If you are in an e-commerce business, conducting sound competitor analysis can help you better understand your competitors and what they are targeting. This will give you a better understanding of where your company is in your industry so you can make better, smarter decisions that can help you with pricing strategies and marketing campaigns.

Due to the rapid changes in online retail operations and marketing communications, for e-commerce enterprises,Collect competitor information and be flexible and timelyResponding to market changes is crucial.In this article, we will highlight some simple steps that can be applied to all e-commerce businesses, whether they operate domestically or cross border,Perform competitor analysis on a regular basisTo improve operational capacity.

1. Identify your main competitors

This is obvious to enterprises, and identifying competitors is critical to competitor analysis. Your competitors aren’t just people selling the same products as you.

When doing online business, you need to think broadly about your competitors. So how do you find your e-commerce competitors? Start by asking yourself or your team the following questions:

(1) Who solves the same pain points, even using different product solutions?

It’s best if you have some understanding of why customers are buying from you. For example, if your product is positioned as a gift for men, you need to start seeing your competitors as shops with other positioned products.

(2) Who is targeting the same geographic market?

If you are going to be in cross-border e-commerce, you will need to keep a close eye on competitors worldwide. But if you focus on a specific country, you narrow your search to other sellers covering the same geographic area.

(3) Who else ranks in your target keyword search results?

You’ll find other e-commerce and direct competitors ranking as well, but you may also encounter resellers or richer markets. So you need to define who the potential competitors are to get the business you want.

(4) Which products are ranked on Baidu and Google or search engines?

When customers are looking for products, they don’t limit their search to Baidu or Google. Consider whether potential customers are also looking at Amazon, Tmall, JD.com, Ebay, Google Shopping, Bing Shopping, Yahoo Shopping, Wanelo, Shopzilla or Etsy.

Look for competitors on all relevant platforms.

2. Narrow it down

At this point, you may have identified more competitors than you thought, and that’s okay. Now we need to prioritize and simplify this to a more manageable list so that we can continue with our competitor analysis. But what’s the best way to narrow it down?

We want to keep our three most direct competitors. They are businesses that sell the same products to the same people and to the same regional buyers. And two or three indirect competitors. These are the ones that offer slightly different offers or serve other locations, but target the same buyer role.

You can use the marketing data you get from them as a source of inspiration to stand out from your offers and marketing strategies.

Automate the data collection process

Automating the process of collecting competitor analytics data will save you and your team a lot of time and money in the long run.

Another important benefit of automating this process is that you will be able toMonitor competitor operations and retain data before and after scenarios.Like VisualpingsuchSite change detection tools can help track competitor sites and social media channels. You can use such competitive intelligence tools to monitorPricing or marketing communications, new product launches, new funding announcements, changes in new employees or job openings.

4. Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of competitors

As an e-commerce enterprise, you need to collect the following information about competitors:

  1. What is their USP(theory of creativity) and how do they communicate? Search for this information on their home page at this time.
  2. Have they made any changes to their pricing strategy? Pay close attention to their product pages. Also consider their shipping costs and any costs that might affect the final retail price.
  3. How does their product compare with yours? Check to see if they are offering exactly the same goods or offering customers giveaways.
  4. How do they position themselves in the market? Pay special attention to their brand elements, image and identity.
  5. What do their customer reviews say about them? Their online comments will also be valuable information.

With all this information in hand, you will be able to create a matrix based on strengths and weaknesses and look for gaps in the market to better position your ecommerce business.

5. Pay close attention to their social interactions

Monitoring competitors’ social media presence is especially important to understand how they interact through different social media channels and to be the first to know when they’re running promotions.

For social media monitoring, a foreign software Sproutsocial is a very good tool. This is a paragraphProvide competitive social management solutions that give you a deeper understanding of what works for your industry, what resonates with you, and where you need to adjust your strategy to stand out.You also need to stay above their natural and paid rankings in Baidu or Google searches. thisThis is especially important for competitors that rank the keywords you want to rankAnd new ideas for other keywords your target audience is searching for are also important.

If you plan to advertise on Baidu or Google to increase the visibility of your search, pay close attention to the keywords your competitors bid on and understand the cost per click in each market you want to target.

A great tool for automating the SEO process is Spyfu. You can use this online service to gain insight into your competitors’ SEO and PPC strategies. This research tool helps you identify keywords that your competitors naturally rank and bid on on Google Ads. Of course, there are many similar tools in China.

Competitor analysis in the e-commerce industry is a continuous process. We should not expect to improve sales performance by doing it once or twice. We must integrate these five steps into monthly and weekly team review. In this sense, an automated information-gathering process frees up time for you and your team to focus on regularly reviewing data and responding to market changes to maintain a competitive edge.