Shopify Plus Vs Magento Enterprise? What to choose?

It's the big eCommerce showdown.

It all boils down to one question:

What is the best enterprise eCommerce platform for your business?

With over 20 years eCommerce experience, acidgreen is your multi-award winning, certified Enterprise Magento Partner and Shopify Plus Partner. 

acidgreen has deployed over 200 highly successful online stores that generate high conversion rates and impressive ROI. That's why when we take on a new client, we want to be sure that they have instilled confidence in not only our agency but their chosen eCommerce solution. Here at acidgreen, we are platform agnostic and we will partner our clients with the best solution based on your individual requirements. 

Every business is unique, and for that reason, every website should also be just as equally unique. acidgreen is committed to providing the best enterprise eCommerce platform to our clients. That includes meeting unique, brand niche specifications. 

This article will discuss the ongoing debate between the two best enterprise eCommerce platforms and clear market leaders; Shopify Plus Vs Magento Commerce (Enterprise). We’ll point out their key differences and similarities, as well as some of their advantages and disadvantages.  

Our research and comparison was conducted objectively to help you to decide which one could best fit your business.

Why eCommerce Platforms Are So Important

An eCommerce platform is a digital application which allows for the management of online sales operations.  These are virtual storefronts where consumers are able to buy a product or service online. Through these systems, online merchants have the ability to build and host their website, manage their products, prices, promotions and personalise their sales and services. When a business becomes larger and more profitable, where higher volumes need to be managed, their ecommerce strategy requires a solid platform.

“Enterprise eCommerce Platforms” are ideal solutions for big brands and large organizations.

Let’s Break It Down Step By Step… Shopify Plus Vs Magento Enterprise

Shopify Plus Vs Magento Commerce (Enterprise). They are the two best enterprise eCommerce platforms on the market.

The Magento (www.magento.com) slogan is “Designed to grow, built for flexibility”. Launched officially in 2007, Magento Commerce has a professional client base of worldwide brands including; Coca Cola, Ford and Olympus (just to name a few). Magento was acquired by Adobe Inc in May 2018 for $1.68 Billion USD. As of 2020 there are 6,309 live sites on Magento Enterprise with 1,691 in the Top 1M. Adobe/Magento was named a B2B and B2C Leader in 2020 Forrester reports.

Shopify Plus (www.shopify.com/plus) known as the "cost-effective enterprise platform that’s built for change" was launched in 2014, so it is a fair bit younger than its Enterprise competitor, however is taking the market by storm. This cloud-based (SaaS) enterprise ecommerce platform provides a fully supported service.  Shopify Plus has some notable brands globally such as Pepsico, Heniz and Lindt. As of 2020 there are 5,697 live sites on Shopify Plus with 2,862 in the Top 1M.

Below is chart setup to break down the differences:

Statistics source (Sept 2020) trends.builtwith.com

Multi-Store Management

Shopify Plus Vs Magento Commerce (Enterprise) in terms of multi-store management.

Magento Enterprise has the core capability for a multi-store option. This is one of its key selling points, as it allows merchants to manage multiple brands as well as B2B and B2C stores from one Magento interface. In simple terms: it can manage multiple websites that use different domain names and/or languages.

With Shopify Plus you need to "clone" your site to allow multi-store. You can do this up to 9 times on Shopify Plus before additional costs. This can result in additional admin per clone and complex integration requirements.  So yes it is technically possible to have multi-store with Shopify Plus, though just not as elegant compared to Magento.

Hosting Systems & User- Friendly Customization

Shopify Plus Vs Magento Enterprise for hosting systems & user-friendly customization.

Shopify Plus is a fully hosted cloud solution;  Software As A Service (SaaS). SaaS provides notable savings as it eliminates the upfront cost of purchase/installation, as well on-going costs like maintenance and upgrades.

However, this also means that in return, you do not have access to the code that runs your site and therefore you have less flexibility when it comes to customisation.

On the other hand, Magento is a self-hosted platform that requires a robust server to handle Magento’s large resources, which can add operating costs and complexity. Even so, the ease for modification is a significant advantage. You own the code, meaning you can change everything and anything you want. You play the game with your own rules, though it does come at a cost. 

Pricing

When it comes to comparing Shopify Plus Vs Magento Enterprise in terms of price, there is a clear winner...

Shopify Plus is only $2,000 per month. This includes the licence, SaaS hosting and support from Shopify. Shopify Plus fees though do go up once you start doing over US$9.6M p/a (at a rate of 0.25% of online sales).  The cost to build and maintain a Shopify Plus site is generally half the cost of Magento. Shopify Plus is the clear winner on price. 

Magento Commerce Cloud (managed by AWS) licensing start at US$40,000 per annum or on-premise starts at US$24,000 per year. This cost increases depending on unique merchant turnover (tier based), so you’re not paying the same amount as an eCommerce giant. For "on-premise" the licensing does not include hosting costs which depend on the size of the website.

Scalability

Shopify Plus Vs Magento Enterprise in terms of scalability.

Magento Enterprise and Magento Enterprise 2 are more flexible than Shopify Plus. Some of the explanations could be that Magento uses PHP (one of the most well-known programming languages) and is an open-source and self-hosted platform. You have the possibility to have access to technology stack, to set up multiple languages and multiple currencies. There are so many options available that is sometimes hard to navigate.

Shopify Plus is more recognized for its simplicity and friendly use. It provides an ergonomic interface and has a faster implementation time, but has also some limits regarding the features.

However, both platforms can be set to scale up in a response to a spike in traffic.

So, What To Choose?

So, if you do not need a multi-store configuration, B2B functionality, advanced customisation/integration then Shopify Plus is most likely the best enterprise eCommerce platform for you. Though if you do require a more complex, customised and integrated solution (and have the budget for that) then Magento Commerce may be the best enterprise eCommerce platform for you. The choice you have to make is: do you need flexibility or simplicity for your business? And what is that worth? Obviously, the more flexible and customisable a platform is, the more complex and expensive it is to build and maintain.  

Still not sure which is the best enterprise eCommerce platform is right for you? Contact acidgreen now for a free consultation. Ready to get started? Great! Contact us now for a free quote. We look forward to working with you.

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acidgreen is an award-winning e-commerce agency specialising in Magento, Shopify Plus and digital marketing with over 18 years of industry experience. Our certified developers and digital marketers are highly qualified to create aesthetically pleasing Magento and Shopify Plus websites that generate the highest amount of conversions and provide the best ROI. Be sure to follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, or give us a call to learn more about our services.