Sex toys are becoming a new fad among adults. From Sharon Stone’s steamy sex scene to the trilogy of “Fifty Shades of Grey,” the sale of sex toys and accessories , seen a meteoric rise in sales to a growth rate of 400%. The Adult e-commerce and brick and mortar model cumulatively accounts for the $15 billion industry. The projections
Sex is no longer a taboo for most Americans and Europeans. Still, there is no shortage of people who disdain you with the sneer in their eyes from the time you enter a physical sex toy store.
This is probably the reason why adult e-commerce is the way to encourage many people to surf online without being judged and satisfy their carnal pleasures!
The bottom line is, “sex toys business is on a boom and receiving much-needed thumbs up from the mainstream masses. You can gauge the extent of their scope by the fact that some sex toys are freely becoming NetFlix fodder!. It is prudent to target digital platforms to avail exclusive benefits of privacy and accessibility of this booming niche! Starting an online sex toy business has some clear advantages that brick and mortar shops simply don’t offer.
Now that you have decided to take your business online, you must be wondering which is the best E-commerce platform to get your business noticed and attract maximum customers. From a number of E-commerce platforms, Shopify and Amazon are the most popular and stand out from the rest, but which one is better?
Let’s analyze and arrive at a logical conclusion!
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How are Shopify and Amazon different?
Although both Amazon and Shopify serve a similar purpose, provide you a platform to sell your adult products online, but they have key differences that should be noted.
- Shopify is an e-commerce website, whereas Amazon is a digital marketplace. In simple words, selling on Amazon is like having a booth in a funfair, whereas selling on Shopify is like renting a business or an office to run your business from.
- With a Shopify website, you are building your own separate website. A website with customized pages with regards to Customers that visit your Shopify website will see highly personalized pages for one single brand. Let us understand with the help of an example!
- You are an adult toys website and want to market your vibrator according to the kink niche. Hence you have the freedom to create multiple categories age wise, demography wise, preference wise to market your product! It provides you with the tools you require to build your own online store. On the other hand, since Amazon is a digital marketplace, it allows third-party sellers to market their products on the website. Although the inventory belongs to the sellers, Amazon also sells its own products separately. You might have heard of Echo Dot or Alexa. By selling their own products, they are competing with other sellers on the website.
- Amazon is more suitable for sellers who want to sell as quickly as possible. You are exposed to a huge audience that browses Amazon on a regular basis. Whereas Shopify is more appropriate for sellers who are looking to build an adult brand.
Amazon vs. Shopify Pricing
Shopify provides a free trial period of 14 days and, you don’t need to enter your credit card information during this phase. Once the trial period ends, there are 5 pricing options. Shopify Lite is priced at $9 a month and lets you use the cart features, but you can’t run a Shopify Online store with this option. The cart features include a functional buy button and a system to process payments when you sell on your own website or on other websites.
With Basic Shopify, you get to establish a Shopify online store at $29 a month. With this option, you can design and customize your business website with Shopify providing paid and free themes, which can be customized to fit your brand’s image. This option is best for new businesses.
For sellers who want to grow and expand their adult business, Shopify Plan is the most suitable. This is their mid-price plan at $79 a month. This option is more suitable for growing businesses that have one retail store. With this plan, you have access to more staff accounts and professional reports.
The Advanced Shopify plan is priced at $299 a month. It comes with more features and also collects a smaller percentage of the transaction fees, i.e, profits. This plan is best suitable for businesses that have more than 2 retail stores.
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Amazon Pricing
Amazon has two options for sellers, Individual and Professional. If you are selling less than 40 units per month, then an Individual plan is perfect for you. Although there is no monthly fee, you have to pay $0.99 for every item you sell along with a variable referable fee. The referral fees can range from 10-15% of the ultimate sale amount. Furthermore, you also have to pay for shipping/fulfillment fees.
On the other hand, the professional plan is priced at 39.99 per month. Although with this plan, you do not have to pay a 0.99 closing fee, you are still charged a referable and shipping fee.
Traffic and audience engagement
When it comes to marketing or traffic, Shopify won’t promote your store at all. Marketing and advertising are completely on you through SEO, word of mouth, paid ads on social media sites, and Google.
Whereas Amazon provides free traffic and paid advertising features. According to Shopify and You, Shopify recorded 218 million customers in 2019. Shopify is also responsible for providing employment with around 2 million full-time jobs around the world.
Amazon recorded 12 million products and $280.5 billion in final sales in 2019. Which is way more than Shopify.
Usability
Shopify is crafted in a way to allow the most inexperienced web sellers to curate engaging and creative websites. The tools make the designing process as easy as possible by providing free and customizable themes to create a website. Shopify comes with an Abandon cart recovery tool, App integration, Inventory system, Invoice generator, and many more. On the other hand, Amazon does not provide similar tools or services. All you can do on Amazon is create an account, complete setup stages and get ready to sell. Although Amazon involves less work, Shopify helps you create your brand image and makes it easy to build an online store.
Customer service/Help and support
Amazon is famous for providing customers with unparalleled customer service. These services unfortunately are not offered to the sellers. If you want to contact Amazon, you can’t just call them up as a customer could. You will have to request a call and wait for Amazon to get in touch with you. Whereas Shopify comes with a 24/7 customer support phone line and a live chat tool with additional advanced support.
Also Read: Setting Up a Global Brand with International SEO For Your Adult Business
Seller autonomy
Seller autonomy determines how much businesses have control over their online stores. Amazon is known to suspend seller accounts for unclear reasons. It doesn’t matter how great your product is or how sales are at the peak, if you violate any of the marketplace’s policies, then you are out. In such a case, Amazon will shut down your listings and can even send you to jail.
Since Shopify provides you to own your own website, you have seller autonomy. You own your site and are just not renting a place on a marketplace like Amazon. Their features let you have a seamless experience, and brand owners have a say in running their business.
If you don’t want to feel like you’re always at risk, then Shopify might be a better option for you.
Using both tools
If you are finding it difficult to make a choice, then the best option is to use it together. Connecting Amazon with your Shopify store is easy. By integrating you can use advantages from both the websites. You get to build an e-commerce website while promoting and marketing your product’s on the world’s most popular marketplace. You can use Amazon to attract consumers and land them on your website. If you are looking for more exposure and business expansion, then combining these two is a good investment.
Conclusion:
To conclude, both Shopify and Amazon are popular E-commerce platforms that come with a lot of features and services. Where Shopify is meant for businesses that are looking to build a brand image and a business website, Amazon is best suitable for sellers who want to get started on selling as quickly as they can. Research and study both the websites’ features and go for the one that bests compliments your business’s growth. You can also integrate both platforms.
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