Germany, Austria and Switzerland look like one market and behave like three. Germany and Austria share the euro and EU rules. Switzerland sits outside the EU, with its own currency, tax and customs. On Shopify Plus you cover this either with Shopify Markets inside one store or with a separate store per region under one organisation. Markets is enough while range, warehouse and team are the same.
The operator of the official CR7 online stores sold through physical retail and marketplaces before the project and had no shop system of its own. We built mycr7.eu and mycr7.ch on Shopify Plus. Switzerland needed its own tax and customs logic, separate price lists and an adapted checkout in CHF, all handled through Shopify Markets, with the client's proprietary ERP and warehouse system connected. According to the MYCR7 case study, the store went live after 6 weeks and revenue afterwards was 120% above the level from retail and marketplaces.
Gusti Leder came from Shopware, where internationalisation was manual and spread across several places. Shopify Markets now runs DACH, France, the UK and further European markets with local tax, currency and domain logic. We developed the engraving configurator as a custom Shopify app, and the ERP exchanges inventory, orders and returns through a REST API. The Gusti Leder case study reports a 45% higher conversion rate and more than 1,000 migrated products. Our page on Shopify internationalisation covers how we set up new markets.
At high revenue, Shopify Plus is worth it compared to a custom commerce platform when your business fits the platform's building blocks for checkout, markets, B2B and integrations. You pay a licence and a few extensions instead of building and running hosting, security, updates and checkout yourself. A custom build only pays off when your business model needs processes that Shopify does not provide at its core.
Revenue alone does not settle the question. What matters is where your developers spend their time. On a custom platform, operations take a fixed share of the budget: servers, traffic peaks, security updates, payment methods and tax logic per country. On Shopify Plus, Shopify carries that layer and your budget goes into range, checkout logic and integrations.
Groundies, a barefoot shoe brand with eight-figure revenue, ran two separate systems before the move: OXID for the US and Shopware for the international markets. That meant duplicated operations, rising maintenance costs and long lead times for new storefronts and campaigns. We consolidated both systems onto one central Shopify Plus codebase and launched in stages, the US first and the international store 60 days later. The Groundies case study reports a 50% cost reduction from consolidating the two platforms and more than 100 orders within 3 days of the US launch.
For your own calculation we compare licence, apps, development, integrations and operations for both routes over the same period. The platform comparison shows how Shopify performs against other systems.
Shopify Plus is not worth it when none of its features removes a concrete bottleneck in your store. A brand that sells one range in one market and needs no logic of its own in the checkout is well served by a smaller Shopify plan. The budget then does more in the theme and in conversion optimisation.
Plus does not fix data problems either. If product data is incomplete, or ERP and store hold different stock levels, the plan changes nothing. In that case system integration comes first and the plan decision second.
A business model that would have to work around the core of the platform speaks against Shopify as a whole. Examples are an order process that contradicts the Shopify checkout in principle, or pricing that is calculated entirely in another system and cannot be handed over. When we see that, we say so in the first conversation and do not recommend a move.
We own three things: the decision whether the enterprise plan fits your business, the build or migration of the store, and operations afterwards. All three sit in one team. We define how many stores you need, which system owns prices and inventory, and what has to happen in the checkout.
NICCOS has been a Shopify Plus Partner since April 2022 and is an OpenAI partner. Our entry in the Shopify Partner Directory shows 19 reviews with a rating of 5.0. What we have built on Plus is documented in 12 published case studies, each with starting point, work done and result.
Many Plus projects start with a change of platform. If you are coming from Shopware, OXID or Magento, the Shopify migration is the first step and the plan decision is one part of it.
Yes. Shopify Plus manages company accounts, price lists and payment terms alongside the consumer business. Each project has to settle whether both channels run in one store or separately, and which system owns the trade prices.
SMILODOX wanted to bring B2C and B2B onto one maintainable foundation. We reviewed the existing store, the customer journeys and the app stack, assessed value and overlap in an app audit, and built the B2B area in the same design system as the consumer store. The new store went live after two months and the internal team maintains it. The details are in the SMILODOX case study, and the service is described on our Shopify B2B page.
