You need to understand who your competition is in order to improve your business and boost your sales. Here’s how.
1. Search-engine optimisation (SEO)
SEO is a good way to start working out who your competition is:
* What other businesses show up when you search for various keywords?
* How does your site compare to them in the rankings?
* Who is running pay-per-click campaigns?
Make a list answering these questions. A useful tool for working out keyword information is Google’s Webmaster Tools. Use this to see what keywords you should be focusing on to improve your site’s SEO as well.
2. Industry
Next, you need to look at your industry:
* What is your industry segment?
* Who are your customers and where else do they shop?
* Who are you most often compared with?
* What other ecommerce stores offer the same products?
3. Websites
Once you have a list of companies, spend some time analysing their website to work out what sort of competitor they are. Key things to look at include:
* What products do they offer?
* What is their price point?
* What discounts are they using?
* What does their web design and branding look like?
* What messages are they communicating?
4. Social media
Social media is an essential part of any ecommerce business today. Look out for:
* What social media channels do they use?
* How active are they every day?
* Do they use Facebook/Twitter for customer service, or just to push sales messages out?
5. Strengths and weaknesses
Don’t forget their strengths and weaknesses:
* What are the best/worst aspects about their online store?
* How can you leverage these weaknesses?
It’s worth making a list of three things you like and don’t like about each site in order to build your battle plan.
By looking at these four different areas, you will be able to determine who your competition is and conduct a proper competitor analysis using our easy spreadsheet: An easy-to-use competitor analysis spreadsheet for ecommerce.
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