October 13, 2024
Difference Between Shopify and Etsy
Shopify and Etsy both provide store owners with an eCommerce platform to sell goods and services. Shopify allows building its own branded space, whereas Etsy is a marketplace. Etsy is associated with handmade goods, reselling, crafting supplies, and other rare, unique items. In comparison, Shopify users sell handmade goods, jewelry, apparel, and other products. Let us have a brief look about what are the differences between Shopify and Etsy. Also, how does the business model of the two giants, Shopify and Etsy, differ from each other?
Difference of Key Features Between Shopify and Etsy
Free Trial and Plans
The free trial allows store owners to have a glimpse of the accessibility, capability, and compatibility of the features provided in an eCommerce platform. This gives them the idea of the features they can avail of and customizations that can be made in their product template to gain more customers. Shopify allows a free trial of 14 days and a fee of a minimum of $29 per month, plus credit card rates for the base plan after the completion of the free trial. $79 per month plus credit card rates for basic sales reporting and 299$ per month plus credit card rates for advanced reporting. In contrast, Etsy offers a 30 days free trial and $10 per month for its Etsy plus plan. That gives 15 listing credits and a charge of $5 per month for ads.
Fees and Charges
The Transaction fees for Shopify start at 2.4% plus 30 cents for the base plan at the start for the lower-priced plan. But Etsy doesn’t charge a monthly fee unless for Etsy plus plan. But Etsy charges a per-sale basis. Etsy charges 5% of the listing price for each sale made, excluding the shipping charges, plus payment processing fees are at 3% and 25 cents for each transaction for United States-based sellers. But Etsy charges 20 cents per product upload and makes it available at your store. For each renewal, you have to pay 20 cents again if the product is not sold within four months.
Customer Support and Help Center
Shopify offers sellers customer support through email, phone, and chat 24/7. But for Etsy to get a phone number, you must select a phone-based problem within its customer service. Most queries make you wait two to five business days for a response.
Design Your Storefront
Shopify uses drag-and-drop tools to create your storefront, and Etsy is a marketplace. But Etsy patterns can be used to create your website to work with your Etsy shop. Shopify lets you edit code and choose from multiple themes available to design your website in any way you want.
Marketing Strategy through Email
For any eCommerce website, the customer is the topmost priority. On that front, Etsy doesn’t provide the store with customer emails, which doesn’t lead to sending any new product notifications or marketing emails to the Etsy customer. But Shopify allows the customer to opt into email during checkout so that the store can send newsletters and store updates via email to the Shopify customer. Etsy is a huge marketplace that allows shop owners to host a storefront to display their products on Shopify as a business platform. But Shopify can only do that if they have a list to market products.
Sales
Both platforms’ sales are humongous, but one platform stood out in generating more sales to merchants. Etsy made a whopping 10 billion USD in sales in 2020. But the thundering sales number of Shopify is mind-shattering, with sales of 119 billion USD in 2020.
Scalability
Shopify is made for all types of businesses, from small medium, and large. Shopify is scalable because it lets you build and promote your brand and product to make it a household name. You can have your domain and make it a successful brand. But Etsy is a marketplace, so that you can promote your product, not your brand.
Product Inventory
Shopify allows businesses to add unlimited products to their inventory on all plans. But on Etsy, there is a listing fee for each product which limits the products in inventory. But you can have your desired inventory if you have a hefty budget. If you have 500 products listed on your Etsy website for a year, you must pay $400 for listings alone. This issue lets Shopify take a huge advantage over Etsy.
Why is Shopify a Better Option Than Etsy for Merchants?
Shopify can be an asset because it lets you sell a domain name, brand, product, social media account, and more to help you succeed. Shopify lets merchants have their domain to market and build their brands. It also has no charges to add inventory or renewal charges that can lead to less inventory and automatically decrease the website traffic. Customer interaction is better with Shopify than with Etsy due to customer support, fewer product restrictions, and flexibility in website design.
Conclusion
Shopify can lead to success more efficiently and make your job way more effortless than Etsy. Shopify is more profitable than Etsy as it can generate more money annually due to customer interaction. At RK Software Solutions, we provide Shopify development services that can help you build your brand and be a unicorn. If you have any queries contact us for a free consultation.