Shopify vs Etsy: Which is Best for Startups?

Shopify vs Etsy: Which platform is better for beginners? Is Shopify better than Etsy? If you’re new to starting an online business, it can be challenging to decide which one to choose. There’s no definitive answer because neither is inherently better than the other; it depends on your specific needs.

The only common ground between the two platforms is that they both allow you to promote and sell products while accepting credit cards. To assist you in making an informed decision, we’ll provide a side-by-side comparison overview. We’ll highlight where Shopify excels over Etsy and where Etsy has advantages over Shopify. Lastly, we’ll delve into key differences, including pricing, SEO, analytics, and more.

Let’s explore and determine which choice is best for you!

1. Shopify vs Etsy: Side-by-side comparison overview

	Shopify	Etsy
Description	– A versatile e-commerce platform – Ideal for businesses building online stores – Customize your store with templates, payment processing, and inventory management – Perfect for those who want full control over their online brand	– Online marketplace for unique, handmade, and vintage items – Ideal for independent artisans and crafters – Connect sellers to a broad audience of buyers – Simplify product listing without the need for a full e-commerce website
Product	A wide range of products, often including manufactured goods or drop shipping	Handmade, vintage goods or craft supplies
Subscription fees	– Basic: $25 per month ($19 annually) – Shopify: $65 per month (49 annually) – Advanced: $399 per month ($299 annually)	– Free – Etsy Plus: $10 per month
Listing fees	No	$0.20 per item listed Listings last for four months
Transaction fees	(None for using Shopify payment) Third-party payment provider: – Basic: 2% – Shopify: 1% – Advanced: 0,5%	6.5% from each sale (item price + shipping fee)
Payment processing fees	– Basic: 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction – Shopify: 2.6% + 30 cents per transaction – Advanced: 2.4% + 30 cents per transaction	Vary by country
Other fees	Domain, Third-party apps,…	Advertising and Promotional Fees, Regulatory operating fees, Currency conversion fees,…
Customer support	24/7 support through live chat, email, and phone for quick help	Mainly using email support, longer response times, and less immediate assistance
Easy of use	Require a bit more time to learn but provide greater flexibility	User-friendly, ideal for beginners, with a straightforward setup
Design flexibility	Extensive design flexibility, numerous themes, customizable colors, fonts, and images, allowing for a unique brand presence.	Limited design customization, standard layout, and minimal room for brand uniqueness
eCommerce tools	Extensive toolset with over 8000 apps, offering advanced features like inventory tracking and management, making it versatile for businesses of all sizes	Simple yet suitable tools for small-scale, handmade, and craft product sellers
Brand exposure	Extensive control over branding and user experience, allowing customization and unique online presence	Limited online branding options, resembling standard Etsy design
Audience & Traffic source	Building your own audience but getting flexibility in targeting and traffic sources, making it suitable for various businesses	Immediate access to an existing audience of online shoppers, particularly for craft and vintage items
POS	Yes	No
Multichannel selling (TikTok, Facebook, Instagram,…)	Seamless integration with various sales channels, expanding reach and audience	Primarily designed for selling within the Etsy platform, limited multichannel options
Analytics	Extensive and customizable analytics tools for in-depth data analysis	Basic analytics focusing on shop performance and basic sales data
Scalability	Highly scalable, suitable for businesses of all sizes, with extensive growth potential	Primarily designed for small businesses and artisans, may have limitations when scaling to larger operations

The biggest difference between Shopify and Etsy

The most significant difference between Shopify and Etsy is that Shopify is a standalone e-commerce platform that allows users to create customizable online stores, giving them complete control over their brand and website design. On the other hand, Etsy is an online marketplace where sellers list their products within the Etsy platform, offering less design flexibility and a more uniform shopping experience for customers.

Shopify can sell a wide range of products, but Etsy is limited to handmade, vintage goods, and craft supplies.

However, Etsy provides a basic setup to start with and utilizes its pre-made customer base, while Shopify requires a bit more effort to build your audience from scratch.

Shopify also allows you to expand your audience across various platforms like Facebook and TikTok, whereas Etsy primarily focuses on selling within its platform.

In summary, Shopify is suitable for businesses looking to grow and scale, while Etsy is best suited for small and medium-sized businesses that are not yet ready to focus on extensive branding or large-scale expansion.

