People nowadays have a new trend when it comes to shopping activity. Variety of e-commerce platforms enable you to buy and sell anything with convenient.
Shopify and Etsy are known as the largest online shopping platform that can be a great platform to start a business. Strict competition leads to a comparison between them. Check out Shopify vs Etsy comparison below and make your own decision!
Choosing the best platform to start your business can be a pain. While some of them may have a high fee, some others may require complicated payment. To help you find the best e-commerce, dig more information about Shopify and Etsy here and enjoy the convenience!
Shopify and Etsy in Brief
Before going any further, it is better to know what Spotify and Etsy really are. Knowing both e-commerce platform helps understand how they work, thus you can make a better selection.
Shopify
To begin with, Shopify is a large e-commerce platform. It even becomes one of the largest worldwide. Since its first release a decade ago, Shopify can make a new standard of e-commerce platform.
Offering a lot of powerful tools, Shopify successfully becomes a major choice for sellers who want to build a business. The stores are customizable, allowing you to make it looks the way you would like.
Using Shopify, you can easily create an e-commerce website, upload products, as well as track customer orders. In short, it provides convenience that you need to start an online business.
Etsey
On the other hand, Etsy is a more individual marketplace. Unlike Shopify that forms a large shop network, Etsy becomes an e-commerce platform where designers, crafters, or artists display their products.
Though it sounds less exclusive, Etsy serves over 1.8 million users around the globe. It also becomes a marketplace where 30.6 million buyers come each month.
Shopify VS Etsy Comparisons
It is arguably that Shopify and Etsy are amazingly popular e-commerce platforms for online selling. Needless to say, both marketplaces are also great place for online shopping.
If you are about to sell online and are torn between Shopify and Etsy, you should be wise in making a decision. The following comparison is all you need to choose the best one.
Ease of use
Technology grows faster than you think, at the same time turns out to be far easier than before. You don’t have to be a techy or computer geek to be an online seller.
E-commerce platform such as Shopify or Etsy provides all the convenience that you need to run an online business. When it comes to ease of use, which one is easier?
Shopify is a platform designed to create your very own online store in extremely easy way. Unlike the other platforms that make you puzzled with the tools, Shopify successfully makes a simplification. The platform comes to be as simple as possible. You can enjoy variety of powerful tools, though.
The secret of Shopify’s ease of use is its interface. The platform has a clean and user friendly interface. Even if you have never made an online store before, Shopify makes your job easier. Thanks to guidance provided by this platform that keeps you on track. Once you have entered all required information, Shopify helps manage your brand new store.
How about Etsy? This e-commerce platform is also super simple and easy to use. To create an online store, all you need to do is create an account, set it up, choose store name, make a stock and enter details. Just like Shopify, you are guided by the system to accomplish each stage. Amazingly, Etsy provides suggestions for store name in case you cannot find the best one.
To start selling, simply upload your products along with their descriptions. At this point, you are officially an online seller in Etsy. Now let the visitors see your displayed products and make a purchase.
URL structure and domain
Domain is essential when you are starting an online business. Domain name is a website address that leads people to your web page. It is commonly initiated with www. and comes with .com extension.
Domain name is unique as nobody else can use it online once you have registered the name. As you are going to open an online store in Shopify or Etsy, paying attention to domain is necessary.
You have to use a custom domain when using Shopify. Custom domain means you choose and pay the domain for yourself. The advantages of using custom domain is it allows you to create a professional, recognizable, and trustworthy brand for the business.
To give you a better experience, Shopify develops an automated setup. This enables you to get personalized name for your online shop. As results, visitors can find your online store without any problem. Thanks to unique domain name provided by the platform.
Etsy is designed with slightly different concept. As you are selling on Etsy, you do not need to make a domain name of your own. Instead of using a custom domain, your domain will use www.etsy.com/shop/your-store. At the time you want to create a brand, this may be not an ideal choice for you.
Layout design
How much a layout design affects your mood when doing an online shopping? Believe it or not, layout and design take a big contribution in making your visitors stay longer in your store.
Thus layout and design should be taken into your consideration when comparing Shopify vs Etsy. Which one has better webpage layout?
When it comes to design, Shopify offers more attractions than Etsy. There are over 60 themes that you can choose to improve your online store. This is effective to make your visitors feel comfortable while scrolling for their desired products. Interestingly, the themes can be adjusted with your products ranging from clothing to furniture.
In addition, Shopify’s themes are also equipped with smart features that benefits your industry. For instance, it provides a zoom feature for clothing industry. But Shopify is not that generous to offer many free themes. The e-commerce platform offers 10 free themes, with over 50 themes are paid.
Meanwhile Etsy users have to accept standard theme of Etsy’s layout and design. There is no room for customization, giving less identity to your online stores. If you want to make the shop stand out, Etsy is surely not the right choice.
On the other hand, this can bring advantages at the same time. You do not have to spend time making customization to the store. Visitors are already accustomed with the clean and attractive design of Etsy. All you need to think about is the products.
Tools and features
Tools and features make a great contribution to give you best online selling experience. No matter how awesome the layout design or how unique the domain is, poor tools and features will bring you into trouble. It places features and tools on top list of your considerations.
Being the largest e-commerce platform around the globe, Shopify’s features and tools are unarguably outstanding. The platform is ideal for any kind of business as you can sell any products. There are no restrictions on what items you sell on Shopify.
Furthermore, the platform also provides extensive app store that can be added to your website as desired. This allows you to make unlimited customization with load of extras. There are some incredible features that you can experience from Shopify, including gift cards, fraud analysis, free SSL certificate, discount codes, and many others.
Payment and Fees
When comparing Shopify vs Etsy, payment and fees are important aspects that should not be missed. Before signing up to a platform, it is a good idea to know how the platform works with payment and fees. This avoids any shock at the very last moment.
Etsy is an e-commerce platform that frees you from monthly fee. Instead, it charges listing fees amounting to $0.20 per product. It is a cost to publish your product that is valid for 4 months or until the product is sold. For every sale you make, there is 5% transaction fee. Etsy also charges 3%+$0.25 payment processing charge.
Payment and fees applied by Etsy are neither the highest nor the lowest among other platforms. Needless to say, it makes a significant charge when you start selling in a bulk.
Meanwhile Shopify has distinct payment options. There is Shopify Payments that do not charge transaction fees at all. Using this in-house payment, there is only processing fee at 2.2%+20p, which is much cheaper than Etsy.
But if you do not use Shopify Payment, there are over 100 payment options to choose from. This includes Google Pay, PayPal, Apple Pay, and many others. When using this payment, you will be charged transaction fee, the highest at 2% and the lowest at 0.5%.
Verdict
From Shopify vs Etsy comparison above, you can see how Shopify wins to Etsy in several rounds. Though they are in par in ease of use, Shopify wins the other rounds including custom domain, design and layout, tools and features, and also payment and fees. Thus it can be concluded that Shopify is the better alternative for online selling.
It does not automatically make Etsy a bad marketplace to run an online business. If you are a craft maker, designer, or artist with unique products, Etsy is a good place to go. Despite its limited features and fairly high payment, it is easy to use.
Shopify vs Etsy, which one should you choose? If you want to make your own brand, need to customize your store and avoid high payment, Shopify is surely for you. But if you are a craft maker or artist and want to benefit from Etsy brand, then you should go for it.