Nowadays we can’t talk about growing small e-commerce businesses without mentioning big retailers and brands like Amazon. Small and growing e-commerce businesses are convinced with the fact that it is necessary for their business to work with Amazon and large companies. When a similar product is introduced in big brands like Amazon, small companies’ sales usually drop and they don’t have an idea what to do. So, it is very important to know how to benefit your business.
This issue is quite old. Wal-Mart is a very famous store. A few decades ago, it was expanding and making small stores in many parts of the country. It affected many small mom-and-pop stores. They started getting out of business and losing their customers. So they tried not to compete with Wal-Mart. Similarly, small e-commerce brands nowadays don’t compete with Amazon.
They accepted the fact their sales are going down and eventually they closed their stores. You can never get an answer from them about how they planned to compete with big brands and to get back their customers.
How can small e-commerce brands compete with the big brands?
The answer isn’t that difficult as you assume it is. The needs and wants of people are different from each other. Fulfilling all of them is not possible for a single brand no matter how big it is. This thing especially applies in the luxury market where people want superior quality, best service, and attention.
It is true that you can compete when a big brand but there are some areas where you can’t beat them no matter what you do. For a successful business, you must learn where you can and where you can’t beat them in order to leverage your brand. Observe giant brands and identify where you can never beat them. For example, selection of the products is an area where it is impossible to beat Amazon. Do the best for your customers but keep it in mind that this won’t give you much benefit. Then, go to the areas where you can actually compete. Find out your market strengths and advantages. Put your efforts into developing them. For example, personal attention, and customer service are the areas where you can compete with Amazon and beat them if you work hard.
Build an e-commerce store of your own
When people search for products through the internet, they open multiple pages in their browsers. This is not what you want. You don’t people to go to the other stores. You want them to buy items for your store. It’s only possible if you have your own e-commerce store. Through this, you will be able to monitor what happens during a buying process on a website and how you will control it. Do not depend on somebody else to sell your items and handle the distributions. It may be possible that they may introduce a brand quite similar to AmazonBasics or sell somebody else’s products.
Ask your customers and listen to them
There are so many people who create products and offer services to their customers just because they think people would want it. It often turns out to be opposite and nobody invests money in their products and services. So it’s better to ask customers first and then create something. After building your own e-commerce, engage your customers. Ask them what they want and will they buy it or not. Observe the feedback carefully and create products and services according to it. This will help you in marketing also. You won’t have to put too much effort into marketing your products as you have already created products based on customers’ needs and wants.
Guide people by becoming an expert
In this era of modern technology, gathering information is a piece of cake. There is a lot of information available on the internet related to any topic you want to search about. But the fact that you can find information related to anything is also a problem. There is too much information and not a lot of time to find the most accurate one. So in this situation, people want experts whom they can trust and ask anything. They want experts who will help them in making decisions effectively and efficiently.
In this e-commerce world, an expert means a person who will provide recommendations, style guides, fit guides and descriptions and pros and cons of different products etc. An expert isn’t a person who knows each and everything. In fact, he is a person who can easily identify what his customers’ needs and wants so that he may help them in making a decision that is right for them. Your e-commerce brand should make the lives of your customers simple and easy. For example, if you have clothing website, sort your clothes according to different weather and occasion. Explain why the particular dress is appropriate for a certain occasion or weather and how it is different from other similar dresses of competitor’s brands. It may take some time and trial but after hard work, you will definitely be able to leverage your brand.