2. Shopify vs Etsy: Which is better?

Shopify and Etsy are both well-known platforms for online product sales. They cater to different business needs and come with their own set of pros and cons. In this comparison, we’ll help you decide which platform is right for you by outlining where Shopify excels over Etsy and vice versa.

We’ll also provide guidance and questions to assist you in making an informed choice. Whether you’re launching a new venture or taking your first steps into e-commerce, this overview will steer you in the right direction.

Let’s begin.

2.1. Etsy: Pros & Cons – Where Etsy excels

Pros:

• Start with a free plan
• Easy store setup for new businesses
• Immediate built-in audience and traffic due to Etsy’s marketplace

Cons:

• Limited products to craft or handmade goods
• High transaction fees
• Mainly using email support, longer response times, and less immediate assistance
• Competition is getting fierce, hard to make your store stand out
• Limited design customization
• Limited e-commerce tools
• Limited branding & customer experience
• Limited SEO
• No support for local selling (Point of Sale – POS) for online business
• No support for selling on multiple platforms
• No support for drop shipping
• Limited analytics
• No store ownership and customer data
• Hard to scale

Where Etsy wins:

• Etsy offers an easy store setup for new businesses, requiring less effort than setting up a Shopify store.
• Etsy has a built-in audience specifically for handmade goods, providing a ready customer base to tap into.
• Etsy offers a free starting plan with no monthly charges.

2.2. Shopify: Pros & Cons – Where Shopify excels

Pros:

• Unlimited product types
• Allows you to create your own e-commerce website with your domain
• Getting store ownership and accessing customer data
• Lower transaction fees and no listing fees
• 24/7 personal and in-depth customer support
• Free customization of your storefront
• Extremely scalable with robust e-commerce tools
• Full control of branding and customer experience
• Good for improving SEO
• Supports POS (Point of Sale)
• Customized shipping options
• Supports dropshipping
• Comprehensive analytics

Cons:

• Starts at $25 per month, which may not suit small budgets
• Creating a full website with Shopify can be more labor-intensive
• You may need to build a customer base from scratch
• Requires a significant amount of effort and skills to fully utilize

Where Shopify wins

• Shopify supports an unlimited range of product types, not limited to craft or handmade items like Etsy.
• With Shopify, you have store ownership and control over customer data.
• While it may require more initial investment, Shopify has lower transaction fees and no listing fees, making it cost-effective for businesses with a wide product range and high sales volume.
• Shopify offers 24/7 phone, chat, and email support, providing personalized and comprehensive assistance.
• You can customize your storefront extensively with Shopify, giving you full control over your brand’s representation.
• Shopify boasts a vast library of over 8,000 apps to help you build and grow your online business.
• You can build your brand from scratch with Shopify, shaping it exactly the way you envision.
• Implementing SEO is straightforward when using Shopify to build your online store.
• Shopify supports Point of Sale (POS), making it suitable for businesses that operate both online and offline stores.
• Shopify offers a high degree of shipping flexibility, allowing you to choose from various carriers, and methods, set your own shipping rates, and offer multiple shipping options to customers.
• Shopify provides robust analytics and reporting tools, offering detailed insights into your store’s performance, including sales data, traffic sources, conversion rates, and more.

2.3. Top questions to help you decide which platform to sell on

• What type of products am I selling, and which platform suits them better?
• Do I want to build my brand or tap into an existing customer base?
• How much customization and control over the store design do I need?
• What are the costs, both initial and ongoing, on each platform?
• Do I have the skills and resources for effective store management?
• Is scalability important for my business growth?
• What level of customer support do I require from the platform?
• Do I need advanced e-commerce tools and analytics?
• Will I sell both online and offline (Point of Sale)?
• Do I have specific SEO and marketing strategies?
• Am I planning to use dropshipping?
• What are my shipping preferences?
• Is store and customer data ownership a priority for me?

2.4. Choosing Etsy is a good option if you:

• Sell crafts, art, and other handmade items
• Aren’t yet ready to commit to a strong brand identity
• Want to utilize a built-in audience for homemade products
• Sell a small number of products

2.5. Choosing Shopify is a good option if you:

• Need a standalone website on your own domain.
• Plan to start a dropshipping business.
• Want to engage in local selling and require Point-of-Sale (POS) capabilities.
• Desire extensive customization options for your website and wish to sell on multiple platforms.
• Already have a strong brand or are ready to establish one.
• Sell a high volume of products with frequent sales, benefiting from lower transaction fees and no listing fees.
• Possess certain skills to acquire customers independently.

