Google Shopping Alternatives – An Overview
Starting out as Google Product Research, Google Shopping is now one of the best-selling platforms, with incredible buying intent and search volume. However, this marketplace still has certain limitations when it comes to eCommerce selling features, such as payment processing or brand building. Given the context, sellers are advised to find Google Shopping alternatives.
Discussing this matter in more detail, you may want to glance at the list of Google Shopping competitors in 2023:
Without further ado, why don’t we dive into the top 8 Google Shopping alternatives and their detailed reviews?
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What Is Google Shopping?
In general, Google Shopping is a specialized part of Google, powered by Google Merchant Center and Google Ads. Specifically, this online marketplace allows shoppers to browse and purchase products listed by third-party sellers, as well as advertisers.
Currently, Google Shopping is reputed as an online marketplace of incredible buying intent and product search volume, proven by 49% of shoppers discovering or finding a new item via Google. In addition to that, if you have an eCommerce store with effective SEO applications, this marketplace is extremely helpful in drawing organic traffic to your website.
Still curious about Google Shopping reviews? Learn more about the selling site and its benefits here!
Why Should Sellers Look for Google Shopping Alternatives?
As promised, let’s figure out why you should find alternatives to Google Shopping to grow your business and increase overall profitability.
Lack of selling features
Undeniably, Google Shopping can be useful if you investigate your competitors’ products and pricing based on its original character as a product search engine. Adding to that, free insertion is a temptation for any seller these days. Combining all the mentioned features, Google Shopping still makes a great sales channel.
However, it does not provide online merchants with a complete set of eCommerce features, such as payment processing or live chat with customers. According to Google Shopping itself, the marketplace does not sell directly to shoppers. It collects product information from third-party sellers and advertisers and then makes them searchable.
Considering this spectrum, e-sellers may face quite a few challenges when they want to establish an actual online store.
Intense competition
According to Google Merchant Center, there are 500,000+ active sellers on the platform. Compared to eBay or Amazon, half a million tends to be modest. However, the number of advertisers on Google Shopping is blooming, and sponsored products appear every second.
Adding to that, how will you compete with thousands of sellers and millions of listings in this marketplace? Standing at this point, sellers have every motivation to find Google Shopping alternatives, especially the eCommerce newbies.
Pricey ad costs
With high buying intent and visibility, combined with free listing fees, when you sell on Google Shopping, it’s more competitive. This is where Google Ads steps into the picture and becomes the game changer.
The ads mechanism on Google is based on a cost-per-click model. Normally, the average CTR (Click-through Rate) for Google Ads is around 2% on a common funnel model. Still, there is no exact answer to Google Ads’ success chances after every campaign because it relates to ad quality score and bidding rate.
While ad quality score refers to users’ experience and keyword relevance, the bidding rate is all about the money you are willing to spend on specific actions, which is “click” in our case. Going into detail about bidding, the more you bid, the higher ranking chance you can achieve.
As reported by Google, you may have to play for $1 to $3 per click. Yet, the real cost to implement efficient ads with profitability is much greater than that. Furthermore, you will face “ads bidding” against competitors, during which your bidding rate must go higher to gain the desired ranking. Consequently, should you sell in highly competitive or special categories, ad costs can exceed your initial budget.
Perhaps you may have heard of the term “free selling”, but ad fees are what build up the whole scenario of Google Shopping pricing, and they can become extremely expensive.
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8 Best Google Shopping Alternatives – Top Online Marketplaces
Regarding Google Shopping alternatives, why don’t we check out some top online marketplaces, their highlight eCommerce features, and pricing?
#1. Amazon
Overview
In the recent decade, Amazon has been a market-dominant eCommerce selling site, which explains why Amazon makes it to the top list of Google Shopping alternatives. According to Statista, in 2022, Amazon generated more than $513 billion in net sales revenue, which shows no stopping sign.
On top of that, Amazon’s audience gets wider daily, with over 300 million active buyers (more than half are Prime users). Evidently, these impressive figures indicate Amazon’s eCommerce power, and there is much more Amazon can offer sellers. Now, let’s walk through Amazon’s highlight features and pricing.
