Shopify vs. Amazon: The Pros and Cons

Online sales are essential for modern commerce. Their attributes, such as user-friendliness and global reach, have garnered popularity among sellers worldwide.

• According to Statista, the retail e-commerce sales volume reached approximately $5.2 trillion worldwide in 2021. This figure is projected to continue to rise, reaching around $8.1 trillion by 2026.

Numerous e-commerce platforms exist, each offering different methods for business growth. This article will delve into two popular platforms – Shopify and Amazon.

Our experts conducted a comprehensive analysis of these platforms. It will allow you to make an informed choice and decide what is better: Shopify or Amazon.

Shopify vs Amazon: An Overview

Shopify is an e-commerce platform that offers tools for creating and running an online business. Due to its numerous benefits, it is ranked second among frequently used e-commerce software.

For many entrepreneurs, Shopify is an ideal solution as, unlike other builders, it requires minimal effort and practically zero website creation skills. Furthermore, it’s more dynamic and designed with business scalability in mind. Many businesses choose to move their existing online stores from the old plaftorms to Shopify, using Shopify migration services.

Amazon is the world’s largest online shopping website. It has everything you need to promote products, manage reviews, analyze performance, and increase sales. 

Amazon will be a valuable channel to generate revenue for those in the e-commerce industry. Sellers can sell their products to a broad audience of customers, therefore attracting traffic to their stores.

Who is Shopify for?

Shopify is a useful tool for many entrepreneurs, especially those who don’t want to spend much time developing a store. It is also suitable for those for whom it is vital to be able to manage a store without special technical knowledge and skills.

Who is Amazon for?

Amazon is suitable for a wide range of individuals and businesses. The platform is very easy to use, so for business owners with limited website design skills, it’s a great solution for quickly creating and launching your own online store.

Shopify and Amazon: The Main Difference

The difference between Amazon and Shopify is significant despite both platforms being designed to achieve the common goal of selling products and services online.

Aspects	Shopify	Amazon
Design	Offers a wide range of both free and paid themes, each of which can be customized and tailored to specific preferences.	Provides only basic standard templates that are practically non-editable. They are easy to work with, but you won’t be able to create a unique project on this platform.
Payment Methods	Includes its proprietary payment gateway, Shopify Payments. Integration with third-party payment systems like PayPal, Stripe, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and others is also possible.	Offers an in-house payment service called Amazon Pay, allowing customers to pay for purchases using their saved account data. Support for third-party payment systems is not provided.
Dropshipping	Allows easy integration with multiple dropshipping suppliers.	Features its own Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) program.
Customer Support	Quality 24/7 technical support is available via phone, email, or online chat.	Support is provided through the Seller Central hub.

Shopify vs Amazon: Key Features

Comparing Amazon vs Shopify is an important step in choosing the right platform for your business, as each offers unique features.

What Shopify offers

The platform provides many tools that make it easy to create an online store. You can use them to develop logos and customize the design.

Shopify operates on cloud hosting, ensuring excellent performance speed from anywhere in the world. Moreover, the platform supports numerous integrations and extensions that enable you to add extra functional capabilities to your store.

What Amazon offers

Amazon can sell a wide range of products, from electronics and apparel to food and home goods.

The platform has a paid Amazon Prime subscription that gives access to various benefits, including fast and free shipping on certain items, streaming video and music services, and exclusive discounts.

The platform is actively expanding and offers many opportunities for buyers, sellers, and those who utilize its technology solutions.

The choice between Shopify and Amazon depends on your goals, needs, and strategy. You should consider the features of both platforms to choose the one that best suits your business.

Shopify vs Amazon: Support

When choosing the right e-commerce platform option, it’s important to consider the level of support you’ll receive while working with it.

Both platforms provide resources and tools to support sellers. Shopify offers a wider range of educational materials, including courses and webinars. Amazon focuses on sales and operational aspects.

Shopify vs Amazon: Ease of use

User experience has a significant impact on the market and the success of companies. The simpler and more user-friendly the website interface and navigation are, the greater the chances of ranking high in search results.

Both platforms strive to do their best to provide customers with a positive user experience. This will streamline the process of selling on Shopify vs. Amazon and managing your business.

Shopify vs Amazon: Pricing

When comparing Shopify and Amazon, one of the critical factors is the cost of using the platform itself and the need for additional expenses such as transaction fees, plugin costs, and more.

Amazon offers two main pricing plans, and the choice between them depends on your sales volume and the number of items you’re adding:

• Individual Plan: Suitable for sellers with a small number of items. There’s a per-unit referral fee of $0.99 for each item sold. Additional fees for order handling and delivery apply when using the FBA service.
• Professional Plan: Designed for sellers with a larger inventory and higher sales volume. This plan has a fixed monthly subscription fee of $39.99. There’s no per-unit referral fee. Additional FBA-related fees still apply.

Regardless of the plan, Amazon charges sellers a referral fee for the opportunity to sell on their platform. The fee varies based on the product category and its price.

