Shopify vs Amazon: Which Platform Should You Use?

Shopify Pros and Cons

Are You Stupefied By Shopify?

Shopify is one of our best-rated ecommerce website builders with an overall score of 4.6 out of 5 in our research. Try it out today and you can have a professional online store live in no time at all!

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Amazon Pros and Cons

Will You Follow The Amazon?

Amazon is the biggest online retailer in the world, with over 10 million products in its inventory. Become part of it today and start selling with thousands of other businesses.

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If that wasn’t in-depth enough for you, try our quick comparison table for size:

Further Information

• Why not have a quick look at our Shopify review to get started?

You can make money by using Shopify or Amazon to sell your products online. You pay a monthly subscription to both and have access to all the tools and resources they have to offer.

But they are not the same!

Amazon and Shopify may seem similar, but they work in different ways.

The Major Difference Between Shopify and Amazon

The key thing to remember is Shopify is a specialized ecommerce platform and Amazon is an online marketplace. Shopify gives you the tools to build your very own online store, while Amazon lets you sell through its marketplace alongside other online sellers.

So selling through Amazon is like having a stall in a famous boot-fair. Thousands of people swarm in to browse and buy – most of them aren’t looking for your business in particular, but you still make a lot of sales because of everyone walking past and seeing your stall.

Selling with Shopify is more like renting a building to set up your business in. You have your own space and customers actually come looking for your store once they know your brand. There’s more room to create a unique image, although it’s harder work building up that regular customer base.

Because of these differences, Shopify and Amazon cater for different types of online sellers. Amazon caters for individual sellers up to small and medium sized businesses. Shopify is ideal for everything from small businesses up to much larger brands.

The Winner

It's A Draw! Shopify and Amazon are both easy to use

They’re both easy to use in their own ways. Amazon involves less work than Shopify because you just have to set up and get selling. But Shopify makes it really easy to build your own online store.

Whether you’re selling a pair of socks or setting up your ecommerce empire, you want your online selling experience to be as smooth as possible.

If the thought of setting up your very own online store seems a little overwhelming, don’t worry! Shopify is designed to make building your ecommerce website as easy as possible. It’s got clean, clear design, tons of help pages, and super easy navigation.

Shopify does an amazing job at making powerful sales tools accessible to everyone. Now that’s something easier said than done, so Shopify deserves credit for its inclusive approach to ecommerce.

With Amazon all you need to do is create an account, complete each set-up stage and then you’re ready to get selling!

Once you’re registered you just have to list your products, sell them, ship them and then the best part – get paid!

This is all quite straightforward and Amazon has tools to make it as simple as possible. For example, you can sort out shipping yourself or use Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA).

FBA takes one of the headaches of the ecommerce world – shipping – and takes it out your hands. So you don’t have to worry about shipping at all if you don’t want to. Instead, you sell your products and Amazon sorts the rest out for you.

Both Shopify and Amazon are designed to make your life as easy as possible. You’ll find useful tools and streamlined setups with both.

The Winner

Shopify has the better design flexibility

Shopify wins! It gives you more freedom over your design than Amazon. Shopify’s customization is great for creating a unique brand image for your business. Amazon controls your design, which is less work but much more limiting when it comes to marketing.

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There’s nothing more frustrating than trying to browse online when bad design is getting in the way at every click. Luckily with Shopify and Amazon you don’t need to worry about losing shoppers through ugly design.

Shopify gives you loads of control over the layout and design of your online store. But you don’t have to design it from scratch – instead, you choose from over 80 themes and then customize to match your brand.

Shopify has 9 free themes and over 80 premium ones which cost between $140 to $180. You can edit, personalize, and even switch your theme, so you create a unique brand image for your business. In our research, we gave Shopify a 3.9 0ut of 5 for design flexibility.

Amazon is more limiting in its designs. All Amazon pages are laid out in a similar way. You can upload your own images and descriptions, but the overall layout and design of your store page is recognizably Amazon’s rather than your own.

On the homepage, for example, products are listed in Amazon’s branding, alongside your competitors’ products. This is ideal for the customer but can make it more challenging to direct visitors to your own pages.

Of course, there are elements you can customize with Amazon, but overall it’s much less flexible than Shopify.

Entranced By Shopify's Designs?

Shopify has you in control of the design of your store, meaning you can tailor it to whoever your main audience will be. With over 80 themes as well, you can start selling in style. Check it out today!

Pick Your Perfect Shopify Theme

The Winner

Shopify has the better ecommerce features

Shopify wins! It puts the tools in your hands to manage your online store and help you succeed. Amazon has a wide range of features and makes it easy to sell online, but doesn’t have the same range as Shopify.

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Bust the myth that looks and savviness don’t go hand in hand. Create a store that has ecommerce power tools in its pocket as well as stunning design.

Amazon has a vast range of products sold through its marketplace, from electronics to toys and books. You can even sell services rather than physical goods.

It welcomes individual sellers as well as businesses, and has the tools in place to support your online selling. This includes unique stores such as Amazon Handmade, global selling, and the creation of targeted adverts.

