When you’re taking your first steps into the world of ecommerce, there’s a lot to learn.
You might have great products, but do you know how to pack an order, help a frustrated customer, or create a marketing campaign?
Etsy is appealing to makers because it comes with a built-in audience. You don’t need to design a website or know anything about attracting traffic.
However, as your business grows, you may want to open your own online store. Having a store gives you more control over your customer experience, and allows you to create a memorable brand.
For many sellers, an Etsy Shop and Shopify store work together, providing the best of both worlds.
Ahead, explore the differences between Etsy and Shopify—and how you can integrate the two platforms, with examples from successful businesses.
Why sell on Etsy and Shopify?
You don’t need to shut down your Etsy profile to open a Shopify store. Keeping both channels will increase your online presence and give you the best chance to grow your audience.
Key differences between Shopify and Etsy mean each platform has its own set of advantages. Here are the major opportunities offered by Shopify versus Etsy:
Complete customization
Shopify users own the customer experience. You have full control over the look and feel of your store, with customizable no-code store designs.
Your store features and back office tools are also flexible, thanks to thousands of tailor-made apps.
Lower fees
Etsy’s transaction fee of 6.5% per sale can affect your profits. Keep more revenue from your sales with Shopify’s lower transaction fees.
Own your audience
Shopify unlocks more ways to manage your audience. Define your target audience, grow an email list, and segment your customers for personalized campaigns. And, unlike Etsy, you can port your customer list to other platforms.
At the same time, selling on Etsy brings its own benefits. Because the marketplace is built for crafters and vintage sellers, it comes with a relevant audience and features designed for solo entrepreneurs:
Active community
Etsy’s reputation as a place to find handmade goods makes it a destination for buyers. Sellers can enhance their visibility with paid ads that may create more direct sales than other forms of marketing, like email and SEO.
Get started quickly
Get up and running without designing a website or branding, and without a marketing strategy. Simply plug your business info and product details into Etsy’s template.
Compare more Shopify and Etsy features:
How to sell on Etsy and Shopify
If you own an Etsy shop, consider syncing it with your online store. It’s simple to integrate Shopify with Etsy and manage all of your orders from a single dashboard.
How to integrate a Shopify store and Etsy shop
When you integrate your Etsy Shop and Shopify store, sales are synced so inventory can be monitored from one place.
To integrate your store, add the Marketplace Connect app to your admin.
Using the app, you can import your product catalog from Shopify to Etsy and other popular marketplaces, including Amazon, Target Plus, and eBay.
3 Etsy and Shopify success stories
Read these stories from three store owners who built their businesses using a multichannel approach.
1. Using a marketplace to test the market
Olivia Wang, founder of Floral Neverland, was still in school when she launched her store on Etsy in 2014. She figured selling on the platform would be a great side hustle.
“Etsy was really straightforward to set up,” says Olivia. “I took some pictures of my products, uploaded them to Etsy, added a cute shop banner, wrote two paragraphs of the story behind my shop, and that was it.”
As she graduated into a career in digital marketing, Olivia realized she could apply her skills to find more customers for her business.
To do that, she needed a selling platform with the flexibility to create a brand.
“I didn’t want my shop just to be a side gig. I wanted it to be my full-time job someday,” Olivia says. “So I decided it was the time for me to build a brand outside of Etsy, grow my own community, and tell my own stories.”
While she still has an Etsy shop, Olivia now dedicates most of her time to her Shopify store, which generates more sales.
“Within a year of opening my Shopify store, I built a dedicated Instagram following in line with my brand philosophy and aesthetic,” says Olivia of her progress. She also developed an audience on other social media platforms, broadening her reach beyond Etsy’s competitive marketplace.
“Building brand loyalty on Etsy is hard. Most of the time, a customer’s loyalty is to Etsy, not to your brand.”
After expanding from Etsy, Olivia infused her brand through all aspects of her business, even using personalized shipping materials to leave a lasting impression.
“I believe that packaging is an essential part of a brand, and I put time and love into my packaging,” says Olivia. “I get people writing emails to me or tagging me on Instagram, thanking me for putting a little personal touch on the packaging.”
2. Creating space to grow
When Lorena Haldeman, owner of HaldeCraft, first dove into the world of making and selling, she was able to start with a solid foundation, thanks to her previous retail experience running a yarn shop.
That’s what led Lorena to start selling on Etsy in 2010.
“Etsy wasn’t the first time I’d sold online, but it was the first time I sold yarn that I hand-dyed myself and soap that I made. My main focus was the ceramics that I’d had a lifetime of making as a hobby,” says Lorena, who learned the craft from her entrepreneurial grandmother.
