According to The Business Research Company, the global pharmaceutical eCommerce market is projected to reach $732.3 billion by 2027. This represents a significant opportunity for pharmacies, healthcare service providers, or hospitals/clinics to implement eCommerce and reach a broader range of potential customers. To achieve this, building an online pharmacy on a professional platform is a great idea to address industry-specific challenges. 

Things to keep in mind when building an online pharmacy

When building a pharmacy eCommerce website, businesses must meet numerous criteria to ensure professionalism, safety, and legal compliance within this industry.

Intuitive user interface

The typical customer profile in the pharmaceutical eCommerce sector consists of individuals seeking to purchase medications, medical equipment, and other healthcare products for themselves, family, or friends.

Thus, the website interface needs to be visually appealing, and user-friendly, and prioritize colors such as blue or white to create a sense of safety and cleanliness. 

Other factors, such as layout, font choice, and imagery, should be carefully selected and coordinated to deliver the most professional user experience.

Bespoke features

When building an online pharmacy, beyond default eCommerce features, businesses should focus on developing the following features to address industry-specific needs:

• Prescription Medications: Provide prescription medications based on the doctor’s indications and instructions.
• Consultation Services from Doctors/Pharmacists: Offer health consultation services and online medical examinations on demand.
• Detailed Product Information Display: Furnish comprehensive information about products, including drug names, ingredients, indications, dosage, usage instructions, side effects, warnings, expiration dates, and prices.
• Usage Guidelines: Provide usage instructions and dosage adjustments for all medical products, about the advice of doctors/pharmacists.
• Online Medical Records: Store patient medical records and test results on the system’s information portal.

High security

An online pharmacy is a system that contains various crucial information including personal details, payment information, and the health status of customers. Therefore, the security system of the website needs to be built and deployed carefully to ensure the safety of customer data.

Compliance with legal regulations

Pharmaceutical eCommerce is a specialized business area subject to the regulations of the healthcare/pharmaceutical industry. eCommerce pharmaceutical businesses need to comply with these regulations to ensure that their operations are legal and safe for customers.

Below are some key legal regulations that e-commerce pharmaceutical businesses need to adhere to in Vietnam:

• Pharmaceutical Law: The Pharmaceutical Law regulates the conditions for pharmaceutical business, including requirements for pharmaceutical business licenses, facilities, equipment, personnel, and drug quality.
• Decree 54/2017/NĐ-CP: Decree 54/2017/NĐ-CP provides detailed regulations on pharmaceutical business activities.
• Circular 07/2018/TT-BYT: Circular 07/2018/TT-BYT guides the advertising of drugs, drug ingredients, medical equipment, and cosmetics.
• Circular 04/2016/TT-BYT: Circular 04/2016/TT-BYT guides state management of the pharmaceutical profession.
• Circular 34/2018/TT-BYT: Circular 34/2018/TT-BYT guides state management of drugs and drug ingredients.

In addition, pharmaceutical eCommerce businesses also need to comply with other legal regulations, such as Cybersecurity Law, Consumer Protection Law, and eCommerce Law.

Top 5 eCommerce Platforms to build an online pharmacy

Although this industry has many challenges to deploy, businesses always have eCommerce platforms to create their online pharmacies. Here are the 5 leading platforms for building online pharmacy that businesses may consider.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce is a cloud-based eCommerce platform operating on the Software as a Service (SaaS) model, enabling businesses to create and manage online stores.

Currently, BigCommerce offers four main solutions, including

Pros:

• Easy to use: BigCommerce is designed to be user-friendly with a drag-and-drop builder to help businesses create and manage online stores easily without the need for technical skills.
• Multi-channel support: BigCommerce allows pharmaceutical businesses to operate across multiple platforms, including eCommerce websites, social media pages, and online marketplaces.
• Security compliance: BigCommerce is committed to adhering to high-level security standards and protects customer personal information and transaction data.
• Pharmaceutical solutions: BigCommerce offers a variety of features and interfaces specifically designed for the pharmaceutical industry.

Cons:

• Ongoing costs: As a SaaS, BigCommerce requires monthly or annual fees for usage. The value of these fee packages may increase depending on the scale of the business and transaction fees per order.
• Limited customization: While BigCommerce allows customization of eCommerce websites, it limits deeper customization. This could be an issue for businesses with specific customization requirements, such as in the pharmaceutical industry.
• Limited scalability: While BigCommerce can scale, for large businesses or those planning rapid expansion in the future, it may be necessary to consider more specialized platforms to handle these needs.
• Platform dependency: Businesses will rely on BigCommerce’s ecosystem to maintain and update their online stores. This could be a concern if a business needs complete control over its system.

Some famous pharmaceutical eCommerce businesses currently utilizing BigCommerce include Victoria Health, Molton Brown, LARQ, and Zyppah.

Shopify

Shopify is a SaaS eCommerce platform established in 2006. To date, Shopify has rapidly become one of the leading platforms in the eCommerce industry, supporting thousands of businesses worldwide to initiate and grow their online ventures.

The cost to use the Shopify platform is quite diverse, including these three solutions:

In addition, Shopify provides eCommerce solutions tailored to businesses with different needs and wants, such as:

• Starter: $5/month, leveraging payment features through social networks and messaging apps for businesses.
• Retail: $89/month, includes employee management features, inventory tracking, and loyalty programs for retail stores.
• Commerce Components: Custom pricing, offering third-party modules for integration into the eCommerce website.
• Shopify Plus: Custom pricing, designed for large enterprises.
• Shopify Hydrogen: Custom pricing, for businesses to deploy Headless Commerce.

Learn more: Top 5 benefits of Headless Commerce 

Pros:

• Easy to use: Shopify is designed with an intuitive user interface, allowing non-technical users to easily create online stores.
• Diverse pricing plans: Shopify offers a wide range of choices for businesses, catering to small, medium, startup, and large enterprises with various customization needs.
• Data Security: Shopify adheres to important security standards such as PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) to keep customer’s personal and healthcare data safe.
• Extensive Feature Set: Shopify provides many features and extensions to meet the needs of building eCommerce websites for various industries, including the pharmaceutical sector.

Cons:

• Ongoing costs: Similar to BigCommerce, Shopify requires monthly or annual fees for service usage, and costs can escalate over time due to transaction fees, expansion of features, etc.
• Limited Customization: Shopify offers a certain level of customization for basic packages like Basic, Shopify, Advanced, Retail, and Starter. If a business requires a highly customized eCommerce website, additional fees must be paid to use other solutions or consider alternative platforms.
• SEO Limitations: While Shopify supports basic SEO optimization, there are some limitations in terms of more advanced SEO optimization and custom URL management.

Healthcare, pharmaceutical, and medical businesses using Shopify include Dr.Axe, 310 Nutrition, Hiya, and BUBS Naturals.

StoreHippo

StoreHippo is a SaaS eCommerce platform established in 2014 in India. Over the years, this platform has consistently updated its technologies to meet the website-building needs of businesses, particularly those in the pharmaceutical eCommerce sector.

Similar to other SaaS platforms, StoreHippo offers a variety of solutions to choose from:

Pros:

• Easy to use: StoreHippo is designed with a user-friendly interface, making it quick and easy for users to create online stores.
• Custom solutions for pharmaceutical eCommerce: StoreHippo provides dedicated solutions for various industries, including online pharmacies.
• Continuous Updates: To address specific functions for each industry, StoreHippo has consistently improved and updated the latest technologies in e-commerce, such as Headless Commerce, PWA, Angular JS, etc.

Cons:

• Limited customization: Although StoreHippo allows businesses to customize their eCommerce website interface, it still limits deeper customization compared to other eCommerce platforms.
• Limited image size: StoreHippo has limitations on the size of images that businesses can upload and use in their online stores.
• Community and Support Limitations: In comparison to larger e-commerce platforms like Shopify, Magento, or BigCommerce, StoreHippo has a smaller user community and customer support, which may slow down the resolution of technical issues or support requests.

Some brands that built their online pharmacy with StoreHippo include WoundProfessional, Kunooz, and On A Healthy Note.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is an open-source eCommerce plugin developed for the WordPress platform, one of the most popular content management systems (CMS) globally. WooCommerce enables businesses to turn their WordPress websites into online stores or integrate eCommerce features into existing websites.

The license fee of WooCommerce depends on the complexity of each project, averaging around $1,000 for a basic eCommerce website and $10,000 for a more advanced eCommerce website.

Pros:

• Free to use: WooCommerce is an open-source platform, so it is entirely free to use and customize. However, associated costs such as hosting, domain, themes, functionality systems, and maintenance should be considered.
• Easy to use: WooCommerce is deeply integrated into WordPress, making the installation and management of online stores straightforward. Users familiar with WordPress will find WooCommerce’s interface user-friendly.
• Third-party integration:  WooCommerce has a large development community and supports integration with various third-party applications and services, including features tailored for pharmaceutical eCommerce
• High customization: Businesses can customize the eCommerce website interface using both free and premium themes. WooCommerce also allows businesses to design their interface to reflect their brand.

Cons:

• WordPress dependency: WooCommerce is essentially a plugin for WordPress, meaning businesses must use the WordPress platform to use WooCommerce. This dependency can lead to challenges such as inconsistent support, slow data retrieval, conflicts between updates, etc.
• Complex customization: While WooCommerce allows customization, implementing complex customizations or integrating specific features may be time-consuming and require high technical skills or support from developers.
• Limited scalability: WooCommerce often faces difficulties in handling large online stores with thousands of products and high traffic.

Brands using WooCommerce to build online pharmacy include Dr. Scholl’s, myLAB Box, Superdrug Health Clinics, and Apothecanna.

