Affiliate Marketing Checklist

The problem/opportunity

Ignoring the competition is one of the biggest mistakes you could make as an eCommerce storeowner. Whether you like it or not, your competitors do have an impact on your business prospects. In developing your business plan, it is important to take a closer look into the competition and see how they could affect your business’ position in the marketplace.

The Solution:

An analysis of the competition helps you formulate strategies and allows you to have a competitive advantage and succeed in the eCommerce market place.

Identify your competitors

Business competitors come in three different types: Direct, Indirect and Future Competitors.

• Direct competitors are your immediate rivals in terms of product or service offering. Find seven competitors of this type and analyze in depth 3-5 of them.
• Indirect competitors are businesses that offer products or services alternative to yours. For example, your product is fitness equipment that promotes weight loss. Your indirect competitors could be anything from diet pills to gym memberships. It is recommended that you analyze 2-3 indirect competitors.
• As the term suggests, future competitors are your potential rivals in the market arena that you are entering. Most of them are brick-and-mortar businesses that may decide to offer products and services online. Analyze 2-3 competitors of this type.

Find your competitors

Search on the first 3 pages on Google for your competitor. What keywords are they using? What are their USP? What are they marketing messages? Read their about pages, what are they saying they are good at? Google alert your competitors and gather up as much information on them.

Do a SWOT Analysis

Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats on your competitors.  What is their competitive advantage? What are their plausible weaknesses?  Then do the same for your company. Compare and contrast your similarities and differences. An analysis of a competitor’s weakness not only reveals pitfalls you should avoid, it can also guide you to see some opportunities you could take advantage.

Write a convincing position statement
Once you have studied your competitors, the next step is to focus on your competitive position. Your analysis of the competition will help you in defining the essential factors that set you apart from your competitors. Define your competitive advantage clearly to convey not only how you can accomplish your plans but why they will work 

Evaluate Your  Ecommerce Store

Review and compare your website’s design and features based on your observations of other sites.  What do you have in common with them? What can you do to distinguish your store? Don’t directly copy them, what works for them may not work for you, and your site might just be another “me too” entity.

In The Long Run:

Your competitor analysis will allow you to take a peak into what works and what doesn’t in the industry based on your competitors performance. It will also help you create a business strategy that will enable you to develop assets or skills that your competitors do not share, giving you a unique and enduring competitive advantage.

Getting to “eCommerce heaven” is a marathon, not a sprint – but you can get better every week.

By: Shirley Tan