The eCommerce industry is undoubtedly booming. In fact, according to Statistica, global eCommerce sales are expected to reach a whopping $4.1 trillion by 2021, up from the $1.3 trillion reported back in 2014.
In the world of eCommerce, two enterprise giants, Shopify Plus and Magento are often compared and pitted against each other. In this article, we will discuss the features of both the platforms and help you make the right decision of choosing the best forum for your business by evaluating the e-commerce platforms on specific parameters. So let’s get started.
Magento 2 Commerce
Magento 2 Commerce is the ‘Enterprise’ version of Magento, a well established and popular e-commerce platform that was acquired by Adobe in 2018. It is built for rapid and cost-effective innovation, combining out-of-the-box functionalities, enterprise performance and scale, and robust business tools to keep you ahead of increasingly complex eCommerce.
Shopify Plus
In February 2014, Shopify released its enterprise solution “Shopify Plus” for large e-commerce businesses with access to additional features and support. It is suitable for big brands or merchants selling in high volume. You can focus on expanding your business with Shopify’s enterprise-level plan.
Shopify Plus gives access to many more new features, integrations, your store’s underlying code, dedicated support options than Shopify.
Some of the most well-known Shopify Plus’s clients are:
- Nestle
- Hawkers
- Kylie Jenner
- Budweiser
- PepsiCo
- Current Body
- Gymshark
- Protein World
Shopify
- SaaS product
- Template/Theme based
- Restricted ability to manage the user interface
- Designed for small business and startups
- Unproven to be customizable for the enterprise sector
Magento 2
- Custom build everything
- Have to maintain the code or hire an expert
- New features are paid
- Hosting and support needs to be paid for
Magento Enterprise vs Shopify Plus – Which one to pick and Why?
We will be comparing the two platforms on the following parameters.
Parameters :
- Cost
- Multi-Store Management
- Extensions and Apps
- B2B/ Wholesale capabilities
1. Cost
Pricing is an essential factor to take into account. Shopify Plus pricing is not available publicly on the website, and you can negotiate the rates based on your sales volume. However, some necessary costs that you have to incur are – Platform fee + credit card processing fees + hosting + development cost.
On the other hand, with Magneto, you will encounter the following charges- platform fee + hosting + development cost. Magento Commerce would be an ideal option for store owners that need to access source code for other development features.
Based on your store traffic, you need to choose a reliable eCommerce platform and a suitable package. If the number of site visitors increases unexpectedly and your server is not strong enough, your site would crash down.
2. Multi-Store Management
You can create multiple stores on both Shopify Plus and Magento Commerce.
Shopify Plus:
– Expansion store- Shopify Plus enables you to add nine more storefronts for shoppers from various locations. From a single dashboard, you can manage all your stores, analytics, employee accounts, user permissions, and automation tools.
Currency Converter- Only stores using Shopify Payments can use this feature. Using this feature, you can sell in multiple currencies using Shopify payments.
Multi Warehouse- Like Shopify, Shopify Plus allows you to set up many locations to track your inventory and fulfill your orders efficiently, a maximum of 20.
In contrast to Shopify Plus, Magento Commerce supports these features :
Expansion Store- Magento sets no limit to the number of additional stores you can create. It helps you to build various websites for a single brand or even multiple brands. This feature is unique to Magento; it is not available on Shopify.
Localized Pricing- If your business is running globally, there are many reasons why you want to set different product prices in other locations. It is advisable to not only convert to another currency based on foreign exchange rate like in Shopify Plus.
Multi-Source Inventory Localised- You can set up your stocks, sources, salable quantity, performance, and partial shipment. Furthermore, Magento has its Source Selection Algorithm to optimize the operation of your inventory.
In this competition between Shopify Plus vs Magento Commerce, Magento Commerce is the apparent winner when it comes to multi-store management.
3. Extensions & Apps
Both platforms have established ecosystems for extensions and apps. Apps and extensions help broaden the functionality of your website. Added functionalities to a website are essential for improving and expanding the functionalities of your e-commerce website in various ways.
Shopify Plus has thousands of applications for varied functionalities available to support merchants at a meager cost. Some of the tools that are exclusive for high-growth merchants include Shopify Flow, Launchpad, Transporter, etc.
On the other hand, Magento Commerce does not build any exclusive apps for large scale users. However, you do have a choice of 404-third party extension apps on Magento Marketplace.
4. B2B/ WholeSale Capabilities
Shopify Plus offers you a Wholesale section in the dashboard. However, this feature is still quite limited for sellers as not everything is editable.
Magento Commerce score in this parameter. It provides very advanced native support for B2B merchants.B2B is a massive focus for Magento currently, and the new B2B suite comes with a lot of robust features such as :
- manage quotes
- create customer-specific catalogs
- manage various settings against customers
- assign roles to users
- give budgets to users and companies
- setup credit limits
- various approval workflows
This is an excellent strength of Magento over Shopify Plus.
Which Platform is Right For You?
The answer to the above factors depends on many factors, such as do you need flexibility or simplicity for your business? In a nutshell, Shopify Plus is more suitable for stores that are quickly growing and require less complex, customized, and integrated solutions. It is suggested to hire Shopify experts who can help you create a gen-next robust online shopping portal.
On the other hand, if you are looking to build your store on a broad international scale, then without a doubt, opt for Magento Commerce.