Your own online store or a marketplace: where is it worth selling?

Anyone who decides to sell online soon faces the question: open your own store or sell on marketplaces, those big platforms that bring many sellers together? Both options work, but for different goals. Understanding the pros and cons helps you choose, or combine the two.

What a marketplace is

It is a platform where many stores sell their products in one place. Customers buy within the platform, which charges a commission per sale and sometimes a monthly fee.

Marketplace advantages

• Ready-made traffic: millions of people already look for products there.
• Trust: customers trust the platform, even without knowing your brand.
• Quick start: just list your products.
• Easier logistics: some platforms offer shipping solutions.

Marketplace disadvantages

• Commissions: part of each sale goes to the platform, reducing your margin.
• Price wars: your product appears next to competitors, often cheaper ones.
• Little brand recognition: customers remember the platform, not your store.
• No relationship: customer contact and data stay with the marketplace.
• Third-party rules: policy changes can affect your business overnight.

Advantages of your own store

• A strong brand: look, copy and experience your way.
• A bigger margin: no marketplace commission on each sale.
• Relationships: you know your customers and can sell to them again.
• Freedom: you set prices, promotions, shipping and policies.
• A company asset: the store and the customer base are yours.

Disadvantages of your own store

• It needs promotion: nobody finds the store on their own on day one.
• Initial investment: in building the store and in marketing.
• Building trust: you need to show reviews, clear policies and good service.

How to decide

• Common, highly competitive, price-driven product: a marketplace can be a good entry point.
• Original, personalized or strong-brand product: your own store values your differentiator.
• Customers who buy again: your own store enables relationships and repeat purchases.
• You already have an audience on Instagram: your own store turns followers into buyers without paying commission.

The combined strategy

Many companies use both: the marketplace to reach new customers and their own store to build the brand and sell with a better margin. In the packaging and after-sales, invite marketplace buyers to visit the official store, always respecting each platform’s rules.

What your own store needs to succeed

1. Its own domain and a professional look.
2. Working very well on phones.
3. Clear payment and shipping.
4. Constant promotion: Instagram, Google and ads.
5. Fast customer service, ideally on WhatsApp.

Side-by-side comparison

• Traffic: marketplaces already have it; your own store needs to earn it.
• Cost per sale: marketplaces charge commission; your own store has payment fees and promotion costs.
• Brand: marketplaces highlight the platform; your own store highlights you.
• Customer data: the marketplace controls it; in your own store it is yours.
• Freedom: marketplaces have rules; your own store has yours.
• Repeat purchases: hard on marketplaces; natural in your own store, with relationship building.

How to bring customers to your own store

1. Use Instagram and WhatsApp to promote the store.
2. Create exclusive perks for direct buyers, like reduced shipping or gifts.
3. Invest in SEO so products show up on Google.
4. Advertise on Google Shopping and Instagram.
5. Take great care of after-sales to generate repeat purchases and referrals.

Example of a combined strategy

An artisanal cosmetics brand started on a marketplace to validate its products and earn its first reviews. Over time, it created its own store, with exclusive kits and a repeat purchase program. The marketplace kept bringing new customers, while its own store started concentrating loyal customers, with a higher margin.

Conclusion

Marketplaces and your own store are not enemies. Marketplaces help you reach; your own store helps you build. Assess your product, margin and audience and, if it makes sense, use both strategically, always aiming for customers who come back and buy directly from you.