Popular e-commerce platform
Shopify has announced a price increase for new clients. Monthly plans will go up by 34%, while annual plans will cost more than double compared to some promotional prices in the past. The changes will take effect in April and mark the first spike in price in 12 years.
“After much deliberation, we’re announcing a change in favor of better serving our mission and our merchants: We are updating our pricing for Basic, Shopify, and Advanced plans,” Kaz Nejatian, Shopify’s VP of Product and Chief Operating Officer, announced in
an official blog post.
“The idea behind the products we create has always been the same: we offer merchants the most powerful, innovative, and reliable tools in the industry at a price that’s unmatched in the market. But what that means, and the resources required to live up to that promise, have changed dramatically since we started,” Nejatian explained, adding, “In order to not change the value of Shopify, we’ve had to change the price.”
Shopify published a breakdown of the monthly subscription price changes:
- Basic plan (34% increase): from $29/month to $39/month
- Shopify plan (33% increase): from $79/month to $105/month
- Advanced plan (33% increase) from $299/month to $399/month
Annual subscriptions will cost more than double compared to the old 50% off
promotional rates for the first year of use:
- Basic plan: from $14.44/month to $29/month
- Shopify plan: from $39.44/month to $79/month
- Advanced plan: from $147.78/month to $299/month
Shopify’s high-volume Plus plan, which costs $2,000/month, will keep its original price.
The price changes won’t affect existing merchants until April 23, 2023. Existing customers still have a chance to secure lower rates for another year by switching from a monthly to a yearly subscription before this date. New customers, unfortunately, will be locked into the new rates.
Although the price spike comes at a challenging time for small businesses, Shopify also has its own battles to fight. The company experienced massive growth during the COVID-19 pandemic when customers relied entirely on online shopping. To meet the rising e-commerce demand, Shopify greatly expanded its team and infrastructure, which later resulted in 1,000 layoffs in 2022.
Some e-commerce customers affected by Shopify’s higher prices have turned to more affordable alternatives like Wix or Squarespace, which combine helpful tools for small businesses with powerful e-commerce features.
