How can a small e-commerce website survive against a large e-commerce website that sells the same kind of products?
I have an e-commerce site for selling kitchenware products. How can I compete with e-commerce sites that offer a broader range of products, discounts and often lower prices?
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Sep 21, 2017
We also had a similar issue, but with price match and giving discounts on next purchase, also giving out vouchers when a client/customer refers us to others customers. It is also important to have good reviews to the packaging products. We have done well on this check us at https://packagingetc.com
Aug 2, 2015
One way to compete is through the online experience, namely the user experience and user interface. Amazon has a lot of good things going for it, but it's hardly a fun experience. Versus a beautiful site like Fab. I know those aren't apples to apples, but the point is that you can compete with good design and user experience.
Jul 31, 2015
Provide effective discount and reward points. Also provide local service for free.
Jul 30, 2015
Hi Dinesh Kumavat,
Everybody here gives excellent advice I will not repeat. The one thing that made my parents leaders in their industry was specialization. Specialize and focus. Use the ideas you can execute from everybody to specialize. My mother, the front line person, made it as The Grand Matriarch from the fan base and The Queen of Bondage in AVN's Hall of Fame. She received 2 lifetime achievement awards for her 30 years of contribution to the adult industry. My parents retired over 10 years ago. There is not a person alive in America in the adult industry that could even be placed as a contender to their achievement. They were in the adult business. This is the most vicious and abused industry (at least it used to be) and they literally excelled and opened the door to lesbians, submissive males and females, dominant females and males, transvestites, transgender and mainstream to live a better life they do today. They did not excel to be millionaires themselves but there business was a multimillion dollar company worldwide. They were the first adult American company to make it into Japan. It all started with $6.75 and many years of reinvestment and hard work and persistence and perseverance. The odds were sorely against them.
The movie Boogie Nights was based on the actual experiences of my mother, and 2 other peers (men) not in the same niche combined. The basis of success was of my mother's contribution. Most especially the discrimination part. They all filled a specialized niche (not penetration sex as portrayed). All these people did this legally. This is most important. They had very strong work ethics. The women Skye Blue and Summer Cummings were "made" by my mother using female supremacy. They were abused stomped on nobodies who were literally on the street. My mother valued equal rights.
She would have never succeeded without specializing. Big companies can never complete with filling niches and specialization. It is too costly. I cannot tell you the specific niche for you. You need to know your business and your client base. What made my parents economically feasible were the people who value the niche. There is not a company today that provides what they did. When a specialized niche dies it no longer exists. This is why you would always make money. Other considerations, not to waste money, is to have proper accounting to know when to spend, save or invest money. Lawyers need to be consulted to know what you can legally do so you do not get sued and other such nonsense to waste your money. Big corporations do this to stomp the niche competition. Some will even resort to illegal means. My parents were able to exceed former Mayor Rudy Giuliani when he was a federal prosecutor and many higher echelon organized crime figureheads. These people were sorely agitated that my mother specialized in transvestitism AND female dominance and supremacy.
One thing to note is when you specialize in a niche you absolutely do not need to be the cheapest. You need to provide the best products at prices that are acceptable for that product. You must also be willing to accept not getting every sale. Most business last for a short amount of time. This is how they get to undercut everyone. You need to know your product and your customer base. The internet requires very good promotional skills. My parents made it by very good promotional efforts which built a viable and sustainable fan base. They were never cheap but always fair as far as the market was concerned. The other advantage is that they produced very high quality, but not elite, products and services at marketable prices. If they listened to all their salesman who went on to other industries they would have went out of business. You need to have the knowledge and confidence to face the people in you inner circle that you are best and doing the best thing without caving into pressure.
Good luck!
Jul 30, 2015
HI Dinesh, whats important why does your site exist and whats the reason for you to do business, what is the need you are fulfilling. When you started, what made you think you could do things better what was different from what you offered.
There are few techniques which can be adopted based on SWOT done on your business and competitors. Thereafter identifying the right customer segments based on this swot. The differentiator can be any of the service parameters which the consumer/ customer values (for which you need to speak to at least a 50-75 customers). Once you understand consumer behaviour you can do wonders.
We help start up and midsized companies scale up, do contact for any help.
Jul 30, 2015
Wow, that's the beauty, Dinesh! Digital marketing can share established businesses. If done right. Create your niche; project it well; you don't need to be miles ahead to win a race, but just nose ahead!
What's your core, where can you win? what are your competitors' weaknesses? what do customers want (spelt, unspelt, both)? Build your online strategy, and do it better than the best!
Look at customers as your core; as your reason for existence. Most just say, but certainly do not follow or practice it. It is all about attitude; show that you have it and your customers can trust you. These factors can move mountains and leverage social media very effectively to get you exponential reach over time.
It is all about doing things right, and doing the right things! Create a fly-wheel momentum. Learn from Zappos; learn how Google, or FB succeeded! There were tiny tots once upon a time, isn't it; compared to Microsoft or IBM? So you can do it too.
Get quality advisors on-board; create a great team, that is full of energy; that will take you to the path of success.
Happy to help, in case you wish to get any support. Good luck!
- Shyam (Startup Xperts)
Jul 30, 2015
Dinesh,
Focus on creativity rather than competing head-on. Understand your audience better than anyone else. What do they complain about? What problems do they cite? What facets of transaction do they find most inconvenient or annoying? It could be delivery, old kitchenware disposal, convenience or very specific audience that you can cater to better.
Of course, comments by others are also right on target. A better, friendlier and responsive e-commerce site.