Shopify also offers various pricing plans, but there’s no referral fee, and the commission doesn’t directly depend on the product category:

• Basic: Suitable for beginners with a small number of items and a limited budget. Costs $29 per month, and the payment processing fee is 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction.
• Shopify: Ideal for companies with a larger inventory and higher functional requirements. Costs $79 per month, with the transaction fee reduced to 2.6% + $0.30.
• Advanced: The usage fee is $299 monthly, and the payment acceptance fee is 2.4% + $0.30.

There’s also an additional fee when using external payment gateways (PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and others).

Shopify vs Amazon: Analytics

Analytics are an integral part of successful e-commerce business management. Both Shopify and Amazon offer various analytical tools that allow you to monitor your store’s performance and make informed decisions.

Shopify provides more extensive integrations with external analytical tools like Google Analytics, thus offering detailed data. Amazon’s analytics are focused on sales within the platform.

Can I Sell On Amazon and Shopify At the Same Time?

Yes, you can indeed sell on both Amazon and Shopify simultaneously. Many businesses use both platforms to maximize their reach and sales potential.

Each platform has its own advantages and features, so it’s important to manage them effectively to ensure a positive user experience for customers and avoid conflicts regarding pricing and order processing.

Will Using Both Help Me Expand My Reach?

To expand your reach to your target audience, you can leverage the strengths of both platforms. To set up the integration, create a professional seller account on Amazon and install the official Amazon Sales Channel app in your Shopify store.

This will allow you to:

• Sync Inventory: This makes managing stock levels in your warehouse much easier and prevents selling the same item twice on different platforms.
• Centralize Order Management: Orders from Amazon will automatically appear in your Shopify dashboard, streamlining the processing and fulfillment process.
• Edit Prices and Descriptions in One Place: When changing prices or product attributes, you won’t need to update them in two separate places. You can do this centrally from a single admin panel.

Shopify vs Amazon: Pros & Cons

In addition to the functionality of each platform and the cost of usage, it’s essential in the selection process to familiarize yourself with the pros and cons of Amazon and Shopify.

What Are the Pros of Amazon?

Amazon pros:

• Vast Audience: As the largest marketplace, it draws traffic from various sources, giving sellers access to millions of potential customers.
• Easy Entry: The registration and product management process is straightforward; even newcomers to business can start selling on Amazon.
• Internal Advertising: Amazon Ads can enhance product page visibility and increase orders without external tools.

What Are the Cons of Amazon?

Amazon cons:

• Competition: Due to the high number of competitors, brand reputation needs attention, and attracting an audience requires unique offers.
• Fees: Fees can be relatively high and depend on the product category you’re promoting. Don’t forget the monthly platform usage fee. Transitioning to a professional plan is beneficial if you’re sending over 40 orders per month.

What Are the Pros of Shopify?

• Simple Interface: Even novice administrators can manage it, as it doesn’t require special coding knowledge or extensive experience.
• Integration Possibilities: You can link your online store with shipping services, dropshipping services, and even Amazon itself.
• Wide Range of Apps: In the Shopify App Store, you can download plugins that significantly expand your resource’s functionality.

What Are the Cons of Shopify?

• Marketing Costs: Amazon has a massive existing audience, and some of them will see your offerings without additional effort from your side. However, Shopify won’t bring traffic unless you invest in SEO or pay-per-click advertising.
• Shipping and Storage: While collaborating with Amazon might provide storage, packaging, and delivery services on Shopify, you must organize these processes independently or work with third-party logistics companies.

Do Both Amazon and Shopify Offer Dropshipping?

Amazon and Shopify offer dropshipping opportunities, although the implementation methods on each platform differ slightly.

Amazon allows you to sell products on the platform even if you aren’t the manufacturer. You can establish a partnership agreement with a supplier who will directly ship items to customers upon order placement. This means you won’t store items or handle their physical delivery.

In a Shopify online store, you can create a product catalog and then work with suppliers to have them ship products directly to your customers. Various integrations and apps exist to streamline dropshipping management on the Shopify platform.

How Do Shopify and Amazon Differ Regarding SEO?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a crucial aspect of successful Internet marketing. High rankings in search engines will attract more traffic to your site, which can lead to more orders from potential customers.

In Shopify, SEO potential is fully realized. You can define meta tags for both product pages and categories and alternative image text. All pages have URL addresses. Additionally, you can install extensions to integrate analytics systems, microdata, and other useful functions for internal optimization.

On the other hand, Amazon is more geared towards promotion within the platform itself. It’s difficult to rank pages in the top results of Google or Bing due to limited SEO settings.

You can optimize titles, write quality product descriptions, and work on your seller rating for ranking within Amazon. However, if attracting traffic from search engines is important to you, this platform might not be suitable.

Conclusion

Shopify and Amazon offer unique opportunities for businesses of different scales and orientations. Both platforms have their own features, advantages, and disadvantages that should be considered when selecting the best tool for your e-commerce project.

The choice between Shopify and Amazon will depend on your business goals and resources. Many entrepreneurs might also use both platforms simultaneously to diversify and enhance their online presence.

Thoroughly study the characteristics of both platforms, conduct market analysis, and make a decision that best aligns with your needs.