Adobe Commerce (Magento)

Adobe Commerce, formerly known as Magento Commerce, is a professional and widely used eCommerce system. Adobe Commerce is part of the Adobe Experience Cloud product line and is designed to assist businesses in building eCommerce websites.

Currently, Adobe Commerce provides businesses with two main versions:

• Adobe Commerce (Magento Commerce): This is the premium version of Magento designed for large enterprises, offering two options: on-premise and on-cloud.
• Magento Open Source: Formerly known as Magento Community Edition, this is the open-source and free version of Magento.

Pros:

• High Scalability: The Magento platform is built with high scalability, allowing businesses to add features and integrate third-party applications as needed.
• High Security: Adobe Commerce prioritizes security, ensuring that customer data and payments are protected securely.
• High customization: All versions of Adobe Commerce have flexible customization capabilities, addressing the complex requirements of various industries, particularly in the pharmaceutical eCommerce sector.
• Adobe Experience Cloud Ecosystem: If a business is using other Adobe products such as Adobe Analytics or Adobe Marketing Cloud, they can integrate them with Adobe Commerce to create a comprehensive system for customer experience.

Cons:

• High initial costs: Adobe Commerce has a higher development cost compared to other eCommerce platforms, making it preferred by medium and large businesses with complex eCommerce systems or high customization needs.
• Require high technical skills: Adobe Commerce is developed using the PHP programming language, which is relatively complex, requiring technical personnel with expertise and experience to develop projects correctly and effectively.
• Long deployment time: Deploying Adobe Commerce may take more time, especially for highly customized or complex eCommerce websites.

This list is just a few examples for businesses to reference; there are many other robust eCommerce platforms that businesses can consider based on specific needs and available resources. 

With extensive experience in implementing eCommerce for clients in various countries, SECOMM understands the challenges and difficulties businesses face during the deployment of pharmaceutical eCommerce.

Contact SECOMM now or call the hotline at 02871089908 today for a free consultation.

In recent times, SaaS platforms like Shopify and BigCommerce have gained popularity thanks to the growing demand for eCommerce. While BigCommerce currently supports over 45 thousand active online stores globally, Shopify surpasses it with around 4.5 million active websites. Although Shopify and BigCommerce share typical features of SaaS platforms, there are notable differences between the two.

This article will compare the distinctions between Shopify and BigCommerce, providing valuable insights to help you, as a business make informed decisions quickly.

Learn more: Shopify Plus vs BigCommerce Enterprise

Shopify vs BigCommerce: Pros and Cons 

Shopify vs BigCommerce: So sánh nhanh

Shopify vs BigCommerce: Detailed Comparison

Ease of Use

New businesses often find Shopify more user-friendly than BigCommerce when it comes to setup and usage. Adding or removing products, customization, and editing layouts on Shopify are all straightforward tasks.

This doesn’t mean that the user experience of BigCommerce is less intuitive than the other. Both platforms are similar, providing drag-and-drop store editors, detailed documentation, and quick support. However, BigCommerce offers many built-in features that are expandable and customizable.

Users, though, may find themselves completing several different steps for each setup task, which can be overwhelming and time-consuming.

Staff Accounts

Shopify sets account staff limits for each pricing plan. Specifically, the Basic package allows 2 staff accounts, Shopify allows 5 staff accounts, and Advanced allows 15 staff accounts.

In this regard, BigCommerce has a significant advantage by providing unlimited account access for all solution packages. This flexibility can benefit businesses with many employees needing access to the eCommerce website system.

Pricing

• Pricing plans

By using BigCommerce pricing plans, you can enjoy a 15-day free trial. The other offers a 3-day free trial for its 3 pricing plans, followed by a payment of only $1 per month for the initial 3 months. This gives you more time to experience the platform at a highly affordable cost.

• Transaction fee

The transaction fee is a drawback of Shopify. If you opt for third-party payment gateways, you’ll incur a transaction fee of 2%, 1%, and 0.5% for the Basic, Shopify, and Advanced plans, respectively. On the other hand, this fee is waived if you use Shopify Payments. However, Shopify Payments is limited to certain countries, some businesses may not have access. This, in turn, makes BigCommerce more appealing as it doesn’t impose transaction fees on any pricing plan.

Annual Sales Limits

BigCommerce sets annual sales limits to $50k for the ‘Standard’ plan, $180k for ‘Plus,’ and $400k for ‘Pro’, while the ‘Enterprise’ plan can be negotiated. To exceed these limits, you must upgrade to a higher pricing plan. 

However, your business may not need the features offered in higher-tier plans and may be hesitant to pay additional fees for an upgrade. Therefore, the sales volume limit on the BigCommerce platform is a crucial factor that requires thoughtful consideration. In contrast, Shopify doesn’t impose any annual sales limits on any of its pricing plans.

Features

• Point of Sale (POS)

The POS feature isn’t limited to eCommerce transactions but also extends to traditional brick-and-mortar stores. Both BigCommerce and Shopify allow you to implement POS on mobile devices (smartphones, tablets) and other hardware (cash registers, barcode scanners).

To use POS with BigCommerce, you need to integrate with software like Clover, Vend, Square, PayPal Zettle, and others. Hence, if you are currently using a third-party POS system may appreciate the flexibility offered by BigCommerce.

Conversely, Shopify offers built-in POS features, starting with the ‘POS Lite’ plan within its pricing plans. However, to access more advanced POS features, you can opt for the ‘POS Pro’ plan at $89 per month per location, added to the chosen pricing plan. If you choose the annual payment option, the ‘POS Pro’ plan is only $79 per month per location.

Shopify POS solution caters to diverse needs, including single-store transactions, multi-store transactions, event transactions, online and offline sales, as well as omnichannel operations.

• Email Marketing

In eCommerce, email marketing is crucial when it comes to customer attraction and substantial sales growth. Hence, it’s a feature you should prioritize when selecting an eCommerce platform.

Beyond the Shopify POS solution, Shopify offers you the built-in Shopify Email feature, designed for Email Marketing campaigns and automating email processes (Welcome Email, Winback Email, Upsell Email).

Meanwhile, for Email Marketing on BigCommerce, you need to integrate with third-party service providers like Klaviyo, MailChimp, Omnisend, and others.

• Blogging

When you utilize blogging effectively, it can be one of the best sources to attract organic traffic. Both BigCommerce and Shopify come with built-in blogging features at a basic level, offering attractive templates that help you create SEO-optimized blog content to draw in potential customers. Moreover, you can seamlessly integrate with WordPress or other CMS platforms for more advanced blogging features

• Multilingual, multicurrency

Cross-border selling is currently a common goal for many eCommerce businesses. Fortunately, both Shopify and BigCommerce provide features and tools to help businesses expand into the global market

Shopify Markets, introduced in 2021, is a feature that allows you to select the specific markets you want to sell in. It’s an all-in-one feature that helps you centrally manage multiple local domains, languages, currencies, and payment gateways.

Plus, Shopify Markets utilizes the IP address of visitors outside the default ‘market’ that you previously defined to prompt them to select a location and the appropriate currency.

On the other hand, with BigCommerce, you can choose the currency for transactions on your eCommerce website instead of opting for a ‘market’ like Shopify. Additionally, the currency is automatically converted based on the customer’s IP address.

While language conversion capabilities are built into Shopify when the Shopify Markets feature is enabled, for BigCommerce websites, you’ll need to integrate with a third-party service to achieve the same, such as Weglot, which offers free conversion for 1 language and 2000 words. In contrast, Shopify provides free conversion for 20 languages across all pricing plans.

• Mobile app

While BigCommerce has only one app to help you manage sales, interact with customers, and access basic reports, Shopify you up to 3 apps to improve efficiency in eCommerce operations.

• Shopify: The main app for order and product management, along with viewing updated reports.
• Shopify POS: Manages online, offline, and omnichannel sales transactions.
• Shopify Inbox: Facilitates customer interaction, product sharing, and direct sales within the chat interface.

Themes & Apps

• Themes

Both BigCommerce and Shopify offer you a variety of free and paid themes. For BigCommerce, the platform provides 12 free themes, but in reality, there are around 5-6 distinct free themes as the layouts are quite similar. As for paid themes, BigCommerce has approximately 185 themes ranging from $150 to $400 per theme.

On Shopify, the platform offers 12 free themes and 141 paid themes with prices ranging from $170 to $380 per theme. Both Shopify and BigCommerce provide users with drag-and-drop theme editors to modify layouts, colors, fonts, and text sizes and add/remove elements and widgets. 

However, Shopify’s themes, both free and paid, are widely favored for their modern and contemporary styles. Additionally, Shopify offers a diverse selection of fonts for you to choose from. In contrast, BigCommerce has around 8 font options.

• Apps

Alongside their built-in features, Shopify and BigCommerce both offer extensive app stores to help you optimize your eCommerce activities. Both app stores offer free versions of apps, but certain features may be limited. To access the full functionality, you’ll need to subscribe to the paid versions, which often involve monthly fees. The number of apps available on Shopify and BigCommerce differs significantly, with Shopify boasting over 6000 apps, while BigCommerce has over 1000.

Customer Support

In the process of deploying an eCommerce website, both BigCommerce and Shopify offer 24/7 support through hotlines, chat, and email. Plus, if you seek advice and support in addressing specialized issues related to technology, design, and marketing, BigCommerce provides Partner Directory services, while Shopify offers Shopify Experts.

Final Thoughts

Above are the comparisons between Shopify and BigCommerce. However, it’s challenging to determine which platform is the best in 2023 for developing an eCommerce website. The choice will depend on your specific needs and wants.

With years of experience advising and collaborating with numerous businesses both domestically and internationally on implementing eCommerce websites on both Shopify and BigCommerce, SECOMM has gathered valuable insights to help your business streamline your eCommerce development process, optimize your website performance, and swiftly generate conversions. 

