Shopify Vs. Amazon FBA – Simplified Comparison Library

Confused between Shopify vs. Amazon FBA? 

You’re not alone. Many entrepreneurs find it hard to choose between the two platforms. 

The reason being that they’re both designed to help people create an online presence and start selling their products. 

For me personally, I’ve found the process of listing products on both Shopify and Amazon to be easy. But I initially struggled to identify which is the better option for starting an ecommerce business.

So I dug deep and explored the pros and cons, plus the differences between the two platforms. Below, I’ve shared my findings to help you determine which one is right for you. 

Shopify Vs Amazon FBA Pros and Cons

There are benefits and downsides to choosing any platform for ecommerce . When evaluating Amazon FBA and Shopify, I discovered these pros and cons.

Shopify Pros:

• Easy to use environment for beginners
• One platform for sales, order processing and fulfillment
• Lots of design and branding ownership
• Flexible and scalable shipping

Shopify Cons

• Newer fulfillment service 
• Can be expensive with lots of add-ons

Amazon FBA Pros:

• Extensive reach around the world
• Hassle-free shipping and fulfillment
• Fast deliveries
• Discounted shipping rates

Amazon Cons

• Minimal branding options
• Less control over inventory
• More returns (due to Amazon’s open return policy)

Shopify vs. Amazon The difference between each

Shopify and Amazon take different approaches to online sales.

With Amazon, you create a seller account and connect with millions of pre-existing customers. You’re competing with other sellers, but you don’t have to work as hard to find clients. Additionally, Amazon FBA can handle shipping and fulfillment for you. 

With Shopify, you’re building an entire branded online presence for your store. You have to create your own website, connect with customers, and implement your own marketing campaigns.

You’ll also be responsible for fulfilling your orders unless you sell in Canada and the United States. Shopify merchants in these countries can use the Shopify Fulfillment Network to ship their orders.

Ease of Use between Amazon FBA vs Shopify

Both Amazon and Shopify are easy to use. 

Shopify has an extensive backend environment designed for beginner business owners. It’s easy to learn how to use all the features, although it may take a while before you feel fully confident in your abilities. 

While Shopify is simple, Amazon is much easier to work with because all you need to do is create an account, list the items you want to sell, and you’re ready to go.

 

Overall, both platforms are easy to use in their own right.

Designing a Store with Shopify VS Amazon

Selling on Amazon doesn’t involve building a store. 

You list your products on an existing platform and follow guidelines on what kind of pictures and product descriptions you can add. 

I set up a basic marketplace storefront and found the process easy. However, Amazon didn’t allow me to change the layout or design of my store’s page. 

When I tried Shopify, I could design a real store and showcase my brand identity using various branding tools.

Shopify’s strength lies in its online store builder that makes it easy to create an ecommerce store. 

Plus, the platform allows you to present your brand through a range of free and paid themes. 

No wonder Shopify often makes the list of the best ecommerce website builders for designing a custom, aesthetically pleasing online store.

Ecommerce Tools & Features

You can sell a variety of products through both Amazon and Shopify. 

When assessing Amazon, I discovered I could sell everything from physical goods to services. There’s also access to unique store segments, such as “Amazon Handmade.” 

Amazon offers a range of basic tools for ecommerce functionality. Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) can handle all your shipping, customer service, and storage for you. There are also ways to optimize your Amazon listings for better ranking. 

However, Amazon can’t compare to the full range of sales tools available from Shopify. 

With Shopify, companies can recover clients with abandoned cart strategies, track their inventory, calculate tax automatically, and sell through multiple channels (including social media). 

If you’re worried about fulfilling orders, Shopify can also help with that. Tools like Oberlo allow businesses to work with dropshipping suppliers. 

Shopify users in Canada and the US can apply for the Shopify Fulfillment Network, a service that’s constantly improving and handles the fulfillment headache for store owners.

Shopify VS Amazon Payment Options & Fees

On Amazon, you can accept debit and credit cards through Amazon Pay. However, the platform doesn’t support PayPal.

