Deciding between two ecommerce giants can be challenging, trust us. With over a decade of experience in drafting informative articles, one of the most common questions we receive is, “Shopify vs Amazon: What is Better?”
Based on our extensive research and practical knowledge, we believe Shopify is an outstanding e-commerce website builder. Shopify tops our rankings because it offers the best sales features we’ve ever tested and truly provides everything you need to create your own online store.
However, we also see the benefits of Amazon. Not having to build your own store can save time, and selling through the world’s largest online marketplace ensures a built-in audience.
Ultimately, the choice depends on whether you prefer a practical or indulgent selling experience. Both options are valid, so let’s dive deeper into the Shopify vs Amazon debate!
Table of Contents
- Shopify vs Amazon: Quick Assessment
- Shopify vs Amazon: The comprehensive comparison
- Pricing
- Ease of Use
- Design Flexibility
- Ecommerce Tools and Features
- Payment Options and Fees
- Marketing Options
- Help and Support
- Shopify vs Amazon: Which is best for you?
- Using Amazon with Shopify
- Wrap up
Shopify vs Amazon: Quick Assessment
-
Shopify is more suitable if you want the management and customization of creating your own online store. Shopify allows you to create a personalized online store that mirrors your unique brand and identity. It stands out as one of the best ecommerce providers, offering extensive support and guidance, especially useful for beginners.
-
Third-party apps and themes for your Shopify store can increase expenses, and the editor might not be as smooth as desired. However, Shopify is still perfect if you prefer to march to the beat of your own drum.
-
Amazon is better for small sellers who don’t want to pay upfront costs. Amazon’s key advantage is its massive daily customer base, enabling you to tap into a thriving marketplace and easily reach your audience.
-
In the US alone, it attracts over 2.45 billion visitors per month! For small sellers, Amazon can be a more affordable option with no upfront costs, charging $0.99 per item sold. However, its monthly subscription fee of $39.99 is higher than Shopify’s basic plan, and you’ll face increased competition from other sellers. The upside is that you won’t need to build your own store.
-
Now, take a look at the quick assessment table:
| Category | Shopify | Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of Use | Winner: It’s A Draw! Shopify makes it easy to set up an online store, and AI tool Shopify Magic speeds up product management. | All you need to do is set up your Amazon seller account, upload products, and start selling! |
| Design Flexibility | Winner: Shopify Shopify offers a professional range of highly customizable templates specifically designed for selling, allowing you to create a unique brand. | Amazon controls the design of your store pages and product displays. While straightforward, this limits your business identity. |
| Ecommerce Tools and Features | Winner: Shopify Shopify boasts the best sales features on the market, like abandoned cart recovery and selling digital products, plus a plethora of built-in tools and an app store. | Amazon offers a variety of features for different sellers, but customization is limited compared to Shopify, making it harder to stand out. |
| Payment Options & Fees | Winner: Shopify Transparent pricing with no transaction fees when using Shopify Payments, and over 100 supported payment options. | Supports Amazon Pay, accepting credit and debit cards. Additional fees are included but lack transparency. |
| Attracting Customers | Winner: Amazon With Shopify, you handle all marketing and SEO yourself. Shopify provides the tools, but you drive your traffic. | Amazon draws millions of visitors monthly, delivering traffic to your store. However, you must compete with other sellers and optimize for Amazon’s searches. |
| Help and Support | Winner: Shopify Comprehensive support including 24/7 phone and live chat, plus a help center. | Amazon offers good support options, including a help forum, but it’s less accessible compared to Shopify. |
| Pricing | Winner: Shopify Shopify offers three plans ranging from $29 to $299 per month, with a 3-day free trial and $1 for the first month on the Basic plan. | Amazon has two plans: one at $0.99 per item sold, and another at $39.99 per month, both with additional variable fees. |
Shopify vs Amazon: The comprehensive comparison
Pricing
The Winner
Shopify stands out as the best value for money. Shopify clinches the victory! While Amazon’s Individual plan suits smaller-scale sellers, Shopify offers superior value overall. It’s not only cheaper than Amazon’s Professional plan but also boasts scalability and pricing transparency, simplifying budgeting.
Ultimately, your aim is to generate more revenue than expenditure. Opting for a platform that demands hundreds of dollars while only selling a few handmade items monthly isn’t pragmatic.
Both Amazon and Shopify offer solutions within reasonable pricing brackets to accommodate diverse budgets.
Amazon presents two selling plans:
- The Professional Selling plan at $39.99 per month, coupled with additional selling fees varying by product category.
- The Individual Selling plan, sans monthly fee, charges $0.99 per item sold, alongside variable selling fees by category.
