Shopify Vs Etsy | Understanding The Pros & Cons Of Two Dynamic E-commerce Platforms

Shopify and Etsy are two highly popular e-commerce platforms for people seeking new horizons to expand their business. Both platforms are providing a golden opportunity for aspiring sellers to kick start their online businesses. Since both these platforms were launched around the same time, many sellers began to compare them. Both platforms have some distinctive features but are fundamentally designed to satisfy the various e-Commerce needs of marketers. I will try to enlighten the audience about the key features and discuss the key points to assist you to understand these platforms better.

Functioning

The major difference between these two e-commerce giants lies in their nature and functioning. While Etsy can be taken as a marketplace that permits different sellers to set-up their shops and sells under one single platform. Shopify may be a framework that permits you to make your e-Commerce store a brand shop. Ecommerce marketing has gained new heights of popularity with the introduction of Shopify stores.

Ecommerce marketplaces are no more different than physical markets. Thousands of customers and sellers want to utilize these platforms for either showcasing or selling their products. Etsy has about 3.5 million active sellers, and Shopify has powered quite 800k standalone stores worldwide. Etsy allows sellers to sell specific types of products to customers. Etsy allows sellers to sell products belonging to the handmade, vintage, and artistic item categories. Whereas, Shopify does not impose any such type of restrictions on sellers and offers an exceptional e-commerce shopping experience.

Reach & Popularity

Both platforms are extremely popular among digital marketers. But we will need to assess the extent of exposure that they will provide your products and ultimately to your business. Both Etsy and Shopify allow you to engage with many buyers online but the trial and process to create an audience and attract traffic to your page differs. It’s comparatively easier for Etsy sellers considering the goal of Etsy, like all other marketplaces, is to match sellers and buyers and catalyze more and more transactions.

Every month many customers visit Etsy to shop for their favorite products. In complete contrast, building traffic on a standalone website is relatively difficult and requires much vigorous work to succeed in an outsized audience. Remember, it’s difficult, not impossible. With the proper digital marketing tools and practices, you'll expand the reach of your online store during a very short period of your time.

More Control

Stores on these gigantic eCommerce marketplaces are like rented shops in a popular shopping mall. What you sell, how you showcase your products, and the way you'll receive payments. All that's controlled by the marketplace and has little or no to try to with the particular seller. That’s ideal for sellers who wish to avoid the technicalities of selling online but are often a problem for sellers who want control over how their stores appear and run. Also, Etsy has some distinctive seller policies, confirm you examine them before opening your shop on Etsy.

Websites on the opposite hand offer you much-extended (almost complete) control over your shop’s policies and functioning. This becomes a serious reason for sellers who have the vision of building a brand to make their web store, which provides them full control and ownership of their stores.

Ease Of Customization

Etsy offers you all the resources and tools you'd got to showcase your listing, engage together with your audience, and fulfill orders online. Albeit Etsy offers the simplest services, you'll not be ready to change it as per your business or creative needs. On the opposite hand, every store at Shopify is made by the vendor from scratch, you select how your store will look and run. And it’s never final, you'll keep evolving your store with the most recent themes and trends. In short, with a web store, your vision is far easily realized.

Payment Procedure

Both the platforms have completely alternative ways of charging the sellers for his or her services. With Etsy, it's an endless process, since you pay different sorts of fees while selling on the platforms. Major fees that every seller is required to pay on Etsy, including the listing fee, transaction fee, shipping fee, payment processing fee, advertising fee, etc. They appear to be minimal while starting but they continue to grow together with your business. Sellers have the authority to decide their product prices according to their expenditure and other factors.

Shopify as it’s a subscription-based platform, you'll choose between the various subscription plans consistent with your needs. The essential version works well for beginners who dream to expand their businesses through a web store.

Shopify web development is a good option for people who want to launch their first store and enter the world of digital business. We facilitate clients to set up their brand new eCommerce Shopify store and devise new e-commerce marketing strategies to make it successful.