Contact SECOMM today or call directly at the hotline 028 7108 9908 for free and detailed consultations.

Shopify and Shopify Plus are two leading eCommerce platforms globally, used by millions of businesses to deploy eCommerce websites. The Shopify platform is designed for small and medium-sized enterprises, providing basic, user-friendly features for building and managing eCommerce websites. According to Builtwith, over 4 million active Shopify stores are currently worldwide.

On the other hand, Shopify Plus is specifically crafted for large-scale enterprises, offering advanced features, customization options, and flexible scalability. Builtwith statistics indicate that there are over 44 thousand active Shopify Plus websites globally.

What are the differences between Shopify and Shopify Plus? Which platform should you choose to build your eCommerce websites? This article will focus on clarifying the differences between Shopify and Shopify Plus in three aspects: cost, features, and support capabilities, to help you choose the most suitable platform for your needs and goals.

Shopify vs Shopify Plus: Pricing

The first distinction and crucial criterion to consider between Shopify and Shopify Plus are the license fees and transaction fees. Shopify and Shopify Plus offer different solution packages with varying pricing to suit businesses with different budgets and scales.

Shopify Pricing 

Shopify offers three main pricing plans: Basic, Shopify, and Advanced, priced at $25, $65, and $399 per month, respectively. Also, Shopify has a special solution package called Shopify Starter at $5/month, enabling you to sell on social media and chat apps.

*Note: The mentioned fees apply to the Vietnamese market, and platform license fees may vary depending on the region or country.

Beyond the license fees, you also need to consider the transaction fee when using different payment methods. Shopify offers its payment method called Shopify Payments, allowing you to effortlessly accept all major payment methods on your eCommerce website.

If using Shopify Payments, you don’t have to pay any transaction fee to Shopify.

On the other hand, If you don’t use Shopify Payments and select one of many third-party payment service providers supported by Shopify, you’ll pay transaction fees of 2%, 1%, and 0,5% for the Basic, Shopify, and Advanced plans, respectively.

Shopify Plus Pricing

Since Shopify Plus is designed for large businesses, the pricing structure for the Shopify Plus package is variable and depends on the individual deployment requirements and revenue of each business. According to Shopify, the initial cost for using Shopify Plus is $2,000/month, with subsequent increases based on monthly revenue.

Specifically, when the revenue of a Shopify Plus store reaches $800,000/month, the platform will apply a charge of 0.25% of the monthly revenue. It’s worth noting that the fee will not exceed $40,000/month and $480,000/year.

Similar to the Shopify pricing plans, Shopify Plus supports both Shopify Payments and third-party payment service providers. However, the transaction fees associated with Shopify Plus are lower compared to regular Shopify plans. If you don’t use Shopify Payments, you’ll incur a transaction fee of 0.15% on each transaction.

Shopify vs Shopify Plus: Feature

When it comes to features, Shopify Plus excels by providing a range of advanced features for you to customize your eCommerce websites, aiming to deliver a unique experience for customers.

Related Reading: 6 key Shopify Plus features

Custom checkout page & cart

Most Shopify businesses typically utilize either the available free or paid themes on Shopify, encountering several limitations when customizing the checkout or cart pages. However, with the implementation of Shopify Plus, you can leverage Shopify Scripts to tailor small code segments, enabling the creation of a personalized shopping experience for customers at the cart and checkout pages.

Automation

The Shopify pricing plans provide a set of built features for businesses to automate eCommerce and marketing operations. On the other hand, with the deployment of Shopify Plus, businesses can utilize specialized tools to automate eCommerce processes, such as:

• Shopify Flow: The most advanced eCommerce automation tool recommended by Shopify for all businesses implementing Shopify Plus.
• LaunchPad: An automated scheduling tool for running promotional campaigns, flash sales, or launching events for new product releases.

Shopify POS

For all Shopify businesses, the Shopify POS feature is included in the standard service package known as POS Lite, but it has limitations in terms of features and POS usage locations. To unlock more advanced features and extend the POS capabilities, Shopify businesses need to upgrade to the POS Pro package, priced at $89 per month per location.

On the other hand, Shopify Plus businesses enjoy free access to POS Pro for their initial 20 locations. This implies that businesses implementing Shopify Plus can leverage advanced POS features, including BOPIS deployment, unlimited user accounts, omnichannel selling, inventory management, and more.

B2B Feature 

This feature is specifically designed for Shopify Plus businesses, facilitating B2B transactions directly through the eCommerce website without reliance on third-party apps or alternative solutions. You can set up catalogs, payment terms, and company profiles, and customize prices specifically for B2B customers.

This provides the flexibility to develop a website that serves B2B and B2C customers or craft a specialized platform dedicated to B2B clients.

Wholesale feature

The wholesale feature is specifically designed for Shopify Plus merchants. This feature allows you to customize the wholesale website interface differently from the regular eCommerce site, adjust pricing, and establish a distinct ordering process specifically for wholesale customers. You can also choose to showcase products intended for wholesale transactions exclusively on the Shopify Plus wholesale website.

Shopify vs Shopify Plus: Resources

Shopify 

For Shopify businesses, they can access support 24/7 throughout the entire process of building and advancing their eCommerce website through channels like the hotline, email, or chatbox. Additionally, Shopify provides resources for businesses to enhance their eCommerce operations, including:

• Shopify Learn: Numerous free online courses featuring leading experts in eCommerce, including Daymond John, a renowned figure from the popular TV show Shark Tank. The courses cover topics such as goal setting, effective marketing, sales strategies, and efficient customer care.
• Shopify Blog: The blog articles on Shopify delve into the latest trends in eCommerce marketing. These regularly updated posts, enriched by the unique perspectives of top experts, can prove valuable for startups or businesses venturing into the realm of eCommerce.

Shopify Plus

In addition to the support services available through the hotline, email, or chatbox, businesses utilizing Shopify Plus enjoy enhanced access to educational resources and support:

• Merchant Success Program: This program connects businesses with Shopify’s specialized team, offering assistance throughout the implementation of their eCommerce website, covering aspects such as customization and integration.
• Shopify Plus Partner: A collaborative platform for developers, solution providers, and technology experts, facilitating the deployment of eCommerce solutions specifically tailored for Shopify Plus.
• Shopify Plus Academy: Offering a variety of courses and webinars, this resource helps businesses optimize the development of their Shopify Plus website.
• Shopify Plus Facebook Community: A dedicated space for Shopify Plus businesses to connect, share practical insights, discuss business solutions, and explore potential collaborations. 

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

Here is an overview of the significant differences between Shopify and Shopify Plus platforms. The decision on which platform is most suitable depends on each business’s scale and deployment requirements.

For startups or small to medium-sized enterprises with minimal customization requirements and a desire for quick product launches, regular Shopify solutions may be more suitable.

On the other hand, large-scale enterprises with high integration and customization needs should prioritize Shopify Plus. 

With years of experience deploying Shopify Plus eCommerce websites for leading businesses such as Vinamilk and Suzuverse, SECOMM boasts a professional team with exceptional technical skills and in-depth knowledge of the Shopify Plus platform.

Contact SECOMM or call the hotline at 028 7108 9908 to deploy Shopify Plus today!

When learning the significant changes in eCommerce over the past decade, one concept that cannot be ignored is Headless Commerce. It isn’t a mere trend; rather, it presents a revolutionary solution for how businesses implement eCommerce, aiming to provide flexibility and enhanced efficiency in delivering a seamless shopping experience for customers.

The following statistics contribute to proving that Headless Commerce is one of the fastest-growing trends in eCommerce:

• Headless Commerce deployment has increased by 50% in the past two years.
• By 2025, 35% of businesses plan to transition from the Traditional Commerce model to Headless Commerce.
• 60% of top retailers in North America are predicted to implement Headless by 2025.
• Headless Commerce platforms have seen a 40% increase in usage during the Covid period.
• Businesses implementing Headless report a 20% reduction in website loading time and an average revenue increase of 24%.

So, what is Headless Commerce, and why is it considered a modern and flexible approach to eCommerce deployment? Let’s explore this in the following article.

What is Headless Commerce?

Headless Commerce is an eCommerce architecture that separates the user interface (Frontend) from the data management and functionality (Backend) of an eCommerce website. This separation allows the frontend and backend to be built entirely independently and connected through eCommerce Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).

Going Headless allows you to use any technology or tool you prefer to design and customize the user interface without being dependent on the existing eCommerce platform. You can also update and modify the backend without affecting the frontend.

Learn more: Everything to know about eCommerce APIs

What is the difference between Headless Commerce and Monolithic Commerce?

Trước khi giải pháp Headless Commerce, hầu hết các website thương mại điện tử đều được xây dựng với kiến trúc Monolithic – tức là phần frontend và backend được liên kết chặt chẽ với nhau trong một hệ thống duy nhất. Đây là cách tiếp cận truyền thống và đơn giản, giúp doanh nghiệp dễ dàng xây dựng và quản lý website thương mại điện tử của mình.

However, Monolithic Commerce comes with several limitations, especially when you aim to develop and scale your eCommerce systems. Some common issues encountered when implementing Monolithic Commerce include:

• Limited Customizations: The tight integration between the frontend and backend in Monolithic Commerce imposes constraints when you want to redesign or modify features on your website. So, you have to customize both parts which leads to compatibility and performance issues.
• Limited Scalability: When an eCommerce website experiences a significant increase in the number of products, transactions, and traffic, you need to upgrade and expand the system to meet the growth requirements. The Monolithic architecture makes this process difficult and expensive, as you are required to update the entire system, potentially resulting in a temporary suspension of eCommerce website operations
• Lack of innovation and competition: In the digital age, you should update your eCommerce websites with new technological trends to innovate and enhance, aiming to attract and retain customers while gaining a competitive edge. However, the Monolithic Commerce model hinders this process, as any minor change can affect the entire system, potentially causing unintended errors or issues and requiring a slow and cautious approach.

