If you are looking to start an online store selling retail products, two of the top contender platforms to do it on are Shopify and Etsy.
While both cater well to small online business owners, it is important to understand the differences before investing the time and money of building a storefront website.
What Makes Shopify a Better Choice?
Etsy is great for some businesses, but a Shopify store with Shopify delivery protection might be better for many.
- Platform Type - Shopify is a platform that offers store owners the ability to use one of nearly 100 templates to create an individual store website plus the ability to add countless plugins like Shopify delivery protection insurance apps and various business management tools. It also allows store owners to use their preferred payment methods. Etsy is an aggregate platform that allows store owners to customize their store webpage in certain ways. While Etsy is faster and easier to set up, it is very limited in what can be done with it in comparison to the individual website store that can be built on Shopify. Etsy requires shop owners to use their payment processing platform.
- Pricing Method - Shopify plans are subscription-based plus a percentage and store owners also qualify for certain shipping discounts. With the addition of putting a Shopify delivery protection app on their store, business owners gain important customer-attracting advantages. Etsy charges per-item listing fees, plus a percentage fee, transaction fee, and payment processing fee.
- Driving Traffic - While Etsy does have an algorithm that helps to drive traffic to its sellers, it is a niche platform catering mainly to handcrafters. On the other hand, Shopify requires sellers to drive their own traffic, but it is useful for any type of seller.
- Scalability - Shopify stores with Shopify delivery protection insurance apps can grow very quickly, which is fine on the platform, as it allows for easy scaling with templates, subscription plans, and additional management tools as businesses grow. Etsy’s platform is static, no matter how many items the shop owner lists, and offers the basics in terms of management tools.
Which One Is Best for Your Store?
There are pros and cons to building a store on each of these ecommerce platforms; however, Shopify does provide much more in the way of freedom to design a unique business website that can grow with your business over time.
In addition to having the ability to incorporate countless business management apps including Shopify delivery protection services, many find that it is more profitable to run a business on Shopify where more individualized site management and customer Shopify delivery protection service are possible.