Plus projects rarely fail because of the theme. They fail on the data model, on redirects, on interfaces and on an acceptance test that comes too late. That is why we define which system owns which data before development starts, and sign off checkout, payments and ERP processes one by one before go-live.
Selling into Germany adds legal and tax requirements of its own. German price law, the Preisangabenverordnung (PAngV), requires stores to show the lowest previous price when they advertise a reduction. We developed the app Best Price Indicator (PAngV) for this, and it is available in the Shopify App Store. Taxes, currencies and domains per country are set up in Shopify Markets.
For discounts, shipping rules and payment methods we use Shopify Functions and checkout extensions instead of a chain of apps. Our Shopify checkout page shows what that looks like in detail. After launch we take over operations on request through Shopify support.
With Checkout UI Extensions and Shopify Functions delivered through custom apps, discounts, shipping rules and payment methods work the way your business needs them to.
Brands, countries or B2B can run in their own stores and be managed centrally, with shared users and permissions.
ERP, PIM, OMS and middleware exchange large volumes of data without inventory or prices in the store lagging behind.
You sell in several countries, with different ranges or under several brands, and do not want to tie all of that into one store.
Your own discount logic, payment methods by customer group or additional fields in the checkout are decisive for your business.
ERP, warehouse and customer service depend on the store, and errors in the data flow immediately cost revenue or trust.
For a clear store with manageable logic, the smaller Shopify plans are often enough. Then we would rather invest in theme and conversion.
If none of the Plus features solves a concrete bottleneck, the licence is money that would do more elsewhere.
No plan change fixes incomplete product or customer data. Then integration comes first, and the decision on the plan after that.
We calculate Plus against where you are today: licence, apps, development, integrations and operations over the same period.
We define how many stores you need, which system owns which data and what has to happen in the checkout.
Theme, checkout extensions, Functions and integrations are built in clear releases with testing on staging.
Go-live with an agreed cutover, verified tracking and a team that knows its way around the new admin.
After launch we work on conversion, new markets, B2B or AI channels. Measured data is the basis.
Additional fields, notices, upsells and validations that stay compatible with Shopify updates.
Discounts, shipping and payment rules as your own logic instead of a combination of apps.
Company accounts, price lists and payment terms alongside your D2C business.
Markets, languages, currencies and taxes with Shopify Markets or separate stores per region.
Figures from our case studies, exactly as they appear there. Each figure links to the client's case study.
You are facing the Plus decision
You want to know whether Plus pays off for you and need an assessment with no sales interest in the licence.
You are on Plus and barely use it
The licence is running, but checkout, Functions and automation have not been implemented. Plus costs money without making a difference.
You are growing beyond your first store
New markets, brands or B2B are coming up, and the question is how many stores you need and who owns which data.
Integrations are business-critical
ERP, warehouse and service depend on the store, and you need a team that takes data flows as seriously as design.
You are coming from another system
If the platform change is the priority, the work starts with the migration. Plus is then one decision within it.
To Shopify migrationThe store does not convert
If visitors arrive and do not buy, a plan change will not fix that. Then we start with page structure and offer.
To CRO & conversion optimisationYou need ongoing support
If the store is in place and you mainly want a reliable partner for maintenance and small improvements.
To support & maintenanceYou want to decide first, build a Plus store, or get more out of an existing Plus setup. That gives three shapes of collaboration.
For merchants who need a solid basis before switching to Plus.
Ends with a recommendation for or against Plus that you can defend internally.
For merchants implementing a new Plus store or a migration to Plus.
Ends when the Plus store sells reliably and your team runs it on its own.
For merchants already on Plus who want more out of checkout, automation and markets.
Ends when the agreed features are live and their effect has been measured.
Every figure appears in the case study, where you can verify it.
Groundies, MYCR7 and Gusti Leder are three of twelve projects we have published with starting point, delivery and result.
We look at your store, your markets and your systems. Afterwards you know what Plus solves for you and what it does not.
NICCOS
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