3. Deep Comparison: Shopify vs Etsy across 13 key factors

3.1. Shopify vs Etsy: Products

Etsy is known for handmade goods, vintage products, and craft supplies, making it perfect for creative sellers. 

Shopify, on the other hand, is a versatile e-commerce platform that suits high-volume sellers. It allows them to sell a wide range of products, often including manufactured goods or drop shipping. 

This is an important factor to help you decide which platforms you should sell on. Remember you can only sell handmade goods, vintage products, and craft supplies on Etsy. If you want to sell something that falls outside of these areas, then Etsy probably isn’t the right choice for you.

3.2. Shopify vs Etsy: Pricing plan & fees

Shopify

Shopify included subscription fees, transactional fees, and other fees

Subscription fees

Shopify is an e-commerce website builder that is suitable for all types of businesses, whether it’s starting, growing, or at the enterprise level. Its flexible pricing plan ranges from $5 to $299 per month to serve its different customer segments. 

Shopify offers a 3-day free trial without a credit card. Then, to create an e-commerce website & blog, you can pick one of these plans:

1. Basic: 

• For individuals & small businesses
• $25 per month ($19 annually)
• Website & blog, 2 staff accounts, 24/7 support

2. Shopify

• For small businesses
• $65 per month (49 annually)
• Lower credit card rates, 5 staff accounts, professional report, POS, gift cards

3. Advanced

• For medium to large businesses
• $399 per month ($299 annually)
• Lower credit card rates, 15 staff accounts, report builder upgrade, reduced logistical costs with third-party calculated shipping

Transactional fees

There are no transaction fees for stores using Shopify Payments.

If you choose a third-party payment provider, there will be additional fees of 2%, 1%, or 0.5% for Basic Shopify, Shopify, and Advanced Shopify plans, respectively.

Credit card rates

Shopify charges a small fee to allow you to accept major credit cards, such as Visa and Mastercard, as payment in your store. These fees vary depending on the plan that you choose.

• Basic – 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction
• Shopify –  2.6% + 30 cents per transaction
• Advanced –  2.4% + 30 cents per transaction

Shopify app fees

If you want to use apps on the Shopify app store for Personalized products, SEO, upsell or cross-sell, or other features unavailable on Shopify, you have to pay these app developers.

Etsy

Subscription Fees

Etsy is free to sign up and open a seller account with Etsy’s standard plan. With this plan, you can only change product images, descriptions, and store logos. Alternatively, for greater design freedom as advanced customization features, out-of-stock emails, or domain name credit, you can sign up for the Etsy Plus plan, which starts at $10/month. 

• Etsy Plus subscription: $10 USD/month.
• Subscribers receive 15 listing credits and $5 USD in Etsy Ads credits each month.

To our recommendation, you should start selling with the Etsy standard plan because there are plenty of fees to know. In fact, there are 10 types of Etsy fees that you should be aware of.

Listing Fees

• $0.20 USD per item listed.
• No fees for Pattern site listings.
• After four months, listings can auto-renew for $0.20 per item, or they will become inactive

Transaction Fees

• 6.5% of listing price + shipping and gift wrap.
• US sellers are exempt from fees on sales tax.

Advertising and Promotional Fees

• Vary based on advertising service used (Etsy Ads, Offsite Ads).

In-Person Selling Fees

• Square reader fees vary (synced listings, $0.20 renewal; non-synced listings, $0.20 transaction fee).

Payment Processing Fees

• Vary by location, and may include fixed deposit fees.

Shipping Fees

• Depends on the carrier, package details, and destination.

Regulatory Operating Fees

• Charged in certain countries as a percentage of listing price + shipping.

Pattern Fees

• The pattern is a personalized website tool
• 30-day free trial, then $15.00 USD/month.
• Additional fees for domain registration through Tucows, Inc.

Currency Conversion Fees

• Automatic conversion from USD to payment account currency at market rate.
• 2.5% currency conversion fee if listing in a different currency.

3.3. Shopify vs Etsy: Customer support

In some cases, you don’t know how to set up your store or your image accidentally disappears at 2 a.m. Customer support is essential to help resolve any issues promptly and make sure your online store runs smoothly. 

