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Selling on Amazon and Shopify: 2026 US Ecommerce Guide

amazon and shopify

Selling on Amazon and Shopify gives US sellers access to two of the most powerful engines in ecommerce: a massive marketplace with built‑in demand and a flexible platform for building your own brand. Understanding how each works—and how to combine them—is the key to scaling profitably rather than just chasing sales.

1. Amazon vs Shopify: how the platforms differ

Although they both help you sell online, Amazon and Shopify are fundamentally different:

  • Amazon is a marketplace. You list products on Amazon.com, compete directly with millions of other sellers, and gain access to Amazon’s existing customer base and Prime shoppers.
  • Shopify is an ecommerce platform. You build your own online store under your own domain, control the design and experience, and are responsible for driving your own traffic.

Forceget’s Selling on Amazon vs Shopify: 2025 Guide summarises the core differences clearly: Amazon offers built‑in traffic and fulfillment but less control, whereas Shopify offers full control over branding and operations but no built‑in customer base. Analyzify’s Amazon vs Shopify: Full Platform Comparison 2025 lays this out in a side‑by‑side table, contrasting platform type, fees, fulfillment, marketing, and scalability.

Printful’s updated Shopify vs. Amazon guide adds that Amazon behaves like a search engine (you optimise for in‑market traffic), while Shopify behaves more like a blank canvas (you must create demand through your own marketing).​

2. Selling on Amazon: reach, FBA, and Seller Central

For many US sellers, Amazon is the easiest way to access ready‑to‑buy customers—especially if you are selling products that already have search demand.

Advantages for US sellers

Key benefits of selling on Amazon include:

  • Massive built‑in audience of Prime and non‑Prime shoppers searching daily.
  • Trust and conversion – Amazon’s brand, reviews, and checkout flow convert well, especially for commodity products.
  • Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) – Amazon stores, picks, packs, ships, and handles customer service for FBA items, making Prime eligibility possible.
  • Access to Amazon Ads (Sponsored Products, Brands, Display) built into the platform.

Sumtracker’s Amazon vs Shopify: Which is Better for Your Brand in 2025? notes that Amazon is ideal when you need instant reach and social proof and are less focused on owning the customer relationship.​

Getting started with Amazon Seller Central

You manage your Amazon business through Seller Central, which is your backend for listings, inventory, ads, and reports.

A typical setup flow (for US sellers) looks like:

  1. Go to sellercentral.amazon.com and sign up, choosing between the Individual plan (0.99 dollars per sale) or Professional plan (39.99 dollars/month).
  2. Provide business details: legal name, address, bank account, tax ID or SSN, phone number.
  3. Complete identity verification by uploading requested documents.
  4. Enter your store name and initial product information.
  5. Decide on FBA vs FBM (Fulfilled by Merchant) for each listing.
  6. Create and optimise product listings with good images, copy, and keywords.

The Accrue Agency’s Master Amazon Seller Central: A Beginner’s Guide walks through the interface, including order management, advertising dashboards, and reports. Helium 10’s What Is Amazon Seller Central? Ultimate Beginners Guide in 2025 explains how to manage inventory, listings, pricing, and store details step by step.

For the latest updates (for example, 2026 changes to account verification, fees, or reports), SellerApp’s Amazon Seller Central: The Updated Guide & Latest 2026 Changes is a good technical reference.​

3. Selling on Shopify: brand, control, and your own store

Shopify is built for merchants who want to own their brand, website, and customer data. It gives you flexibility over design, product types, pricing, and marketing stack, but you must generate your own traffic.

Advantages for US sellers

Shopify is especially strong if:

  • You’re building a long‑term brand, not just flipping products.
  • You want a custom storefront with your own domain and design.
  • You plan to use SEO, content, email, influencers, or paid ads to grow.
  • You want to integrate multiple channels (Amazon, social commerce, POS) into one central backend.

Sumtracker’s comparison notes that Shopify often leads to stronger margins and brand equity because you avoid marketplace referral fees and own the relationship with customers. Analyzify makes the same point: Amazon scales volume quickly, while Shopify scales your brand and infrastructure via customization and integrations.

