Shopify vs. Amazon: Which Platform is Best for your Ecommerce Brand

Amazon vs Shopify: Choosing the Best Ecommerce Platform

Amazon vs Shopify: Choosing the Best Ecommerce Platform

One of the most important decisions you will make when selling your products online is choosing the ecommerce platform that will work best for you. It’s likely that when you are making this decision, you’ll look at Amazon FBA vs Shopify and wonder which you should use, as they are two of the most prominent players around when it comes to ecommerce.

Amazon and Shopify have both built vast reputations, with Shopify powering over 800,000 businesses and Amazon receiving 2.5 billion visitors every month! For most entrepreneurs, these amazing stats make it a hard choice, as both platforms are reliable in the world of ecommerce.

Shopify and Amazon: The Main Difference

Shopify and Amazon are absolute giants of the ecommerce world. But although both services let you put your products in front of a huge audience, they are very different platforms.

• Shopify is a tool that lets you build your own online store.
• Amazon IS an online store (and a HUGE one at that: last year, US-based Amazon sellers sold 3.8 billion products, which equates to 7,400 per minute!).

When you sell on Shopify, it’s the online equivalent of renting a space in which to set up your own shop. But working with Amazon is more like selling your goods in a massive supermarket.

With Shopify, you’ll have more work to do to configure things the way you want — and find customers. However, you’ll have total control over everything, including:

• How your brand is presented
• What your storefront looks like
• How you advertise your products
• How you capture data
• The way you sell your goods

With Amazon, the customer base is already there… but so is the competition.

Other Feature Comparisons

1. Pricing

Shopify offers a 14-day free trial and three pricing plans:

• Basic Shopify plan: $29/month
• Shopify plan: $79/month
• Advanced Shopify plan: $299/month

Shopify also offers a 10% discount for annual payments and a 20% discount for biennial payments if you pay upfront.

Amazon has two pricing plans:

• Individual sellers: $0.99 per item sold
• Professional sellers: $39.99 per month (includes advanced tools like API integration and advertising)

Additional Amazon fees:

• Referral fees: Start at 8% per item sold, depending on the product category.
• Fulfillment fees: Based on product size and weight (if using Fulfillment by Amazon).
• Other fees: High-volume listing fees for unsold inventory over 12 months.

2. Support

• Shopify: 24/7 support via email, live chat, and phone. Access to forums, video tutorials, and the Shopify Help Center.
• Amazon: 24/7 support via email, live chat, and phone. Provides a user forum and extensive documentation in the Amazon Help Center.

3. Ease of Use

• Shopify: User-friendly with a drag-and-drop interface for building your store. No coding skills required.
• Amazon: Straightforward setup process. Requires product information input and offers Fulfillment by Amazon for ease of shipping.

4. Design

• Shopify: 81 customizable themes (10 free, 71 paid). Allows editing via the theme editor or using Shopify’s Liquid template language.
• Amazon: Limited design flexibility. Product pages follow Amazon’s standardized format with minimal customization options.

5. Marketing

• Shopify: Provides SEO tools, email marketing with Shopify Email, and integrations for paid advertising.
• Amazon: Focuses on Amazon SEO to rank higher on search result pages. Offers tools for on-site advertising and promotion.

Conclusion

To truly answer the question of which platform to use in the battle of Amazon vs Shopify, ask yourself: “What do I want from my business and how do I want to sell my products?”

If you want complete flexibility and control and are equipped and motivated to market your products and brand to ensure higher profits, then Shopify is the answer.

If you prefer to drive sales through a more ‘ready-made’ platform and are happy to relinquish some control in return for higher fees and some restrictions, then Amazon could be the better option for your business.

To create the successful business you deserve, consider how much time you have available, how much control you require, what effort you are prepared to put in, and ultimately how quickly you want your business to grow without restriction.

About Latin America Sourcing

Latin America Sourcing is the largest marketplace connecting suppliers in Latin America with buyers in North America. Today, we have a network of over 5,000 Latin American suppliers serving a variety of consumer goods and product categories in the United States.

We offer buyers a full-service experience in the origination, sourcing, and managing of products. Our platform was founded on the idea that curation and service are the most important elements in the buyer’s journey. Latin America Sourcing is building technology that addresses the pains of sourcing products internationally at attractive prices.