Shoplift reposted this
According to an internal memo leaked to Business Insider last week, Shopify is planning to abruptly sunset all Shopify Plus branding. This has come as a shock to many in the ecosystem, especially agencies and vendors who have made Plus certification a core part of their brand, but here's why I think this is a great move for Shopify: Shopify is laser-focused on Enterprise. It's what the Street wants, it's what their partners want, it's what everyone wants. It means higher ACVs, more fees, and more revenue to go around for all involved. But Shopify hasn't made inroads into the Enterprise as quickly as they'd hoped. There are several reasons for this, but one big reason is that Shopify can't shake the perception that they can only handle SMB use-cases. Sure, CIOs and CTOs are going to be looking for certain features, and Shopify still has work to do on that front, but, above all, they need to know that their tech stack is going to work. They need strong signals that Shopify is going to be a safe choice for them. Let's face it--with billions of dollars on the line, nobody wants to be the one who gets "creative" with their tech stack and inevitably has to explain that decision later. Salesforce = Enterprise. No one is going to get fired for choosing Salesforce. And from a marketing standpoint, who can blame them? Shopify IS for SMB. Shopify Plus is secondary. It's a diffusion brand. Killing the Plus brand is a small move in the scheme of things, but it's a great way to position Shopify as a united company with aligned priorities and to signal publicly to Enterprise decision-makers that they are the priority. For Shoplift, over 70% of our merchants are on Plus. I'll be interested to see if/how this impacts Shopify's pricing model and how they choose to merchandise features and/or support.