Shopify just raised its prices. How to lower costs before your next billing date/BFCM

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Happy Monday, 10,000+ unstoppable Shopify builders!  

Ada here, with your weekly dose of ecommerce insights designed to boost your store’s sales by at least 1% this week.

Here is what is inside today’s edition:

• Industry: Shopify raised plan prices on October 15.

• Growth Hack: The store credit mechanic that gives customers a reason to come back.

• Weekly Challenge: Set up a post-purchase store credit flow this week.

• Trend: Seasoning Bombs.

Let’s get in…..

Shopify Raised Plan Prices on October 15. Check Your Billing Date.

On October 15, Shopify increased plan pricing for US merchants on monthly billing. The Grow plan moved from $95 to $105 per month. The Advanced plan moved from $339 to $399 per month. Shopify Plus stayed at $2,300 per month. The new rates apply at your next billing date, not immediately, so you have a window to act.

If you are on monthly billing and planning to stay on your current plan, switching to annual billing is worth checking. Grow drops to $79 per month on an annual plan, and Advanced drops to $299. That compares favourably against the new monthly prices, though you should confirm the switch terms and renewal conditions in your admin before changing anything.

If you are on Advanced and processing significant volume through a third-party payment gateway, it may be worth comparing your actual costs against Shopify Plus before BFCM. Include plan fees, transaction fees at your volume, and payment processing costs in that comparison. The right answer depends on your specific setup.

It also makes sense to to review your app subscriptions. Check each app against its cost, any overlap with tools you already have, and its measurable contribution to your store.

To find your next billing date: Shopify Admin, then Settings, then Plan.

Growth Hack: Give Customers Credit They Can Only Spend With You

This question came up in a Shopify community thread this week, and it will probably sound familiar to a lot of you:

When you sell products that shoppers can find elsewhere, getting them to “repeat purchase” can be a real challenge, especially if you’re not selling consumables.

Many online stores with easily available products have this problem. But one of those (like Footlocker) has managed to keep customers coming back. How? By leaving some money in the customer's account that they can only spend later - a bit like a cashback reward.

The mechanics work like this. After each order, give the customer store credit equal to a percentage of their purchase, typically starting around 5%. Make it available once the return window on their order has closed. Set an expiry period that suits your average purchase frequency, perhaps 60 days for frequent purchases, longer for higher-ticket or less frequent ones. Consider offering a slightly higher amount on the second and third order to build the habit.

The credit gives customers something concrete to come back for. It is different from a points programme, which can feel abstract, and different from a blanket discount, which trains customers to hold out for a sale. The goal is not to guarantee repeat purchases but to give buyers an additional reason to return when they are ready.

Before setting a reward level, check your margins. Store credit is still a cost when it is redeemed, so start conservative and track redemption rates before increasing the amount.

A 4X ROAS. But 22% of Orders Still Lost Money.

A 4X ROAS sounds pretty darn good.

And yet, across Walmart accounts managed by pdPlus last Q4, 22% of ad-attributed orders came from SKUs whose post-fee margin couldn’t cover the cost of the click.

A great holiday season on paper isn’t always a profitable one. Earnings can quietly disappear across ad spend, discounts, inventory decisions, creator payouts, and returns that hit after the confetti settles.

That’s where 9 Plays to Defend Your Margin This Holiday Season comes in. Nine ecommerce experts break down where margin gets lost across the P&L and how to fix it:

Inside, you’ll learn how to spot:

• Healthy ROAS hiding money-losing SKUs

• Discounts on products shoppers aren’t price-comparing

• Ad dollars going toward inventory at risk of stocking out

• Creator payouts capped by first-order math

• Returns that turn into refunds instead of exchanges

Plus learn four more plays for keeping more of what you earn this Q4.

Get Your Copy →

Challenge: Set Up a Post-Purchase Store Credit Flow This Week

Step 1 (20 mins): Check whether your existing loyalty or rewards app supports store credit with automation.

Step 2 (20 mins): Configure the credit to become available after your store’s return window closes, not at a fixed number of days. Set an expiry period that reflects how often your customers typically buy. Keep the conditions simple enough to explain in one sentence.

Step 3 (20 mins): Write a post-purchase email that tells customers their credit will be available once the return window closes, and when they can expect that to be. Send it a few days after delivery rather than immediately. Then track credits issued, redemption rate, and repeat purchases over 30 days to measure whether the mechanic is working.

Trend: Seasoning Bombs

Seasoning bombs are dissolvable spheres of concentrated spices that release flavour when cooked with meat and water. The format gained traction through birria, a Mexican stew now appearing on five times more US menus than four years ago, and has since expanded into Cajun, Vietnamese, Guyanese, and West African varieties. The brand EZ Bombs recently passed $20 million in revenue and is now stocked in Walmart and Costco. The category sits inside the broader convenience cooking trend, where most Americans still eat at home but have limited appetite for long preparation times.

3 ways to cash in on this trend:

Lead with the flavour outcome. The seasoning bomb buyer is not someone who has given up on cooking. They want a specific, flavourful result without the time investment of building a spice blend from scratch. Copy that sells the dish and the cultural authenticity of the flavour will connect better than copy that leads with convenience.

Research underserved flavour profiles. Cajun, Vietnamese, and West African varieties represent potential differentiation for brands willing to research their specific audiences and the dishes those buyers actually cook. The principle is to find a flavour with genuine demand and limited supply, not to assume every gap is an opportunity.

Bundle around the meal occasion. A birria seasoning bomb pairs naturally with what the buyer needs to complete the dish. A Cajun variety goes with other Cajun staples. Grouping the seasoning with complementary products around a specific cooking occasion lifts average order value and gives shoppers a reason to stay on your store longer.

Till next Monday,
 Ada