In contrast to Monolithic Commerce, Headless architecture brings several benefits when developing eCommerce. Some of these include: 

• Easy Customization: In the Headless Commerce model, you are free to use your preferred development technologies and tools to build a comprehensive eCommerce system from frontend to backend, aiming to deliver a unique and appealing shopping experience for customers. Plus, you can easily modify either the frontend or backend without affecting the other or the overall operation of the entire system.
• Easy Scalability:  Headless Commerce provides you with a seamless way to scale your eCommerce website. You can effortlessly adjust or streamline integrations in the backend to meet demand or integrate with diverse sales channels, creating multiple frontends (websites, mobile apps, IoT) that operate seamlessly on a unified backend system through APIs. This flexibility allows you to reach a wider audience, boost conversion rates, and drive increased revenue.
• Boost Innovation & Competition: Going Headless allows you to swiftly and flexibly innovate and enhance your eCommerce websites. You can freely experiment with new features or integrate with diverse third-party systems without concerns about compatibility and performance issues. Moreover, you can integrate cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and virtual reality (AR/VR) to deliver an optimized experience for customers.

Top 5 Benefits of Headless Commerce

Offer Omnichannel Experience

The Headless Commerce model allows you to customize and create a unique user experience across various channels (website, mobile app, IoT). This not only avoids impacting the backend system but also helps you reach more potential customers and boost conversion capabilities.

Easy Integration

You can effortlessly integrate and merge various third-party systems (CRM, CMS, ERP, DXP) into the backend using APIs. This integration enhances the efficiency of managing and executing eCommerce activities, enabling you to leverage the superior capabilities of multiple services without concerns about website compatibility or performance issues.

Offer Personalized Experience

Through seamless integration with various systems, you can collect and consolidate customer data from various sources such as CRM, advertising campaigns, or data from previous shopping experiences.

Going Headless, you can create a customized interface based on customer data and personal information, displaying unique content, products, and messages for each customer based on their preferences, shopping behavior, and transaction history.

Sell Internationally

Deploying Headless Commerce enables you to expand your operations into international markets by adapting their activities to effectively cater to diverse markets. Specifically, you can customize the user interface, manage content, and offer distinct views for each customer segment in various markets.

Moreover, you can seamlessly integrate local options for payment, delivery, language, and currency to enhance the local customer experience.

Optimized Performance

In the Headless architecture, the frontend and backend operate independently through APIs, allowing businesses to optimize the performance of both parts. For example, you can enhance the navigation and page loading speed of frontends (website, mobile app, IoT) without heavily relying on the backend’s performance.

Similarly, you can optimize the backend to efficiently handle product requests, transactions, or inventory without impacting the page loading speed of the frontends

Does Headless Commerce suit all types of businesses?

Headless Commerce is a highly innovative eCommerce solution. However, that doesn’t mean this solution is suitable for every business. Therefore, before deciding to implement Headless for an eCommerce website, you need to consider the following factors:

• Business objectives: You need to clearly define your business objectives and determine whether Headless Commerce can help achieve those goals. If the objective is to establish a straightforward and efficient eCommerce website, the Monolithic architecture might be sufficient and a more fitting choice. However, if the goal involves delivering customers a distinctive and seamless shopping experience across diverse sales channels, going Headless is recommended..
• Budget & Resources: You should carefully assess your budget and resources when implementing Headless Commerce. Since deploying Headless requires utilizing eCommerce APIs to connect the frontend and backend, you will need an experienced and highly skilled technical team to design, develop, and maintain these APIs, as well as to handle complex customizations. You also need to allocate funds for API services, hosting, security, and the integrations in use. Without sufficient budget and resources, businesses may face difficulties and risks of failure when implementing this model.
• Deployment & Golive: The Headless architecture is quite complex, so it will take a considerable amount of time to build, customize, and perfect an eCommerce website, potentially extending the planned go-live time. To mitigate this risk, you should schedule a detailed deployment timeline for each task that needs to be completed. Plus, you need to regularly monitor and update the APIs, frontend, and backend to ensure the system operates smoothly. Therefore, if you require a quick website go-live and have minimal need for extensive system adjustments, it may not be necessary to implement Headless Commerce at this time.

Ready to go Headless?

Over time, Headless Commerce has played a crucial role in reshaping how businesses implement eCommerce. This model provides you with many benefits in terms of customization, scalability, and delivering a multi-channel experience for customers. However, before deciding to deploy Headless, you’ll need to consider issues related to business goals, budget and resources, development needs, and the go-live timeline.

When ready to implement Headless, you’ll choose top platforms supporting Headless Commerce. One of these platforms is Shopify, a renowned SaaS platform that has introduced several solutions for businesses to deploy Headless.

• Shopify Hydrogen + Oxygen: This superior solution includes the Hydrogen framework based on React and the Oxygen hosting. It helps quickly and efficiently deploy a Headless eCommerce website.
• Commerce Components: This groundbreaking tech stack is developed specifically for large enterprises deploying Headless Commerce or Composable Commerce. This solution allows you to combine independent components to customize and enhance the eCommerce experience.

With extensive technical expertise and high specialization in the eCommerce domain, SECOMM has successfully consulted and implemented Headless Commerce using one of Shopify’s three solutions for leading enterprises such as Vinamilk, Suzuverse, and more.

Contact SECOMM or call directly at the hotline (02871089908) to explore how we can support businesses in maximizing the potential of Headless Commerce and enhancing competitiveness in the eCommerce market.

Today’s eCommerce consumers are no longer confined to a single channel or device for their shopping needs. They have a ton of options, including mobile apps and social media platforms. As a result, businesses are striving to establish a robust multi-channel presence to swiftly engage with their customers. One highly effective approach to achieving this goal is through the implementation of Headless Commerce. 

In recent years, investors have shown a significant interest in Headless Commerce platforms and associated solutions, recognizing their pivotal role in shaping the future of online commerce.

Forbes reports that between 2020 and 2021 alone, more than $1.65 billion in funding was directed toward Headless technologies. In response to this evolving landscape, Shopify unveiled the Hydrogen solution in June 2021, designed to facilitate the development of headless Commerce storefronts. 

The following article aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of Shopify Hydrogen, shedding light on both its pros and cons. 

Overview

Shopify offers businesses the Hydrogen framework solution, originally based on React but now being developed with Remix, in conjunction with the global hosting solution known as Oxygen.

What is Shopify Hydrogen?

In the past, Shopify website developers utilized the platform’s templating language known as Liquid, which often faced performance limitations. Consequently, to ensure top-notch website performance for headless commerce, Shopify businesses require a specialized solution.

Typically, businesses implementing headless projects on Shopify Plus opt for the React framework over Liquid due to its superior technical aspects. Moreover, headless stores on Shopify Plus offer heightened flexibility, customization, and scalability compared to standard headless stores on Shopify.

Therefore, Shopify has introduced a solution that allows both Shopify Plus and standard Shopify businesses to build and advance the most optimized headless eCommerce websites possible. This led to the creation of the Hydrogen framework solution and Oxygen hosting.

Shopify Hydrogen is a React-based framework that empowers developers to craft distinctive and entirely customized frontend Shopify experiences. This framework encompasses all the essential structures, components, and pre-built tools necessary for developers to swiftly create headless stores and deliver personalized user experiences.

What is Shopify Oxygen?

Shopify Oxygen is a worldwide hosting solution designed to store custom content, like Hydrogen stores, directly within the Shopify platform. Previously, Shopify businesses seeking to develop Headless Commerce had to depend on third-party hosting providers (e.g., Netlify).

In contrast, Oxygen is supported by Shopify’s extensive global infrastructure, featuring over 100 server locations worldwide. Thanks to this, Hydrogen stores can seamlessly and directly integrate with Oxygen hosting through the Storefront API, eliminating the need for reliance on third-party providers.

Remix – The New Highlight of Shopify Hydrogen

In the first quarter of 2023, Shopify unveiled Hydrogen v2, highlighting the web development tool called Remix. This tool has earned recognition from developers as one of the top React frameworks, trailing only behind Next.js. Consequently, Shopify acquired Remix and designated it as the cornerstone of the Shopify Hydrogen solution.

The reason for this lies in the fact that Hydrogen v1 faced performance-related criticisms after some time in operation. The acquisition of Remix is a part of Shopify’s efforts to rectify these issues, leading to the emergence of Hydrogen v2.

While developers tend to favor Next.js over Remix due to its open structure, allowing for greater customization and offering a more favorable developer experience, it doesn’t guarantee output quality and website performance.

Conversely, Remix employs a closed structure that mandates developers to adhere to the framework’s template. This approach closely aligns with Shopify’s SaaS model, providing a web development framework and enforcing developers to follow specific principles during deployment. 

This adherence ensures website performance and significantly enhances conversion rates. Therefore, Remix is the ideal solution chosen by Shopify to address the existing performance gaps in Hydrogen stores and enhance the eCommerce experience for customers.

Pros of Shopify Hydrogen

Developed based on React

Hydrogen represents Shopify’s investment in the development of Headless eCommerce. Therefore, it’s fair to classify any Shopify store using the Hydrogen framework and Oxygen hosting as a Headless Shopify store.

The Headless architecture has consistently garnered praise from industry experts, who anticipate its continuous evolution. Shopify’s decision to incorporate React – the JavaScript library for frontend interface development – as the cornerstone of the Hydrogen solution underscores this platform’s forward-looking perspective on the future of eCommerce, firmly rooted in the Headless trend.

Diverse Integration

The launch of Shopify Hydrogen aims to assist businesses in building professional Headless eCommerce websites and providing customers with a seamless multi-channel experience.

