Shopify vs Redbubble (2023): Which Platform is Right for You?

Shopify vs Redbubble: which platform is best for starting your own online store?

Here’s what you need to know if you’re struggling to choose between Shopify and Redbubble.

What is Shopify, and What is Redbubble?

Let’s start with the basics. Shopify is a leading ecommerce platform, launched in 2006. It gives business leaders access to a complete suite of tools for selling goods, services, digital products, and subscriptions online. The system includes its own no-code website building tools, with countless themes to choose from, as well as integrated payment processing abilities.

Shopify allows anyone to create a fully customized ecommerce site, with blogging and SEO functionality, links to social media platforms, and integrations to marketplaces like Amazon and Etsy. Plus it comes with an app market where companies can find tools for sales, marketing, dropshipping, print on demand, analytics, and more.

Redbubble, on the other hand, is a print-on-demand marketplace. Creators on Redbubble don’t create a website, but instead build a portfolio of product pages they can share with the Redbubble community. Rather than producing items yourself, you choose from a range of garments, accessories, and merch-focused items on the Redbubble platform.

You can then use Redbubble’s built-in design tools to add your own customizations to your products, and list them on the marketplace. When customers place an order, Redbubble creates your products for you, and ships them directly to your audience.

What Can You do with Shopify?

Ultimately, Shopify is a far more versatile platform than Redbubble. It doesn’t just support print-on-demand sales, but all kinds of online selling, giving you numerous ways to earn a consistent income. With Shopify, you can create a custom website with its own domain name, customize your store with themes, and sell globally, both online and in-person.

Shopify allows business owners to:

• Create a unique online website: Shopify’s easy-to-use website building tools allow anyone to create a website in no time. You can choose from a range of templates, customize virtually every element of your store, and add your own site domain. Plus, you can transform the functionality of your store with APIs, plugins, and integrations.
• Sell anything: While Redbubble focuses on print on demand products, Shopify allows companies to sell virtually anything. You can create subscription-based products, membership communities, and unique offers for global markets. Plus, you can sell physical and digital items, across a range of platforms, with integrated payment processing tools, and access to a range of marketplace connections.
• Sell anywhere: Shopify makes it easy to create a global brand, with international sales features, multiple currencies, and even offline POS integrations. You can create a world-class checkout with numerous payment options, accept all kinds of payments, and even connect your store to social media for social sales.
• Market your business: Shopify comes packed with tools to help you advertise and promote your business. You can chat with customers using Shopify inbox, nurture customers with email marketing, and promote across social media. There’s also an integrated blog, and SEO features included to help you master content marketing.
• Analyze performance: Built-in reporting and analytical tools on Shopify provide direct insights into customer preferences, sales, and financial information. You can track sales, and orders in real-time, measure your performance over time, and keep track of stock, orders, and inventory.
• Manage your business: Shopify also comes with a host of tools to help you manage your business, such as Shopify shipping tools, an outsourced fulfillment network, and Shopify Flow for automation. Plus, there are tools like Shopify Capital for business funding.

What You Can Do With Redbubble?

Redbubble isn’t nearly as comprehensive as Shopify. You can really only sell a handful of physical products, based on what’s available in the Redbubble portfolio at any given time. Plus, the solution doesn’t integrate with other platforms, so there’s no omnichannel selling option.

What you can do with Redbubble is quickly find customers who might be interested in your branded or custom products. You can:

• Add custom designs to a range of products: Redbubble allows you to add your own designs and branding to a host of different products, from stickers to t-shirts. There are integrated design tools to help you make the most of your mock-ups, and produce great pieces.
• Find customers quickly: When you create products on Redbubble, you can list them on the POD marketplace, which already has thousands of customers. You’ll be able to showcase as many items as you like, and you can add piracy and watermark protections to your design.
• Adjust your earnings: Redbubble gives you options to customize your pricing, so you can potentially increase your profit margins. Plus, you can accept payments through a range of payment processors, in various different currencies.
• Automate fulfillment: As a POD solution, Redbubble handles the process of creating your products and shipping them to customers for you. This means you don’t have to deal with logistics, warehousing, packaging, or shipping.
• Access analytics: There are a handful of analytical tools available in your Redbubble dashboard, so you can keep track of your sales and other key metrics. This can be useful if you want to increase your exposure online.

Shopify vs Redbubble Pricing

Since Redbubble and Shopify both offer very different experiences, it’s probably no surprise that they take a unique approach to pricing. For instance, you can start selling on Redbubble for free, but there are still things you’ll need to pay for.

When you choose a product to sell on Redbubble, you’ll be given a base price for the item. This is the cost of making the item, combined with Redbubble’s service fee. It also includes any shipping costs, which means your price can change depending on where your customer is.

Artists and creators can then add their “margin” to the product. This usually defaults at around 20$, but you’re free to raise or lower that amount at any time. Keep in mind, the base prices on Redbubble can change frequently, so it’s worth keeping a close eye on your margins.

Shopify offers a range of pricing packages to choose from. There’s a free demo of the service available, and a three-month trial that only costs $1 per month. After that, there’s a “Starter” plan, for $5 per month, which allows you to sell through messengers and social media.

If you want to access all of Shopify’s features, the core plans include:

• Basic Shopify: $39 per month for access to Shopify’s website builder, plugins, SSL certificates, discount codes, up to 1000 inventory locations, and 2 staff accounts. You also get marketing tools, payment processing, and blogging tools.
• Shopify: $105 per month for all of the features of Basic, plus professional reporting tools, multi-channel global selling, shipping discounts, and 5 staff accounts.
• Advanced: $399 per month for all the features of Shopify, plus 15 staff accounts, a custom report builder, gift cards, duties and import tax tools, and more.
• Shopify Plus: Starting at $2000 per month for all the features of Advanced, plus greater customization features, improved uptime guarantees, enhanced security, API access, specialist integrations, and support for headless commerce.

All Shopify plans do include a transaction fee if you’re not using Shopify Pay as your primary payment processor, so keep this in mind when budgeting.

How to sell with Redbubble on Shopify?

Unfortunately, while Shopify does offer access to a variety of print-on-demand integrations, such as solutions for Printful and Gelato, there’s no app for Redbubble. Redbubble currently doesn’t integrate directly with any other platforms for selling. This means you can only sell your Redbubble products directly within the marketplace (unless you want to create items and fulfill orders yourself).

Though you can’t integrate Shopify with Redbubble, there is the option to show your portfolio of products, on Redbubble, through your personal website. This basically allows you to create product cards and pages you can showcase on other platforms.

However, when customers click on one of your Redbubble products, they’ll still be directed back to the Redbubble site to make a purchase. If you want to access print on demand on Shopify, or leverage an omnichannel selling strategy, you might need to consider using an alternative to Redbubble.

For instance, you can integrate Shopify with Etsy if you’re willing to create products and fulfil orders yourself. Or you can choose from Shopify’s range of POD integrations, which include Printify, Printful, Apliiq, and many others.

Shopify or Redbubble: Which is Best?

Ultimately, it’s difficult to compare Redbubble and Shopify comprehensively, because the two platforms are so different. Shopify is an all-in-one solution for selling products and solutions across a range of channels. Redbubble focuses exclusively on the print on demand space.

If you’re looking for a scalable ecommerce platform, where you can sell just about anything to customers around the globe, Shopify is definitely going to be the best option for you. However, if you want an easy-to-use platform for print on demand selling, Redbubble has some great benefits.

The solution is easy to use, and immediately provides business owners with access to a wide variety of customers, from locations across the globe.