Amazon ads vs Google Shopping is the classic fork for anyone selling physical products online. Both put your product in front of people who are ready to buy — not just browsing — which already makes them better than most social ads for a seller. The difference is where the sale happens and who keeps the customer.
Two different games
Amazon ads run inside Amazon. Someone searches "stainless water bottle," your sponsored product shows up, they buy without ever leaving. High purchase intent, frictionless checkout — but Amazon owns the customer, takes referral fees, and you're stacked against a wall of competitors and Amazon's own brands.
Google Shopping shows product listings at the top of a Google search. The click sends them to your website. You own the checkout, the customer data, the email, the repeat business. But you also have to run the store, handle payments, and earn trust a marketplace grants for free.
The money side
- Amazon: You pay per click on ads plus referral fees (often ~15%) and, if you use FBA, fulfillment fees. Ad costs are climbing as more sellers pile in.
- Google Shopping: You pay per click, typically $0.30-$1.50 for many product categories, but no marketplace cut. You keep the full margin minus your own shipping and processing.
On paper Google often keeps more margin per sale. Amazon frequently converts better because the buyer already trusts the checkout and has their card on file.
Where Amazon wins
If you're an unknown brand, Amazon's built-in trust and Prime shipping do heavy lifting you'd struggle to match on your own site. Impulse and commodity products often do better there. And the customer base is enormous and already in buying mode.
Where Google Shopping wins
If you have a real brand, a decent website, and want to build a customer list you actually own, Google Shopping is the long game. You can retarget, email, and build loyalty — none of which Amazon lets you do well. Higher-consideration or distinctive products, where people want to research on a real site, tend to fit here.
Which to start with
- No website, unknown brand, commodity product: Start on Amazon. The infrastructure and trust are worth the fees.
- You have a solid store and margins to protect: Start with Google Shopping and keep your customers.
- Enough budget and time: Run both. Amazon for discovery and volume, Google Shopping to build the owned side.
Don't ignore your product feed
Both channels live and die on your product data — titles, images, prices, reviews. A sloppy feed tanks results no matter how much you spend. Clean titles with the words people actually search, sharp photos, and honest pricing beat clever bidding every time.
One thing sellers forget: Google Shopping performance is tied to the health of your website. If your site is slow, thin, or invisible to search, your Shopping ads work harder for less. Running our free SEO and AI score on your store is a quick way to catch problems before you pour money into clicks.
The bottom line
Amazon rents you a ready audience and takes a cut. Google Shopping sends buyers to a store you own and keep. Neither is wrong — it depends on whether you're chasing volume now or building a brand you control. If managing feeds, bids, and the website behind it sounds like a second job, that's the kind of thing Arbor takes off your plate, and there are more growth guides if you want to dig deeper first.