Therefore, Shopify extends the capability to seamlessly integrate Hydrogen stores with various third-party applications and platforms like Klaviyo, Gorgias, and Rebuy (to enhance the customer experience), as well as Sanity, Contentful, and Builder.io (for Headless CMS implementation). 

Learn more about Headless CMS:

• What is Headless CMS?
• 10 Enterprise Headless CMS Platforms (Pt.1)
• 10 Enterprise Headless CMS Platforms (Pt.2)

Flexible Customization 

Numerous enterprises choose to implement Headless eCommerce because it grants them full control over the development of the frontend interface, free from the limitations of specific platforms. Shopify Hydrogen also empowers businesses to construct entirely personalized headless website interfaces and integrate essential features for expansion.

Cons of Shopify Hydrogen

Technical Skill Required 

Hydrogen solution empowers businesses to leverage the potential of Headless eCommerce, but it’s predominantly a technically-driven endeavor without a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface for non-technical users to easily access and modify.

Hence, the development process necessitates the engagement of highly proficient developers with programming expertise and a specific comprehension of Hydrogen and Oxygen. In this scenario, businesses have two choices: establish an in-house team of developers or partner with an external specialized entity for swift deployment.

Limited CMS Integration.

Because it relies on the React framework, Hydrogen can assist developers in creating custom frontends, but the backend CMS functionality must be connected to enable the headless eCommerce website’s operation.

However, as of now, Hydrogen is limited to integrating with specific CMS platforms like Sanity, Contentful, and Builder.io, leaving businesses responsible for connecting with others independently.

Limited 3rd-party Integration

Much like CMS platforms, Hydrogen supports businesses in integrating with third-party provider applications, but it has rather limited options. Currently, there are only 13 available applications that businesses can incorporate into their Hydrogen store.

In the many years of implementing Headless eCommerce for numerous clients across various countries, SECOMM has noticed an increasing demand for creating Headless websites using the Shopify platform. Now, businesses have a choice: they can either leverage Shopify’s tech stack (Hydrogen and Oxygen) or build a custom stack tailored to their unique requirements.

This further solidifies Shopify as one of the most flexible eCommerce platforms today, leading the way towards the next generation of eCommerce experiences.

Contact us or call SECOMM’s hotline (02871089908) for a free consultation.

In Headless eCommerce architecture, the user interface (frontend) is separated from the business logic and database (backend), operating independently and communicating with each other through Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). The backend of the eCommerce system can be linked to multiple frontends to deliver a seamless omnichannel experience for customers.

This omnichannel capability has driven many businesses to adopt Headless eCommerce to adapt to market trends and attract a large customer base across all potential channels. 

However, from the planning stage to achieving the goals, it’s a long journey with several crucial steps that require dedicated efforts from businesses. Among them, selecting the right platform for Headless eCommerce development is essential. Currently, there are four prominent platforms in the market: Adobe Commerce, Shopify Plus, BigCommerce Enterprise, and Commercetools.

This article will focus on helping you as a business make the right decision by listing the selection criteria and pros and cons of each platform.

Things to Evaluate When Choosing Headless eCommerce Platform

Headless Architecture

You need to ensure that the chosen platform supports the Headless architecture, allowing the separation of the frontend user interface from the backend system. The separation provides omnichannel capabilities, enabling you to deliver seamless and consistent customer experiences across all channels  (e.g., websites, mobile devices, IoT devices, etc.).

API Capabilities

APIs are crucial for integrating with various different user interfaces. Therefore, you should seek a platform with the ability to provide customizable APIs for seamless data exchange. 

Performance & Scalability

Next, you need to consider the scalability of the platform, especially for large-scale enterprises with extensive and complex product catalogs or significant inventory management needs. A highly scalable platform can easily adjust its size based on requirements, handle high traffic, and ensure top-notch performance even during peak shopping seasons. 

The ability to integrate with third-party solutions is also crucial when selecting a platform. Third-party tools serve specific business needs and drive eCommerce efficiency. You can prioritize platforms with strong integration capabilities and compatibility with a wide range of third-party tools and services, including payment gateways, shipping, content management systems (CMS), analytics tools, and more. 

Flexibility & Customizability

Alongside performance and scalability, customization capability holds great significance for any business pursuing a platform to deploy Headless eCommerce. Evaluating the platform’s flexibility in design and user experience becomes crucial, ensuring effortless customization of frontend to meet specific business needs.

Security

Security is of utmost importance for any eCommerce platform. When choosing, you must ensure the platform adheres to standard security measures, such as secure payment PCI DSS, SSL encryption, and more.

Analytics & Reporting

Data analytics and reporting play a vital role in optimizing eCommerce operations and making informed decisions. Therefore, you should seek a platform with powerful analytics and reporting capabilities to provide comprehensive insights into customer behavior, sales effectiveness, conversion rates, and other essential metrics.

Customer Support

Opting for a Headless eCommerce development on a platform that provides valuable support resources like developer documentation, forums, and support communities, or responsive customer service directly from the platform, can bring significant benefits. You should ensure they have access to necessary assistance throughout the entire implementation process.

Total Cost of Ownership

Ultimately, the cost is a determining factor for any eCommerce business’s choice. These costs may encompass licensing fees, hosting, development, maintenance, or integration expenses with third-party services. You must assess these costs in relation to the platform’s capabilities, ensuring they align with your budget and long-term business goals.

By considering these criteria, you can select an appropriate Headless eCommerce platform that meets their business needs, provides a seamless customer experience, and supports their long-term growth objectives.

The Best 4 Platforms for Headless eCommerce Development

Magento (Adobe Commerce)

Magento is renowned as the world’s leading open-source eCommerce platform and currently ranks third in the market share among eCommerce platforms, following WooCommerce and Shopify

Magento has 2 editions:

• Magento Open Source: a free-to-use edition, but users still need to pay for hosting, domain, extensions, and development fees when hiring specialized Magento developers. 
• Adobe Commerce: a paid edition with superior eCommerce solutions, suitable for large businesses with high development and expansion needs. It includes 2 versions: Adobe Commerce on-premise and Adobe Commerce on-cloud. 

Pros

• Being open-source allows you to have complete control over the source code and infrastructure.
• With high flexibility and strong customization capabilities, it meets the needs of complex eCommerce requirements.
• Its excellent scalability is suitable for large-scale business operations.
• The powerful multi-store support enables seamless management of numerous stores across various locations from a single admin panel.
• Unified APIs and technologies across all channels enhance Omnichannel capabilities.
• From fundamental to advanced features, with a wide range of available extensions and integrations, it optimizes eCommerce functionality.
• Magento supports the creation of Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) with PWA Studio features

Related Reading: What is PWA? 4 Key Benefits of Developing PWA

Cons

• Complex development, security, and maintenance processes necessitate extensive technical expertise.
• High development costs and lengthy development timelines.

Shopify Plus

Shopify stands out as a leading SaaS eCommerce platform in the market, boasting over 3.75 million active stores in 2022.

Presently, Shopify provides two main editions:

• Shopify: Including standard packages (Basic, Shopify, Advanced) with different fees and features, catering to the requirements of small and medium-sized businesses.
• Shopify Plus: A comprehensive eCommerce solution at reasonable costs, tailored for medium to large enterprises, equipped with advanced features and tools to optimize business operations. 

Pros

• The platform is designed to be user-friendly and accessible even for non-technical users.
• It boasts impressive performance and scalability, effortlessly handling high web traffic and numerous transactions.
• With the GraphQL Storefront API, you can deliver unique customer experiences across various channels like websites, mobile apps, and IoT devices.
• The Shopify App Store offers a wide range of powerful applications, extensions, and integrations exclusively tailored for Shopify Plus.
• Customizing the frontend is made simple with a user-friendly visual editor and direct code access.
• It facilitates omnichannel sales and automates eCommerce processes, resulting in operational resource savings.
• It seamlessly integrates with various third-party tools and systems, including ERP, CRM, CMS, and more.

Cons

• The customization capabilities of Shopify Plus are good, but they still cannot be compared with open-source platforms. For example, regarding payment gateways, it only allows integration with Shopify’s partner gateways such as PayPal, 2Checkout, PayDollar, Skrill, etc. Businesses aren’t permitted to integrate with other gateways outside this list. 
• The eCommerce data of businesses using Shopify Plus is locked into Shopify Plus’s database. This dependency poses risks from the provider (Shopify Plus) and limits the business’s ability to access its entire data.
• While Shopify Plus supports creating multiple stores alongside the main store, compared to Adobe Commerce, the capabilities of Shopify Plus are somewhat limited. The platform restricts the number of stores and locations businesses can add, and businesses cannot manage multiple stores within the same Shopify Plus account.
• The cost is not fixed and increases based on revenue, development, and integration needs.

Usage cost: Starts from $2,000/month and increases based on revenue.

Related Reading: What is Shopify Plus? The Pros and Cons of Shopify Plus

BigCommerce Enterprise

Similar to Shopify, BigCommerce is also one of the leading SaaS eCommerce platforms with notable features that help businesses establish a fast and easy online presence.

The BigCommerce Enterprise edition serves large-scale enterprises with various optimized business operation solutions. Among them, the BigCommerce Headless eCommerce solution stands out, enabling businesses to create a consistent customer experience along with many other supportive solutions that ensure quick website launch and easy customization.

2.3.1 Pros

• An easy-to-use and intuitive platform.
• A powerful API architecture for building custom user interface solutions to meet complex requirements.
• Create and manage multiple headless storefronts within a single dashboard.
• High scalability and fast web performance.
• Robust Headless features that can integrate with frontend frameworks (Next.js, Gatsby.js, and Nuxt.js), CMS, DXP, ORM, etc.
• Capable of handling up to 600 SKUs per product.
• Drive omnichannel sales.
• Excellent support for building PWAs

2.3.2 Cons

• Similar to Shopify Plus, the customization capabilities of BigCommerce Enterprise are good, but still cannot be compared with Open-Source platforms.
• There are limitations in controlling the backend infrastructure and accessing the database.
• The payment process still utilizes the BigCommerce domain, leading to authentication and security issues.
• High deployment costs.

