Learn from your competitors and surpass them

From appearing on the first page of search results to increasing website traffic and engaging leads on social media, it all comes down to outperforming your competitors when it comes to eCommerce.

The volatile e-commerce market is competitive and dynamic. Over the years, the industry has enjoyed growth that is nothing short of a revolution. Not to mention the competition that continues to grow by leaps and bounds. So much so, that the internet is teeming with information, guidelines, and tips on starting and maintaining an e-store and fueling success as an e-commerce retailer.

However, those blogs, articles and comprehensive guides on the web are not the only sources of information that people involved in e-commerce can refer to. You may not expect this, but some of the most effective eCommerce tips, strategies, and tips may come from your own competition.

Believe it or not, even the smallest of your competitors can teach you lessons that can help you avoid common pitfalls and discover opportunities to grow and differentiate your business from others.

Research your competitors

While many eCommerce entrepreneurs and marketers are creative enough to come up with unique business ideas, there is a chance that every new idea will be inspired by something that already exists and of course come with innovative changes.

Your competition not only serves as a boost to your business, but also provides you with vital information that helps you make the right decisions for your eCommerce business.

To capitalize on your competition, you must first research it. This research will allow you to determine what your competitors are doing, why they are doing it, what customers like or dislike about your product/service, which of their strategies can also benefit your business.

Good competitive research should reveal the following about your competitors and the eCommerce industry in general:

• marketing practices

• brand strategies

• SEO tactics

• Strengths and weaknesses (of competitors)

• Customer loyalty rate

• Latest market trends

• Growth opportunities

Gaining a good understanding of your competitors will provide you with the information that will, in turn, enable you to establish effective strategies for your own business and add value to your business.

Steps to research your competitors

• Visit competing websites and review the user experience, design, content, and other aspects of the website. You may want to hire a professional Magento website designer if you want to outperform your competitor in terms of eCommerce features in your store. A professional can help you effectively analyze the website and all of its components.

• Check out their social media channels to track their activity and see how they connect with their audience on social media.

• Request a product from the competitor’s website (obviously as an anonymous user) to see how they interact with and serve their customers.

• Contact their customer support with a made-up inquiry to see how quickly the team responds and acknowledges customer inquiries.

• Check out customer reviews online about your product and service.

While you can conduct competitive research on your own every day, there are many other tools and means to conduct competitive research in case you don’t have the time to invest in research or don’t have other core operations to focus on.

You can hire a professional to do the competitive research for you, or you can integrate tools like Twitter, Google Alerts, and RSS feeds to stay current with your competitors’ activities, updates, and trends.

Once you have researched your competitors and gathered enough information about their business practices, customers, and marketing strategies, it is time to ask yourself the following questions;

• What does their website have that yours doesn’t? What is there in your web design or layout that you would like to incorporate into yours?

• How do you attract prospects and keep existing customers engaged?

• What products or services do they offer that you don’t?

• Are they offering freebies, discounts, or promotions that could be helpful in attracting customers?

• What marketing strategies and techniques used by your competitors failed?

The answers to these questions will give you an idea of ​​the integrations and changes you need to make to your website to optimize it for better performance and results.

In short, understanding your competitors, what they do, why and how they do it can be beneficial to growing your own business. You can learn from your mistakes, failed attempts, and successful strategies to make informed decisions for your business and make a wise investment of your time and money.