One example is the Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) program, which allows you to access Amazon Prime customers, and lets Amazon handle the storage, packing and shipping of your products.

You send your products to Amazon, which then packages and ships them to customers once the products get sold. There are fees for this, but if you don’t want the hassle of dealing with shipping it’s a useful solution!

Shopify has the widest and most in-depth range of sales tools on the market.

Here are just some of the ecommerce tools Shopify offers:

• Abandoned cart recovery
• Powerful inventory system
• Automatic tax calculation
• Logo maker
• Multichannel selling
• App integration

Shopify provides all the necessary tools to make your online store succeed, while also making your life as a business owner as easy as possible. What’s more, Shopify has recently teamed up with dropshipping suppliers like DSers to support dropshipping businesses.

If you don’t find what you’re looking for in your Shopify dashboard, don’t worry. Shopify has an extensive app store that you can use to expand and advance your ecommerce website. In our own research, we gave Shopify a 4.5 out of 5 for sales features – the highest of any ecommerce builder we tested!

Further Information

• Shopify’s app store gives it tons of extra features. But if you’d rather have all your tools built into your builder, check out our BigCommerce review. It has the most amount of inhouse features of any ecommerce platform.
• If you want to see how Shopify’s features compare to its competitors, take a look at our Shopify vs BigCommerce Comparison.
• Wondering what the difference between Dropshipping vs Ecommerce Fulfillment is? Our helpful breakdown explains the difference!

The Winner

Shopify has the better payment options and fees

Shopify wins! It has more payment options than Amazon. You don’t have to pay transaction fees if you’re using Shopify Pay. Amazon’s fees are super dependent on the individual seller but overall are much less transparent, and so harder to budget for.

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Sometimes you have to look deeper than the upfront costs. Transaction fees and credit card rates can increase your monthly outgoings, so it’s always best to check before you commit.

It’s no surprise Amazon supports Amazon Pay as its main payment gateway. You can accept credit and debit cards through this, but not PayPal.

For ‘Professional Sellers’, Amazon has selling fees plus its monthly subscription. These fees vary by category but are made up of referral fees and shipping fees.

If you use FBA there are a range of fees varying from $2.41 up to $137.32 for fulfillment fees (per unit). Then there are monthly inventory storage fees ranging from $0.69 to $2.40 per cubic foot. These prices are totally dependent on the size, volume, and type of product, and even the time of year. You can check the various prices here.

Individual sellers don’t pay a monthly subscription like Professional Sellers do. Instead, you would pay a $0.99 fee for every product you sell.

Shopify has its own payment gateway, Shopify Payments. When you’re using this you don’t have to pay any transaction fees!

That’s not all Shopify has to offer – it also provides over 100 different payment gateways, including Amazon Pay and PayPal. These all have transaction fees ranging from 0.5% to 2% depending on which one you’re using and which plan you’re on.

Credit card fees apply to all payment gateways, including Shopify Payments. The regular credit card rate on Shopify is 2.9% + 30¢. As you upgrade through Shopify’s price plans your online credit card rates decrease from 2.9% + 30¢ to 2.4% + 30¢.

The Winner

Amazon is the best at attracting customers

Amazon wins! Even though you can’t just sit back and relax, your customers come to you and your store will benefit from Amazon’s massive search volume. Shopify gives you all the tools you need to succeed, it’s just a more hands-on approach.

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Selling online is one of the best ways to connect with shoppers. But getting your customers’ attention can be a challenge. With competitors targeting your customers with ads in their social feeds and with distractions at every click, it’s a race to get noticed first.

This is where Amazon really shines. With millions of visitors a month, the odds are stacked temptingly in your favor. You don’t have to tackle search engine optimization (SEO) or run email campaigns – people come to Amazon with their eyes peeled and wallets primed.

You have more time to manage your inventory and deal with orders – instead of you going to them, your customers are coming to you.

Or so you hope!

The drawback of Amazon is, once millions of visitors are on the site, they need to get to your products instead of your neighbor’s. And when Amazon itself is also selling on the same platform, competition is pretty fierce.

You may not need to worry about Google’s SEO. But you will need to comply with Amazon’s SEO in order to rank as high up in its search results as you can. This will give you the best chance of being chosen over your competitors.

Shopify doesn’t have the same search volume as Amazon. That’s because you create your very own brand – people actually need to search for your business to find you. This means marketing is essential to widen your customer base.

Email campaigns, multichannel selling, and a strong social media presence, personalized shopping, abandoned cart recovery, and the infamous SEO  – all of these are important for growing your brand and building a customer base.

The good news is, Shopify is there to help you every step of the way. It automatically includes all these marketing tools, and you can find even more in the Shopify App Market.

Want To Go From A to Z with Amazon?

Amazon’s strength is its size. As the #1 online outlet, you don’t need to worry about marketing to customers, so you can sit back and relax. See what you can achieve and try it out.