With Shopify merchants, you can reach out and look up help in 5 different ways:

• 24/7 phone, chat, and email support
• Shopify help center
• Shopify experts
• Shopify community forum
• Docs & Video tutorials

Etsy offers customer support in 3 ways:

• Phone and email customer support
• Etsy help center
• Etsy community forum
• Newsletter & handbook

Unlike Shopify, Etsy’s customer support options are limited. You cannot directly email Etsy’s support team or schedule a phone call for assistance. Instead, you have to navigate their customer service options and select a phone-related issue to access a phone number. For most inquiries, you’ll need to send an email and wait for a response, which can take two to five business days.

In contrast, Shopify provides comprehensive support that is available around the clock. They offer personal and in-depth assistance, even if you encounter issues at 4 a.m.

3.4. Shopify vs Etsy: Easy of use

Etsy and Shopify are both designed to be user-friendly to those new to e-commerce. They provide step-by-step guidance through the setup process, making it easy to complete each stage. Additionally, they offer a range of online resources and video tutorials to provide further support.

With Etsy, you’re essentially adding listings to an existing online marketplace. To get started, you need to create an account, answer a few questions, choose your store name, stock your store, take high-quality product photos, and enter your billing details to ensure you get paid. Writing effective product descriptions is also crucial for standing out on Etsy. The setup process is straightforward, quick, and simple.

Shopify’s setup is more extensive because you’re building an entirely new website. To launch your Shopify store, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with tasks such as creating your own brand, customizing templates, building web pages, and setting up domain mapping. 

While Shopify may seem slightly more technical, especially for those new to web design, it has been designed to simplify this process as much as possible. Shopify also helps manage your store by syncing your inventory, tracking orders, and more.

To sum up, both Etsy and Shopify cater to e-commerce beginners with user-friendly setup processes and abundant resources. Etsy is quick and straightforward, while Shopify offers more extensive customization and assistance for building a new website.

3.5. Shopify vs Etsy: Design flexibility

When it comes to design flexibility, Shopify and Etsy offer contrasting experiences. 

Etsy provides limited room for customization, with all seller pages following the same design and layout. You can only make changes to elements like your store name, logo, products, and descriptions. You also don’t have your own domain, your store will look like this: www.etsy.com/shop/your-store-name 

This makes it hard to stand out in a crowded marketplace. Etsy may not be the best choice if you want to build a strong online brand.

On the other hand, Shopify empowers you with over 137 themes, including 12 free options, serving as the building blocks of your website. These themes grant the freedom to customize colors, fonts, and images, allowing you to create a truly unique online presence. Moreover, Shopify lets you switch themes easily, ensuring your brand can evolve with your business. 

Importantly, you can have a custom domain like www.borcellebakery.com, making your online store look more trustworthy, professional, and recognizable.

Given that 42% of consumers leave websites due to poor design and functionality, this should weigh significantly in a merchant’s decision between Shopify and Etsy.

>>> Learn more: Shopify vs eBay: Which is Better for Starting an Online Store?

3.6. Shopify vs Etsy: eCommerce tools

In terms of eCommerce tools, both Etsy and Shopify offer options to help you grow your online business. 

Etsy provides simple yet effective tools, in its own words “simple, powerful tools”, which are suitable for small-scale selling of homemade and craft products.

On the other hand, Shopify stands out in the eCommerce tools department. It boasts an extensive app store with over 8000 apps available, and a significant 87% of Shopify merchants rely on these apps to run their eCommerce businesses.

These powerful tools offer a wide range of benefits to store owners, including:

• Finding products (Source products with dropshipping, print on demand, wholesale, suppliers)
• Selling products (Sell more with sales channels, subscriptions, product options, digital downloads)
• Store design (Customize pages with reviews, currency converters, translation, popups)
• Orders and shipping (Handle fulfillment with inventory management, order printers, invoices, order tracking)
• Marketing and conversion (Get customers with SEO, upsells, bundles, discounts, email marketing)
• Store management (Support customers with help centers, chat, wishlists, FAQs, loyalty programs)

While Etsy does have tools for customizing products, design, and marketing, it’s important to note that only Shopify provides an inventory system with tracking, management, and analytics.

>>> Learn more: Shopify vs eBay: Which is Better for Starting an Online Store?

3.7. Shopify vs Etsy: Brand exposure & Customer experience

When you sell on Etsy, you have limited options for presenting your business online. You can add a logo and banner to your store, but that’s about it. Your online presence will look similar to other Etsy shops, and customization options are limited.

On the other hand, with Shopify, building your brand may take some time, but the possibilities are virtually limitless. It offers extensive control over your brand and user experience.

