If you are planning to run a business on Amazon, competitor analysis is a must. Getting to know about your competitors helps you stay in line with the latest market trends and get that extra competitive advantage. Your competitors – especially the ones who started out before you, have already done a lot of research before branching out their Amazon business. So why not make use of this research?
Amazon competitor research helps you identify market gaps, research, develop and modify products accordingly and create effective business strategies to ensure business profitability with time.
Let us understand how each aspect works with the help of examples.
Identify niches and gaps you can exploit
Every type of business, no matter how saturated, has gaps. There are still areas of improvement, and many business owners either ignore them or don’t explore enough to identify these areas. Identifying gaps and creating your own niche will help you establish yourself as a key player and a specialist for at least one niche in your business.
Suppose you are planning to sell car care products on Amazon. Amazon competitor research will help you identify various car care brands and their products, product material, prices, and the various car parts that can be serviced using these products. You will also get to know the car parts or issues that these products are not servicing. Which leads us to our next point.
Research, develop and modify products accordingly
Research and development are of utmost importance to stay ahead of the game in businesses. Brands spend a significant amount of their budget on research, and top businesses always leverage from it.
Suppose a brand is selling heavy-duty rubber cleaner to clean dirty tires and rubber services for small cars. However, this product is not good enough for SUVs and big car tires. If you have the capability, you can develop and sell your own heavy duty rubber cleaner for big cars. Amazon Seller competitor analysis helps you modify existing products and choose the best products that can sell.
Create an effective business strategy
Nothing works like planning. An effective business strategy is always key to success. You need to analyze key points from your research and create a strategy accordingly. Now that you have identified the gaps in your competitor’s strategies, you can create your own strategy to stay one up compared to your competitors.
Continuing from the above example, you can plan the manufacturing, pre-launch, and launch strategy for your flagship product. The car care product range is just an example, you can use a similar approach for any product type.
Increase sales
The figure that matters at the end of the day is the sales. While competitor analysis is the starting point, sales is the end point. But competitor analysis is not a one-time process and needs to be done regularly as everyone is growing and evolving. This includes not only your competitor, but the entire business landscape.
For example, if you are planning on launching products for fuel-based vehicles, you must be aware of the fact that the renewable energy-based vehicle market is growing at an unprecedented pace. Amazon competitor analysis service helps you identify and analyze not only your current competitors, but know the future market trends and likely course of action as well.
How To Identify Your Competitors In A Massive Market Landscape
To identify your competitors on Amazon, you need to follow a professional approach and derive data from reliable sources. Competitor identification is the cornerstone of Amazon competitor research and needs to be carried out in an extensive and robust manner. Online research, directory research, and physical scanning are some of the strategies to identify your competitors.
Online Research
Online research involves finding your competitors on credible search engines such as Google, Baidu, and Bing. Among eCommerce marketplaces, you should research your competitors on eBay, Rakuten, Alibaba, Walmart, etc besides Amazon. YouTube and social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tumblr, Reddit as well as Quora can provide you information about your competitors.
However, you need to enter the correct keywords and follow an exhaustive research approach to create a list of your competitors. Professional Amazon competitor analysis service helps you conduct 360-degree online research, without missing out on any of your quality competitors.
Local Directories
Online directories such as Google My Business, Bing Places, Yahoo, Yelp, Yellow Pages, Foursquare, Hotfrog, Nextdoor and Local are great competitor search resources. You can create a list of all your competitors depending on your business type using these directories. If your products are good enough to sell on Amazon, there is a huge chance most of your competitors derived from these lists are selling on Amazon as well.
Physical Scanning
The value of being aware of your surroundings and searching outside the internet cannot be ruled out. If you are selling car care products in Detroit, you should be aware of local sellers, wholesalers, and physical store owners. This will also provide you an idea of your customer’s psychology and buying behavior. You can lookup print directories and yellow pages as well.