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Further Information

• Social media is an essential part of attracting customers. Read our guide on How to Set Up a Facebook Store for helpful tips.
• Instagram isn’t just for cute pictures of cats. Check out our guide on How to Make Money on Instagram and learn how to start earning sales and growing your customer following through Instagram.

The Winner

Shopify has the best help and support

Shopify wins! Its support is much easier to access than Amazon’s and there are a lot more help options for you to choose from. Amazon does offer support but it’s less flexible than Shopify’s.

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Amazon doesn’t have the clearest support system – there is phone support where you request a call and Amazon gets in contact with you. There are forms you can submit for support and community forums where you can discuss issues. However, it’s not the most streamlined or easy to use support system out there.

Shopify has a comprehensive set of help options, including:

• 24/7 phone
• Social media
• 24/7 live chat
• Forum
• Email
• Video tutorials
• Advanced specialist support

This covers you no matter what you need. Video tutorials and forums help you learn new skills, and phone support is invaluable in getting the right help when you need it.

Shopify also has a Help Center with articles and guides. It’s super easy to navigate and has tons of resources to browse.

Pricing

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The Winner

Shopify has the best value for money

Shopify wins! Although Amazon’s Individual plan is more suitable for small-scale sellers, overall Shopify offers better value for money. It’s cheaper than Amazon’s Professional plan, and is more scalable and transparent with its pricing than Amazon, making it easier to budget for.

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At the end of the day you want to be making more money than you’re spending. There’s no point choosing a platform that’ll cost you hundred of dollars if you’re only selling a few handmade items a month.

Neither Amazon or Shopify are as pricey as that, so you should find something here to fit your budget.

Amazon has two selling plans:

• The Professional Selling plan costs $39.99 per month, plus extra selling fees (which vary depending on your products).
• The Individual Selling plan doesn’t have a monthly fee – instead you pay $0.99 per item sold. This is in addition to extra selling fees, which again vary by category.

The Individual plan is suitable for anyone planning to sell less than 40 items per month. Because of this, it has fewer features available. For example, you can’t customize shipping rates on the Individual plan.

There are extra costs when you use FBA, but this is extremely variable and dependent on your products and business.

Shopify has three price plans:

• The Basic Shopify plan costs $29 per month
• The Shopify plan costs $79 per month
• The Advanced Shopify plan costs $299 per month

You unlock more features as you upgrade through the pricing plans. Below you can see which features are available on each plan.

The Basic Shopify plan gives you everything you need to set up your ecommerce website. You can then add apps to expand your store’s functions, and upgrade whenever you’re ready.

Extra costs can occur if you’re adding third-party apps to your store. However, these help scale your business so should reflect a rise in customers and profits.

The prices Shopify displays for all its plans are yearly prices, which can lead to up to 25% cheaper than paying month-by-month. The Basic plan becomes $39 per month if this method is chosen.

Let Your Customers Shop Till They Drop With Shopify

Shopify has three main price plans. While they can seem expensive, if you chose the Basic plan, you’ll only have to pay $1 per month for your first three months. Follow the link to see how much you can save.

Pick Your Shopify Plan

Further Information

• Did Shopify’s prices catch your eye? Read our Shopify Pricing Review to find out which Shopify plan is best for you.
• Trying to budget for your business? Read our article on how much a website should cost for some helpful tips.
• Compare prices in our Online Store Builder Comparison Chart to find the perfect platform for your wallet as well as your business.

Using Amazon with Shopify

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Amazon and Shopify are pretty well-matched. They both offer certain things which the other does not. Just like peanut butter and jelly, why not put them together to make something great?

You can integrate Amazon into your Shopify store. Yes, that means exactly what you think it does: you can build your own ecommerce business while promoting your products on the world’s largest marketplace… at the same time… and with just a few clicks.

This will let you create Amazon listings and offers straight from Shopify, sync inventory and product details, link products, and more!

All you have to do is set up an Amazon Seller account and then add the Amazon Sales Channel to your Shopify Store.

The main thing to be aware of is you still have to pay for the Amazon Professional Seller account. You will already be paying your monthly subscription to Shopify, and then you will pay for the Amazon Professional plan on top of that.

But if your business is ready for more exposure and expansion, combining these two powerhouses is a worthwhile investment.

Shopify vs Amazon: Conclusion

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Shopify and Amazon are two impressive sales platforms. In this article, we have explored why they’re different and dived deep into their features, pricing, design, and more.

Most importantly, we’ve looked at how these things can help you.

Overall, we recommend Shopify for anyone setting up their ecommerce business. It gives you greater control, a stronger brand identity, and more scalable pricing.

Amazon is good for small sellers who don’t want to pay an upfront cost, but it’s variable extra fees make it difficult to judge how quickly those costs could rack up.

Shopify provides the better solution in the long-term, and with the option to integrate Amazon into your Shopify store, you don’t have to miss out: it’s a win-win!

Is It Time To Start Your Own Online Store?

Of the two, we think freedom and better support make Shopify the better choice. Create your own store today with Shopify and take control!

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