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Is Amazon better than Shopify?
Unfortunately, if you’ve come here for a clear-cut answer to this question, you’re out of luck.
While Shopify and Amazon are absolute powerhouses in the eCommerce world, they have distinct advantages and features catering to specific online sellers.
Therefore, which platform is ‘better’ depends on your business needs, target audience, and long-term goals.
Read more: How To Sell Digital Products?
Quick Summary
- There is no ‘better’ option when it comes to Amazon vs Shopify, as each platform caters to different audiences and businesses.
- Amazon is an online marketplace that allows you to sell your new or used goods to an existing large audience.
- Shopify is a comprehensive eCommerce solution that enables you to build, manage, and grow your online store with various built-in tools and external integrations.
- Amazon is the better choice for small businesses looking to quickly upload and sell their products.
- Shopify is an optimal solution for teams looking for a customizable platform to help build and market their brand and website from the ground up.
Amazon vs Shopify
While both Amazon and Shopify cater to eCommerce businesses, it’s important to note that Amazon is an online marketplace, whereas Shopify is a total eCommerce solution.
And while you can technically sell on both platforms, they are very different!
Although there isn’t necessarily a ‘better’ choice out of the two, there will undoubtedly be a more optimal solution for you and your business.
So, it’s time to find out – is Amazon better than Shopify for you and your brand? Or is Shopify the better choice?
Read more: My Top 5 FREE eCommerce Tools.
What Is Amazon?
With over 310 million active users globally, Amazon is one of the biggest eCommerce platforms in the game.
Amazon offers many products and services, including eCommerce, Retail, Amazon Prime, Kindle, and more, and represents almost half of all US eCommerce sales alone.
Now, through Amazon Marketplace (AWS), you can sell your new or used goods to customers directly through Amazon.
You can sell and buy almost anything on Amazon! From shoes, electronics, games, books, and everything in between, you bet you can find it on Amazon.
There are two ways businesses can sell their products on Amazon Marketplace:
- Amazon Seller Central: Share a portion of your product sale profits with Amazon.
- Amazon Vendor Central: Sell your product to Amazon, and they will sell it for you (and keep any profit they make for themselves).
Unless you want to sell to Amazon as a wholesaler, most businesses should sell through Amazon Seller Central.
You can also utilize Amazon’s fulfillment service called Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), which involves storing your inventory in Amazon’s warehouses.
This service handles everything from order confirmations to storing and shipping products and dealing with customer service queries for you.
There are two pricing plans within the Amazon Marketplace Seller Central:
- Individual: $0.99 per product sold (limit of 40 items per month).
- Professional: $39.99 per month (unlimited items).
Amazon takes a portion of every sale (generally between 8% and 15%, depending on the product type).
The awesome benefit of selling your Amazon products is that you can easily set up and sell your products with minimal effort!
In other words, you don’t need to create a website, market your products, or manage inventory – it’s all done for you.
Read more about the difference between Amazon vs Amazon Marketplace here.
What Is Shopify?
Shopify is a premium all-in-one eCommerce solution that allows you to build, launch, and efficiently manage your own online store.
Sure, you can easily build and customize the store of your dreams with their user-friendly editor. But Shopify is so much more than a simple online store builder.
On one centralized platform, you can customize your storefront, manage products and customer behaviors, process payments, and track orders.
But that’s not all! Shopify has multiple payment gateways, customizable pre-made templates, thousands of integrations, and built-in marketing tools.
With Shopify, you truly can scale and grow your online store to the next level.
Shopify isn’t free, and there are a total of four pricing plans to choose from (ranging from $29 to $399 per month).
There are also Shopify Plus plans for complex storefronts and additional costs for themes, domains, and credit card and transaction fees.
Shopify isn’t the cheapest website builder on the market, but I believe that Shopify is worth every cent!
With robust tools and features, Shopify is designed to help businesses launch, expand, and thrive without needing technical expertise.
Whether you’re a complete newbie or an eCommerce pro, Shopify is an excellent choice.
What Is The Main Difference Between Amazon and Shopify?
Identifying the main difference between the two can determine whether Amazon is better than Shopify for your brand (or vice versa).
Amazon is an extensive online marketplace with millions of sellers and buyers. And although this means more competition, it also means more traffic!
Listing your products on Amazon will instantly gain you a large and loyal customer base.
