Gain competitive advantage by knowing who you’re up against
Competition is one of the premier forces that keeps businesses evolving. There are few companies out there that can swear they have no direct competitors in their space. Knowing exactly what your competition is up to is an age old tool in the battle to be number one.
There is high value in being the first company to do something but this can’t always be the case and there’s no shame in seeing what others are doing and working out if it is a good move for you also. In the words of Yankee songster Willie Nelson, “The early bird catches the worm but the second mouse gets the cheese.”
We aren’t encouraging high-level corporate espionage, just a bit of mild research to stay abreast of developments. If you are as clued up as possible, you are well-placed to react to market game-changers.
Here’s our tips on researching your ecommerce rivals:
Do an incognito search online
If you are using your own computer, you might want to use a new browser, clear your cookies or if you’ve got Chrome, do an incognito search which will show you results untainted by your search history.
Search for your product or service. Take a note of where you appear on the page – are you even on the first page? If not, you need to revisit your SEO strategy and see what can be done.
Where are your competitors in these search results? What have they done to appear ahead of you? PPC? Do they have multimedia content such as videos appearing? Which key words have they used? These are all things you need to make note of and come back to when it comes to reviewing your strategy.
You can start to build up a comprehensive list of those ecommerce retailers in your space.
Check out your competitors’ sites
Once you have a list of the competitors working in your space you can visit their sites and start taking notes.
What to look for….
Website design – compare the layout of their site to yours. How easy is it to navigate? What are their categories like? What is the first thing that jumps out at you? Check the functionality. Make a list of the elements which you believe would be an improvement to your site.
Products – are there any products on their site which you don’t sell but should? If they have a “best sellers” section see what is on it. Make note of any unfamiliar brands which might be good for your site too.
Prices – Check for differences in prices between your business and theirs. Are there any products they beat you on? Could you alter your prices to match or beat them?
Promotions – Are they promoting any of the products that you have at discount prices? If it is a clearance sale, make a note of what they have in it as these could be their worst performers and something for you to avoid.
Advertising – Do they have any advertising on the site? What kind of companies are paying for space on the site? There might be some ideas if advertising is something you offer also.
Content – What kind of additional content do they provide online? Do they use video, have a gallery or blog and what is on them?
Reviews – What kind of feedback to they get from their customers? There might be a few lessons for you to learn there too.
Monitor competitors’ social media activity
Social media has become an essential tool for reaching out to your customers. Are your competitors less or more active than you on social media? What site do they use? See what kind of content, offers, news etc. they are pushing out through the various channels.
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