Choose your platform

Own store vs. marketplace: the real tradeoff

A marketplace hands you traffic and trust but rents you the customer; your own store gives you margin and the relationship but makes you buy every visit. The choice is which cost you'd rather pay.

Sellers agonize over 'Amazon or Shopify?' as if one is simply better. They're two different cost structures. A marketplace gives instant traffic and built-in trust, and takes a referral cut plus the customer relationship. Your own store keeps the margin and owns the email, data, and repeat purchase, but every visit costs ad spend. Run the fee math on one order at your real volume, and ask who owns the customer. That turns a vibe decision into an economics decision.