Shopify or Etsy? Why not both?! Shopify-Etsy Integration Guide

Does Shopify Integrate with Etsy? - YES! A detailed guide on ways to integrate these platforms and on the benefits of selling on them both.

Intro – Does Shopify Integrate with Etsy?

Already selling your items on Shopify and now – thinking about expanding to Etsy? Or, perhaps, you’d like to use both platforms at the same time?

The answer is – Yes, Shopify can be integrated with Etsy, so you can easily migrate your store from one platform to another or keep your store on them both!

Integration of these platforms provides sellers with the following benefits:

1. Synchronizing your inventory – which makes it easier to manage both platforms.
2. Export/import items – you can easily update your listings on both platforms.
3. Managing your orders and billing – accounting gets easier if both shops on each platform are registered under the same name.

Etsy and Shopify have a lot in common, and if you already have your business working on Shopify, you might as well take advantage of Etsy too.

PROs of Selling on Shopify

Let’s discover the main benefits sellers can get using the Shopify platform:

• Easy setup. Even though you need to set up Shopify store from scratch, it is easier than you may think. The Shopify registration process is simple, so just 5-30 min and your store is live.
• Customization. Shopify provides you with enough themes and design options, so the store’s look is entirely in your hands. You can build your brand identity by adding visual elements that align with your business needs. The look of your product listings can be also complemented with many design variations like media and videos. This will definitely help to attract more buyers.
• Various features from the app stores. You will need to update your store with new features at some stages of your business growth, and with Shopify, you can simply do it by uploading them to the app stores.
• No transaction fee. You don’t need to pay transaction fees or any other commissions, and your product listings do not expire (on Etsy, it expires in 4 months). But, you will be charged monthly for using the Shopify website.
• Buyers trust your brand. Shopify is a recognized eCommerce platform, so no surprise buyers will have more trust in your brand.

For some sellers, it may already seem that it’s better to sell their goods on Shopify only, but – wait a sec ) – and read the next paragraph to see what Etsy has to offer.

PROs of Selling on Etsy

The main benefits of using Etsy are:

• Large audience. Etsy is a big marketplace with many active buyers to sell anything handmade.
• Functionality. Etsy is already ‘packed’ with everything needed for selling. It offers a very user-friendly dashboard, metrics, finance management, and product listing as easy as ‘ABC’.
• Marketing tools. On Etsy, you can promote your items straight away, and the more you SEO optimize your listings, the more Etsy promotes your store.
• Upselling options. The buyers can see your store promotions like sales or discounts within the marketplace, which increases the odds they will notice your products and buy them online.
• Accessibility. Everyone can join Etsy for free and pay minimal fees for transaction, listing, order processing, and commission.
• No bureaucracy. You do not need to get a license to sell on this marketplace.

So, now you know several benefits of both platforms, and it’s time to talk about their integration.

Why Shopify Etsy Integration?

Prior to making a decision whether to use Etsy and Shopify at the same time or not, let’s dive into the main features of each platform:

Shopify – is a very popular eCommerce platform that provides many possibilities and features for sellers to give you an excellent opportunity to build and manage your online store here.

Etsy – is a well-known marketplace for creative and unique products. It has a huge community of active buyers (over 27 million) and a very small entry fee for potential sellers (only $0.20 for listing one item). It’s a great choice to create a successful online store.

As you can see, both these platforms look attractive and interesting.

Here are the main differences:

Shopify – Reported in October 2019, $135+ billion in sales on the platform overall with 218 million buyers. (Shopify & You) This platform is available in 175 countries and used by famous companies like Pepsi and Nestle. Some buyers have no idea they are getting products from the stores on Shopify, which speaks about the quality and possibilities of the platform.

As for Etsy, this platform has a great community of active buyers  interested in handmade and unique products and antique goods. More than 85% of this community are women and around 80% of orders are made by return customers – those buyers who already have shopped on Etsy at least once.

Each platform has its benefits, and it can help you increase your sales in various ways. For example, Shopify is a platform that provides top services on customization. As for Etsy, it gives sellers access to a huge community of active buyers providing a straightforward setup.

More and more sellers choose both Etsy and Shopify to sell their goods in both places, and these are the benefits they get from it:

1. Expand their business: it’s simple to sell to target audiences that do not overlap with each other, so there are better chances to increase sales.
2. Take the best of both worlds: they get the most effective benefits from two worlds and use all the incredible advantages and useful features to evolve their business.
3. Explore the market: they are able to test the water before starting to list their products on any of these platforms.
4. (also) Using Etsy and Shopify simultaneously is an excellent choice for dropshippers who sell products with minimal investments and without inventory management. Most dropshippers prefer using Shopify, and integrating it with Etsy is a wise way to get more results.

If all of the above is what you seek, it’s time to dive in – how to integrate the platforms!

How to Integrate Shopify and Etsy?

Now, let’s discover the main ways of integrating Shopify and Etsy to get benefits from both platforms and take your online business to a new level.

1. In-App Marketplace Integrations

The main ways of interacting between Shopify and Etsy as they offer on the platforms’ sites are: migrating from one platform to another or – integrating both platforms to work at the same time.

How to Migrate: from One Platform to Another

You can migrate from Etsy to Shopify in a simple way – follow all the instructions on the Help Center to do everything correctly. And, you can also use Shopify’s apps Easy Import – Etsy migration and Product Import to transfer your store from Etsy to Shopify.

How to Integrate: Manage Etsy and Shopify Simultaneously

Here are the main methods of integration the platforms you can use:

• Etsy Marketplace Integration – with this Shopify app, you can manage your inventory, orders, listings, and more on Etsy.
• Etsy Integration: Sync & Sell – it will help you sync inventory, products, and orders and get more sales with fewer efforts.
• Etsy Connector – it helps to sync products on both platforms easily.
• API method – it’s Etsy’s way of integration that offers an easy interface that uses many features from Etsy’s site, like shops, tags, listings, profiles, sales data, favs, etc. to write and read access to the users’ private and public information. The Etsy API requires an app key provided during the registration that identifies the seller’s app to the Etsy web service.

