Shopify and Etsy are two brilliant online e-commerce platforms capable of giving your business the momentum it needs.

Etsy is best known as the savior of small businesses focusing specifically on artists, crafters, antique dealers, and other small businesses. Its user-friendly web-based solution is highly useful for new entrepreneurs and one-person businesses.

Shopify, on the other hand, can accommodate businesses of all sizes. The company’s mission statement itself is to “make commerce better for everyone, so businesses can focus on what they do best: building and selling their products.” It is a comprehensive platform that offers services with a range of accessible package options that lets you start, expand and manage a business.

Maybe your business already has a presence in both. But, are you aware that you can manage both your Shopify and Etsy stores at once if they are linked? If not, let me walk you through how it can be done and why it should be done. 

Contents in this post are as follows:

• Challenges in Managing Shopify and Etsy Independently
• Why is Integration of Shopify and Etsy Stores Beneficial?
• How to link your Shopify and Etsy Store?

Challenges in Managing Shopify and Etsy Independently

Presence on multiple channels is always beneficial for a business. However, if you are managing each channel separately, you know how tedious it can be! The same applies to Shopify and Etsy also. Handling both these platforms individually may require more work and attention span. 

Even though both platforms’ motto is to increase the reach of your business, and thereby its growth, Shopify and Etsy differ in certain aspects.

Have a look at the following illustration to understand some of the key differences between Shopify and Etsy:

From the above illustration, it is clear that the pros and cons of both platforms are complementary. The factors that differentiate Shopify and Etsy are its Marketing strategies, Customer traffic, and Sales fee. Shopify puts the burden of marketing on the shoulders of sellers like you, whereas, Etsy gives you free marketing. When it comes to customer traffic, Etsy’s foot traffic is much higher than Shopify’s. However, when you consider the Sales fee, Shopify does not charge any Sales fee from you, but Etsy does.

So, clearly, the flaws of one platform can be easily managed by the other. That’s exactly why you must link your Shopify and Etsy stores.

Why is Integration of Shopify and Etsy Stores Beneficial?

The benefits of integrating Shopify and Etsy come down to the basic idea of utilizing the benefits of both platforms.

If you use your Shopify and Etsy stores separately, you are missing out on a great deal of these benefits. Both are ideal platforms for businesses that dream of expanding their horizons. Etsy is a marketplace best for newcomers as it already has a strong pre-existing customer database. Whereas, Shopify is best for expanding your already established business.

Now, let’s have a look at the individual benefits of both platforms that you can avail yourself at once by linking them:

Benefits of Etsy:

• Exposure – Etsy’s always been renowned for its greater customer base increasing year after year. So, when you link your Shopify store with Etsy, you don’t have to stress about in search of getting noticed by your customers. As of 2020, the Etsy customer base is 81.9 million, which was 1.77x times higher than the previous year with an account of 46.35 million:

• Technicals – When you connect Shopify to Etsy, you can sit back and relax on technical matters. You will only have to think about how to deliver great products to your customers. Payment gateways, server space upgrades, contact forms, detailed statistics that show performance trends, traffic sources; all will be safe in the hands of Etsy.
• Marketing –Etsy is completely dependent on its sellers because Etsy makes a profit only when its merchants make a profit. Hence, their marketing team mainly focuses on the sales growth of the merchants on their platform by providing a lot of free marketing which includes Tv Ads, Offsite Ads, Influencer Marketing, and Digital Campaigns. So, your business can save a lot of money allotted for marketing and can use it for other better purposes.

Benefits Of Shopify:

• Flexibility – Flexibility is the major factor that attracts businesses to Shopify. You can have your Shopify store entirely customized and unique, using various apps and features on Shopify. You can have your own domain name, host your website, have an online store with a full-fledged content management system, your own email template, inventory management, the list is never-ending.
• Design – Giving an artistic touch to your online store can help in making the first impression solid. Shopify provides 70+ professional themes created by world-renowned designers like Happy Cog, Clearleft, and Pixel Union. They also provide free as well as paid templates to choose from. In addition to this, if you want to alter the look of your online store, you have full access to the HTML and CSS of your store, making it easy to customize every aspect of your website at any time.
• Branding –  When you open a Shopify online store, you are creating your own space there. Unlike Etsy, which sells your product under its brand name, Shopify makes sure your brand gets highlighted. 
• Scalability – Suppose you have a startup or small business and you own a Shopify store. If the winds are favorable, your business will turn into a multi-billion turnover company, right? Still, Shopify will provide you with all the services you availed from Day 1 irrespective of the turnover your business has. This simply means, no matter what the size or growth of your company, Shopify will be there in all your walks.

After going through all these points, now you know why you must connect your Shopify and Etsy stores. Now, let’s see how these platforms can be connected.

How to link your Shopify and Etsy Store?

One of the key advantages of Shopify is its App Store.

The Etsy Marketplace Integration App is an app available in the Shopify App Store designed with the principle of minimum manual efforts & maximum automation. This app includes top features such as elaborate product management, currency converter, error reporting, seller-friendly templates, and account management support. Basic integration with this app is free, and it is additionally compatible with Shipstation, Kit, POS, and multichannel support. 

Let’s see how it is done step by step:

Yes, all it takes is just 5 steps to link your Shopify and Etsy stores:

1. Start by naming and populating your Etsy store. If you don’t own one, just create one.
2. Open the Shopify App store and download the “Etsy Marketplace Integration App.”
3. On the app’s homepage, enter the name of your Etsy store into the textbox titled ‘Connect with Etsy’
4. On the following page, click on ‘Allow Access’
5. All Set! Your Shopify and Etsy stores are linked.

 Conclusion

After going through this article, now you know that managing both Etsy and Shopify stores independently, is frustrating. If you are ready to upgrade your strategy, syncing both your stores can save you a lot of time and effort. The amazing part is that the syncing of Shopify and Etsy stores is very easy. You don’t have to be tech-savvy to do the integration, nor do you need a technical support team for syncing your stores. All it takes is a one-time effort from your side. May your business reach heights of success!

Still confused? Contact Helplama’s experienced team. They can help you out with many business processes along with providing amazing customer support to your customers.