If you run your own small retail business with an e-commerce site, you will have a lot of things to contend with. So much goes on behind the scenes in online retail. While customers just see the simplicity of a screen and all of their online orders getting delivered, there are many areas that nobody considers.
One of the key things that you need to do as an e-commerce business is to ensure that you are keeping yourself as competitive as possible. But when there is so much competition out there, how do you even know where to start?
Why Pay Attention To The Competition?
Competitor checks are an established practice throughout the retail industry. You are looking for competitor activity that may impact on your trade. This might include price changes, promotional events, new products, rebranding, and much more. You should look for their strengths and weaknesses, and also try and identify any opportunities for you to try and provide stronger competition in order to attract customers that may go to your rivals.
It is naive to believe that your competitors do not monitor you. And, while you want to be ahead of the game and leading the way in terms of price, quality, and service, you need to know what everyone else is doing too.
Identify Your Major Competitors
The internet is a very big place, with over a billion websites out there, it is hard to know where to start. And, with the nature of selling online, your competition could be based anywhere in the world.
Using specialized services it is possible to monitor your price online to find out who else is selling your products in order to protect your margins.
Regular checks on keywords relating to your products will help you identify the brands that have the best SEO on their sites and will be your threat in terms of internet searches.
However, with many other ways to sell, you need to keep your eye on social media too. Instagram selling is very commonplace, and smaller operations can reach broader customer bases through well-targeted posts and without the need for an expensive website.
Competing With The Masses
You may not always be able to compete on price. Unfortunately, you need to manage your margins, and if someone else is loss leading on your bread-and-butter lines you will need to change your tactics.
You can always try to broaden your net by widening your customer base. Finding additional ways of improving SEO tactics and keeping your social media influence is vital. Develop a strong point of difference in the quality of your customer service. Having faster and friendlier service will set you apart from the competition. Think about the way that you are displaying your products too. Are the photos the best they can be and are the descriptions thoroughly captivating? You may not be able to promote that product with reductions, but can you run any other promotional activity alongside it? Be sure you are constantly evolving your offer.