Shopify VS Amazon: Which one is best for Ecommerce business!

Pros

cons

Shopify 

• Powerful ecommerce tools: Shopify has a wide range of ecommerce tools designed to help you build and promote your online store efficiently.
• Unique brand identity: It is because you create your own ecommerce website.

• Extra costs: Shopify has a monthly fee, but it also has an App Store. However, adding third party apps can enhance your monthly costs.
• Marketing: You are fully responsible for promoting your business and building your brand awareness.

Amazon

• Traffic: Approx. millions of people visit the Amazon marketplace per month. This gives your products great exposure to stand in the market.
• Extra services: Amazon can easily handle your inventory storage, packing and shipping for you. The platform makes it easier for you to run your business.

• Competition: Amazon sells millions of products, so you’re up against huge competition 
• Branding: It’s very hard to create a unique or strong brand image for your business by selling your products on Amazon.

Factors

Shopify VS Amazon

Easy to use

Shopify is designed to help you build your ecommerce website efficiently and smoothly. It's got a clean, clear  design, and offers you tons of help pages. Also, it offers an easy navigation process.

Along with that, shopify makes it possible for the users to use powerful sales tools that are easily accessible to everyone. Now, that it makes things easier for us, Shopify deserves credit for its inclusive approach to ecommerce.

However, with Amazon all you require to do is create an account, complete each set-up stage and you are all set to sell them!
One of the easiest ways a seller can opt for, it is quite a straightforward process driven by amazon. 

Despite this, both Shopify and Amazon are designed to make it easy for the sellers to start their online sell and purchase with the use of helpful tools offered by both the platforms.

Design Flexibility

Website design plays a vital role in the success of any business and choosing Amazon or Shopify as your selling and purchasing platform makes it hassle-free for the businessman.
Shopify gives you control over the layout and design of your online store. But the benefit of using Amazon or Shopify platform for website design is that you don’t have to design it from scratch.

Instead you get a choice to choose the best theme over 60 themes. Also, you can customize them as per your requirement to match your brand. Shopify offers 10 free themes and over 60 premium themes for the users which may cost between $140 to $180. 

These platforms help you edit, personalize and even give the choice to switch your theme, so you can create a unique brand image for your business.

However, Amazon serves you with limited themes and design. Remember, all amazon pages are laid out in a similar way. You can also upload your own images and descriptions, but the overall layout and website design of your store page is identical to Amazon's rather than your own.

As a conclusion, Amazon is less flexible than Shopify despite this it serves you with a wide range of elements.

Ecommerce tools and Features

Everyone desires to have a store with advanced ecommerce power tools in its pocket as well as serve you with stunning website design. 

Moreover, Amazon has a vast range of products that are sold via its marketplace, including every type of industry such as electronics to toys and books. Despite that, you can even sell services rather than physical goods.

It welcomes individual sellers, beginners and experienced users to use different tools to support their online selling. Despite this, it also includes unique stores such as Amazon Handmade, global selling and the creation of targeted adverts. 

Whereas, Shopify offers multiple ecommerce tools such as:

• Powerful inventory system
• Logo maker
• Multichannel selling
• Abandoned cart recovery
• Application integration
• Automatic tax calculation and much more

Along with them, Shopify offers all the necessary tools to make a businessman's life easy. It also supports dropshipping businesses. 

Payment gateways

Sometimes you have to look more in-depth than the upfront costs. However, the transaction fees and credit card rates can enhance your monthly outgoings, so it's the best way to check before you commit.
Amazon has Amazon pay as its main payment gateway. Along with that, you can accept credit and debit cards through this. And for “Professional sellers”, Amazon has selling fees plus its monthly subscription. However, these fees vary from category to category including the shipping charges.
Shopify has its own payment gateway, and the benefit of it is that you don't have to pay any transaction fees while using it.
Moreover, shopify offers over 100 different payment gateways, including Amazon pay and paypal. Both the payment gateways have transaction fees ranging from 0.5% to 2% depending on which one you choose.

Attracting customers

Selling online is one of the best ways to connect with the shoppers and help you grab customer’s attention. By targeting competitors and your customers with ads in their social feeds and with distractions at every click. It will help you be on top of your competitors.
This is where Amazon is better than Shopify. Also, you don’t have to tackle SEO or run email campaigns. People come to Amazon with their eyes peeled and wallets primed.
Also, you don’t have more time to manage your inventory and deal with the orders, instead your customers come to you.

Despite this, one of the drawbacks of Amazon is, the visitors require you to get to your products instead of your neighbor’s. And when Amazon is selling on the same platform, competition becomes fierce. 

Shopify does not have the same search volume as Amazon to help you create your own brand. This means marketing is necessary to extend your customer base. To make your business a great success you can use email campaigns, multichannel selling and a strong social media presence. 

Based on this, Shopify wins the race between Shopify vs Amazon. It helps you at every step of the way.

Help and support

Amazon does not have a strong support system, there is phone support where you can request a call and amazon gets in contact with you. However, there are various forms you can submit for support and community forums where you can discuss issues. Also, it is not considered as the most streamlined or easy to use support system out there.

Shopify, offers a comprehensive range of services such as:

• 24/7 live chat
• 24/7 phone
• Social media
• Forums
• Emails
• Video tutorials and much more

Just like amazon, shopify also has a help center with articles and guides. Also, it's super easy to navigate and has tons of resources to browse.

Pricing

Shopify has three price plans:

• The Basic Shopify plan costs $29 per month
• Shopify plan costs $79 per month
• Advanced Shopify plan costs $299 per month

Amazon has two selling plans:

• The Professional Selling plan costs $39.99 per month, including extra selling fees.
• The Individual Selling plan doesn’t have a monthly fee instead you pay $0.99 per item sold.