If you register as a professional seller, Amazon will charge you a monthly subscription plus selling fees. The fees are primarily made up of shipping and referral fees. 

For Amazon FBA, the fees range from $2.41 to $137.32 for fulfillment charges. And you also need to pay inventory storage fees that range from $0.69 to $2.40 (per cubic foot). The costs depend on the type, volume, and size of the item.

For individual sellers, Amazon has a $0.99 fee for every product they sell. 

Coming over to Shopify, you don’t pay a transaction fee when you use the company’s integrated payment option called Shopify Payments. 

Shopify also supports PayPal and Amazon Pay, but using these services requires you to pay a transaction fee. Fees are in the 0.5%-2% range.

All Shopify users need to pay credit card fees. The standard fee is 2.9% + 30 cents, but this decreases when you switch to a higher Shopify plan.

Shopify takes this one. It offers more payment options, and there’s no transaction fee if you accept payments via Shopify Pay.

How to attract customers Shopify Vs Amazon FBA

Amazon already has around 310 million customers worldwide. You won’t have to work as hard on SEO and marketing campaigns because customers will be coming to you. 

However, you’ll still need to work on making your products stand out compared to your competition. Just as there are plenty of customers on Amazon, there’s a wide range of sellers too. You’ll need to follow Amazon’s SEO guidelines carefully and work hard to differentiate yourself.

Attracting customers on Shopify relies completely on your marketing skills.  You can use SEO strategies and email marketing to collect and nurture customers. Shopify also comes with social media integrations, abandoned cart recovery, and more to help.

While Shopify has marketing features built-in, you’ll need to leverage them yourself to attract customers to your store.

Help & Support

All business owners need help sometimes.

Unfortunately, Amazon’s support system isn’t always the best. Phone support requires companies to send a request to the Amazon team and wait for a response. 

You can find answers to some of your questions in the FAQ environment and forums, but getting real help is often tough.

Shopify has more comprehensive support options, including 24/7 live chat and phone guidance, social media responses, email tickets, video tutorials, and knowledge base content. 

You can also access specialist support if you’re paying for a higher monthly package.

So if you’re looking for an ecommerce platform with great customer support, Shopify is the better choice.

Shopify VS Amazon Pricing

Amazon has two pricing options. The individual plan costs $0.99 per item sold, whereas the Professional plan is $39.99 per month. 

FBA costs depend on the services you need, including the level of storage space you require and where you’re shipping your products. Amazon sellers may incur additional costs on things like shipping rates.  

Shopify offers a set of four price plans:

• Lite – $9 per month
• Basic Shopify – costs $29 per month
• Shopify – costs $79 per month
• Advanced Shopify – costs $299 per month 

The Basic Shopify plan is most suitable for new entrepreneurs. It offers everything you need to set up an online store. You can then integrate apps to enhance your customer experience.

While both Shopify and Amazon offer plans for small-scale sellers, Shopify is better value for money if you’re looking to create a proper online store. It’s also easier to calculate potential costs with Shopify’s transparent pricing.

Amazon integration with Shopify

Shopify and Amazon can work great together if you’re looking to leverage both solutions.

You can add an Amazon sales channel to your Shopify store to expand your customer reach. Doing so also enables you to publish Amazon offers and listings directly from Shopify. 

Here are the steps:

• In your Shopify admin area, click “+” near the Sales channels heading.
• When the Add sales channel dialog appears, click “Amazon” to proceed. 
• Now click “Add channel.”
• On the Amazon account screen, click “Connect to Amazon.”

Once done, you can sync product details and inventory, link items, and more.

Conclusion

Shopify and Amazon are two great ecommerce platforms. And each one is designed for a different kind of entrepreneur in mind.

For those looking to create their own brand presence, offer multiple payment options, and want transparent pricing, Shopify is the ideal choice.

However, if you want lots of eyeballs, done-for-you brand building, and a proven fulfillment solution, Amazon would be a better investment. 

Ultimately, your business requirements should determine which platform is best for you.