Zazzle vs Shopify 2024: The Complete Comparison Guide

Zazzle vs Shopify, which option is really best for business owners?

For years, we’ve used Shopify to build powerful custom stores for retailers, and pave the way for consistent growth.

We consider Shopify to be one of the best e-commerce platform options around, boasting exceptional scalability and functionality.

However, Zazzle also has a few unique benefits worth considering, particularly for beginners who want to start an online store with a lower budget.

We took a closer look at both platforms, to help you make the right choice for your organization.

Key Takeaways

Pressed for time? Let’s start by covering the most important things you need to know about Shopify and Zazzle.

Both tools are designed to support ecommerce vendors, but they serve very different purposes. Shopify is an ecommerce platform where you can build a comprehensive online store and sell across various channels, Zazzle is a marketplace where you sell products alongside other vendors.

Here are the key takeaways from our comparison:

• Zazzle is a user-friendly and affordable solution for smaller businesses
• Shopify is a more robust and scalable ecommerce platform for growing brands
• Zazzle delivers print on demand services, while Shopify offers POD though integrations
• Zazzle allows you to sign up for free, where Shopify has monthly subscription fees
• Shopify has business management and marketing tools not offered by Zazzle
• Shopify offers a wider range of integrations with business tools

When to Use Shopify

We’d recommend Shopify as the go-to choice for any company looking for robust features, and scalability.

It supports any business model, giving entrepreneurs complete freedom to sell whatever they want, on any channel they choose.

Plus, it includes its own payment processing options (Shopify Payments), fulfillment tools, and automation capabilities.

When to Use Zazzle

We’d recommend Zazzle to business owners who want to sell custom products online without building their own online store.

Zazzle offers an excellent print-on-demand service, and provides direct access to an existing audience through its popular marketplace. It’s similar to solutions like Redbubble, but it’s targeted more at graphic designers and artists.

Shopify vs Zazzle: Pros and Cons

Shopify Pros and Cons

Zazzle Pros and Cons

What is Shopify?

Shopify is a world-leading commerce platform and SaaS solution. It’s used by millions of merchants in more than 170 countries worldwide.

Shopify empowers companies to build an online presence, market products, accept payments across various locations and channels, and more.

Shopify stores offer exceptional versatility, with integrations to leading business tools. Plus, Shopify offers a range of additional features to business leaders, such as order fulfillment (Shopify Fulfillment), automation tools, and in-person selling with Shopify POS.

If you want to create your own online store and develop a memorable brand, Shopify will give you one of the best ways to make money online, with minimal effort.

How does Shopify Work?

Shopify is a SaaS platform, which bundles all of the commerce and business management tools you need into a single system.

You pay for access to the platform on a subscription model, and also pay monthly fees for things like transactions and premium add-ons.

Shopify comes with all of the features companies need to build a thriving store, such as user-friendly templates, blogging and SEO tools, integrated marketing features, inventory management, and more.

It also has its own payment processing capabilities (Shopify Payments), and an option for customers to add a “Shopify buy button” to any existing website or online presence.

What is Zazzle?

Zazzle is a marketplace website and print-on-demand business. It allows creators to design and sell their own products, by applying unique patterns and designs to products developed by independent manufacturers (such as clothing and home décor).

When you create a Zazzle store, you don’t get a dedicated online presence. Instead, you simply get the option to list your products alongside other items on the Zazzle marketplace.

Zazzle offers companies the tools they need to customize products, as well as order fulfillment services.

This means you don’t need to actually interact with any of the products you sell on Zazzle. You simply upload designs, and they handle producing and delivering orders.

How does Zazzle Work?

As a marketplace solution for print on demand vendors, Zazzle is similar to solutions like Redbubble or TeeSpring.

Creators apply to open an account with Zazzle, and set up a store where they can list custom products. Zazzle gives you a canvas where you can add designs to existing and trending products offered by other manufacturers.

After your products are listed on the Zazzle marketplace, customers around the world can purchase them.

When they place an order, Zazzle produces the item for you, and ships it to your customer. You don’t pay for anything, with Zazzle, even shipping prices are taken care of.

Instead, you simply earn a commission or “royalty” based on the price you set, and the total cost of creating and sending the product to your customer.

