Wix Stores vs. Amazon FBA

Looking for ecommerce software? Here's how Wix Stores and Amazon FBA stack up.

Daniel Adams
Mark Hammersley

Daniel Adams and Mark Hammersley

Last updated 2o July 2020


Wix Stores

4.3  Stackupp rating


Pricing from

$ 4.50 / month

Free Plan?

Yes


Best for

Wix is a versatile solution. Even though it seems targeted at small businesses, a powerful feature-set and high level of customizability make it a viable choice for larger retailers too, though full-fledged enterprise stores will struggle.

Amazon FBA

3.4  Stackupp rating


Pricing from

$ 0.99 / month

Free Plan?

No


Best for

online sellers with limited product ranges. It is also a good option for retailers with established stores that want to take advantage of Amazon’s significant reach.

Wix Stores or Amazon FBA: Which is best?

Can't decide between Wix Stores and Amazon FBA?

Find the best platform for you with our side by side comparison of Wix Stores and Amazon FBA. See how each platform stacks up across ease of use, design, support and value for money.

Let the comparison begin. Don't worry, we'll guide you.

Is Wix Stores right for you?

Wix is a comprehensive ecommerce solution for retailers of all sizes. It comes with a fantastic set of features, including multichannel selling, a library of nearly one hundred templates, real-time shipping estimates for customers, and (of course) Wix’s fantastic website builder.

While enterprise stores will likely need a bigger “engine” to manage large amounts of sales, employees, and multiple languages, medium-sized retailers may find the ease-of-use of Wix attractive.

Because of its powerful website builder, Wix is an excellent choice for retailers without any advanced coding skills that still want full control over the look-and-feel of their store.

Advantages

  • Lots of customization features for users without any coding experience.
  • A wide set of features - like “Related Products”, abandoned cart retargeting, and templates - at a relatively low price.
  • Multichannel sales and global shipping options.

Drawbacks

  • POS is not available in all countries.
  • The apps and integrations library is a little sparse.
  • The Wix editor, whilst easy-to-use, does require getting used to.

Use Wix if you’re an individual or small business that requires a feature-rich solution that’s easy to use without any coding abilities. Because the website builder is suitable for all types of websites, Wix is also a good solution.

Is Amazon FBA right for you?

Amazon FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) is Amazon’s in-house fulfillment service for sellers. Instead of taking care of the storage and delivery of products themselves, sellers who opt for Amazon FBA can use Amazon’s warehouses and logistics networks. This can significantly reduce financial and administrative burdens.

It’s important to recognize that Amazon FBA is an additional service for Amazon sellers. It will only meet your needs if you already intend to sell products on Amazon. It is not a self-contained ecommerce solution that will allow you to list a wide array of different items and keep all the revenue from sales. What’s more, Amazon takes a significant cut of the final purchase price. You will also have to compete with other sellers in the marketplace.

With all that in mind, it’s essential to weigh up the benefits associated with access to the world’s single largest retail market with the cons of hefty fees, limited control, and high levels of competition.

Generally speaking, small retailers that don’t want to deal with the hassle of managing an entire ecommerce store (and all the technical, marketing, and logistical tasks this involves) will find a lot to like in Amazon FBA. Equally, retailers with established stores that want to bring their best products to a broader market should consider Amazon FBA.

Finally, keep in mind that running a successful business on Amazon FBA requires a unique skill-set. It’s a different ballgame to running a “traditional” ecommerce store, and this should be accounted for. You will need to familiarize yourself with topics like competitor research, keyword analysis, product page optimization, results page optimization, and so on.

Advantages

  • Access to one of the largest retail markets in the world.
  • Limited logistical and administrative burden.
  • No need to run your own ecommerce store.

Drawbacks

  • High listing and fulfillment fees.
  • Lack of control over design of product pages.
  • Relatively high startup costs for initial order.

you are a small independent retailer who doesn’t want to run their own store and handle complex back-end logistical tasks. Amazon will do a lot of the hard work for you while providing access to a large retail marketplace.

Ease of Use

Our first comparison criteria, ease of use. Why? Because it’s the most important.

Think about it. You don’t want to invest a lot of your precious time setting up an online store and tweaking the design only to find out that it’s a pain in the butt to manage day to day.

We take a look at how simple the Wix Stores and Amazon FBA platforms are to run.

How easy is Wix Stores to use?

Rated 4/5 for Ease of Use

When it comes to ease-of-use, there are two sides to Wix.

Updating your product catalog, managing orders, and running email marketing campaigns through the central dashboard is straightforward.

The star of the show, however, is the Wix website editor. Users can make a myriad of changes to their site’s look-and-feel (along with individual pages)via a wide array of customization features.

The only issue is the sheer number of features. There’s a lot! So while Wix’s editor is intuitive and easy-to-use once you’ve wrapped your head around the feature-set, there is a small learning curve initially.

What Wix Stores customers are saying...

“Great website builder! I think a lot of people writing reviews are inexperienced and haven't put the time into learning how to use Wix extensively and as a result I see a lot of frustration.” Tobi
“I love Wix! I’ve never once had a problem with Wix. The SEO has improved over the years and the ease of duplicating and creating new pages is unbeatable. The mobile response is fantastic.
“It is the easiest, most equipped, most high quality website builder ever. I asked for customer support's help three times and have always received an answer within 24 hours (in English).”

How easy is Amazon FBA to use?

Rated 4.5/5 for Ease of Use

Amazon FBA is managed through “Seller Central”, an online dashboard that all Amazon merchants use to manage their inventory, product listings, storefronts, and analytics.

The interface is very user-friendly, and you can add and configure products quickly. There is a substantial amount of help documentation online through the “Seller Central” portal and Amazon also offers an “Amazon Seller App” for mobile devices. All in all, it’s a very good option for beginners, along with retailers who have limited technical expertise.