Getting started with a Shopify store

Launching a Shopify store is straightforward for US sellers.

The US Chamber’s How to Open a Shopify Store in 5 Easy Steps outlines the process:​

  1. Visit shopify.com and start a free trial; enter your email, password, and store name.​
  2. Provide basic business and personal information, then access your admin dashboard.​
  3. Choose a theme (free or paid) and customise your storefront (logo, colours, navigation).
  4. Add products with high‑quality photos, descriptions, pricing, and variants.
  5. Configure payments (Shopify Payments, PayPal, etc.), shipping rates, taxes, and legal pages.​
  6. Connect a custom domain and launch your store.

Taxually’s Beginner’s Guide to Starting a Shopify Store and Blackbelt Commerce’s Comprehensive Guide to Shopify Store Setup for Entrepreneurs go deeper into themes, page structure, SEO, and must‑have apps for conversion and compliance.

4. Fees, margins, and profitability for US sellers

A major difference between Amazon and Shopify is how you pay for access and services.

Amazon fee structure

On Amazon, you can expect:

  • A selling plan fee – Individual (0 dollars/month + 0.99 dollars/item) or Professional (39.99 dollars/month).
  • Referral fees – typically 8–15% of item price, depending on category.
  • FBA fees – picking, packing, shipping, and customer service fees per unit.
  • Storage fees – plus long‑term storage surcharges if inventory sits too long.
  • Optional PPC advertising costs (Sponsored Products, Brands, etc.).

Praella’s Shopify vs Amazon: In‑Depth Review for 2025 and Priceva’s Amazon vs Shopify: Which Platform is Better for Selling Online? both note that Amazon’s fees can add up to 30–50% of revenue when you factor in referral, FBA, storage, and ads, especially in competitive niches.

Shopify fee structure

On Shopify, you typically pay:

  • A monthly subscription – e.g., ~29 dollars (Basic), ~79 dollars (Shopify), ~299 dollars (Advanced), or more for Plus.
  • Payment processing fees – usually 2.9% + 0.30 dollars per transaction (lower on higher plans), with extra fees if you use third‑party gateways.
  • Optional app costs, themes, and external tools (email, SEO, reviews, etc.).

Analyzify’s comparison emphasises that Shopify’s cost structure often leads to higher margins per order once you have traffic, because you avoid marketplace referral fees and FBA overhead. However, you must budget for marketing spend (ads, influencers, SEO tools) to drive traffic.

Forceget’s guide frames it this way: Amazon monetises access to demand, while Shopify monetises access to infrastructure—and your marketing budget bridges the gap.​

5. Amazon and Shopify for brand building

Brand building works very differently on Amazon vs Shopify.

Brand building on Amazon

On Amazon, your brand is one tile in a massive marketplace. You can:

  • Enrol in Brand Registry to unlock A+ Content, Stores, and enhanced brand tools.
  • Use A+ Content and Stores to tell your brand story, upsell, and cross‑sell.
  • Run Lightning Deals, coupons, and promotions for visibility.​
  • Collect reviews and ratings that impact search and conversion.

Shopify’s blog post Is Selling on Amazon Worth It for You? notes that Amazon is powerful for discovery, but you’re still renting access to customers on Amazon’s terms.​

Brand building on Shopify

On Shopify, you own the entire customer journey:

  • Full control over design, messaging, and customer experience.
  • Ability to integrate email, SMS, loyalty, and content marketing.
  • Deeper analytics on customer cohorts, lifetime value, and retention.

Sumtracker’s brand‑focused comparison concludes that Shopify is usually better for long‑term brand equity and margin, while Amazon is ideal for tapping demand quickly and validating offers. Priceva’s analysis suggests using Shopify as your brand hub, then layering Amazon for additional sales channels and credibility.

6. Multi‑channel strategy: using Amazon and Shopify together

For many US sellers, the real power comes from using both Amazon and Shopify together rather than choosing only one.

