Yes, and most successful brands do. Use Shopify as your primary brand store (higher margins, brand control) and Amazon for incremental volume. Just maintain consistent pricing.

Will Amazon cannibalize my Shopify sales?

Some overlap, but most Amazon buyers wouldn't have found your Shopify store anyway. Net effect is usually incremental revenue. The key: don't undercut your own Shopify pricing on Amazon.

Which is more profitable?

Shopify — significantly. After all Amazon fees (referral, FBA, advertising), margins are 20-40% lower than Shopify. But Amazon provides traffic you don't have to pay for separately.

Should I use Amazon FBA?

For Amazon sales, yes. FBA earns the Prime badge, handles shipping and returns, and wins the Buy Box more often. For Shopify, use your own fulfillment or a 3PL for higher margins.

How do I drive Amazon customers to my Shopify store?

You can't directly (Amazon's TOS prohibit diverting customers). But brand awareness from Amazon can drive branded searches to your Shopify store. Include branded inserts in Amazon packaging (within TOS).

Sales Channel Comparison

Amazon gives you customers. Shopify gives you a brand. Which do you need more?

Amazon is a marketplace with 300M+ active buyers. Shopify is a platform to build your own store. They're not really competitors — they serve different strategic purposes. Amazon gets you in front of existing demand. Shopify lets you build a brand, own your customer data, and capture higher margins. Most successful eCommerce brands use both.

300M+

Amazon Active Buyers

15-40%

Amazon Fees

2.6-2.9%

Shopify Transaction Fees

150+

Brands We've Managed

The real question isn't "Shopify or Amazon." It's "what's your primary channel and what's supplementary?" Most DTC brands should build on Shopify first (own your brand and customer data) and sell on Amazon for incremental revenue.

Shopify (Own Store) vs Amazon — feature by feature

Feature	Shopify (Own Store)	Amazon
Customer Ownership	You own all customer data. Build email lists, retarget, and nurture relationships directly.	Amazon owns the customer. You can't email buyers, build a list, or retarget them off-platform.
Margins	60-70% gross margins typical after processing fees. You control pricing.	15-40% in Amazon fees (referral + FBA). Margins are significantly lower.
Traffic	You drive your own traffic through ads, SEO, and email. Requires marketing investment.	Amazon provides built-in traffic from 300M+ shoppers. Less marketing investment to start selling.
Brand Building	Full brand expression — your design, your story, your experience. Build long-term brand equity.	Limited brand control. Your product sits next to competitors. Amazon's brand, not yours.
Competition	You control your environment. No competitors on your product pages.	Competitors are one click away. Amazon actively promotes alternatives on your listings.
Startup Speed	2-4 weeks to launch with marketing infrastructure. Requires upfront effort.	Can be selling within days. Amazon handles fulfillment (FBA), returns, and customer service.

Our recommendation

Build on Shopify first. Own your brand, your customer data, and your margins. Then add Amazon as a supplementary channel once your Shopify store is profitable. Use Amazon for product discovery and Shopify for brand building and higher-margin sales.

Pick Shopify (Own Store) if...

Lead with Shopify if you're building a brand (not just selling a product), if margins matter, or if you want to own your customer relationships for email/SMS marketing.

Pick Amazon if...

Lead with Amazon if you have a commodity product with high search volume, if you want to validate product-market fit quickly, or if you lack marketing budget to drive your own traffic.

Questions our best clients asked first

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