What Amazon can do better as an alternative to Google Shopping
- Fulfillment by Amazon: This is a service provided by Amazon (FBA) that allows sellers to store their products in Amazon’s fulfillment centers. In short, e-sellers won’t have to pick, pack, and ship when a customer places an order because the FBA is responsible for that. Besides, Amazon will handle customer service and return for products sold through FBA if necessary. Generally, as sellers use FBA, they can reduce the usual workload and focus on prioritized tasks, such as planning eCommerce strategies.
- Amazon Seller Central: What Amazon can offer as one of Google Shopping alternatives is the ultimate seller support from its Seller Central. Briefly, Amazon Seller Central is a web-based platform provided to third-party sellers who have gone live on Amazon’s marketplace. Specifically, Seller Central is designed to help sellers manage their inventory, orders, payments, advertising, and other aspects of their business on Amazon.
- Advertising and marketing services: Last but not least, we cannot go without Amazon’s tools for advertising and marketing. When retailers sell on Amazon, they are equipped with numerous applications, including Amazon Advertising, Amazon Demand Side Platform, and Amazon Live. These powerful tools help to structure campaigns, direct onsite traffic, and showcase products in real time.
- Amazon Price Checker: Like Google, Amazon’s price comparison tools let shoppers compare prices of different providers, reviews, ratings, and more. Due to this advantage, it is no wonder that Amazon takes the 1st position on the list of Google Shopping alternatives.
Amazon’s pricing
Amazon's pricing | ||
Individual plan | $0.99/ product sold + additional selling fees | |
Professional plan | $39.99/ month + additional selling fees | |
Category referral commission | 8 - 15% of total sale price | |
Fulfillment by Amazon fee | Depends on sold items | |
#2. eBay
Overview
Next on our list of Google Shopping alternatives is eBay – another giant in the eCommerce industry. For any merchant who aims to reach the international market, eBay is a perfect fit for its availability in 190 countries and global shipping program.
Furthermore, when selling on eBay, you likely benefit from excellent traffic and a massive audience for sellers. In Q4 2022, the marketplace achieved 138 million users with the second-highest visit rate, surpassed by a long-term rival Amazon.
What eBay can do better as an alternative to Google Shopping
- Buy It Now or Auction: eBay’s Buy It Now feature allows buyers to purchase an item immediately at a fixed cost instead of bidding on it. On the other hand, Auction selling style refers to letting customers bid a good deal on their favorite product.
- Promotional Manager: With Promotional Manager, e-sellers can access a variety of tools to choose discount types, schedule duration, and track promotion performance. By using this feature effectively, you can create targeted and effective offers that attract more customers and increase sales on eBay’s marketplace.
- eBay’s Guaranteed Delivery: Finally, what makes eBay one of the top Google Shopping alternatives is Guaranteed Delivery. Notably, this ensures that buyers receive their orders on time or get a refund of shipping costs. Overall, eBay Guaranteed Delivery gives buyers more confidence in their purchases and helps sellers improve their customer service and feedback ratings.
eBay’s pricing
eBay's pricing | ||
Subscription | From $7.95 to $349.95/ month | |
Listing fee | $0.35/ listing (after 250 free listings) | |
Final value fee | $0.30/ order | |
Category referral commission | 8 - 15% of total sale price | |
#3. Walmart
Overview
Walmart is among the best Google Shopping alternatives, especially for merchants generating profit from sales volume. In detail, sellers are highly recommended to consider this sales channel because it has a low commission rate, less intense competition, and a well-established reputation. However, remember that you must implement the right Walmart pricing strategy to thrive in this marketplace.
What’s more, merchants can access thousands of integrations when they sell on Walmart, from payment gateways to multichannel selling tools. Speaking of which, LitCommerce is an official Full Service Provider of Walmart. By using LitCommerce, e-sellers can easily integrate Walmart with Google Shopping and many more selling sites from $0/ month!
What Walmart can do better as an alternative to Google Shopping
- Walmart’s Fulfillment Services: Similar to FBA, Walmart’s Fulfillment Service (WFS) is a program developed by the house. When using Walmart’s Fulfillment Services, sellers only have to ship their items to a WFS facility. Afterward, Walmart will pick, pack, store, and ship to customers. Also, as sellers use the WFS, they will benefit from real-time inventory management, a two-day shipping policy, and access to customer service.