For example, with Shopify, you can also implement advanced marketing strategies, such as personalized product recommendations and automated email campaigns, to enhance the customer experience. Plus, you have access to a wide range of third-party apps and integrations that can further improve your online store’s functionality like multi-currency and multilingual support.

3.8. Shopify vs Etsy: Audience & Traffic source

One more aspect that newcomers care about when deciding to sell on Shopify or Etsy is how and where to sell their products, how to draw traffic to their store, and their access to customer data for remarketing. Therefore, let’s move on to the detailed section below comparing Shopify and Etsy to help you make the most suitable decision for you.

Etsy

Audience: Etsy has a well-established marketplace with 90 million active buyers who are looking for handmade and vintage goods. As a seller on Etsy, you can benefit from this premade customer base.

Traffic source: Etsy provides a platform where you can list your products and attract customers from within the marketplace. However, there’s no guarantee that visitors to Etsy will end up on your specific shop, given the high competition with over 97 million products.

Customer emails: Etsy does not provide sellers with customer emails, making it challenging to build a customer base outside of the Etsy platform. Sellers can’t send marketing emails to customers directly.

Marketing tools: Etsy offers basic marketing tools that can be effective for beginners in online business but may not be sufficient for experienced merchants with diverse marketing strategies.

Shopify

Audience: Shopify is primarily an e-commerce website builder, so you need to promote your store and build your brand to attract customers. It does not come with a pre-existing customer base like Etsy.

Traffic source: You must actively promote your Shopify store across social media and other digital platforms. This requires skills in areas such as SEO, email marketing, and advertising, which can be a challenge for newcomers.

Customer emails: Shopify allows you to collect customer emails, provided they opt-in during the checkout process. This gives you the ability to send newsletters and store updates, helping you build a customer base that you can market to directly.

Marketing tools: Shopify provides a range of marketing tools and integrations, including SEO tools, email marketing capabilities, and advertising options. These tools are more comprehensive and suitable for experienced merchants with various marketing strategies.

Some merchants choose to operate stores on both Etsy and Shopify. This allows them to leverage Etsy’s large marketplace to reach potential customers and use Shopify for more control over branding and customer data. Over time, successful Shopify stores may lead merchants to phase out their Etsy presence to save on fees.

In summary, the choice between Etsy and Shopify depends on your specific business goals, marketing skills, and preferences. Etsy offers a ready-made audience but limited control over customer data, while Shopify requires more active promotion but provides greater flexibility and access to customer emails for marketing purposes. Merchants may also opt for a combination of both platforms to maximize their reach and control.

3.9. Shopify vs Etsy: SEO

If you care about SEO (getting found on search engines) in your marketing strategy, think about how each platform handles it to make the right choice.

Shopify

Comprehensive SEO tools: Shopify provides a wide array of built-in SEO tools and features to help you optimize your online store for search engines. This includes customizable meta titles, descriptions, and headers for product pages, collections, and blogs.

Editable URLs: You have full control over your URLs, allowing you to create clean, keyword-rich URLs that can improve your search engine rankings.

Mobile optimization: Shopify’s themes are mobile-responsive, ensuring that your store performs well on mobile devices, which is crucial for SEO since mobile-friendliness is a ranking factor for search engines.

Schema markup: Shopify uses schema markup, enhancing your product listings’ appearance in search engine results with rich snippets, like star ratings and pricing.

Integration with SEO apps: Shopify integrates seamlessly with various SEO apps, enabling you to extend functionality and implement advanced SEO strategies.

Site speed: Shopify provides reliable hosting and content delivery networks (CDNs) to ensure fast page load times, which is another SEO ranking factor.

Etsy

Limited SEO control: Etsy offers more limited SEO control compared to Shopify. While you can add keywords to product titles, descriptions, and tags, the extent of optimization options is not as comprehensive.

Structured URLs: Etsy generates URLs automatically based on your product titles, making them less customizable and potentially less optimized for specific keywords.

Limited mobile control: Etsy’s mobile optimization is not as customizable as Shopify’s, which may impact your store’s performance in mobile search results.

Structured data markup: Etsy uses structured data markup to a degree, but it may not provide as rich of a result appearance in search engine listings as Shopify can.

External SEO tools: Etsy allows you to use third-party SEO tools and apps, but it doesn’t offer as many built-in SEO features as Shopify does.