Opt for professional competitor analysis services to gain the competitive edge, focus on your business and save time & money.
Aspects Of Your Competitor You Need To Analyze
There are several aspects of your competitor’s business you need to analyze. While many of these parameters can be easily studied online using Amazon competitor research, some aspects require complex and in-depth research. You will need to go out of the way to get in the mind of your competitors and know how they are running business processes end to end.
Keyword Analysis
Keyword analysis is an integral part of Amazon Seller Competitor Analysis. You need to know the keywords your competitors are ranking on in Amazon as well as Google search. Individual keyword analysis of each competitor will help you study the keywords your competitors are using in their titles and descriptions. You can also study the search volume and competitiveness for each keyword, and identify the correct keywords and their usage strategy.
Listing Analysis
A single Amazon listing has many components besides that can make a big difference. These include the title, category, description, keywords, bullet points, FAQs, images and videos, and other detailed information. Amazon seller competitor analysis helps you analyze these components and improving upon them keeping your products in mind is the need of the hour.
Pricing and Discount Analysis
Your competitor’s prices give a fair idea of the market price range you should price your products at. You should study your competitor’s product price as well as the shipping price for various territories. Another aspect worth noting is the discount. Amazon seller competitor analysis helps you know when and how your competitors announce discounts, and should price your products accordingly.
Operation and Fulfillment Analysis
Whether your competitors are selling their products through Amazon, other eCommerce marketplaces, or through their own eCommerce websites, their reputation depends on their operation and fulfillment. Professional Amazon Seller Competitor Analysis would help you know in detail about your competitor’s team size, company atmosphere, capital, revenue, short term, and long term goals.
Order fulfillment matters a lot, and you need to study how your competitors store and manage their inventory and stock, manage orders, track, ship, manage returns and refunds, deal with customer complaints and grievances and handle their customer care and respond to reviews.
Marketing Analysis
Marketing analysis requires the study of your competitor’s online and offline marketing efforts. Online or digital marketing involves blogging and content marketing, influencer marketing, email marketing, video marketing, affiliate marketing, mobile marketing SEO, and PPC campaigns. Offline marketing involves print, television, radio, outdoor, events, workshops and community engagement.
Social Media Analysis
Social media is also a part of a company’s marketing efforts. Your competitors must be present on the social media platforms mentioned above and several aspects of their social media efforts need to be analyzed. Be it the nature of their posts, post frequency, hashtags, scheduling posts, replying to user comments and messages, paid promotion of social handles and posts, cross platform integration, brand partnerships or celebrity sponsorships, studying all these aspects will give you a fair idea of what you need to do.
Outsource competitor analysis services to experts
Now that you know the importance of Amazon Seller Competitor Analysis, it is important to begin the process right now. There are many processes that would require deep business knowledge and technical expertise, which is why you should always hire competitor price monitoring services.
Data4Com offers Amazon Virtual Assistant service to study and analyze all your competitors, their data, and all their strategies. All information is presented to you in the form of detailed documents, charts, graphs, and summaries at the lowest prices and minimum turnaround time. You can get a free quote by emailing your requirements to info@data4ecom.com.
FAQs
1. What is the use of competitor analysis?
Competitor analysis helps know about your business competitors and their processes to help your own business strategy. Competitor analysis is used for a variety of purposes, such as identifying market gaps, research, and development of products, business strategy creation, and increasing sales.
2. What are the most important aspects of competitor analysis?
Keyword analysis, listing analysis, pricing and discount analysis, operation and fulfillment analysis, marketing analysis, and social media analysis are some of the most important aspects of competitor analysis.
3. How can I perform competitor analysis as a product manufacturer or Amazon seller?
As a product manufacturer or Amazon seller, you can outsource competitor analysis services to experts to carry out a full-fledged competitor analysis for your business. You should get a competitor analysis done at least once a year, and companies like Data4ecom offer you discounted long term packages with many valuable add-on services.
