The price Shopify charge for access to what they say (and is commonly acknowledged) are some of the best tools in commerce has remained largely unchanged for the last 12 years. Now the price is to be raised as they announce the Shopify Price Changes.
When Shopify was started in 2006, it was a novel product with a novel idea: to provide the best commerce tools in the world to all merchants of all sizes, to make commerce better for everyone.
A lot has changed since then, but a few things haven’t: why we do it and who we do it for. The price we charge for access to the best tools in commerce has remained largely unchanged for the last 12 years.
– Shopify
Like all businesses, Shopify are struggling to make sense of the volatile economic backdrop of the past few years, and were one of the first big tech companies to announce layoffs back in July 2022. The company bet big that the upsurge in ecommerce caused by the pandemic would propel online shopping forward by five years. That didn’t materialise and ecommerce normalised once lockdowns ended and returned to levels that would have been expected if there had been no pandemic once the lockdown boost to online shopping subsided.
New plan costs
The Basic plan in the US is to rise from $29 a month to $39 a month. 10 dollars a month is not a significant amount but it is a 33% price rise and for those with micro businesses it represents an unwelcome hike at a time of high inflation and soaring costs.
However, while businesses new to Shopify will see the increased prices immediately, those already using Shopify won’t see the impact of the Shopify price changes until the 23rd of April, giving three months notice.
Lock in before the Shopify Price Changes
There is a way to lock in your current Shopify subscription cost and avoid the increase for a year, but it means investing up front. If you have the funds available, you can switch from monthly to yearly terms to keep your current monthly price before new prices take effect on the 23rd of April 2023.
UK Shopify customers can currently lock in prices for the Basic Plan at £25 per month or £19 per month if you pay annually.
Shopify Price Changes to fund services
Since Shopify first popped onto the market, the services and tools included have expanded dramatically. It’s to find this growth in technology and power the platform that Shopify say the increase to their revenues is needed.
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.
In order to not change the value of Shopify, we’ve had to change the price.
– Shopify