In summary, Shopify offers more robust built-in SEO capabilities, making it easier to optimize your online store for search engines. Its customization options, mobile optimization, and integration with SEO apps provide a comprehensive SEO toolkit. In contrast, Etsy provides more limited control over SEO elements, making it potentially less effective for those aiming to maximize their organic search visibility. Your choice should align with your SEO strategy and goals.

3.10. Shopify vs Etsy: Local selling and Point of sale (POS)

When comparing Shopify and Etsy for local selling and point of sale (POS), there are distinct differences to consider.

Shopify

Local selling: Shopify provides comprehensive tools for local selling. You can set up a physical point of sale using Shopify POS, which integrates seamlessly with your online store. This is great for businesses with physical locations or selling at events, markets, or pop-up shops.

Inventory management: Shopify offers robust inventory management for both online and offline sales. You can track stock levels in real time, making it easier to manage your products across different sales channels.

Payment processing: Shopify’s POS system allows you to accept various payment methods, including credit cards, cash, and mobile payments. It provides a smooth and secure checkout experience for in-person customers.

Hardware integration: You can use Shopify’s POS hardware, such as card readers, cash registers, and barcode scanners, to streamline your in-store sales operations.

Etsy

Local selling: Etsy primarily focuses on online selling. While it’s possible to indicate that your products are available for local pickup, it lacks a dedicated POS system for in-person sales. Etsy is more suitable for online-only businesses.

Inventory management: Etsy offers basic inventory management features for your online store, but it may not be as robust or suitable for managing physical store inventory.

Payment processing: Etsy’s payment processing is tailored to online transactions. It doesn’t provide the same level of flexibility for in-person payments that Shopify’s POS system does.

Hardware integration: Etsy doesn’t offer hardware solutions for in-person sales as Shopify does. You would need to rely on manual processes for local transactions.

In summary, if you plan to sell both online and in-person, Shopify is the more versatile choice. It provides a dedicated POS system, inventory management, and hardware integration options. On the other hand, Etsy is primarily designed for online selling, making it less suitable for businesses with a significant focus on local sales or point-of-sale transactions.

3.11. Shopify vs Etsy: Shipping & Dropshipping

When comparing Shopify and Etsy for shipping, there are important differences to consider:

Shopify

Shipping flexibility: Shopify provides a high degree of flexibility when it comes to shipping. You can choose from a variety of shipping carriers and methods, set your own shipping rates, and offer multiple shipping options to customers.

Integration with shipping apps: Shopify offers integration with various shipping apps and services, allowing you to streamline your shipping process. This includes printing shipping labels, tracking packages, and calculating shipping costs automatically.

Real-time shipping rates: With Shopify, you can access real-time shipping rates from carriers like UPS, USPS, and FedEx. This ensures that customers are charged accurately for shipping based on their location and the weight of the products.

Dropshipping support: If you’re into dropshipping, Shopify provides tools and apps to help you manage this business model effectively. You can connect with dropshipping suppliers and automate order fulfillment.

Etsy

Integrated shipping: Etsy offers integrated shipping solutions that simplify the shipping process for sellers. You can purchase and print shipping labels directly from your Etsy shop.

USPS partnership: Etsy has a partnership with the United States Postal Service (USPS) to offer discounted shipping rates for domestic and international shipments. This can save you money on shipping costs.

Limited carrier options: While Etsy’s integrated shipping works well, it may have fewer carrier options compared to Shopify. This limitation may be a drawback if you prefer using specific carriers or have unique shipping requirements.

International shipping: Etsy provides tools to make international shipping more accessible, including customs forms and tracking for international orders.

In summary, Shopify offers more flexibility and a broader range of shipping options, making it suitable for businesses with complex shipping needs. Etsy’s integrated shipping is convenient and cost-effective, especially for sellers within the United States, but it may have fewer carrier choices. Your choice between the two platforms will depend on your specific shipping requirements and preferences.

3.12. Shopify vs Etsy: Analytics

When comparing Shopify and Etsy, it’s crucial to think about how they show you how your business is doing. They have different ways of doing this, and knowing these distinctions is vital when making a choice

Shopify

Comprehensive analytics: Shopify provides robust analytics and reporting tools. You can access detailed information about your store’s performance, including sales data, traffic sources, conversion rates, and more. This data is crucial for understanding your business’s strengths and weaknesses.