- Advertising and promotional tools: Competing as one of Google Shopping alternatives, Walmart has a set of powerful advertising and promotional tools. Those applications include Sponsored Products, Display Ads, Promotions Manager, Walmart Performance Ads, and Walmart Affiliate Program. Shortly, mentioned tools will help you generate effective promotional campaigns and track overall performance.
- Data and analytics: Compared to Google Shopping, Walmart has far more practical data analytics, such as Retailer Center, Marketplace API, Item Performance Reports, Search Terms Reports, and Ad Manager. Without a doubt, you can easily track general store performance detailedly with these tools and make any strategic adjustments if needed.
Walmart’s pricing
Walmart's pricing | ||
Category referral commission | 8 - 15% of total sale price | |
No setup, hidden fees, and monthly subscription | ||
#4. Etsy
Overview
Being among the top Google Shopping alternatives, Etsy is a world leader as an online marketplace for artisan, collectible, and craft. When selling on Etsy, sellers can run wild with creativity and showcase their most unique items. However, remember to stay out of Etsy’s prohibited items and follow in-house selling regulations.
Speaking more of what to sell on this channel, don’t forget to check out Etsy best selling items first, which include jewelry, sticker, or home decor. Moreover, consider digital products to sell on Etsy. You may make a fortune from them!
What Etsy can do better as an alternative to Google Shopping
- Listing Manager: Etsy’s Listing Manager allows you to create and manage product listings. By using the provided tool, Etsy sellers can add photos, videos, descriptions, pricing, and inventory applications. Besides, setting shipping options for each listing is achievable with Etsy.
- Etsy Ads: What turns Etsy into one of the best Google Shopping alternatives is its potent ads features. Notably, Etsy ads tools excel in creating customization for online merchants, providing ultimate analytics of ads performance, and automatically generating targets.
- Shipping Profile: One more perk of selling on Etsy is the access to Shipping Profile. To summarize, Shipping Profile lets sellers create and save shipment methods for products based on weight, destination, and shipping carrier.
Etsy’s pricing
Etsy's pricing | ||
Listing fee | $0.20/ item | |
Transaction fee | 6.5% of sale price | |
Subscription | $10/ month | |
Payment processing | Based on sale revenue | |
Currency conversion | Optional | |
8 Best Google Shopping Alternatives – Top Ecommerce Platforms
Our list of Google Shopping alternatives goes on with 4 more top eCommerce platforms. This section is a must-read for merchants who wants to benefit from the great visibility of Google Shopping and the complete selling functionality of eCommerce platforms. So, keep scrolling and explore our comprehensive platform reviews right below!
#5. Shopify
Overview
Here goes another reputable Google Shopping alternative – Shopify. Unsurprisingly, Shopify is one of the largest eCommerce platforms in the industry, establishing 4.4 million websites globally. Moreover, if you are running SMEs, Shopify is the perfect match for you regarding Google Shopping alternatives.
The rationale behind it lies in the platform’s easy maneuverings, a full set of eCommerce features, and thousands of add-ons to support e-sellers. Currently, Shopify is having the best deals for both new and experienced merchants. In case you are new to the platform and wish to take some experiments, consider a 3-day free trial and then a $1/ month deal for the first 3 months on all Shopify plans!
Otherwise, if you have experience selling online, try Shopify with annual billing to get 25% off instead of paying exactly the amounts listed in the Shopify pricing. That would save you a lot of money.
What Shopify can do better as an alternative to Google Shopping
- Minimalized and organized dashboard: In detail, the Shopify dashboard is designed to be user-friendly and intuitive, with a simple layout and easy-to-understand navigation. Furthermore, you can manage your products, orders, customers, payments, and more in the central dashboard. Not to mention, there are a variety of tutorials and resources available to help you get started with Shopify and make the most of its features. Therefore, if you are just starting on the platform, ease of use will be the last problem.
- 8000 applications for sellers: Among all eCommerce platforms, Shopify’s number of apps is muchly impressive, especially for a hosted shopping cart solution. With over 8000 applications, sellers can establish excellent store functionality. At this point, Shopify certainly makes one of the best Google Shopping alternatives.
