Shopify is constantly evolving. Every few months, the platform adds something new – sometimes a minor feature, sometimes something that changes the way the whole shop operates. If you’ve been running a shop on Shopify for a long time, it’s easy to miss the moment when your old habits are no longer the best approach.
In this article, we summarise the most important changes for 2026. We then address a question that’s being asked more and more often: is it time to switch to Shopify Plus?.
The most significant changes to Shopify in 2026
Automations in Shopify Messaging and Shopify Flow
In March 2026, Shopify moved all its built-in marketing automations to a separate app – Shopify Messaging. It moved the logic based on third-party apps to Shopify Flow. Shops that had been using the old automations for years had to reconfigure some of their settings. Furthermore, in December 2025, Yotpo discontinued its email and SMS products. Thousands of shops had to find a replacement quickly.
The result is this: shops that are still using outdated systems are losing revenue today. Well-configured automation could generate that revenue.
New features at checkout
The checkout process on Shopify can now be customised much more freely than it used to be. You can add your own fields, messages and elements to encourage customers to buy something extra – directly within the checkout process, without having to tamper with the payment system’s code. This is a major change. Previously, the checkout was virtually impossible to personalise, except on the most expensive plan.
In practice, you now have more options for tailoring the final step of the purchasing process to suit your business. This could be additional parcel insurance or a field for a tax registration number for business purchases.
Artificial intelligence in everyday work
AI-powered features are no longer just an extra. They have become an integral part of day-to-day shop management. Generating product descriptions, providing customer service suggestions and supporting sales data analysis – all of this is available directly within the dashboard, without the need to install separate applications.
For shop owners, the biggest change is a practical one: tasks that used to take hours can now be completed in just a few clicks.
Selling on multiple markets (Shopify Markets)
Shopify Markets is a tool for managing sales across different markets from a single dashboard. It’s gaining more and more features – different prices, different currencies and different delivery methods for each country – without the need to set up a separate shop for each market. For brands considering selling abroad, this is a strong reason to stick with this platform for the long term.
How does Shopify Plus differ from the standard plans?
Many people think of Shopify Plus as „just the same as Shopify, but more expensive”. That’s a bit of an oversimplification. It’s worth breaking it down into specifics.
Limitations and possibilities. Standard plans have limitations – the number of sales locations, API access, and the level of checkout customisation. Plus removes most of these limitations. You can rebuild the checkout process practically from scratch. The technical limits are tailored to shops with high traffic and a large number of orders.
Cost. Standard Shopify plans cost a few dozen dollars a month. Plus is a completely different price – much higher, and often dependent on how much you sell. It isn’t simply the next logical step after the most expensive standard plan. It’s a separate business decision.
B2B services and wholesale. You already have the basic B2B features – such as customised price lists for selected customers – on the standard plan. The Plus plan goes one step further: you can run a fully-fledged, separate wholesale channel. With its own price list for multiple customer groups, a separate ordering process and complete separation from retail sales. Without having to set up a second shop alongside the first.
When your shop is ready for Shopify Plus
There isn’t a single magic number of orders at which you need to switch to Plus. However, there are certain indicators worth keeping an eye on.
Is the standard checkout starting to hold you back because you need something very specific to your business? That’s the first sign. Do you manage several brands or several markets from a single account, and are you doing so by the skin of your teeth, working around the limitations of the standard plan? That’s the second sign. Is wholesale becoming just as important as retail, and is your current shop struggling to keep these two worlds separate? That’s the third one.
High turnover alone isn’t enough to switch to Plus. What matters is whether your current plan actually restricts you in any way that affects your sales.
What is the process of switching to Shopify Plus like?
Switching to Plus isn’t just a matter of clicking „upgrade” in the dashboard. It’s a project that requires a plan – what stays the same, what needs to be redesigned for the new checkout process, and how data migration and integration will work if the shop was previously running on a different platform. We at setting up a Shopify shop At the Plus level, we always start with the same question: what exactly is this going to give you that you don’t already have? It’s only on this basis that we plan the rest.
This usually involves auditing your current shop, designing a new checkout process tailored to your needs, setting up the B2B structure (if required) and testing it against real-life shopping scenarios – before we go live.
Are you wondering whether your shop really needs Shopify Plus, or whether it’s an unnecessary expense for the time being? Get in touch with us. We’ll assess your situation and give you our honest opinion on whether it makes sense right now, or whether it would be better to revisit the matter in a few months’ time.