Customization: Shopify allows you to customize reports and dashboards to focus on the metrics that matter most to your business. You can create custom reports or use third-party analytics tools to gain even more insights.

Integration: Shopify integrates seamlessly with various analytics and reporting apps, offering additional features and capabilities for in-depth analysis.

Real-time data: You can access real-time data on Shopify, enabling you to make informed decisions quickly and adjust your strategies as needed.

Etsy

Limited analytics: Etsy provides basic analytics tools for sellers. You can view information about your shop’s views, orders, and revenue. While this data is helpful, it’s less comprehensive than what Shopify offers.

Traffic sources: Etsy’s analytics include data on where your shop’s traffic is coming from, such as direct links, Etsy searches, or external sources.

Conversion rates: You can see conversion rates for your shop and individual listings on Etsy, helping you understand how well your products are selling.

No customization: Etsy’s analytics tools are not as customizable as Shopify’s. You have limited control over the types of reports and data you can access.

In summary, Shopify provides more comprehensive and customizable analytics tools, allowing you to gain a deeper understanding of your online store’s performance. Etsy, on the other hand, offers basic analytics focused on shop views, orders, and revenue. Your choice between the two platforms will depend on the level of analytics detail and customization you require for your business.

>>> Learn more: Shopify vs Volusion: The Pros, Cons, and In-Between

3.13. Shopify vs Etsy: Scalability

When you’re setting up your online store, choosing a sales channel that can keep up with your business goals is essential. If it can’t scale at the same pace as your vision, it may require significant time and resources down the road.

Etsy

Etsy is an excellent platform for quickly getting started with your online store. However, as you aim to scale, it may struggle to keep up. In some cases, it can even hinder rapid growth. Several factors can potentially stand in the way of scaling on Etsy:

Listing fees: Listing fees can discourage you from experimenting with a wide range of products, limiting your ability to expand.

Direct competition: You’ll find yourself directly competing with every other shop selling the same product within the Etsy marketplace.

Limited sales tools: Etsy offers a limited set of built-in sales tools, making it challenging to implement advanced sales strategies.

Ownership: Your Etsy store is owned by Etsy itself, and you’re sharing the traffic within the marketplace, limiting your control over your brand’s growth.

Shopify

On the other hand, Shopify is specifically designed for scaling eCommerce businesses. Its pricing plans work as a tiered ladder, offering more powerful features as your store grows. Here’s why Shopify is an excellent choice for rapid scaling:

No product listing fees: You can add a wide range of products without incurring extra fees, encouraging experimentation and growth.

No direct competition: Shopify doesn’t have the same direct competition dynamics as Etsy, allowing your store to stand out more effectively.

Focused traffic: The traffic you receive on Shopify is centered on your store, enhancing your brand’s visibility and growth potential.

Ownership: Your Shopify store is entirely your own, and you even have the option to sell it once it has scaled to your satisfaction.

App ecosystem: Shopify boasts thousands of apps designed to drive growth and help your store scale by adding advanced functionality.

Design flexibility: Shopify offers design flexibility, enabling you to create a unique store and build a strong brand presence.

In conclusion, while Etsy can provide a quick start to your online venture, its marketplace nature and limited tools can hinder rapid growth. Shopify, on the other hand, is designed to facilitate rapid expansion, offering scalability and a wealth of resources to support your e-commerce ambitions. Your choice should align with your long-term vision for your business.

4. Shopify and Etsy: Can we use them together?

If you’re unsure whether to choose Etsy or Shopify for selling your products, here’s the good news: you can use both together!

With Etsy, you can reach its existing customers. Meanwhile, Shopify offers customization and many third-party apps to help your online store grow.

To connect Etsy and Shopify, make sure you’ve listed products on Etsy. Then, use the Shopify App Store to integrate Etsy with your Shopify store seamlessly.

5. Conclusion

In summary, whether you should go with Shopify or Etsy for your online business startup depends on what you’re selling, how much control you want, and your growth plans. Shopify is the go-to choice for those who want complete control and room to grow. On the other hand, if you prefer a simpler start and have handmade or unique products, Etsy can be a great launchpad.

Looking to expand beyond Shopify and Etsy? Don’t overlook the best Shopify alternatives available.

Think about your products, budget, and long-term vision to choose the one that aligns best with your business goals. And remember, success in the online business world often boils down to innovation, dedication, and adapting to changes as you grow. So, make your choice, get started, and stay flexible as your business evolves.

6. FAQs