The Individual plan caters to sellers moving fewer than 40 items monthly, albeit with fewer features. For instance, customization of shipping rates is unavailable on the Individual plan.
| Individual | Professional | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly Subscription | N/A | $39.99 |
| Per Sale Closing Fee | $0.99 | N/A |
| Feeds and Tools | ✔️ | ❌ |
| Order Reports | ❌ | ✔️ |
| Top Product Placement | ❌ | ✔️ |
| Categories | 20+ | 20+ |
| Additional Categories | ❌ | ✔️ |
| Custom Shipping Rates | ❌ | ✔️ |
FBA incurs additional costs, subject to product specifics. Referral rates, potentially up to 45% of a sale, should also factor into your decision.
Shopify offers three pricing plans:
- Basic Shopify at $29 per month
- Shopify at $79 per month
- Advanced Shopify at $299 per month
Despite perceptions of Shopify as pricey, it delivers commensurate sales features. Our research rates its value for money at 3.6 out of 5, marking a 20% increase from prior assessments. Worried about costs? Shopify provides a 3-day free trial (followed by the first month at $1), enabling you to test the platform and potentially kickstart sales before committing to the main plans—an excellent option for startups or businesses with limited capital.
Features expand with each plan upgrade:
| Basic Shopify | Shopify | Advanced Shopify | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly Fee | $29 | $79 | $299 |
| Unlimited Products | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Staff Accounts | 2 | 5 | 15 |
| Multi-channel Integration | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Discount Codes | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Abandoned Cart Recovery | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Gift Cards | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Reports | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Credit Card Rates | 2.9% + 30¢ USD | 2.6% + 30¢ USD | 2.4% + 30¢ USD |
| Transaction Fee | 2% | 1% | 0.5% |
| Third-Party Shipping Rates | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ |
| Shipping Discount | Up to 77% | Up to 88% | Up to 88% |
| Shipping Labels | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| USPS Priority Mail Cubic Pricing | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Sell in 133 Currencies | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| International Domains | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| International Pricing | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Shopify vs Amazon: Ease of Use
The Winner: It’s A Draw! Shopify and Amazon are both easy to use.
- Both platforms have their own strengths in usability. Amazon is simpler: set up an account, list products, start selling.
- Shopify makes building an online store easy, especially with Shopify Magic, which automates product descriptions, FAQs, and emails.
- Shopify opens directly in the dashboard, allowing immediate product addition, payment setup, and other configurations.
- Amazon setup is straightforward: create account → list products → sell → ship → get paid. Tools like Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) handle logistics. Prime shipping boosts sales, as free shipping influences 73% of shoppers.
Shopify vs Amazon: Design Flexibility
The Winner: Shopify has better design flexibility.
- Shopify offers full control over store design: choose themes, customize colors and fonts, and personalize the layout to build a unique brand.
- Over 140 Shopify themes are available, including 12 free and 120+ premium ($170–$380).
- Themes are optimized for online stores, improving customer engagement. Shopify scored 4.4/5 for design flexibility.
- Amazon is restrictive: uniform page layouts, product images and descriptions can be added, but branding is minimal.
- Creating a brand storefront on Amazon is possible if you:
- Are enrolled in Amazon Brand Registry
- Sell directly via Vendor Central
- Are an agency representing a registered brand
- On Amazon, the homepage shows your products alongside competitors, benefiting customers but limiting brand control.
- Brand Registry allows businesses with a registered brand to create a dedicated storefront.
Marketing Options
The Winner
Amazon leads in customer attraction.
Amazon takes the crown! While it’s not a passive process, Amazon’s colossal search volume means customers flock to your store, providing a significant advantage. Shopify equips you with essential tools like SEO options and marketing plugins such as omnichannel selling and automated emails, but it generally requires a more proactive approach.
In the online realm, capturing customer attention can be daunting. With competitors bombarding potential customers with ads on social media and distractions at every click, the race to stand out is intense.
This is where Amazon truly excels. With an average of 2.2 billion monthly visits in the US alone, the chances are overwhelmingly in your turn. You needn’t worry over Google rankings or extensive email campaigns—Amazon draws in eager consumers with wallets ready.
However, Amazon’s drawback emerges once users flood the platform; they must navigate to your products amidst stiff competition, including Amazon itself.
While you may sidestep Google SEO concerns, optimizing for Amazon SEO is imperative for securing high rankings. Fortunately, Amazon SEO closely mirrors Google’s principles, enabling you to apply similar strategies. To bolster your Amazon SEO, refrain from keyword stuffing in product titles, prioritize brand names and sizes in titles and descriptions, utilize clear and concise bullet points for essential product details, and highlight positive reviews to outshine rivals.
Contrary to Amazon’s vast search volume, Shopify relies on customers actively seeking your brand, necessitating robust marketing efforts to expand your reach.
Shopify boasts an array of effective marketing tools, from crafting ad campaigns to dispatching newsletters, ensuring your brand remains at the forefront of potential customers’ minds.
Email campaigns, multichannel selling, robust social media engagement, personalized shopping experiences, abandoned cart recovery, and SEO optimization—each plays a pivotal role in brand growth and customer acquisition. While Shopify integrates email newsletters and social media features, third-party apps from the Shopify App Market are indispensable for comprehensive email campaigns.
