Assess Your E-commerce Competition in 2024: A Quick Guide to Gaining A Strategic Edge
As an e-commerce owner in 2024, you know that launching your online store is only the first step.
To stay competitive in this fast-paced industry, it's crucial that you regularly assess your competitor landscape and learn from other successful brands.
Even a few small tweaks informed by studying your competition can give your business an edge.
Don't just assess competitors at launch - block out time each month to analyze what they're doing right.
You may uncover smart strategies to test on your own website.
Remember, no one owns marketing tactics - you're free to adopt what resonates with your brand and audience.
Use competitor research to find new ways to delight customers, optimize conversions, and stand out.
The brands that continually refine based on competitors are the ones that thrive.
Study Their Website
You can learn a lot about your competitors simply by studying their website. Spend time browsing their site, especially the homepage, product pages, and blog.
Look for design elements you like from a user perspective.
Do their photos make products look appealing?
Is their navigation intuitive?
Does the layout draw your eye to important CTAs?
Make notes on features you may want to adopt for your own site.
Pay attention to their product descriptions too.
Are they educational, entertaining, or straightforward?
What kind of language do they use?
Don’t copy their style, but it can inspire how to make your own descriptions stand out.
Also analyze their website for key e-commerce elements.
Do they have high quality product photos?
Are their prices clearly displayed?
What options do they offer for sorting or filtering products?
Look at their product organization and taxonomy too.
The goal is to appreciate their website from a user perspective and note strategies you could potentially optimize or adopt for your e-commerce site.
No one is barred from using similar - or even the same - marketing tactics and website functionality.
Analyze Their SEO
See what keywords your competitors rank for by using a tool like SEMrush or Ahrefs. Look at the top pages and posts driving organic traffic to their site.
Examine their on-page SEO, including:
Metadata - Do they have optimized page titles and meta descriptions?
URL structure - Are their URLs keyword-optimized?
Headings and content - Do they target relevant keywords in their H1 and H2 tags? Is their content optimized for those terms?
Page speed - Is their site fast loading?
Mobile optimization - Is the site responsive and mobile-friendly?
Internal linking - Do they link relevant pages together?
Analyzing their SEO can reveal opportunities where you may be able to outrank them for certain terms.
It also gives you ideas for improving your on-page optimization.
Review Their Social Media
When assessing competitors, be sure to examine their social media presence across platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, TikTok, and Pinterest.
Look at the type of content they share and analyze what resonates best with their audience.
Pay attention to engagement metrics like comments, shares, likes, and views. This will give you insight into what content performs well.
Check if they utilize paid advertising or influencer campaigns. See how frequently they post and if they engage with followers.
Review their aesthetics and branding across channels.
Do they have a cohesive visual style? How does their messaging and tone relate to their overall brand identity?
Understanding a competitor's social media strategy will help you identify areas of opportunity to differentiate yourself.
Examine Their Sales Funnel
As you study your competitors, pay close attention to their sales funnel and conversion process.
Pay attention to how they generate leads, whether through content offers, email signups, or social media.
Analyze their email sequencing - how many emails do they send after a signup and what's the cadence? What kind of content goes into their emails?
Look for upsell opportunities in their post-purchase flows. Do they recommend complementary products or higher tier versions?
Note when and how they prompt for upsells. You may spot areas in their funnel with potential for improvement.
Analyzing their sales funnel from end-to-end can reveal opportunities to optimize your own lead gen, email nurturing, and upsells.
You may find places to add or remove steps to increase conversion rates.
Examining their funnel provides valuable intel to enhance yours.
Compare Pricing and Products
Compare your prices, products, and bundles to your competitors. See how your pricing and offerings stack up.
Make a spreadsheet comparing your prices and products to competitors. Note where your prices are higher, lower, or the same.
Check if your competitors offer product bundles or packages that you don't. Consider adding these to capture more sales.
Identify any unique products you offer that competitors don't. Promote these differentiators in your marketing.
If a competitor is dominating with a hot product, consider adding a similar offering. You don't have to copy them outright, but see if you can put your own spin on trending items.
Ensure you aren't drastically higher on pricing than competitors. Being 10-20% higher is fine but don't be 2-3x higher on key items.
Offer an overall value proposition comparable to competitors. Shoppers will compare the end-to-end experience from multiple stores.
Study Their Reviews
Look at reviews for your competitors across the web. Search for their brand name on platforms like Google, Facebook, Yelp, and industry forums to find feedback.
What are customers saying about the quality of their products and services? Do they receive more positive or negative feedback?
Look for themes in what customers appreciate and take issue with.
This helps you identify your competitor's weaknesses to improve upon in your own business. If multiple reviews mention shipping delays, unclear return policies, or rude customer service, you can make an effort to excel in those areas.
Read between the lines in positive reviews too. If customers rave about fast shipping and attentive service, make it a priority to match (or beat) that experience.
Monitoring your competitors' reviews should be an ongoing effort as new feedback comes in. Regularly check for any shifts in sentiment or new pain points arising for customers.
Follow Their Blog
See the topics and formats that perform well on your competitor's blog.
Do certain post lengths or headlines get more engagement?
What about visual content like photos and videos?
Make note of any trends you spot. Then try creating blog posts in those popular styles and formats for your own site.
Experiment to see if similar topics and formats resonate with your audience. You may find overlap in the content that attracts both your and their customers.
Adapt their most shared blog posts into content for your own site. Put your unique spin on the topics and styles. Just avoid copying word for word.
Check Their Advertising
You can get a sense of their advertising strategy by noting the platforms, creatives, and targeting they use.
Look for their ads on Google, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, etc. What types of ads are they running - video, image, carousel? How effectively do the ads communicate their brand message and value proposition?
Check their Google text ads - what keywords are they bidding on? This can give you insight into their SEO strategy as well.
Browse their Facebook and Instagram ads. Who is their target audience - age, gender, interests? What types of creatives and messaging are they using?
Pay attention to the landing pages their ads go to. Do they take users directly to product or category pages, or to a dedicated landing page? What does their post-click experience look like?
For YouTube video ads, note the targeting and messaging. Do they have a consistent brand style across video ads? What types of videos are they utilizing - explainer, testimonial, product-focused?
Check retargeting ads you may see across platforms after visiting their site. What products or offers are they remarketing to you? How customized is their messaging?
Regularly monitoring their advertising provides valuable insight into who they are targeting, what platforms and ad types work for them, and how you can improve your advertising strategy.
In Conclusion
The competitive landscape never stops evolving.
To stay ahead, you must make competitor research an ongoing process.
Set time aside each month to analyze what other brands in your niche are doing.
Look for new strategies to test or improvements to make.
This regular check-in keeps your finger on the pulse of your industry.
You'll notice emerging trends and can capitalize on opportunities faster than competitors.
Ongoing research ensures you provide the best possible customer experience.
It also prompts you to regularly re-evaluate your marketing, products, pricing, and more.
Don't let your brand go stagnant while others innovate.
Commit to continuous competitor research and assessment.
This investment of time translates to staying competitive long-term.