If you are operating a small business, there are certainly two platforms that you will be confused about when picking: Etsy vs Shopify. With these platforms, you can sell everything online and endless other items to generate revenues.
However, each platform works in different ways, so in this post, BSS Commerce Shopify will help you distinguish between Etsy vs Shopify and provide complete guides about how to pick the right platform. If you have the question ‘Is Etsy or Shopify better?’ in mind, don’t hesitate any longer; scroll down to discover now.
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Etsy vs Shopify Overview
Both Etsy vs Shopify offer an online marketplace for businesses or retailers to sell products.
Shopify, which is a platform, allows customers to build their own branded area, whereas Etsy is an online marketplace where vintage clothing, art tools, and other unusual products are often sold on Etsy, and handmade goods are its core top-selling products. As a result, to know more about Etsy vs Shopify, scroll down to explore its features and target customer files its.
What is Etsy?
Etsy is a reliable online marketplace for handmade and vintage products. This platform allows individual sellers to post and offer their product offerings to customers globally. This platform is popular because it provides a variety of special and highly individualized products and also a strong seller community.
The store carries an assortment of merchandise such as hand-made jewelry and apparel, antiques, and home decor and furnishings among other things. Can say that the Etsy marketplace is renowned as an ideal place where people are able to find unique products from small businesses and retailers.
Etsy is best for:
- Stores business for products only with a restricted amount
- Retailers sell homemade items like crafts or art.
- Anyone prepared to shell out more money for transactions in exchange for more ease and a ready market for homemade products.
The best things to sell on Etsy are mainly handmade items or vintage jewelry and accessories. As a result, if you are an individual retailer who enjoys creating products using manual methods, let’s open an online store on Etsy and sell products you make yourself.
What is Shopify?
Shopify, a popular e-commerce site-building tool, offers reasonably priced monthly and annual packages for any budget. It can be claimed that with its all-in-one platform for selling everything online, even without a single bit of training in coding and web design, Shopify provides you with everything you need to begin your e-commerce business.
The first is that they can upload unlimited products and they will have unlimited space for storage and bandwidth, as such; Shopify suits well for businesses or entrepreneurs who seek expansion in the long term. With this technological development, it takes just a few hours to set up an advanced Shopify store, at the same time it also generates fully SEO-optimized sales.
Shopify is best for:
- Stores want to sell on several platforms and design a storefront
- Have a well-established brand or are prepared to establish one
The top trending products to sell online on Shopify are so diverse, such as watch accessories, slipcovers for sofas, tumblers, curtain and drape rings, and more. Here, you may market anything, add as many products, and configure payments for customers.
Through Shopify, enterprises can establish an impressive online store within no time, which does not require substantial expertise or knowledge. Businesses can also make use of knowledge about marketing and SEO tools through Shopify to generate more traffic and boost their online presence easily.
>>> Check out: Best Products to Sell on Shopify
Etsy vs Shopify: Grow Business with Some Highlight Benefits
Etsy vs Shopify do have their benefits and their own deficiencies. However, this does not mean that one platform is better than another; it simply explains the differences between both, making it decision about which one would be the most suitable option for business.
Shopify
- Control the brand’s experience: You have creative control over the look and feel of your store thanks to completely customizable Shopify themes from the Shopify Theme Store, while Shopify runs your brand in the background.
- Lower transaction fees: While you are paying a monthly price for your plan, expanding Etsy businesses may discover that switching to this pricing model is justified by their sales volume.
- Build and define the target customers: With complete control over how you connect with them, define the target demographic, and expand the email list and clientele.
Etsy
- Get access to the target customers: Utilize the market audience that is already embedded in Etsy to reach high-intent shoppers. You can also opt in to ads on Etsy (for a price), which takes the guesswork and research out of marketing, including SEO, email marketing, and internet advertising.
- No monthly fee: There is no monthly charge, allowing you to expand gradually. Instead, you only pay listing fees or transaction fees when a sale is made. Even though these costs are greater than Shopify’s, this strategy is best for people who are just having fun or who make a small number of sales each month.
- Get up and running: Let’s get up and running before you’re prepared to go into branding design or create a marketing strategy. For genuine beginners, enter the store’s name and an avatar into the plug-and-play template provided by Etsy.
The Main Distinction Between Etsy vs Shopify
One of the key differences between Etsy and Shopify is that Etsy doesn’t give you customers’ email, so you can’t build your customer base through its marketplace. Customers can “like” your Etsy shop and receive notifications of new products, but it’s not like you can send marketing emails to customers. If the Etsy platform ever goes away, this is a worrying problem. However, with the Etsy Pattern, this platform allows email marketing.
On the other hand, Shopify doesn’t have that problem; If your customer chooses to send an email when checking out, you can send a newsletter and collect additional information. Even if Shopify is shut down, you’ll still have customers to sell away.
Which is Better Etsy or Shopify
Selling on Etsy vs Shopify
For online sales, Shopify and Etsy both provide a variety of alternatives.
One of the most flexible e-commerce platform programs available is Shopify. Everything from cosmetics to groceries to services can be sold. You may add as many products and services as you like and set up payment options for customers once you’ve easily created your store.