Shopify vs Zazzle Key Features

Ultimately, while Shopify and Zazzle are both tools for ecommerce vendors, they’re very different in the services and solutions they offer. Let’s take a look at the key features of both options:

Shopify Key Features

Shopify is a complete commerce platform designed to support any form of online business. Just like with WordPress (WooCommerce), Wix, and Squarespace, you can use Shopify to build a comprehensive store, market it and manage your business operations. Key features include:

• Website and brand building tools: Shopify has a fantastic and easy-to-use website builder, brimming with templates to choose from. The solution is already search engine optimized, and allows users to pick their own domain name. Plus, there are even AI tools like “Shopify Magic” to help with creating your site.
• Ecommerce: Shopify’s ecommerce features support omnichannel and multinational selling. There’s Shopify Payments for payment processing, a leading checkout you can customize to suit your needs, and support for various payment methods. You can also sell any product, from physical and digital products to subscriptions.
• Marketing tools: Users can access “Shopify Audiences” create comprehensive customer profiles and personalized marketing campaigns. There’s Shopify Inbox for chat-based marketing, email marketing tools, and integrations with social media too. Plus, you can create your own blog for content marketing.
• Business management: Shopify’s wide range of business management tools include solutions for managing inventory, orders, and product variants, as well as suppliers and fulfillment partners. You can also use Shopify’s services for fulfillment and shipping, and access tools for tax and VAT management.
• Integrations: Shopify integrates automatically with marketplaces like Amazon, Etsy and Ebay, social media platforms, and a range of third-party tools. There are thousands of add-ons available on the app store for tools like PayPal, Printify, QuickBooks, and more. If you’re a Shopify Plus user, you get even more dedicated Shopify integration options.

Zazzle Key Features

Zazzle is very different to Shopify. It doesn’t allow you to build your own website or use your own domain, Instead, it simply empowers creators to list custom products for sale on an existing marketplace.

Notably, this does mean you can reach more than 30 million shoppers worldwide, instantly, without the need for extra marketing.

With Zazzle, you don’t really get any comprehensive business management tools. Instead, you get:

• Basic store pages: Once you create a Zazzle account, you can access a basic storefront where you can upload designs and sell products. You can’t really customize your store, but you can give it a unique name to distinguish yourself from the competition.
• Ecommerce: Zazzle only allows you to sell white-labelled products by its manufacturers, customized with your designs. You earn a “royalty” whenever your product sells, and you can set your own prices, to maintain control over your profits.
• Design tools: The design tools on Shopify allow users to upload images and text to existing white-labelled products, and arrange and resize each element. The tools are relatively simple to use, but the customizations you can apply to products can vary.
• Order fulfillment: Zazzle deals with the full order fulfillment process on your behalf, manufacturing your products, packaging them, and shipping them to customers. They also handle customer service for you.

Notably, there is also a decent Zazzle affiliate program for vendors, which allows you to earn 15% of a sale by promoting your favorite products.

Shopify vs Zazzle: Ease of Use

If you’re looking for pure simplicity, then Zazzle might have an edge over Shopify. We do think Shopify is one of the easiest platforms for beginners out there.

It’s packed with useful tools to simplify the management of your store, has some excellent templates and design tools, and features an extremely intuitive user interface.

However, Shopify does have more of a learning curve than Zazzle, because you actually need to build your own store, create your own marketing campaigns, and potentially manage fulfillment yourself.

Zazzle, on the other hand, takes a lot of work off your plate. There’s no custom store to build, and you don’t need to handle fulfillment.

All you need to do is promote your products, create great designs, and optimize your pricing strategy based on the base price of each product you sell.

This makes Zazzle a great option for a startup or company that wants to make a passive income selling custom products online.

There’s no inventory to manage, and you don’t even have to deal with customer support yourself, (unlike on other print on demand platforms).

Zazzle vs Shopify: Pricing

One big difference between Shopify and Zazzle is the pricing. Zazzle is completely free to use. There are no charges for anything, from monthly subscription costs to delivery or product fees.

However, you only earn a percentage from each sale, based on the “royalty level” you set.

Shopify has various pricing plans to consider. You can add a buy button to a website or sell through social media with the “Starter” plan for $5 per month.

Alternatively, you can choose from a variety of paid plans, including:

• Basic Shopify: $39 per month with all the store-building and marketing tools, 2 staff accounts, 1,000 inventory locations and basic reporting.
• Shopify: $105 per month for all the features of Basic, plus 5 staff accounts, advanced reporting, and new sales channels.
• Advanced Shopify: $399 per month for all the features of Shopify, plus custom reports and 15 staff accounts.
• Shopify Plus: Starting at $2000 per month for enterprise-level support, granular customization options, and unique integrations.

You’ll also have payment processing fees to pay on all of Shopify’s plans, plus extra fees if you use a payment processor other than Shopify Payments.

The Verdict: Shopify or Zazzle

Ultimately, Shopify is a far better solution for building a successful business. While Zazzle is a simple and affordable way for companies to create their own t-shirt business or sell custom products online, it lacks the scale of Shopify.

There’s no way to build a memorable brand, grow your company, or sell products across multiple channels.

Shopify, on the other hand, gives you the freedom to build any kind of business you want. You can even use print-on-demand plugins to sell custom products on Shopify, and on various other online channels.

Plus, Shopify is packed with more valuable features, such as business management tools, analytics, reports, and automation tools.

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