Usage cost: Starts from $400/month and can go up to $20,000/month

commercetools

commercetools is a pioneering platform for Headless eCommerce worldwide. Developed based on MACH principles (Microservice-based, API-first, Cloud-native, and Headless), Commercetools supports businesses in building and customizing eCommerce solutions tailored to their needs and their customers’ needs.

Pros

• High scalability and customization capabilities.
• Drive omnichannel sales.
• Powerful features and functionalities: category management, unified shopping cart, order management, machine learning, etc.
• Pre-built building blocks enable businesses to create their own backend structure.
• The API-first approach promotes flexibility and scalability, optimizing development time and ensuring compatibility between functionalities.
• Free 60-day trial.

Cons 

• Requires technical expertise and experience for development.
• Limited advanced features for large enterprises, requiring specific custom development.
• Smaller user base and community support compared to more established platforms, making it challenging to find assistance.
• The initial development cost with Commercetools is quite high and depends on annual revenue, integration needs, scalability, etc.

Usage cost: The pricing is not publicly available, and businesses need to contact Commercetools for further discussion. However, here are some reference points. The implementation cost starts from $300,000, and the licensing fee begins at $200,000 per year.

With extensive experience in advising platform selection and supporting eCommerce implementation for numerous businesses worldwide, SECOMM always emphasizes that choosing the right platform is the first step towards success.

Contact SECOMM or call directly at the hotline number (02871089908) now for a free consultation.

Shopify Plus is a platform designed for high-growth eCommerce businesses. Over the years, Shopify Plus has been the top choice for leading global brands such as GymShark, Fashion Nova, Kylie Cosmetics, and more. 

Simply because the platform successfully provides its customers with exceptional features to optimize the customer experience and enhance the effectiveness of sales and marketing strategy. 

Here are the top 6 core Shopify Plus features that benefit enterprise-level brands in eCommerce website development. 

Related Readings: Top 10 Most Successful Shopify Plus eCommerce Websites

Multi-store management

For retailers targeting sales in the global market, Shopify Plus is the go-to choice platform. 

The platform provides a multi-store feature that allows businesses to create up to 9 additional stores in 20 different locations apart from the main store to track inventory and fulfill orders. 

Each additional store will have its own domain, design, products, and customer data which can be managed from a single Shopify Plus account. This means businesses can easily switch between stores and manage everything from a single dashboard. 

Omnichannel Capabilities

Not only Shopify Plus supports businesses in building a comprehensive eCommerce website while also facilitating Omnichannel implementation. The platform also allows businesses to provide their customers with a consistent shopping experience across channels, including websites, mobile apps, online marketplaces, social media, and physical stores. 

The Shopify POS feature helps seamlessly integrate sales points from online to offline. Businesses can use Shopify POS to track orders and inventory at all active sales channels.  

Automatic Workflows

Shopify Flow

Shopify Flow is an eCommerce automation solution encouraged by Shopify for business implementing Shopify Plus. 

Shopify Flow helps businesses handle repetitive tasks such as inventory management, fraud prevention, setting up loyalty programs, and fulfillment management quickly and automatically. This allows businesses to focus more on their core operations. 

With Flow, businesses can rapidly build customized eCommerce automation workflows using visual, code-free blocks called triggers, conditions, and actions. 

For example, an automated workflow to add customers to a loyalty program could unfold as follows:

• Trigger: An order has been placed
• Condition: If the order is equal to or exceeds $500
• Action: Tag the customer as VIP

LaunchPad 

LaunchPad allows businesses to set up and automate the essential processes for organizing promotional events, flash sales, and product launches. 

Using LaunchPad, businesses can:

• Create, and schedule automated tasks such as product uploads, price adjustments, image changes, and banners tailored to specific events. 
• Set up complex scripts, such as providing free gifts with certain items, offering free shipping based on the type and value of the order, and evaluate sales performance between different periods and making adjustments to achieve set goals. 
• Monitor campaigns to compare, analyze, and evaluate sales performance between different periods and make adjustments to achieve set goals. 

Customize Checkouts Experience

If standard Shopify businesses need to leverage apps or alternative solutions, Shopify Plus businesses have access to Shopify Scripts. 

This feature is exclusively available for Shopify Plus merchants and allows for personalized customer experiences at the cart and checkout stages. Businesses can use the Script Editor app to gain more control over how customers interact with their eCommerce website by creating special offers, and discounts, adding upsells, cross-sells, and customizing the checkout experience. 

With Shopify Scripts‘ high level of autonomy, businesses can freely experiment to deliver unique experiences for their customers.

Three types of scripts include

• Line Item Scripts: These scripts can adjust the price of a specific product whenever it is added or removed from the cart.
• Shipping Scripts: These scripts can be used to modify shipping methods and fees.
• Payment Scripts: These scripts can rename, hide, and reorder payment gateways and will run every time a customer accesses the payment method page during checkout. 

Here are some examples of scripts that can be customized:

• Percentage (%) discount for products.
• Dollar ($) discount for products.
• Bulk discounts.
• Buy One Get One (BOGO).
• Modify shipping fees.
• Rearrange payment gateways.
• Hide payment gateways.

Advanced Security

Shopify Plus meets the highest standards of online security, and all Shopify Plus businesses have SSL certificates used to encrypt sensitive information, such as credit card details. 

Moreover, Shopify Plus provides two-factor authentication and account recovery features to protect websites from unauthorized access.

In particular, businesses can obtain an Extended Validation SSL certificate, which offers the highest level of protection available on Shopify Plus. In this case, a green padlock icon will be displayed in the browser’s address bar, assuring customers that the business’s website is secure to use.

Shopify Plus also offers fraud analysis tools that allow businesses to monitor their website for detecting any suspicious activities. For example, when any fraudulent orders are detected, the tool will flag them for the business to decide whether to cancel or fulfill the order.”

B2B Support

Shopify Plus offers a range of features to support B2B eCommerce operations, including:

• Flexible payment options
• Order and reorder management
• Customized pricing
• Integration with ERP, OMS, and CRM systems.

Additionally, businesses can set up wholesale channels to cater to customers with bulk purchasing needs.

Those are the 6 core features of Shopify Plus that you can leverage to boost your business operations efficiency and give your customers the best shopping experience.

Contact or call directly to the SECOMM hotline (02871089908) for a free consultation.

Shopify Plus is one of the most popular eCommerce platforms tailored for large-scale enterprises experiencing rapid growth. Currently, there are more than 27000 live webstores based on this platform. 

Below, we highlight 10 brands that have achieved remarkable success in captivating customers through their online shopping experience by deploying eCommerce websites using Shopify Plus.

Kylie Cosmetics

The success of the Kylie Cosmetics brand lies on the fame and influence of Kylie Jenner on social media along with the smart business strategy that focuses on leveraging the power of eCommerce. 

The brand chose to build their eCommerce website on Shopify Plus platform with a design that emphasizes simplicity, using pink and white as the main color tones. In addition, their website only displays products from the collection that they are currently promoting. This is also their core business strategy – they limit the quantity of products sold to target the customers’ FOMO mentality.

• Website: https://kyliecosmetics.com/
• Industry: Cosmetics
• Traffic: 572.7K/month
• Ranking: 23,944 (USA) & 89,414 (Worldwide)

GymShark

Another famous brand that deploys their Shopify Plus eCommerce website is GymShark. Established in 2012, the brand specializes in providing accessories and sportswear, with an initial value was around 1 million USA. Over the years, GymShark ultimately becomes a billion-dollar brand and makes their presence known in over 131 markets.

The GymShark website showcases an extensive product catalog for men, women, and children, offering a wide range of styles and sizes. Moreover, the brand integrates Instagram into their website to reach and engage with the growing users of this social media platform. Also, GymShark leverages their Instagram account to create outfit mix-and-match inspiration, using their own products, thereby encouraging purchases.

• Website: https://us.shop.gymshark.com/
• Industry: Sportswear
• Traffic: 8.2M/month
• Ranking: 2,706 (USA) & 4,927 (Worldwide)

Fashion Nova

Fashion Nova is a well-known fashion brand in North America and Europe, offering a wide range of fashion products and accessories for men, women, and children, with diverse styles, colors, and sizes that conform to the US-UK. fashion standard. In 2018, Fashion Nova topped the list of the most searched fashion brands on the internet.

Their eCommerce website is based on the Shopify Plus platform, enabling it to handle a massive amount of traffic, approximately 25.5 million visitors per month. The website features all the necessary functionalities with a distinct design specific to the fashion industry. Furthermore, Fashion Nova regularly releases new seasonal collections accompanied by enticing promotions to attract customers to shop on their website.

• Website: https://www.fashionnova.com/
• Industry: Fashion
• Traffic: 25.5M/month
• Ranking: 349 (USA) & 1,471 (Worldwide)

Cettire

Cettire is one of the leading online retailers of luxury fashion in Australia. The brand specializes in providing clothing, footwear, and accessories from over 1300 renowned luxury brands worldwide, such as Saint Laurent, Prada, Balenciaga, Gucci, and more. In 2020, Cettire was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), with a total revenue of 124 million AUD for the fiscal year 2021.

The brand built their eCommerce website with the Shopify Plus platform. This helps the website attract the attention of fashion enthusiasts everywhere, not only because it is a destination for online shopping of luxury fashion brands but also because of its minimalist yet modern design with captivating videos and graphics.

