core dashboard and supports as Shopify, while offering additional exclusive features, including high customization, superior functionality and dedicated customer service. 
In short, if your business has outgrown Shopify’s core plans, and you’re looking for a way to elevate how you sell, ship and process payments, then Shopify Plus may be for you.

## Shopify vs Shopify Plus: Which is right for you?

Let’s deep-dive into Shopify Plus to learn more about what it offers. Rather than comparing Shopify to Shopify Plus, we’re going to focus on 13 Shopify Plus features that make it the best choice for enterprise-level business: 

### 1. Shopify B2B and Wholesale Channel
Merchants on the Shopify Plus plan have exclusive access to B2B on Shopify and the Shopify Plus Wholesale channel.

Shopify B2B is a powerful tool that lets you leverage Shopify to expand your customer base by selling business to business, through your online store, without requiring third party apps or workarounds. You’ll have access to the most customizable features of Shopify stores including custom themes, API’s and discounts.

You can create a blended store, to service B2B and direct to consumer customers (DTC), managing both from a single platform. Or, you can create a dedicated expansion store for B2B only. Whichever you choose, Shopify B2B will allow you to set up the list of companies that you sell B2B with, create a price list with custom pricing for companies, set payment terms unique to your customer, manage access to your store, and set up a B2B checkout.

Similarly, the Shopify Plus wholesale channel creates a separate, password-protected storefront that’s an extension of your online store, allowing you to grow your business into the wholesale arena. Only available to merchants on Shopify Plus, the wholesale channel lets you take the products you sell in your online store, and customize pricing for wholesale customers. You can also offer wholesale only products to target this audience. Your wholesale customers and orders can be managed through the admin on your Shopify store.

### 2. Script Editor
Making a meaningful connection to customers is essential to success. Script and the Script Editor app offers customers a bespoke cart and checkout experience. Unique to Plus plans, this personalization helps foster a dedicated consumer base and encourages repeat sales by having the ability to surprise and delight customers.

Scripts are small pieces of code, written with the Shopify Scripts API, which uses Ruby. The Script Editor app lets you write, publish, edit, test, debug and manage scripts. You can write the following 3 types of scripts: 
	- Line Item Scripts: Used to implement discounts and modify prices. These scripts run when an item in your cart is changed, added, or removed.
	- Payment Scripts: Used to rearrange, rename or hide payment gateways. These scripts run when your customer clicks on the payment method page at checkout.
	- Shipping scripts: Used to discount shipping rates or modify shipping methods. These scripts run on the shipping options page at checkout.

Script editor is a powerful tool that is quickly gaining popularity with Plus merchants because of the flexibility it gives to control store branding and offer customers a customized cart and checkout experience.

### 3. Expansion Stores
Shopify Plus supports the creation of expansion stores. These are additional stores created under the same company so you can sell internationally, in different languages and currencies, in separate physical locations, and to wholesale clients. 

For example, you could set up a UK and German version of your store. Expansion stores gives you the flexibility to split up your store to its specific region. So, in this instance, you could grant your UK staff permission to access the UK store, without giving permission to access the German store. This gives you more control over your brand and how you sell. 

Shopify Plus merchants can build up to 9 expansion stores and sell in 20 languages. 

### 4. ShopifyQL
Being able to make data-driven decisions is a fundamental piece of running a business. But data analytics can be difficult to understand if you are not a data scientist. With this in mind, Shopify created ShopifyQL, a data querying language exclusively for Plus merchants.

ShopifyQL is designed to make retrieving and analyzing commerce data accessible for non-technical users. It allows you to easily create year-over-year analysis in one statement, reference commerce date ranges without having to remember exact time-frames, visualize data in a chart or graph, and build data sets that explore all aspects of the commerce spectrum, from products, to orders and customers. 

### 5. Launchpad
Launchpad is a robust automation app which makes planning an event stress-free by allowing you to schedule events like a product release, sales campaign or flash sale from start to finish. Only available to Shopify Plus merchants, with Launchpad you can automate a number of event tasks including increasing inventory at the start of an event, modifying pricing at the beginning and end of the event, and scheduling shipping scripts to trigger discounts at checkout. In addition, while the event is running, you can track metrics in real-time via the app’s analytic dashboard.  

### 6. Customizable themes + Liquid
Shopify’s vast array of user-friendly themes are one of the platform's strongest selling points. Themes allow a merchant to find a template that suits their store and easily implement it. Standard plans allow for some customization yet it’s difficult to swap to an entirely different theme. 

With Shopify Plus the sky is the limit: you can add up to 20 themes and 50 templates to your account, test-drive new themes, and save versions of published themes so you can easily deploy them again. This high degree of customization is thanks to Liquid - an open source template to edit HTML or CSS to pull dynamic information into your themes. This gives you greater control over the look and feel of your store, and ability to tweak it to suit your needs. 

### 7. Access to Shopify POS Pro App
Expanding your business beyond e-commerce can maximize your access to customers. Shopify POS Pro is included free for all Plus members as part of your Shopify Plus fees. Whether you’re selling at a pop-up, market or other brick and mortar location, Shopify POS for enterprise will power your retail experience. It’s wireless, so you can process sales anywhere in the store, offers a variety of payment methods, and has competitive rates.  