The sole purpose of Etsy is to market actual goods, frequently unique or handcrafted items like personalized jewelry. You cannot offer services on the normal Etsy marketplace, but you can do so using Pattern by Etsy.
Free Trials and Plans
The Shopify platform is available with a 3-day free trial for users. After that, the base plan will cost you at least $29 per month (paid annually), which many store owners find to be more than enough. Retailers who use multiple channels might favor the $79 monthly (paid annually) option.
And for stores that need advanced reporting, the $299 monthly (paid annually) plan is reasonable. However, you may acquire Shopify Lite for $9 per month if you already have a blog or website and just want to add a way to take credit card payments for orders.
The Etsy Plus plan, which grants 15 listing credits and $5 in monthly ad spending, is available for a 30-day free trial on the website. After the trial, the monthly fee is $10, which includes discounts, customer requests for restocking, and more banner options.
Domains and URLs
When comparing Etsy vs Shopify, it also offers subdomains and Shopify enables to set up their own domain name for the website. This domain name is a big benefit because it will help you establish a brand around it, boost website traffic, and do other things.
With Shopify, businesses and retailers may buy their domain name at the same time as their online store, and configuration and control are always free and unlimited. You can pick the name that suits you best and pay an annual price for hosting. Shopify combines free, unlimited subdirectories and subdomains with domain hosting. Even an email address for your new domain can be created.
However, Etsy does not allow one to employ a personal domain. However, unless you have bought the Pattern by Etsy product that you want to make the website for, you have no option of getting the domain from Etsy. Therefore, if one wants to have a unique domain name for a small business and an easy URL, Shopify would be the most suitable choice to use.
Etsy vs Shopify Fees
Etsy Fees
Listing Fees:
A listing is created when you add a product to the shop on Etsy. You must pay listing fees in order to list goods for sale on Etsy. For each individual listing you post, you will be charged a listing fee.
A fixed cost of $0.20 USD is charged for each listing. Whether or not the item mentioned sells, this fee will still apply. When publishing an item, the fee is automatically deposited into the payment account.
When a seller has more than 1,000 Etsy product listings posted in a single year, they will pay him/ her $ 800 USD only as listing fees.
Transaction Fees:
On Etsy, the transaction costs total 6.5% of the purchase price. These are the revenues that Etsy receives when an item is sold through a store. Unlike the listing fees, transaction fees only apply to the listings that actually sell. If your customers are paying for shipment and gift packaging; the Etsy transaction fees apply to the total amount of the product. These charges will appear separately in your payment account.
Payment Fees:
Using Etsy Payments, retailers have the ability to receive payments in their home currency with all possible types of payments. And through Etsy Payments, sellers can accept payment by major credit or debit card, including Etsy Gift Cards, Etsy Credits, and Etsy Coupons; PayPal; and other methods such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Klarna.
Shopify Fees and Costs
When using Shopify, you must pay a monthly subscription charge in addition to a transaction cost (unless you use Shopify Payments).
- Basic Shopify services cost $25 per month and include your SSL certificate, unlimited product listings, 24/7 support, and numerous sales channels.
- Shopify: For $65 per month, you can get all the capabilities of the Basic plan as well as up to 5 staff accounts, access to inventory locations, a break on transaction costs, and standard reports.
- Advanced Shopify costs $399 a month for medium and large businesses and includes all Shopify capabilities as well as up to 15 staff accounts, comprehensive reports, and externally computed shipping rates.
For an additional $9 a month, you may utilize “Shopify Lite” to add a shopping button to an already-existing store. For businesses that sell large volumes, Shopify Plus is also offered at a unique fee.
Design and Create a Store
Making a memorable brand image is a crucial component of developing a successful online business. To attract the customers to be able to identify the brand and the items right away. Let’s take a look at the comparison between Etsy vs Shopify before getting your suitable one:
Shopify
For almost all the users of Shopify, they won’t have any trouble creating a fantastic website. Even if you don’t know much about coding, you can also start designing right away because there are so many lovely & converting Shopify themes to pick from.
You may design a product page as you like on Shopify. There are various theme designs available, and you can customize the capabilities of the HTML and CSS on the website to change them for better conversion rates. Because Shopify businesses are scalable, you can start small or as a startup and develop into a well-known brand.
Etsy
The special point about the themes offered by Etsy is that many of them are made to fit particular industries. As a result, you receive designs that are extremely relevant to your specialty as well as additional features.
However, the opportunities for brand creation and customization on Etsy are far fewer. Here, you can add the unique logo to the page when creating a basic Etsy storefront, add-on product descriptions, and photographs, but you cannot alter the domain name, the colors of the website, or anything else.
In the end, Shopify is a great option because this platform fully provides options in branding and customization. As a result, users can easily create their own emphasis for their store.
Multichannel Selling
Selling through many channels is a big benefit for any online business. Let’s utilize Shopify’s platform as a central inventory, order management, and payment platform while selling on several platforms smoothly. To start selling on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and other platforms, you may integrate the Shopify store. Even better and publish the Shopify listings to Etsy via third-party software.
