Amazon v going alone with Shopify

[Paul David]

I'm currently about to launch a new physical products brand and i'm unsure about which route to go down to market them on.

I have identified two main (successful) competitors for my products. One sells on Amazon and via their own shopify website for around $20.00.

The other competitor sells only via their website for $50+ and uses facebook and instragram to generate sales (they have over 700,000 facebook fans). Offers Free worldwide shipping and returns. I think for the product type $50+ is expensive but then i also wouldn't buy a pair of Vilbrequin swim shorts for $200.00 yet people do.

The other sellers on Amazon are all around $24.00 and below price bracket.

For obvious reasons i don't want to have a brand that's reliant on Amazon but there's a lot of customers i'm missing out on if i don't use it. On the other hand i can't have a product on Amazon for $20.00 and sell it on my own website for double the price can i. And i can't put my products on Amazon at double the price as everyone else is selling them for because they just wouldn't sell.

If i sell via my own shopify site only i wouldn't need as much stock as for Amazon as i'd be making more profit per sale.

Can anyone offer any advice.....

 

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[Andy Bell]

Im not an expert but I have done both with success. With amazon my biggest issue was hundreds of Chinese suppliers that will undercut your product down to the penny, copy your photos, send you fake reviews...its really cutthroat there now, nothing like it was years back. I tried doing a new product recently and got my investment back but had to go through hell, my supplier even started selling after seeing me having some success.

With shopify you have your own issues and you can sell for whatever but you need to have a good value proposition and have a good traffic campaign/remarketing campaign targetted to your visitors then you can succeed aswell.

Let me ask why dont you do both, shopify integrates with amazon aswell to let you sell your product, you can market it as the premium option and build your brand, even if your competitiors are undercutting you on price you may get a few sales just by integrating the shopify app. Ebay is another integration.

 

[Xeon]

Or you can consider Etsy depending on your products.

Depending on how you want to position your brand in your target market's mind or how unique/cool your brand is, Amazon may not always be the answer to everything.

The feel that Amazon gives me is that it's an online version of Walmart, an online departmental store where people look for cheap bargains and sales. It kinda forces the shoppers there to shop based on price. Like a market where people are haggling prices.

If I have a product that is extremely hip and cool and associated with edginess, the last thing I want is for it to be associated with Amazon.