2. Third-party integrations

So, if you have already checked out the details of the in-app integrations above, you might have noticed that the costs of those integrations can be pretty high for your store and your business.

Also the marketplaces’ native features are limited in use, while third-party integrations provide you with more features for your store. That’s why we suggest using third-party integrations, such as multi-channel listing tools for eCommerce.

Shopify and Etsy integration with Sellbery

You can overcome most of the challenges you will face when doing business on two different stores with third party integration tool such as Sellbery. Additionally, you can save time and money by managing both your stores at the same time from a centralized control system. Here is how you can integrate Etsy Shopify with Sellbery:

Step 1: Sign up and create an account. With Sellbery you can add multiple sales channels and manage all of your inventory at the same time.

Step 2: Next, login in and navigate to the Add Channel tab and connect your Shopify store.

Step 3: Afterwards, simply go back to the Add New Channel section and link your Etsy account this time.

Once you’ve connected both of your stores, you can sync the inventory and integrate the stores together.

The Difficulties of Running Two Separate Online Shops: Etsy and Shopify

Whether you run a business that is exclusively online or one that also has physical locations, growing your brand to numerous platforms will always bring new challenges. Running business on multiple platforms at the same time requires you to put in more effort and pay more attention to detail. Let’s look at some of the challenges you might face with Shopify and Etsy integration.

Shopify	Etsy
Shopify requires the seller to take more effort to operate things like marketing campaigns and customer care. This is one of the downsides of using Shopify.	Although Etsy offers a lot of foot traffic, the competition is rough for independent sellers. There are approximately 4.4 million active sellers which makes it difficult for new sellers to reach potential customers.
Instead of having the foot traffic that Etsy has, on Shopify you will have to  rely on search engine optimization to make your product rank higher in search. Meaning you will have to learn a new set of skills to find success on the platform.	Despite the fact that Etsy provides free advertising, customers are more likely to link a seller’s name with Etsy than with the store itself. This might make it difficult for you to stand out and grow your brand independently.
You’ll have to pay a monthly fee starting from $29 onwards, however, the company does not deduct any commissions or fees from your sales.	Connecting Etsy to Shopify might cost you a bit more money. Because Etsy charges a transaction fee on all of your sales. Additionally, you’ll have to pay Etsy listing fee on all of your product listings.

The Shopify Etsy integration does come with its own challenges that you’ve to overcome. However, the pros exceed the cons because, in most cases, a shortcoming in one system is compensated for by a gain in the other.

The Advantages That Come Along With Combining Your Shopify And Etsy Stores

Etsy and Shopify are two eCommerce platforms that are great options for business owners who not only want assistance with the marketing, shipping, and customer service responsibilities that come along with operating a company but also have an exceptional product to sell. The Etsy marketplace offers a favorable environment for the launch of new companies and already has a substantial number of users signed up for the service. And Shopify assists in the expansion of that firm as it develops further. Because of this, Shopify Etsy sync can open new doors for your business, as you will be able to enjoy the advantages of both.

Here are a few advantages you can gain from Etsy Shopify integration:

•  Exposure – You can take a look at Etsy top selling items and see how many customers they are able to reach. The platform itself has a sizable consumer base that is used to making purchases and requesting customer assistance via their online marketplace. According to Statista, Etsy has over 96 million active buyers worldwide as of the year 2021.
• Additionally, when you integrate Shopify to Etsy you’ll have access to all sorts of technical support and features, including payment methods, server space expansions, contact forms, and so on and so forth. This means you can work more efficiently with your free time to focus on delivering a quality product to customers.
• Etsy is in the business of helping your company grow, namely via marketing. So coming up with good Etsy shop names is essential for your success. Its marketing team’s primary emphasis is on increasing sales as well as the number of businesses that are able to successfully operate on the Etsy platform. This serves as a win-win situation for both the platform as a whole and their individual merchants. In a nutshell, this translates to a significant amount of unpaid advertising.

A few advantages of integrating Shopify to the Etsy store are as follows:

• Shopify’s numerous customizable features and accompanying applications make it simple to tailor your store to your own needs and preferences. If you decide to link Etsy to Shopify you’ll have to learn about Shopify store api to effectively use its features.
• Design — There are a wealth of pre-made designs available for you to pick from. These designs range from free Shopify themes to website skins provided by third-party developers. When it comes to determining whether or not your things are selling, having a website design that complements both your style and your product may make a world of difference.
• Branding Because Shopify is a platform that you use to build a one-of-a-kind and autonomous domain, you are able to cultivate and accentuate your own brand without depending on the branding of your parent company to support you. This gives you a competitive advantage in the eCommerce industry. The majority of Etsy’s customers have a strong attachment to the Etsy brand. However, if you use Shopify, you will have the ability to cultivate a client base that is devoted to your brand.

Scalability: if you are in the drop shipping business, Shopify dropshipping store is the ideal place to start. With its no transaction fee model and SEO search system, you can easily boost your sales. And turn your small, independent eCommerce business into an international company. Furthermore, Shopify has the potential to assist you no matter how big your business becomes.

To Sum Up

If you are already selling on Shopify, you can also expand to other marketplaces like Etsy. If you choose to sell on both Shopify and Etsy, consider different integration options, as you don’t want to add your product listings manually. In-app type of integration can work for your store, but it’s costly and limited in its functions. If you choose a multi-listing automation tool, you can integrate several stores and marketplaces at the same time with fewer expenses.