Benefits of a hybrid strategy:

  • Increased reach – Amazon exposes you to in‑market buyers; Shopify lets you capture and nurture direct customers.
  • Diversification – reduces reliance on a single platform’s algorithm or policy changes.
  • Testing – you can validate products and pricing on Amazon while storytelling and bundling on your own site.
  • Operational synergy – unified inventory, analytics, and pricing across channels with the right tools.

Forceget’s guide explicitly recommends a multi‑channel approach, noting that selling on both platforms allows you to reduce risk and test different sales and marketing strategies. Shopify’s own article on selling on Amazon highlights that Shopify’s Amazon sales channel lets you sync inventory, list products on Amazon, and manage orders from one backend.

Several tools (e.g., Sumtracker, Analyzify, and other inventory/connectors) help keep listings and stock aligned across both platforms.

7. Traffic and marketing: what US sellers need to plan for

The traffic equation is one of the biggest strategic differences between Amazon and Shopify.

Traffic on Amazon

On Amazon, you tap into existing traffic, but competition is fierce.

You typically need to:

  • Optimise listings for Amazon SEO (keywords, titles, bullets, images).
  • Invest in Amazon PPC to gain initial visibility and sales velocity.
  • Manage reviews, pricing, and inventory to maintain Buy Box share.

SellerApp’s 2026 Seller Central guide and Helium 10’s Seller Central overview both stress that success on Amazon usually requires a disciplined PPC and listing optimisation strategy, not just listing and waiting.

Traffic on Shopify

On Shopify, there is no built‑in traffic—you must drive it through:

  • SEO and content marketing.
  • Paid ads (Google, Meta, TikTok, etc.).
  • Email and SMS retention flows.
  • Social media and influencer collaborations.
  • Marketplaces and sales channels (Amazon, Facebook Shop, Instagram Shopping).

Printful’s Shopify vs Amazon guide emphasises that Shopify can deliver higher lifetime value and brand loyalty, but only if you commit to building a marketing engine. Blackbelt Commerce’s store‑setup guide includes advice on SEO, performance, and app selection to help your Shopify store convert once you bring traffic in.

8. Operational considerations: inventory, fulfillment, taxes

Running Amazon and Shopify in parallel has operational implications US sellers must consider:

  • Inventory management – you must avoid overselling across channels. Tools like Sumtracker and other inventory apps sync stock between Amazon and Shopify.
  • Fulfillment strategy – you can use FBA for Amazon orders and 3PL or self‑fulfillment for Shopify, or use a 3PL that services both channels.
  • Sales tax and marketplace laws – Amazon may collect and remit sales tax on your behalf in many states as a marketplace facilitator, but you still have obligations for Shopify sales. US sales‑tax guides (like Stripe’s and Xero’s) are helpful references.
  • Customer service – Amazon enforces strict performance metrics; on Shopify, you set your own standards but still must meet customer expectations.

Analyzify’s comparison and Priceva’s deep‑dive both stress that operational complexity rises as you add channels, making it crucial to have clear SOPs and tech stack for inventory, pricing, and analytics.

9. Which is better for US sellers: Amazon or Shopify?

There’s no one‑size‑fits‑all answer, but you can think about it in terms of your stage, goals, and strengths:

  • If you want fast access to buyers and don’t want to build a site yet:
    Amazon is often easier for beginners; you can list, advertise, and potentially sell quickly if your product and price are competitive.
  • If you’re building a long‑term brand and want full control:
    Shopify is usually better for owning your brand, margins, and customer data—especially if you’re willing to invest in marketing.
  • If you want scale plus resilience:
    A hybrid Amazon + Shopify strategy gives you both reach and brand control, and many 7‑ and 8‑figure US sellers eventually use both.

Forceget, Sumtracker, Analyzify, Priceva, and Printful all converge on a similar conclusion: start where you have the most leverage (Amazon for demand, Shopify for brand), then layer on the other once you have product‑market fit and basic operations in place.

To go deeper, US sellers should bookmark a few high‑quality resources:

Using these resources alongside your own analytics and testing will help you decide how to use Amazon and Shopify—individually or together—to build a resilient, profitable ecommerce business in the US.