When you are in a business, no matter what kind of business you are in a competition, you have to keep a close eye on your competitors, their strategies, their profits, losses, everything.
Now comes to your business..!!
Ever since the world of the internet gained popularity, everything has been transformed. The world is now a global market, and consumers have found the key to the treasure trove of information. As a result, they now have a vast array of options for selecting a product or service.
To stay up to date and on top of your industry, you must evaluate your customers only and focus on your competitors. And to get everything in the right way, E-Commerce competitor analysis is the perfect solution.
Whether you are an "old player" in the E-Commerce industry or just started, you have to keep track of your competitors.
Today, I will discuss this issue intensely in this article and let you know the best ways to do competitive research in E-Commerce.
So, let's get started..!!
What is Competitor Analysis?
Competitor analysis is a broad word; it consists of many roles and responsibilities. But if we define it in a nutshell, then,
"Competitor analysis is a strategic analysis or a deep research for effectively identifying and skilfully evaluating your competitors' products, growth, and marketing strategies".Although the approach of competitor analysis is fundamental, when you dive deeper and start execution, you will find it complicated. And it varies from industry to industry.
If you are in an E-Commerce business, a thorough competitive analysis will allow you to understand your competitors better and let you know what they are trying to achieve. Based on that information, you can make smarter decisions about your following marketing approach and set yourself in a better position in the market.
What is the value of competitive research in Ecommerce?
If you want to expand your business, competitive analysis should be essential for your strategy. It not only helps you to make a successful marketing strategy and show you the broader way to achieve your goals.
Competitive analysis assists you to:
- Investigate the functional aspects of your competitor's websites to see how you may improve and develop yours for a better user and customer experience.
- Determine your USP (unique selling proposition) and use it to set your e-commerce business apart from the competition.
- Determine your competitors' marketing techniques and discover more about their primary traffic sources.
- Make the most out of the opportunities by examining your competitors' weaknesses and strengths.
- Explore how to present your company's brand in the marketplace.
- Create advertising strategies that target the channels that your competitors are focusing on.
7 Best Ways to Conduct a Successful Competitor Analysis
Before starting a competitor analysis, you have to prepare a checklist. And add all those things you will perform in that checklist.
So, what should you look for when conducting a competitor analysis?
Let's know it.
1. Check out the Essential Tools and Websites for Competitor Analysis
You'll need to use these tools and websites frequently while conducting a competitor analysis for your eCommerce firm. Here's a list of tools and websites you should be familiar with.
#1 Google
Google is the Mecca of information. It is the perfect place to find any information on any topic. In addition, Google provides all those essential insights to help you execute a better competitor analysis.
#2 Social Media Platforms
The impact of social media these days. To execute a better competitor analysis, you must understand how different social media platforms work. From advertising strategies to campaigns, from designs to content, you can grab every detail of your competitor through social media.
#3 Youtube
Another essential platform to use for competitor analysis is Youtube. It can give you information that you won't be able to get elsewhere. What customers like, dislike and what they are talking about and what they want to know, everything you can note down from Youtube.
#4 Quora
Quora, when utilized correctly, may be one of the most effective tools for identifying possible competitors, discovering new products, customers' demands, and comments about particular trends.
#5 Moz, Semrush, Ahrefs, and Ubersuggest
Content is king, and if you deliver the best one, you can grab the best one. Keyword research tools can give you valuable information about your competition and notify you when it's time to move on or stay on the same keyword.
2. Identify your Competitors
You can locate your competition in a variety of methods. However, the majority of their immediate competitors are well-known.
However, with more and more players entering the market, it is becoming increasingly challenging to keep pace. Therefore, follow the below stated approaches to grab your competitors.
Google Search
One of the best and simplest ways to find your competitors is to use Google Search. Just search for the products you are offering, you will get the results of all the local businesses that sell that exact product.
Isn't it simple?
It is. You can even track the well-known players of the market using google search.
Although Facebook is not a standard search engine, its search results include a plethora of data. Again, this is due to its large user base.
For Digital Marketing, every business has a Facebook page that promotes its products and services. And if you search for the product name or keywords like "Buy Product Name," you'll almost certainly find someone selling the same product as yours. So list them down and target them.
LinkedIn is a professional social networking site that has exploded in popularity. Every business owner, professional, or company employee shares their business thoughts on Linkedin. There's a strong possibility your competitors have joined LinkedIn as well. LinkedIn groups and LinkedIn responses can be a valuable resource for anyone looking to find possible competitors.