The most you can do on Etsy is create social posts for selling and share them on Facebook and Instagram from the dashboard. However, in order to sell on other platforms, you must manually establish listings. This can be difficult because it is more difficult to keep track of inventory and because managing various selling channels requires more time and work.
Due to their POS integrations, Shopify and Etsy make it simple for you to sell in person. While Etsy can interact with Square POS, Shopify offers a built-in POS system called Shopify POS. Therefore, it can be said that Shopify is maybe the better option for multichannel retailing. Sell everywhere—offline, online, and through different channels.
Ease to Use
Shopify is somewhat advanced with in-depth e-commerce features as well as its separate webpage making it easier for novice users. The first time you log in there appears a setup wizard. After that comes the action buttons, simple navigation menu sidebar, and prominent callout links leading to detailed instructions.
Even with its e-commerce features like inventory, orders, order management as well as product listing, what becomes evident is the ease of navigating, tracking orders and updating product listing quickly
With Etsy’s setup, you don’t need that much of an investment of your time and energy so only with a few hours of work you will have a fully operational Etsy store. Setting up a whole website was unnecessary, making the process much simpler.
Ultimately, both Etsy vs Shopify are very easy to use. While Etsy may be easier to set up, that does not mean that either platform doesn’t work great for a beginner. The company offers live chat, phone, and email support 24 hours a day and hence provides an excellent customer care experience with Shopify.
Marketing Strategies
In contrast to Etsy, given that you are the website’s owner, Shopify permits you more marketing control, including your own target customers, website, and email list. For abandoned carts, you may use Shopify’s remarketing advertisements or send the user an email.
And Etsy is a marketplace; you benefit from free traffic, but you are unable to remarket to that audience once a sale has been completed. Even though Etsy’s market appears appealing at first glance, its flexibility to control its own marketing may not be really persuadable.
Scalability
When setting up the store, you should choose a sales channel that can scale quickly enough to meet your goals for your brand-new online venture. Moving forward, if it can’t develop as quickly as the goal, it will eventually cost valuable time and money.
Etsy is a fantastic marketplace for stores to launch quickly, but as your business grows, the platform may find it difficult to keep up. In the worst situation, the market may actually slow down rapid expansion. A few things that might prevent quick scaling include:
- The cost of listing products may discourage you from trying out a wide variety of them.
- Competing head-on with all stores that offer the same item
- Less built-in sales tools
However, Shopify is designed specifically for growing eCommerce businesses. As a store grows, the pricing plans can function as a tier-based ladder by providing stronger features that can support additional expansion. Some important factors that can make Shopify excellent for scaling are as follows:
- Without paying any additional fees, you can add a large selection of products
- There is no direct rivalry
- The traffic you receive is targeted toward the shop
- Numerous apps are available that are intended to boost sales and expand your store
- You can develop a distinctive store and establish the brand thanks to design flexibility
In general, Etsy can assist with the launch of a new online business, but as a marketplace, it lacks the flexibility and toolkit to support quick development. With additional features readily available to continue rapid scaling, Shopify is obviously built to facilitate rapid growth for businesses.
Customer Support
When creating an online store, customer support is a vital factor to take into account. As a result, consider the following support process for each platform:
It’s simple to receive answers to questions because Shopify provides phone and live chat assistance around the clock. Social media and email are available for communication. Access a variety of tools, including the Shopify community forums, assistance articles, and video lessons, if you decide to go with self-help support.
Etsy also provides a respectable degree of service. You receive round-the-clock live chat assistance from a human advisor, just like Shopify. However, compared to Shopify, there are fewer opportunities to contact Etsy support experts.
Maybe the Shopify platform is a better choice for managing an e-commerce business because of its extreme versatility and variety of contact options.
You already have an online store on Etsy and want to migrate it to use Shopify, see the guide about switching Etsy to Shopify for more detail.
Ending Words: Etsy or Shopify for beginners
In the end, is it better to sell on Etsy or Shopify? As you can see, both Etsy vs Shopify have features to support online sales. If you want to have the most control over the brand’s image, Shopify is the preferred option. Many retailers rely on Shopify to build their online brands. Here, the checkout page can even be customized to install a custom theme. However, this benefit is currently not available on Etsy.
Etsy is also an online attractive marketplace that is commonly used by crafters and retailers of rare items to display and sell their distinct items. It enables sellers to find customers searching for unique products in a community-driven marketplace.
Etsy is easy to use and has relatively reasonable fees that attract small businesses and individual sellers who want an expanded market base. In sum, the Etsy marketplace is an excellent platform for creative individual retailers to fulfill their passion through profit-making.
Finally, Etsy vs Shopify have both been rated as among the most famous e-commerce platforms each having its own set of benefits. Etsy offers an ideal platform for artists, crafters, and vintage buyers interested in reaching out to a specific audience. But, it appears that Shopify offers a variety of small-scale businesses in other sectors of the economy. As a result, in some cases, let’s make the decision based upon the unique needs of the stores like the particular target.
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