Better yet, this powerful app syncs with Shopify to keep track of orders and inventory across all of your sales platforms including online, retail and social, offering unparalleled visibility to your sales data and customer behavior. This means you can view your analytics for online and in-store in one centralized place, integrate loyalty programs, and retrieve customer profiles to see order history and purchase location.

### 8. More sophisticated API resources
One of Shopify’s strengths is its ability to seamlessly integrate with third party apps. Shopify Plus allows additional API resources that can integrate with custom apps, giving you more options and increased flexibility for your store. These include:
	- GiftCard - An app to create and manage gift card codes. 
	- Multipass login - Simplifies the user experience by redirecting visitors from your website to Shopify store without asking them to login again. 
	- User - A resource to help manage your store, this app lets you retrieve information on staff permissions, as well as add, remove and edit staff accounts. 

### 9. Dedicated launch support
Shopify is known for its excellent customer service available via phone, live chat and email. This support is amped up for Plus users who are given dedicated support through the Shopify Plus Launch Team and Merchant Success Team.

A Plus exclusive, the Launch Team will advise on everything from how to build your store, to custom integrations, data migration and third party tech recommendations. They’ll also share best practice testing and go-live strategies to help launch day go off without a hitch. Once your store is launched, you will transition to the Merchant Success Team. This team of specialists are Plus experts that will help you to grow and scale your business for long-term success.

### 10. Unlimited staff accounts
As your store scales, your need for staff will too. The Shopify Plus plan gives unlimited staff accounts, which lets merchants grow their staff without incurring additional costs. This is in contrast to the basic Shopify plan which allows a maximum of 2 staff accounts. 

Merchants on the Plus plan are also granted additional permission settings to better control what staff has access to in the Shopify admin. This covers everything from export permissions to accessing specific apps.

### 11. Integration with existing platforms
Shopify has been developed to allow apps to easily be added to stores. However, for established businesses, integrating existing platforms may be more desirable. Using Shopify’s API, Plus members can do this. This includes platforms for third-party logistics (3PL), customer relationships management (CRM) and inventory and order planning (IMS and OMS). 

Additionally, some integrations, like Tax services with Avalara AvaTax, are available to Shopify Plus plan users only.

### 12. Enhanced Store Management
All Shopify merchants have access to Shopify admin to manage their stores. Shopify Plus members are treated to an enhanced version, the Shopify organization admin.

This upgraded admin lets users manage their stores at the operational level. This is perfect for merchants with more than one store because you can review analytics, edit workflows and control user management for multiple stores from a single location. Those not on the Plus plan need to manage each of their stores individually.

### 13. VIP Member Support
Shopify Plus caters to high-growth merchants and brands. As a Plus member you will have access to exclusive supports not available to other Shopify clients. These include:
	- Membership to the Shopify Plus Community on Facebook - A private group to network, strategize and collaborate with other Plus merchants.  
	- Enrollment in the Shopify Plus Academy, a learning hub exclusively for merchants on the Shopify Plus plan. Self-directed, these online courses help merchants learn more about Shopify Plus, e-commerce best practices and technical integrations to help scale their business.
	- Access to the Shopify Plus Partner Program - A network of high-value service partners hand-selected by Shopify to provide technical expertise and solutions to support continued business growth. 

![shopify-vs-shopify-plus.png](https://cmsad.digifist.com/uploads/shopify_vs_shopify_plus_2ab64a742f.png)

### How much does Shopify Plus cost?
With an impressive list of high-impact features, it’s easy to see the value of  Shopify Plus for your business. But how does this translate into price?

Pricing for standard Shopify plans is straightforward. There are three standard plans: Basic, Shopify and Advanced. Each has a flat price structure, regardless of sales. You can try them for free for 14 days, so it’s easy to pick the best plan for your business. 

Shopify Plus prices are more specialized as the total cost is based on sale volume. Cost for the Shopify Plus plan starts at $2000.00 USD a month, with a variable fee for high volume businesses. 

What about Shopify Plus transaction fees? Shopify charges .15% per transaction to use a third-party payment provider. This transaction fee is used to offset security requirements and is waived if you use Shopify Payments. 

Shopify also charges a small fee to allow your customers to pay by credit card. Shopify Plus credit card rates are different for online and POS because of varying security and risk management concerns.

To find out how much Shopify Plus costs for your business, contact DigiFist and speak to a Plus expert.

### Upgrade to Shopify Plus
Shopify is a trusted, user-friendly platform that powers e-commerce businesses of all sizes. Both the standard Shopify plans and Shopify Plus have the same core offering in terms of dashboard and basic functionality. Shopify is a great choice for small and medium businesses looking for an affordable, user-friendly way to sell online. 

Where Plus shines is in its ability to cater to enterprise level business: It’s adaptable, built for change and offers the increased customization, exclusive features, and partner support that large businesses need. Whether you want to sell B2B and wholesale, create expansion stores, or are looking for a customizable solution, Shopify Plus will arm your business with the best platform to grow and scale. 

Are you ready to grow your business? DigiFist is a Shopify Plus agency. **[Let’s talk](https://www.digifist.com/en/help-center/contact-us)**.


Get ahead with the latest in e-commerce and Shopify Plus

Stay connected