• Website: https://www.cettire.com/
• Industry: High-end fashion
• Traffic: 4M/month
• Ranking: 7,189 (USA) & 11,333 (Worldwide)

Decathlon Viet Nam

Decathlon has a vast product catalog that can meet every need for sports training, ranging from gym clothes, running shoes, swimming goggles, and camping tents, to hiking backpacks. Therefore, it’s not surprising that Decathlon chose Shopify Plus to develop its eCommerce website to leverage the platform’s flexible customization and high scalability.

To keep up with the digital transformation trend, Decathlon places special emphasis on two sales channels: the website and the app, offering attractive promotional programs exclusively for customers who make purchases through these channels. Additionally, Decathlon integrates multiple payment methods and utilizes SSL encryption to ensure a safe and efficient online shopping experience.

• Website: https://www.decathlon.vn/vi
• Industry: Sportswear and accessories
• Traffic: 461M/month
• Ranking: 1,873 (Vietnam) và 91,416 (Worldwide)

Supersports

Supersports is the next sportswear and accessories brand on the list that uses Shopify Plus for its eCommerce website. It is a reliable shopping destination for genuine fashion items from major brands such as Puma, Under Armour, Fila, Crocs, Adidas, Nike, and more.

The brand regularly offers attractive promotional programs for customers shopping on their website. Also, Supersports dedicates a page on their website for customers to easily check ongoing promotional activities at their outlets. To ensure customers don’t miss out on any shopping deals, the company implements an exit popup that encourages customers to sign up and receive information about new products, special offers, and vouchers via their email.

• Website: https://supersports.com.vn/en
• Industry: Sportswear and accessories
• Traffic: 866.7M/month
• Ranking: 1,266 (Vietnam) & 63,546 (Worldwide)

Durex Viet Nam

No one is unfamiliar with Durex. In addition to focusing on enhancing their presence on social media platforms, Durex has also invested in developing their eCommerce website meticulously on the Shopify Plus platform to enrich the online shopping experience for their customers.

• Website: https://www.durexvietnam.vn/
• Industry: Health Community
• Traffic: 113,6M/month
• Ranking: 10,716 (Vietnam) & 494,850 (Worldwide)

Swee Lee Viet Nam

Swee Lee is one of the leading music instrument brands in Vietnam. The company’s eCommerce website is built on Shopify Plus, equipped with all the core features to operate and provide customers with the best shopping experience.

Swee Lee implements an exit popup to collect user emails for email marketing campaigns. The products available on the Swee Lee website are diverse, ranging from guitars, ukuleles, to pianos, with various attributes (e.g. models, prices, and brands).

• Website: https://www.sweelee.com.vn/
• Industry: Music Instruments
• Traffic: 33M/month
• Ranking: 27,269 (Vietnam) & 1,221,800 (Worldwide)

Skechers Viet Nam

The renowned American shoe brand, Skechers, also leverages Shopify Plus to build its eCommerce website. Skechers develops high-quality and comfortable product lines that align with current fashion trends. In addition to footwear for men, women, and children, the brand is also expanding its range to include clothing and accessories.

To encourage customers to shop more on the website, Skechers Vietnam consistently launches attractive promotional programs along with various gifts and vouchers.

• Website: https://www.skechersvn.vn/
• Industry: Footwear
• Traffic: 40,6M/month
• Ranking: 7,568 (Vietnam) & 340,941 (Worldwide)

Trollbeads Viet Nam

The website of Trollbeads, a renowned jewelry brand, is using the Shopify Plus eCommerce platform. As a pioneer in the world of exquisite gemstone jewelry, Trollbeads offers their customers luxurious and intricately crafted high-end jewelry pieces. Both men and women can customize their jewelry, including bracelets, rings, necklaces, and earrings, to suit their preferences, personalities, and individual stories.

Furthermore, on special occasions, Trollbeads showcases appropriate products on the website to facilitate easy selection for customers. Clear product images presented from multiple angles allow customers to observe the intricate design details and exquisite patterns of each jewelry item. Furthermore, the website has a dedicated section sharing the craftsmanship of artisanal handicrafts, the stories behind the gemstones, and jewelry care.

• Website: https://www.trollbeads.vn/
• Industry: Jewelry
• Traffic: 5.1M/month
• Ranking: 1,237,901 (Vietnam) và 14,795,357 (Worldwide)

SECOMM has listed out  10 successful eCommerce websites using the Shopify Plus platform, which have conquered customers and become leaders in their respective fields.

Related article: Shopify Plus vs Adobe Commerce: Key differences 2023

With years of experience successfully implementing eCommerce solutions for clients in multiple countries, SECOMM specializes in providing consulting services with comprehensive eCommerce deployment solutions.

Contact SECOMM or call our hotline (+842871089908) today to receive free support and consultation.

Shopify represents a trustworthy name in eCommerce development and is the choice of many SMEs. However, for enterprise-level businesses with rapid growth, the standard Shopify plans may not meet their needs sufficiently, in addition to incurring high operational and website maintenance costs. Therefore, Shopify Plus emerged to address these aforementioned issues.

What is Shopify Plus?

Introduced in 2014, Shopify Plus is an enterprise-level eCommerce platform provided by Shopify. Shopify Plus is designed for large businesses with an annual GMV exceeding $1 million and high growth rates.

Simply put, Shopify is for SMEs, while Shopify Plus is designed for mid to large-sized enterprises. Some notable global companies implementing Shopify Plus include Gymshark, Kylie Cosmetics, Redbull, Fashion Nova, Fenty Beauty, and more. In Vietnam, leading brands such as Durex Vietnam, Skechers Vietnam, Trollbeads Vietnam, Supersports, Swee Lee, and others have chosen Shopify Plus.

Key differences between Shopify and Shopify Plus

The Pros of Shopify Plus

Ease of use

Due to its nature as a SaaS eCommerce platform, Shopify Plus is designed to be user-friendly, allowing businesses to quickly build and operate their websites with no coding knowledge required.

Moreover, by using Shopify Plus, businesses won’t worry much about server management, security, or website updates and maintenance. The platform helps them save a significant amount of time and focus on more critical tasks such as sales, marketing, and customer service. 

Customer support

Shopify Plus provides top-notch customer support 24/7 and a dedicated account manager, which can help businesses address any queries through email, chat, and a hotline. It is great as large enterprises may have complex needs and require personalized support. 

Built-in tools 

The built-in tools are another advantage of Shopify Plus which supports businesses in building and operating their eCommerce websites. Among them, product management, inventory tracking, payment processing, shipping, tax calculation, advanced analytics, and more are notable. 

Additionally, Shopify Plus offers numerous customizable templates and apps, allowing businesses to create modern, professional, and feature-rich eCommerce websites without the technical skills required. Shopify Plus also enables businesses to easily scale as their needs change over time.

Furthermore, Shopify Plus gives businesses full access to Shopify’s exclusive programs such as the Merchant Success Program, Shopify Plus Academy, Shopify Plus Partner Program, and the Shopify Plus community on Facebook.

Scalability

Unlike the standard Shopify plans, Shopify Plus has become a popular choice among large enterprises due to its high scalability. The platform can easily scale up or down depending on the business need which helps deal with increased website traffic and surges in orders during busy shopping periods. 

Customizability

Another significant advantage of Shopify Plus lies in its high level of customization, allowing businesses to tailor their eCommerce websites to specific needs such as customizing templates, apps, payment integration, and more. As a result, the eCommerce website is built with uniqueness and creativity, highlighting the brand image and providing customers with an excellent shopping experience. The platform’s customizability has made it a powerful tool for driving online sales and sustainable growth. 

Security

Security is a top priority for eCommerce businesses, especially for large enterprises. Shopify Plus is a PCI-compliant platform that meets the data security standards of payment cards, ensuring that all payment transactions processed through this platform are secure. All customer data is encrypted using SSL to protect sensitive information from unauthorized access. Additionally, Shopify Plus integrates a DDoS protection feature, safeguarding against dangerous attacks that can disrupt website traffic and accessibility.

The Cons of Shopify Plus

Limited content management

Content management is not a strong suit of both Shopify and Shopify Plus compared to other platforms, especially WordPress. First is the limited blogging functionality, which makes it difficult to create and manage blog categories on the website. Moreover, if the content is a core element of the marketing strategy, this limitation should be carefully considered as it can significantly impact SEO optimization. Another limitation is the lack of control over the URL structure of product pages, which poses challenges in optimizing URLs for search engines.

Overall, while Shopify Plus provides many features for businesses to build and manage eCommerce websites, if content management is a priority, it may be worth considering other platforms that offer more advanced content management capabilities.

Platform dependency

If businesses build their websites based on an open-source platform, the platform migration is relatively simple and they can fully own the source code and all data. 

On the contrary, Shopify Plus is a SaaS platform, and the entire website system of the business is hosted on Shopify’s servers, which means ownership and control of the source code and data belonging to Shopify Plus. This means that data related to eCommerce activities on the website is tightly locked-in to Shopify’s database. This leads to two issues:

• Vendor risk:

Suppose Shopify goes bankrupt or faces unforeseen risks. In that case, the entire business operations on this platform would be lost, and it would not be possible to retrieve all the latest data. However, this risk is unlikely to occur.

• Data export:

In the event of discontinuing the use of Shopify and switching to another platform, the business can export data to a CSV file containing information such as product details, customer accounts, inventory, orders, etc. However, the data that Shopify allows to be accessed and exported is not comprehensive but only a portion of it.

High expertise required

Although Shopify Plus is considered user-friendly and suitable for users with strong technical skills, large enterprises need a certain level of expertise to effectively implement eCommerce with Shopify Plus. Because it is a highly customizable platform, businesses will need to have some understanding or collaborate with experienced developers to maximize the platform’s features and capabilities.

