Don’t fear your competitors. Instead, think of them as a treasure chest for your business, full of secrets and answers to help you thrive.
This guide shows you how to enhance your business roadmap by discovering what makes your competitors successful.
Read on to learn how to do that via a thorough ecommerce competitive analysis. Discover how to decode your rival’s website, product strategy, customer service and marketing.
Identify Your Main Competitors
Before you can analyse any competitor, you need a shortlist. Begin with a list of ecommerce businesses that sell similar products to you.
A Google search or online directory is a quick starting point. However, try a professional competitor analysis tool like SimilarWeb for a more comprehensive source.
To narrow that list, look at industry data and market trends. You want to look for metrics on traffic levels and revenue to determine what competitors are the most successful. You should aim to gather around five to ten competitors for the best competitor analysis.
Review Websites
By visiting each competitor’s website, you can get valuable insights into what makes them successful. You should focus first on the layout and usability.
You’ll notice that the most successful websites have an easy-to-understand design. It looks professional, and its products stand out. They’ll also have websites with modern cloud hosting that are fast and work well on mobile.
Understanding your competitors’ website design will help guide what to do with your ecommerce store.
Review Products
The next step in your competitor analysis is to examine the products on offer.
First, look at the prices and promotions. Is the pricing competitive? Do they add other popular extras, like free shipping, to make their pricing more attractive?
Next, look at how the competitors display their products online. Do they have professional photos? Some may even offer videos.
Which products look the most appealing out of all your competitors? What can you learn from this?
Finally, examine how niche the site is and what sort of product range they have. Consider features like exclusive or limited edition items. Check too whether they offer branded or generic products.
Marketing Strategies
It’s time to look at the marketing strategies that help your competitors advance. Find their social media profiles and take note of any promotions they offer.
It will also give you a feel for their brand and how their marketing managers position the company in the market. Look at their blog, too, to examine their content marketing strategy.
Customer Service
Happy customers will give your business higher retention levels and help you grow. There’s much to learn from competitors in this respect. Look at their checkout process and what happens after you buy.
Note the communications they have, such as post-purchase emails. Finally, consider whether they follow up with the customer after a sale with surveys or offers.
Succeeding With an Ecommerce Competitive Analysis
It’s tempting to focus straight ahead in your business and not look to the side and what your rivals are doing. Yet an ecommerce competitive analysis can be a valuable tool.
It could be the missing link your business needs to get ahead. It will give you ideas and inspiration on lifting your brand and standing out from the crowd.
Happy customers will give your business higher retention levels and help you grow. There’s much to learn from competitors in this respect. Look at their checkout process and what happens after you buy.
Note the communications they have, such as post-purchase emails. Finally, consider whether they follow up with the customer after a sale with surveys or offers.
Succeeding With an Ecommerce Competitive Analysis
It’s tempting to focus straight ahead in your business and not look to the side and what your rivals are doing. Yet an ecommerce competitive analysis can be a valuable tool.
It could be the missing link your business needs to get ahead. It will give you ideas and inspiration on lifting your brand and standing out from the crowd. It could be the missing link your business needs to get ahead.
It will give you ideas and inspiration on lifting your brand and standing out from the crowd. It could be the missing link your business needs to get ahead. It will give you ideas and inspiration on lifting your brand and standing out from the crowd.