In our extensive evaluation, Shopify’s marketing tools receive top marks, earning a 5 out of 5 rating. However, Amazon’s vast audience provides a significant edge in the online selling landscape.
Help and Support
The Winner
Shopify emerges as the leader in help and support.
Shopify secures the victory! Its support system surpasses Amazon’s with greater accessibility and a wider array of assistance options. This includes round-the-clock phone and live chat support, complemented by a comprehensive Help Center stocked with articles catering to nearly every conceivable query. While Amazon does offer support, it pales in comparison to Shopify’s depth.
Amazon’s support structure lacks clarity. Phone support entails requesting a call back, while support forms and community forums serve as alternative avenues for assistance. However, Amazon’s support system is neither streamlined nor user-friendly.
Given Shopify’s diverse range of functions and tools, its support options are correspondingly extensive. Shopify boasts:
- 24/7 phone support
- Social media assistance
- Round-the-clock live chat
- Forum engagement
- Email correspondence
- Video tutorials
- Advanced specialist support
Moreover, Shopify’s Help Center is a treasure trove of articles and guides, easily navigable and replete with abundant resources. Featuring video tutorials and forums, it caters to various learning preferences. Notably, Shopify’s provision of 24/7 phone support sets it apart from other ecommerce website builders; competitors like Squarespace offer only 24/7 email support.
Recognizing the challenges inherent in managing an online store, Shopify introduced Shopify Sidekick to elevate support services. This AI chatbot addresses queries and automates select tasks, enabling users to focus on other priorities. In our latest research, Shopify’s overall help and support rating surged by 2.6% from last year, climbing from 3.8 to 3.9 out of 5. Consequently, it now ranks second in our overall assessment of the best builders on the market.
Shopify vs Amazon: Which is best for you?
Each of these ecommerce platforms presents its own distinct advantages and drawbacks. The better choice for your business ultimately hinges on the specific requirements of your store. However, we can certainly provide a balanced assessment of each.
| Pros and cons | Shopify | Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Pros |
Powerful ecommerce tools: Shopify offers a suite of ecommerce tools like abandoned cart recovery and an online invoice generator, tailored to aid in the creation and promotion of your online store. AI Integration: Shopify Magic, an AI Text Writer, automates product description generation, complementing Shopify’s robust inventory system and expediting store creation. |
Global Traffic: Amazon garners millions of monthly visitors worldwide, facilitating access to over 100 countries, thereby opening doors to new markets and enhancing product exposure. Extra services: Amazon streamlines inventory storage, packing, and shipping processes, easing the operational burden for sellers. |
| Cons |
Extra costs: While Shopify imposes a monthly fee, its reliance on the App Store for third-party apps can lead to additional expenses, with most apps priced in the range of $10 to $50 per month. Website building: Despite Shopify’s notable design flexibility and user-friendliness among ecommerce platforms, some users found navigating between the front and back ends of the editor confusing. |
Competition: Given Amazon’s extensive product offerings, sellers contend with substantial competition, including competition from Amazon itself. Order Management: Amazon lacks integration with other shopping cart systems, necessitating manual tracking of stock sold on alternative marketplaces. |
Using Amazon with Shopify
Amazon and Shopify are quite corresponded, each offering unique features not found in the other. Integrating Amazon into your Shopify store allows you to seamlessly merge your ecommerce efforts. Yes, you read that right: you can develop your own online business while simultaneously showcasing your products on the world’s largest marketplace—all with just a few clicks.
This integration enables you to create Amazon listings and offers directly from Shopify, synchronize inventory and product details, establish product links, and more! All you need to do is set up an Amazon Seller account and then incorporate the Amazon Sales Channel into your Shopify Store.
It’s essential to note that you still need to subscribe to the Amazon Professional Seller account, in addition to your monthly Shopify subscription. This means you’ll be paying nearly $80 per month at a minimum, plus any potential plugin costs associated with your Shopify store. While we don’t mean to dampen the mood, it’s crucial to clarify that operating a store on both platforms is a pricier option.
However, if your business is poised for increased exposure and growth, merging these two powerhouse platforms is a worthwhile investment.
Wrap up
Shopify and Amazon stand out as formidable sales platforms. Throughout this article, we’ve delved into their distinctions, exploring their features, pricing, design, and beyond.
In summary, our recommendation leans towards Shopify for those embarking on their e-commerce journey or aiming to expand their business and enhance scalability. It offers greater autonomy, reinforces brand identity, and presents more transparent pricing structures.
Amazon serves well for small-scale sellers seeking to avoid upfront costs. However, its fluctuating additional fees pose challenges in assessing potential expenses.
In the grand scheme, Shopify emerges as the superior long-term solution. Furthermore, with the option to seamlessly integrate Amazon into your Shopify store, you needn’t miss out—truly a win-win scenario!