Pricing

The cost of using Shopify Plus will be based on revenue. Initially, each business will pay a minimum of $2000/month for standard setup and integration. Once the revenue reaches $800,000/month, Shopify Plus will charge the business based on revenue, at a rate of 0.25% of the monthly revenue. However, the fee will not exceed $40,000/month or $480,000/year

Advantages 

At first glance, this may seem like a large amount of money but for enterprise-level businesses, this pricing is reasonable because Shopify Plus provides a robust eCommerce platform that helps businesses operate more efficiently compared to standard Shopify plans. 

• Reason 1:

As mentioned, the main advantage of Shopify Plus lies in its scalability and customizability but it is limited in standard Shopify plans. A growing business will need an eCommerce platform that can meet the demands of expansion and development. Shopify Plus is designed to handle high sales volumes and can support 10,000 transactions per minute. Additionally, businesses can customize their eCommerce website and leverage built-in features and tools to optimize their operations and sales.

• Reason 2:

Another advantage of Shopify Plus is that businesses do not have to pay for hosting, bug fixes, maintenance, or updates. The additional fees that businesses need to pay are transaction fees, specifically:

Credit card transaction fees that businesses have to pay to Shopify Plus will vary depending on the country but typically range from 1.5% to 2.5% per transaction.

In addition, Shopify Plus will charge a small fee of approximately 0.15% for transactions with third-party payment gateways, but this fee is waived if the business uses Shopify Payments as a payment method.

Compared to the three standard Shopify plans, the credit card transaction fees of Shopify Plus are still relatively low, with the following differences:

• Basic ($29/month): 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction
• Shopify ($79/month):  2.6% + 30 cents per transaction
• Advanced ($299/month): 2.4% + 30 cents per transaction
• Shopify Plus (starting from $2000/month): 2.15% + 30 cents per transaction (fee applied for the US market)

→ It can be seen that compared to the highest-tier standard Shopify plan – Advanced, the credit card transaction fees of Shopify Plus will save businesses 0.25%.

Now look at the transaction fees with third parties:

• • Basic: 2% per transaction
  • Shopify: 1% per transaction
  • Advanced: 0.5% per transaction
• Shopify Plus: 0.15% per transaction

→ The difference in fees for transactions with third parties is evident, and Shopify Plus is a better choice.

• Reason 3:

Shopify has a vast app store with over 6000 apps developed by Shopify and third parties. In Particular, there are many apps developed specifically for Shopify Plus. Depending on each business’s needs, the cost of installing apps can range from $0 to a few hundred dollars or several thousand dollars per month.

The basic setup of the Shopify Plus platform is sufficient for businesses to operate their websites. However, to deploy more effectively and provide a better customer experience, businesses may need to install additional Shopify apps, which incur costs. Naturally, with the investment in these apps, businesses will gain equivalent benefits.

Disadvantages

Due to its nature as a SaaS eCommerce platform, businesses will not own the source code and website data, which leads to cost disadvantages. Businesses that have reached the level of using Shopify Plus will have a demand for utilizing features, apps, and tools or integrating with third parties. In addition to the fixed monthly cost of using Shopify Plus, businesses also have to pay monthly additional fees based on their needs. This makes it difficult for enterprise-level businesses to manage their cash flow. 

On the other hand, for most open-source platforms, although deployment costs are high and deployment time is long, businesses can make a one-time payment and own the source code, data, and long-term features. Therefore, using open-source platforms will help enterprise-level businesses manage their cash flow more efficiently.

Related article: Shopify Plus vs Adobe Commerce: Key Differences 2023

With many years of experience implementing eCommerce solutions for numerous businesses in different countries, SECOMM understands the potential of Shopify Plus to empower eCommerce operations as well as the challenges and difficulties they may encounter during the initial stage.

Contact SECOMM today or call our hotline (+842871089908) to receive a free consultation.

Shopify Plus and Adobe Commerce are platforms that mid to large-sized companies consider when it comes to eCommerce development due to the customizability and scalability of the two. 

Still, there are some major differences between Shopify Plus and Adobe Commerce that business owners should be aware of before making a start.

Overview

What is Adobe Commerce?

Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento Commerce) is an open-source eCommerce platform for medium, large, and enterprise-level businesses with high growth rates and customization demand. Adobe Commerce offers two versions:

• Adobe Commerce on-premise: a self-hosted version
• Adobe Commerce on-cloud: a hosted version

Both are paid-for versions, which provide unlimited website development and customization opportunities. The difference is the on-premise version doesn’t provide hosting, while the on-cloud does. In addition, the on-cloud version provides a certain level of automatic updates, so the cost is higher compared to Adobe Commerce on-premise. Therefore, you can decide based on your specific needs. 

Beyond this, there’s a free version offered, Magento Open Source, which comes with many essential features.

What is Shopify Plus?

This is considered an upgraded version of the standard Shopify plans specifically for mid to large-scale businesses with rapid growth. Due to its nature as a SaaS platform, Shopify Plus is designed to be easy to use, allowing businesses to quickly implement it without the technical skills required.

Relating Article: The Pros and Cons of Shopify Plus

KKey differences between Shopify Plus and Adobe Commerce

Pricing

• Shopify Plus: 
  • License fee: Start at $2,000/month and the charge will turn into a revenue-based model after you reach $800,000/month in sales. This means you have to pay Shopify Plus 0,25% of your monthly revenue. However, this percentage will not cross $40,000/month or $480,000/year. 
  • Transaction fee: Credit card processing fee will range between 1,5% to 2,5%/transaction. Third-party payment processing fee like PayPal, 2Checkout, and Skrill is 0,15% on every transaction but if your business uses the Shopify Payment service, this fee is waived.
  • Hosting fee: the platform fee you pay to Shopify Plus includes a hosting fee, so you don’t have to pay any extra fee for hosting, maintenance, updates, or security as it is Shopify’s responsibility. 
  • Development fee: Typically, you can use Shopify’s built-in themes to build your eCommerce website ranging in price from $0 to $180. In reality, you need to seek solutions that maximize the customization and scalability of Shopify Plus. So, the costs, based on your specific requirements, will range from $10,000 to $250,000. To streamline your development cost, you should consider your needs and wants for the eCommerce website.
• Adobe Commerce:

• • Platform fee: For the on-premise version, the fee will range from $22,000 to $125,000 per year. For the on-cloud version, the fee is from $40,000 to $190,000 per year. 
  • Transaction fee: It depends on the payment service providers you intend to use, ranging from around 2,9% per transaction. However, you should contact Adobe for more details.  
  • Hosting fee: For the on-premise version, you have to find a hosting provider yourself and the fee depends on your provider. For the on-cloud version, the hosting will be provided to you at prices ranging from $500 to $10,000 per month and the fee will vary based on your business scale and customization demand. 

Development fee: Building a website on open-source platforms typically incurs higher costs compared to SaaS platforms. Therefore, the development costs with Adobe Commerce are higher than Shopify Plus, ranging from $100,000 to $500,000 per project, but it offers more scalability and custom features.

Customization & Scalability

• Customization:

Adobe Commerce is an open-source platform, meaning developers can access the source code and easily customize it. This allows you to create specific features and custom integrations to meet your needs.

Shopify Plus also offers high customization with a wide range of available themes, plugins, and apps. However, as a SaaS platform, Shopify Plus doesn’t have the same level of customization as Adobe Commerce. 

• Scalability:

Both platforms have scalability and can handle huge traffic and transaction volumes. However, Adobe Commerce has higher scalability than Shopify Plus, especially for businesses with large, complex product catalogs or extensive inventory management needs. 

The robust Adobe Commerce platform enables businesses to scale easily, handle increased website traffic and achieve high sales volumes. Moreover, Adobe Commerce provides you with a lot of advanced features to manage product catalogs, pricing, and promotions. This way, it benefits large-scale businesses. 

In general, Adobe Commerce offers higher customization and scalability compared to Shopify Plus but its development process is complex and requires technical expertise and experience.  On the other hand, Shopify Plus is known for its easy-to-use platform, allowing businesses without strong technical skills to quickly deploy their websites.

Multi-store support

The ability to support multiple stores is a crucial factor for many large-scale eCommerce businesses operating in multiple locations when choosing a platform.

Shopify Plus offers up to 9 additional stores to track inventory and fulfill orders in different locations based on the main store, with a maximum of 20 locations. This means you can manage all stores from a single dashboard that contains all user data, staff accounts, sales analytics, etc.

On the contrary, Adobe Commerce allows you to manage an unlimited number of stores on a single admin panel. You can synchronize inventory and share product catalogs among the stores. The platform also allows you to freely make changes at different levels as well as set up ranges to manage product attributes at a local or global level. These features make Adobe Commerce a popular choice for multinational corporations and global B2B, B2C retailers.

Therefore, the choice between Shopify Plus and Adobe Commerce for multi-store support depends on the business model, scale, and specific development needs.

Hỗ trợ triển khai Omnichannel

Adobe Commerce offers two main options for implementing Omnichannel:

• Order management: This helps you manage orders, shipping, returns, and inventory across numerous channels
• Third-party extensions: The platform provides a range of third-party extensions and integrations to implement Omnichannel strategies effectively. 

Shopify Plus also supports businesses to implement Omnichannel. One notable feature of Shopify Plus is its robust point-of-sale (POS) system called Shopify POS, which seamlessly integrates sales points across various channels, from online to offline.

In a nutshell, Shopify Plus is for mid to large-sized businesses with rapid growth and a demand for highly customizable and scalable solutions. However, Adobe Commerce offers even more flexibility, scalability, and customization than Shopify Plus. In fact, the more flexible and customizable platform, the more complex and costly the implementation process becomes. As a result, you should consider your business scale and development needs to make the right decision. 

Contact or call the SECOMM hotline (02871089908) to get a free consultation.