Marketplace vs your own website: the right strategy for Indian sellers

Every Indian seller who starts on Amazon.in or Flipkart eventually asks the same question: should I invest in building my own website? The marketplace is convenient, has traffic built in, and handles logistics. But the fees add up, the platform controls the customer relationship, and building brand equity is hard when your customer sees Amazon as the store, not you.

The right answer depends on your product, your margin, your brand ambitions, and your stage of growth. Here is a framework for thinking through it.

The case for starting on marketplaces

Marketplaces provide immediate access to millions of buyers without needing to build or buy traffic. Amazon.in has over 100 million registered customers. Flipkart has comparable reach. Getting your first 500 orders is significantly faster on a marketplace than on a new website where you are starting from zero organic traffic and zero domain authority.

Marketplaces also handle payment processing, most customer trust and security concerns, return logistics infrastructure, and fulfillment through FBA or Flipkart's fulfillment network. For a new seller, this reduces operational complexity enormously.

For most Indian product businesses, starting on marketplaces is the right decision. The question is not whether to use them, but whether to also build your own channel.

The case for your own website

Marketplace fees in India range from 5 to 25 percent of the sale price depending on category. Add GST on fees, and the effective cut can be 20 to 30 percent or more once advertising, packaging, and returns are factored in. For low-margin products, this is not sustainable.

More fundamentally, on a marketplace you do not own the customer relationship. You cannot build an email list, send WhatsApp broadcasts to past buyers, or run loyalty programs. If Amazon changes its algorithm or fees, your business is at their mercy. Building a direct channel is risk management for your business.

Your own website also lets you tell your brand story completely. Indian consumers are increasingly interested in brand narratives, ethical sourcing, artisan craft stories, and founder backgrounds. Marketplaces give you limited space to communicate these. A well-built direct website can command premium pricing that marketplace listings cannot.

The multi-channel approach that works for Indian sellers

The most successful Indian product brands use a two-track approach. They maintain marketplace presence for volume and new customer acquisition, and they build their own website and customer list for higher-margin repeat business.

Use marketplaces to acquire customers. Convert them to direct buyers over time through post-purchase engagement. Include a card in your packaging that invites buyers to join your WhatsApp channel for exclusive deals. Offer a discount on the next purchase via your own website. The first sale can come from Amazon; the second, third, and fourth can come from your direct channel.

This approach improves overall margins over time as more of your revenue shifts to zero-commission direct sales while marketplaces continue to provide new customer acquisition.

When to invest in your own website

Your own website makes sense when you have evidence of repeat purchase behaviour, a story worth telling, and enough budget to sustain traffic acquisition for six to twelve months while the channel establishes itself.

Do not build a website and expect immediate sales. Organic SEO takes months. Paid traffic requires testing budget. The direct channel is a medium-term investment. Plan accordingly.

Choose a platform suited to Indian commerce. Shopify India is popular and works well. WooCommerce on a reliable Indian host is a good option for WordPress-comfortable sellers. Dukaan and Meesho's seller tools are options for very small sellers. WhatsApp Commerce, using a WhatsApp catalog and UPI for payment, has worked for some artisan and small-batch producers.

Frequently asked questions