Quora
Quora is primarily a platform for knowledge sharing. It works in a reasonably straightforward manner. When a question is posed, those who know the answer respond.
However, Quora allows users to share links with their answers. As a result, many people utilize it to search and answer questions about their products, encouraging visitors to visit their website.
When you search about your product, you'll find a lot of responses on Quora that are talking about the same product or a similar product. And many of the answers have a link to their website; from here, you can collect information about your competitor.
3. R&D on the Products your Competitors are Offering
After completing the above process, you can easily compile a list of your competitors. Now you need to research the products and their offerings. Note down the below questions that help you assess them better.
- What are their services and products?
- Have they introduced any new products?
- How do their products compare to yours in terms of price?
- What items do they lack in comparison to yours?
- How many of the items are comparable to yours (Product)?
- Is there anything about your product that you don't like about theirs?
- Is there a current discount or any offer on purchasing?
Collect the answers to all these questions and make a table of them. Then, after analyzing every solution, you can create a roadmap of how to display your items and where you can make improvements.
These things together will produce excellent results.
4. Assess the content strategy, content quality, and content reach of your competitors
Valuable content on a website gives rise to two-way communication. Whenever you assess any website, you will find a blog where your competitor shares his expertise.
Understanding your competitor's overall marketing approach necessitates examining their content marketing strategy.
To assess your competitor's content strategy, you must follow his blogs regularly by subscribing to them. Now those pieces of information (blogs) with your content. Here you will get the result if the quality of your content is good, better or best as compared to your competitor. And depending on the results, you can modify your content strategy.
5. Measure Brand Positioning of your Competitors
Every business positions their brand in customers' minds. You need to focus on the content your competitors post in the online world. Whether it's a blog, a website slider, a press release, or a paid ad, these ways can reveal how they're portraying their company as a brand and what message they're attempting to send to customers.
From this, you can:
- obtain a notion of what to follow by looking at their messaging -
- Get what phrases or punch words your rivals emphasize the most
- Know the methods your competitors use to entice customers
- Things that distinguish you from your competitors
You can get a clear picture of what and how your competitors communicate to their customers by attempting all the above points.
6. Recognize the Social Media Presence
Do you keep yourself updated with your competitors' social media accounts? It would be best to do this daily because nowadays, customers interact with the business directly through social media. And you can get accurate results about those competitors through comments and posts.
You can also analyze your competitors' social media advertisements. Social media advertising frequently creates more direct sales than any other type of ad, and it's easier to analyze the results of your competitor's social media campaigns. All these things give you an idea about how to proceed and not to proceed on social media.
7. Gain knowledge about your Competitors' advertising mediums
The more people see you, the more they remember you. And since the advent of the digital way, every brand is placing itself in the eyes of the customer. By diversifying their footprint, modern firms can do so effectively.
You can go through all media platforms your competitors use to reach out to customers, like advertising on PPC, Email Marketing, Search Engines, Social Media, Youtube, and various other platforms.
To put yourself in a good position, attempt to figure out the channels they advertise on and match them with better deals.
8. SWOT Analysis
After completing all the above steps and adequately evaluating all of the competitors, you'll have a general idea of who they are, their strategies, and how they proceed in the market. It will then allow you to do a SWOT analysis on each opponent individually.
In SWOT analysis, you have to find out your competitors' strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats of your competitors. You can do this by going through the below-stated questions.
- What are your competitor's Strengths?
Include something that your rival is recognized for or skilled at in this response.
- What are the Weaknesses in your competitor's strategy?
You'll have to figure out their client's biggest gripe. It could be poor customer service, sluggish shipping, overpricing, or any other issue that a client doesn't like.
- What opportunities do your competitors present to you?
You'll need to figure out what opportunities your competitors provide in this situation. For example, keep an eye out for any abrupt changes, such as a price hike, offers, discounts, new market penetration, etc., which you can take advantage of.
- What threats does our competition provide to your business? -
Please find out the threat your rival poses to your company: price reductions, new market approach, new strategy, etc.
Thoughts
So, that's it..!!!
Here I have discussed all the best ways to do competitive research in E-Commerce. They are not just the ways; these are the brainstorming steps, following which you can set yourself in the bigger picture of the market.
With this data, you'll be able to see how your company matches up against the competition and build a dynamic catalog of what your customers see when they visit other websites. You'll need this to take your company to the next level and set yourself apart from the competition.