Configuring fulfillment options is also a straightforward, linear process and is completed within the “Seller Central” area once products have been added to a catalog.

Finally, you can manage your own independent store, which will show all your Amazon listings, via the “Stores” tab.

What Amazon FBA customers are saying...

"This website is good for beginners who want to earn."
"This platform is the most solid on the web to sell products online."
"They have never failed to pay me and they have been supportive when deviant customers have tried to steal from me."
Amazon FBA is our winner for ease of use

Design

Powerful features are great, but we all know first impressions count. So, do Wix Stores and Amazon FBA templates actually look any good? See for yourself. We outline each platforms design options, plus showcase a few real life examples.

How good are Wix Stores's themes?

Rated 5/5 for Design

Few other website builders on the market offer the same level of design flexibility as Wix. For retailers that want a high level of design freedom without the need to interact with any code, Wix is a no-brainer. Because of the broad feature-set, retailers can control the branding and look-and-feel of their store to a very precise level.

All of that said, Wix isn’t limited to “non-developers”. Code-savvy webmasters can make deeper backend changes and take advantage of a powerful set of APIs. So the platform isn’t just limited to people without coding experience.

Users also have access to a library of nearly 100 free templates.

Wix Stores Examples

  • Plastic Freedom
    Plastic Freedom
Item 1 of 3

How good are Amazon FBA's themes?

Rated 2.5/5 for Design

Amazon doesn’t offer much in the way of design freedom. Sellers can only customize specific product page elements, such as the title and description, images, and in-depth “body copy”. The layout and overall page design cannot be altered.

Once they have registered their brand, sellers can also open their own Amazon storefront, which affords a greater (albeit still limited) level of design flexibility.

If you’re looking for complete control over your store, you will likely find that a self-managed ecommerce solution like Shopify or WooCommerce better fits your needs.

Amazon FBA Examples

  • Rogaine
    Rogaine
Item 1 of 3
Wix Stores is our winner for design

How much do they cost?

Everyone’s favourite topic - pricing. Let's dive in to see if Wix Stores or Amazon FBA offers better value for money.

How much does Wix Stores cost?

Rated 4.5/5 for Pricing

Wix is very competitive on price. The basic plan costs $20/month and includes access to the online store builder, shopping cart with multiple shipping rules, multichannel sales, and Wix payment gateway.

Wix also offers a handful of sweeteners, including a free domain (for one year), ad credit, and professional logo design.

The whole ecommerce feature set is available on all plans. The more expensive plans - “Business Unlimited” and “Business VIP” - provide extra storage and (in the case of the VIP option) first-in-line customer support. If you need more than 50GB of storage, you’ll have to speak to Wix directly.

How much does Amazon FBA cost?

Rated 3.5/5 for Pricing

“Value for money” is a slightly mixed bag when it comes to Amazon FBA. It’s important to stress that all serious Amazon FBA sellers will have to purchase a subscription to an Amazon Seller account. There are two plans available. The “Individual” plan is free, but a charge of $0.99 per item sold is collected. The “Professional” plan is $39.99 per month.

On the surface, these figures don’t seem significant. It’s when you get down to the nitty-gritty of item fees that a more precise picture starts to emerge. FBA sellers have to account for several charges: a referral fee (which can be up to 15% of the item sale price, a storage fee), storage costs, and a fulfillment fee. All of these can quickly add up, so it’s essential to familiarize yourself with the fine print and do all your calculations to ensure you can make a sustainable profit.

Wix Stores is our winner for cost

Help and Support

If things go wrong (and they often do) you need to know someone’s there to help get you back on track. So, how does Wix Stores's and Amazon FBA's support measure up?

How good is Wix Stores support?

Rated 3.5/5 for Help and Support

While the quality of support provided by Wix is generally excellent, users only have the option of submitting a support ticket or requesting a callback. No live chat options are available.

English-language support is available 24/7 and support is also offered in a limited number of foreign languages during business hours.

VIP support, which essentially pushes you to the front of the line, is available on the Business VIP plan.

How good is Amazon FBA support?

Rated 3/5 for Help and Support

Amazon provides support to sellers through online tickets and has published extensive online documentation and training for new users. There is also an active community forum where it’s possible to get answers to questions.

While the support options are reasonable, we would like to have seen phone and email support in conjunction with the options already on offer.

Wix Stores is our winner for support

The Bottom Line

The final say. Let's wrap up our thoughts on each platform.

Wix Stores: Our Verdict

One of the big positives about Wix is that it provides all necessary core ecommerce features, including multichannel selling and shipping rules, on all of its plans. You don’t need to sign up to the most expensive package to get the functionality you need.

What’s more, many secondary features are offered. Related product listings, cart abandonment emails, and access to Modalyst dropshipping (to add extra products to your store) are available to all users.

But the standout feature is the drag-and-drop website builder. While there is a slight learning curve, this powerful tool enables you to customize your store without any previous coding experience.

So if you’re looking for a comprehensive solution with a high degree of design freedom, Wix is the way to go.

Amazon FBA: Our Verdict

The FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon) program has done a lot to open up Amazon’s sizable marketplace to new sellers and streamline the often-complex process of storing items and fulfilling purchases.

If you are starting out in the ecommerce space, and find the prospect of running an independent store daunting, then Amazon is a viable option. Equally, if you already have an established online presence and want to reach new customers, selling your top-performing products through Amazon is also worth considering.

Just keep in mind that running a profitable Amazon FBA business is different from running your own online store. It requires a unique skill-set and the ability to evaluate competition and find gaps in the market.

Overall, we found Wix Stores to be the better ecommerce platform.

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