- 127 themes for store customization: One more perk when you choose Shopify as alternatives to Google Shopping refers to its 127 themes. More about this aspect, all themes on Shopify are strictly chosen by its in-house team. Adding to that, they have incredible loading speed, which helps to lower the bounce rate on your site and increase the chance of conversion. Last but not least, if you are willing to pay for Shopify themes, you will get the ultimate eCommerce functionality and tools to enhance onsite UX.
- Dedicated support: Without a doubt, Shopify has the best customer support with 24/7 live chats, calls, emails, etc. Additionally, there is an active seller community, which includes Shopify experts to help you go through any problem on the site.
Shopify’s pricing
Shopify's pricing | ||
Basic | $39/ month | |
Shopify | $105/ month | |
Advanced | $399/ month | |
Save 25% by choosing Shopify annual plans! | ||
#6. Wix
Overview
Reputing as a world leader in website creation, Wix is next on our list of the best Google Shopping alternatives. When using Wix, merchants can access numerous tools and start building professional websites without any coding expertise. In other words, you can create a website within minutes and face no technical challenges, all thanks to Wix’s drag-and-drop interface.
Speaking more of this platform, it is perfect for bloggers, service providers, marketing agencies, and individual sellers. Also, if you are running an SME or a content-focusing business, Wix will make an effective tool, providing its remarkable SEO features. On top of that, Wix pricing can be a competitive advantage due to its affordability.
What Wix can do better as an alternative to Google Shopping
- Wix Editor: This is a website builder platform that lets you create and edit websites using a drag-and-drop interface. With Wix Editor, you can choose from numerous pre-designed templates and customize them according to your needs. And the best part? It does not require any coding knowledge. Besides, the Wix Editor provides access to an app market, which allows to add third-party tools and integrations to functionalize stores.
- Wix ADI: Perhaps, the Wix ADI is the winning advantage of this eCommerce platform, being one of Google Shopping alternatives. In particular, Wix ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence) is a feature that applies AI technology to create a custom website. By using Wix ADI, you simply need to answer a few questions about the desired website, and the platform will generate a unique design and layout based on your responses.
- Velo by Wix: Specifically, Velo by Wix refers to a full-stack development platform, enabling developers to build web applications via Wix’s infrastructure and APIs. Moreover, it provides a visual development environment, built-in databases, and APIs for integrating with third-party services.
- Wix’s SEO Wiz: Recently, Wix has improved massively in SEO and offered users the SEO Wiz. This is a built-in tool that provides personalized recommendations to improve the search engine optimization (SEO) of a website. Notably, it will guide you through the process of optimizing the website’s content, structure, and all SEO aspects to improve visibility in search results. Over and beyond that, you can track your website’s ranking on search engines and receive alerts when there are changes.
Wix’s pricing
Wix's pricing | ||
Business & eCommerce plans | ||
Business Basic | $17/ month | |
Business Unlimited | $25/ month | |
Business VIP | $35/ month | |
Enterprise plan: depending on customer's demand | ||
#7. BigCommerce
Overview
Regarding the best Google Shopping alternatives for medium to large enterprises, BigCommerce is quite an ideal choice. BigCommerce is a hosted shopping cart solution, and currently, it is the industry leader.
The best thing when using BigCommerce lies in its excellent customization capabilities, especially when you have some technical knowledge. Otherwise, if you don’t have any coding skill, the platform will still provide a full tool set to build and run a virtual store.
Other advantages of BigCommerce as one of the alternatives to Google Shopping are its incredible loading speed, free charges for transactions, high-performance APIs, and rich built-in features. Combining all its offers, medium to large-scale businesses will find BigCommerce an ideal fit for Google Shopping alternatives.
What BigCommerce can do better as an alternative to Google Shopping
- Customization capabilities: As mentioned above, BigCommerce is a hosted shopping cart solution. However, it still grants access to open API for developers and lets them customize or functionalize their stores as desired. Through the provided API, sellers with technical expertise can reduce their reliance on third-party applications and their charges.
- Powerful checkout API: BigCommerce provides e-sellers with a checkout API. It is a scalable and reliable cloud-based infrastructure that handles large volumes of traffic and ensures fast processing. Particularly, the checkout API supports real-time shipping rates, tax calculation, and payment processing for a seamless checkout experience. Also, it uses advanced caching and load-balancing techniques to optimize response times, making this tool fully customizable for tailored checkout experiences.
