The ecommerce business is no different from any other form of business in the world. Besides constantly upgrading the quality of your product and service, you need to keep an eye on the competition at all times, in the field of ecommerce, as is the case with any other business. The idea is to have sufficient knowledge about the plans and progress of your competitor, so that you can adapt yourself accordingly and keep your nose ahead in the race. In other words, if you want to attain success in your ecommerce business, then you need to rigorously monitor your competition.
You should not confuse monitoring with spying. There is nothing illegal or unethical about tapping into the competitor’s mind. Make use of all the clues that they leave for you. In case you are feeling uncomfortable about the idea of not “minding your own business,” know that your competitor is probably keeping track of your every move.
With that being said, here are 3 ways in which you can keep your competitor under your “watchful eye of Sauron.”
1) Check Their Web Store
A routine check on the web store of your competitor is a must to stay updated with their latest developments. You do not have to check the website every day. Do it on a weekly or monthly basis, but make sure that you do not miss out on any new product updates. How will checking their website benefit you? Well, for one, you will get to know more about the direction in which their company is going. Secondly, you can find out whether they have particular items out of stock. In such circumstances, make that item (or a similar item) the featured product on your website to draw in your competitor’s customers. It is a little sneaky, but it is a clever move, nonetheless. Also, checking on their website allows you to carry out a little bit of price comparison to ensure that the prices on your website have not spiralled out of the reach of the general consumer.
2) Compare Keywords
Keywords are an integral part of devising any kind of ecommerce marketing strategy. Checking up on the keywords used in the website of your rival ecommerce company can help you improve on the quality of the ones used in your site. Run the website through a Meta Tag analyzing program, which will present to you the keywords used in there. Depending on the outcome of the analysis, you can decided to directly compete for the same keyword, or come up with a keyword of your own that acts as a better alternative to the one used by your competitor.
3) Subscribe to Their Email Newsletter
The primary benefit of subscribing to the email newsletter of your competitor is that you will acquire a clear idea about their customer service and the marketing techniques they use to hook in the attention of potential buyers. Don’t be on a mission to critique anything and everything they write on those newsletters. If you find that they have bettered you in a particular area, take note of that, and try to implement the advanced tactic in your ecommerce business’s newsletter.
At the end of the day, it is much better to be taking a page or two out of your competitor’s book than sitting on your office chair and boasting about your ecommerce website’s superiority over the rivals. The latter will get you nowhere.