As her business grew, there were small things about Etsy that began to frustrate Lorena. Given her wide range of products, she needed additional categories to keep her store organized.
“I was branching out and making more and different ceramics, and dyeing more and different weights of yarn,” she says. “The more products I added, the harder it was making categories on Etsy that helped people find what they wanted.”
On her Shopify store, Lorena was able to create product categories and subcategories, organizing all her product listings in a way that worked for her and her customers.
While Lorena was originally worried the costs of building her own store would mean closing her Etsy shop, she soon realized it was affordable to keep both open.
“When I started my Shopify site in 2012, the only things I kept on Etsy were things that repeatedly sold there, especially around the holidays,” says Lorena. “I spent the majority of my time promoting my Shopify site. Then I’d start beefing up the Etsy shop around August, leading into the holidays.”
She was able to move customers from Etsy to her Shopify store when they were looking for a wider selection of her items.
Crucially, Lorena also carries the appeal of supporting a small, handmade business through to her store.
“Did you handwrite ‘Thanks, I hope you like this!’ on your packing slips when you were on Etsy? Keep doing that with Shopify,” advises Lorena.
When selling on Shopify and Etsy, pay attention to how each product performs. If you have a blockbuster Etsy product, it’s worth keeping your store open to capture that traffic and expose your brand to new audiences. HaldeCraft’s Etsy presence continues to gain Lorena new customers.
3. Building a multichannel business from square one
When Ross Worden started his business, Conquest Maps, he had no experience, no idea about potential markets, and no idea how to ship a package.
What he did have was a desire to give his wife a great travel map—but he couldn’t find anything online that fit his vision.
So he made his own. When it turned out nicely, he made five more and posted them on Etsy to sell. They sold, which was all the encouragement Ross needed to keep working on Conquest Maps.
When he started looking to grow beyond Etsy, he evaluated a number of popular ecommerce platforms.
Ross initially tried two other ecommerce platforms before finding Shopify.
“It was pretty intuitive,” he says, “and before I knew it, I had my site up.”
Through a multichannel approach, Ross continues to operate a Shopify store and Etsy shop.
“While we drive traffic to our Shopify store over other channels, Etsy is still a good place to operate,” he says.
One of the reasons Conquest Maps prefers to guide customers to its Shopify store is the relationships they build.
“Etsy is a super place to start,” says Ross. “It’s a great place to test things and validate product ideas, because they have a lot of traffic already on the site that is ready to buy awesome stuff. But the downside is that those customers aren’t actually yours. They’re Etsy’s customers.”
“When you operate a Shopify store, your customers are your customers. You can contact them and market to them how you want, as long as they’ve approved it.”
Conquest Maps tailors its website with custom sections—something the standard Etsy template doesn’t easily accommodate.
“The reality is that things will always be changing in ecommerce, no matter what you do. Take advantage of the opportunities you have now and roll with the punches,” advises Ross.
Multichannel selling helps protect your sales. If one channel begins to underperform, you always have another way to reach customers.
Own your brand and audience with Shopify
If you’ve already built a business on Etsy, launching a Shopify store might be the right next step for your brand.
One of the best ways to solidify your business for the future is to create a relationship with your customers through a website that tells your story. With a strong brand, you’ll be ready to face the challenges of today’s ever-changing ecommerce landscape.
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Etsy and Shopify FAQ
Can you sell on Etsy and Shopify?
It’s simple to sell on Etsy and Shopify at the same time, using an integration app from the Shopify App Store. It can be advantageous to sell on both platforms, as your products are exposed to a wider audience. By selling on Etsy and Shopify, you enjoy the benefits of Etsy’s built-in marketplace while using Shopify to grow your brand.
What’s the difference between Etsy and Shopify?
While both Shopify and Etsy are commerce platforms, there are several key differences. Etsy is a marketplace where customers can search and browse your products on Etsy’s website. Shopify allows you to build your own website where you serve customers and make sales.
What are the benefits of Etsy and Shopify?
Some benefits of Etsy include:
- Access to a marketplace of high-intent active buyers
- Simple setup for beginners
- Opt-in ad tools to take the guesswork out of marketing
- No monthly subscription fees on standard free plan (only pay when you sell or list products or upgrade to Etsy Plus)
Benefits of Shopify include:
- Full control of your brand’s look and feel
- Advanced features to create a custom experience on your site
- Ownership over your email and customer lists
- Low transaction fees
- Seamlessly expand into a retail storefront with Shopify POS
How can I connect Shopify to my Etsy store?
You can sync your store’s product catalog, inventory, and sales with Etsy by adding the Marketplace Connect app to your store admin.