- Rich built-in features: One of the best pros when it comes to BigCommerce is its rich built-in features. They include advanced SEO, shipping integrations, payment processing integrations, cart abandon savers, and many more. As a result, selling on BigCommerce allows you to enter almost endless functionalization, customization, and ease of scalability.
BigCommerce’s pricing
BigCommerce's pricing | ||
Standard | $39/ month ($29/ month for annual bills) | |
Plus | $105/ month ($79/ month for annual bills) | |
Pro | $399/ month ($299/ month for annual bills) | |
#8. Adobe Commerce (Magento)
Overview
Last on the list of Google Shopping alternatives is Adobe Commerce (formerly known as Magento). Adobe Commerce is an open-source platform, and unlike Shopify or Wix, Adobe Commerce is a monster of platforms for enterprise levels. By using Adobe Commerce, you can access a wide range of features to create and manage your online store, such as customizable themes, advanced SEO tools, and integration with various payment and shipping providers.
Besides, as a Google Shopping alternative, Adobe Commerce offers powerful marketing tools, including personalized recommendations, segmentation, and email marketing. Finally, it is well-known for its sense of security, which plays a significant role for large businesses. In detail, the eCommerce platform has devoted a whole Security Center to guarantee clients’ data is safe and confidential. Overall, if you want to create a powerful online presence or search for Google Shopping alternatives, don’t skip Adobe Commerce.
What Adobe Commerce can do better as an alternative to Google Shopping
- SEO and marketing: Adobe Commerce includes advanced SEO tools, such as customizable URL structures, automatic sitemap generation, and meta tags. Apart from it, the platform offers powerful marketing tools, which refer to personalized recommendations, segmentation, and email marketing.
- Multichannel selling integration: This self-hosted solution makes it easy to sell across multiple channels thanks to the third-party marketplace and social media integrations, multistore management, as well as centralized order management.
- Customer management: When selling through Adobe Commerce, you can access robust customer management features, which is the ability to manage customer accounts, view customer order history, and track customer behavior. As a Google Shopping alternative, Adobe Commerce surely gets quite a unique selling point.
- Security Center: With Adobe Commerce’s security center, e-sellers can now ensure their cyber safety and reduce frauding risks. At a glance, the eCommerce platform provides you with a set of features, which are security patches and updates, scanning and monitoring functions, PCI compliance tools, security training material, etc.
Adobe Commerce’s pricing
Adobe Commerce's pricing | ||
Hosting cost | $120 to $600/ year | |
Domain registration | $10 to $20/ year | |
SSL certificate cost | Up to $600/ year | |
Theme cost | $17 to $5000+ | |
Extension & add-on cost | Up to $2000+ | |
Payment processing cost | 2 - 4% per transaction | |
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Alternatives to Google Shopping – FAQs
8 best Google Shopping alternatives for sellers: Yes, Google Shopping is legit. It is a specialized part of Google and has been trusted by 500+ thousand sellers and advertisers worldwide. Moreover, before a seller can go live and list their products on Google Shopping, they must go through a review process of in-depth safety. Up to this point, we can say that Google is legit and safe for sellers in general. Yes, Shopify works with Google. Actually, the Google Merchant Center is automatically updated with products and relevant details about your Shopify store, thanks to the Shopify Google channel. Through your Shopify admin, you can then change your Google product listings. Also, this is a recommendation for Shopify sellers. If you already have a store on Shopify, try to list them on Google for greater visibility.
Google Shopping Alternatives – Conclusion
That’s everything we’ve got for Google Shopping alternatives. On the list above, we have walked through the 8 best replacements for Google Shopping with their detailed reviews. However, Google Shopping is still a great marketplace to kick off, especially if you want to boost visibility. Therefore, the best advice for this topic is probably going multichannel selling.
Speaking of multichannel selling, have you tried LitCommerce‘s mutlchannel sync solution? If not, give it a try and stay ready to kick off the global game! In case you are new to the notion, come and check out the Retailer Blog and join our elite Facebook community for e-sellers. On top of that, we are willing to hear and resolve your queries at any time. So don’t hesitate to contact us. It is always an honor to give a helping hand!