On the other hand, Shopify is a website builder that allows you to set up, customize, and run your online shop.
This is awesome for teams looking to build a unique storefront, but you’ll have to put in the hard yards and build your brand from the ground up.
Basically, Shopify is best for businesses that want to establish their unique brand, and Amazon is ideal for those looking to leverage Amazon’s already thriving marketplace.
Read more: How Much Can You Make With Amazon FBA?
Why Is Amazon Better Than Shopify?
On the flip side, for some businesses, Amazon is better than Shopify!
Here are the top advantages of using Amazon over Shopify:
- You’ll gain instant access to an existing large audience of millions, as opposed to building your customer base from scratch with Shopify.
- There’s minimal concern for web design as your products are listed on an existing store.
- You’ll target two search audiences (Amazon’s search engine and users of other search engines like Google). Shopify only focuses on traditional search engines.
Who Is Amazon For?
Amazon is an excellent eCommerce platform for many business owners and individuals, such as:
- Small business owners who want to quickly upload and sell their products online.
- Businesses wanting to sell second-hand items to customers.
- Artists or hobbyists who want to start selling products online as a secondary income.
- Entrepreneurs who are looking to test a new gap in the market.
- Businesses who are looking to sell their products to a global audience.
- Teams after a hassle-free solution for order fulfillment and shipping service (FBA).
If you fall into any of these categories, Amazon may be better than Shopify for you.
Why Is Shopify Better Than Amazon?
Shopify is a better choice than Amazon for many reasons. Let’s take a look at why businesses might choose Shopify over Amazon:
- It’s the superior choice for sellers needing a standalone site on their own domain.
- Shopify is highly customizable and offers a more distinctive brand presence for sellers.
- The drop shipping, local selling, and point-of-sale applications are better.
- Content marketing is more accessible due to the integrated blogging features.
- You can capture email addresses and engage in email marketing, which you can’t do on Amazon.
- Shopify can connect with Amazon, which offers the best of both worlds!
- There’s an extensive range of eCommerce tools through the Shopify app store (many of which are unavailable on Amazon).
- There are no referral fees, especially when using Shopify’s built-in payment processor.
Who Is Shopify For?
Shopify is a versatile choice for a range of eCommerce businesses, such as:
- Small business owners seeking a simple and cost-effective online store builder.
- Businesses utilizing the dropshipping model as Shopify integrates with various dropshipping apps and platforms.
- Brick-and-mortar stores looking to supplement their physical store with an online store.
- Teams with a global customer base after support for multiple languages, currencies, and international shipping options.
- Subscription-based businesses.
- Businesses seeking flexibility and scalability as they grow.
If your business aligns with any of the above, Shopify may be an excellent choice.
Read more: Top 10 Advantages of Shopify.
Can You Connect Amazon and Shopify?
Deciding between Shopify and Amazon can be a tough choice. But what if I told you that you can use both?
To use Amazon and Shopify together, set up an online store with Shopify, then simply link Amazon to your Shopify site to utilize Amazon’s massive reach as an additional avenue.
Talk about having the best of both worlds, right?
Once you’ve connected Amazon to Shopify, the possibilities are endless.
You can then create Amazon listings directly from your Shopify account, keep your inventory and product details synced, cross-link products, and much more.
Read more: Shopify Etsy Integration.
Which Platform is For You?
So, which is the best choice for you?
In short, Amazon is the superior choice for those seeking to tap into established markets, and Shopify is the better option if your priority is branding, marketing, and audience control.
The other option, of course, is to use both platforms together.
This approach allows businesses to enjoy the advantages of each platform, reach a larger pool of buyers, and reduce the risk associated with relying on a single traffic source.
Embracing Shopify and Amazon opens up opportunities to leverage their unique strengths in tandem.
Stews Final Thoughts
As you’ve probably now guessed, the question of whether Amazon is better than Shopify isn’t as simple as you may have first thought!
Both platforms have unique strengths and weaknesses, and the right choice ultimately comes down to you.
In essence, Amazon provides unparalleled reach (and the potential for massive sales), while Shopify offers more control and customization over your online store.
So, take the time to evaluate your business and make an informed decision from there.
Or, integrate Amazon with Shopify to harness the benefits of both platforms!
Regardless of which platform you choose, you’ll be in safe hands.
Thanks so much for reading.