There is no one magic bullet. To be able to come up with better strategy, think "Judo" and not "Sumo."
Jul 30, 2015
It is always about your value proposition. If you offer a better user experience you can compete. I would do a competitive overview and compare what you sell to your competition to gain insight. You might be able to sell you products at slightly higher price if your user experience is better than your competition.
Jul 30, 2015
Dont worry, all is not lost and you can certainly still complete. The first step to success is to learn to understand your disadvantages. There are some things that make your unique pages and others that you have to cover to keep up. A very important aspect is the product descriptions and rich snippets are all over the place at the time and if you have an e-commerce site and not using them, you are missing a great opportunity.
Jul 29, 2015
For sure a small e-commerce website survive with hard working policy after studying products both the websites selling , selling depends on skills which means the way to show your product , the way to convince clients , the way to dilever your services , makes customers dicides from where to buy . in pracital way you can withdraw clients from your compititors .
Jul 28, 2015
Define your niche market then provide them with what they are not getting from the larger provider. Could be something as simple as reviews or suggestions.
You could also look at the larger e-commerce site as a partner which will change how you decide to interact with them.
Amazon and ebay were looked at as competitors by many smaller websites who later realised that they could benefit more from partnering.
Hope this helps answer your question
Jul 27, 2015
You cant, you need to find a Niche if you are small. You need to find your blue ocean instead of diving into competitive red oceans. Its a golden rule of staying profitable even when the business is small. Once you grow big, you can take on the biggies. Another thing you can bring is clarity. Larger sites have too much of clutter which make a typical user feel lost. How about you start a simple site where within 2 clicks your customer can checkout with the product. The biggies are like elephants who resist change. But the small business can quickly adopt change and this is what you need to capitalize. Innovation in marketing is also very important and you may want to hire a marketing agency.
Jul 27, 2015
Sell you knowledge, enthusiasm and experience along with the product. Use video demonstrations to show why your products are the best.
Network, often people (myself included) would not mind spending a little more if it's a local company.
Word will soon spread!
Jul 27, 2015
Look into all the products and choose the ones you resonate with. Then focus on those because your big competitor is missing on being expert in some specific products. If you can turn your site into the expert in some handful products, clients will rely on you.
It is not about kitchenware is about solutions you offering. If not you will get in the trap of fighting on price with your competitor. Add educational information to your prospect on Kitchenware. Look for valuable offers.
Being small, don't try to be everything to everybody
Jul 26, 2015
E-commerce survive because of buyers databases. The more people there, the more sales transactions occur. Points that given by others are great, assume we adopt all these points, Ceteris paribus, your concern is the databases.
Finally, another thing I would like you to takeaway is not to restrict yourself on e-commerce platform ...seek adverting for all kind of media and channels to increase the response of any promotion.
Jul 25, 2015
Make sure its correctly optimised, make sure you use social media and do it well, not just one post a day but 5+ on each platform. Write blogs on how to...then promote them; these are all something the multinationals do not do, well!!
Jul 25, 2015
The success of any business is to be able to clearly differentiate themselves. What value do you provide that the big eCommerce sites don't? You must provide a unique value that customers are willing to select you over the competition. Figuring out your buyer characteristics that you are targeting and understanding how you serve them better than a competitor is the key to your success.
Jul 25, 2015
I don't know if this would help you but I own a small website www.raleighpoolandspa.com I compete with all the local brick and mortar stores and the major national swimming pool and hot tub retail websites, including amazon, costco, walmart etc. My mission statement is online pricing with knowledgeable customer service. My knowledge of the business and my ability to get potential customers to call me contributes to over $300,000 in sales over four months per year at a very reasonable profit margin. I have maximized all my local listings, I use craigslist and other classified sites to drive customers and prompt them to call me. When they call I don't try to sell at first, I start a discussion of their needs and objectives, answer their questions proving I know my business, earn their trust for real and have a 53% Closing rate. I also live up to my promise of giving excellent after sale customer service. This Dialog with existing customers turns into a huge referral source with over 20% of sales coming from referrals. When I started the business it was to do local business only, but I now ship product all over the US. I had a custom mobile loyalty app made for me at at ridiculously low price by www.localsocialhub.com and our customers love the discount loyalty points they can earn by making purchases, sharing my promotions on their facebook and twitter feeds etc. I'm now finishing up pool season and are switching our focus to Hot Tubs, Pool Tables, Game Room Product and Swim spas. My Existing customers are sharing my informational posts and special offers, it is very promising since this is the first time I'm promoting for year round business.
My suggestion is to have fun with your customers, befriend them and turn them into free marketers. It works if you can get them to call you so you can set yourself apart from the big guys who just have people reading off a script.
Jul 25, 2015
The beauty of the internet is the fact that a "David " Website can compete with the "the giant "Goliath" web sites. Watch spelling errors, make sure that you include a quoted satisfied client that verifies service and guarantees. Talk to a marketing expert ,who can guide you to a few comparisons why someone should use your products! Belong to a local community based Chamber or referral group to meet the right people to mentor with weekly.. Work hard during the summer months when many of the "big" companies are taking their summer vacations and do not watch over their sales numbers so closely.
Jul 24, 2015
Hello,this is one of the problem faced in the profession of selling.as much as. It is the oldest and obviously the best of all profession,most success in it is more of attitude than anything.in other words,the market is like a big ocean,no one owns it,everyone will just try to stay afloat. Be it big or small company,when you get better in all necessary things to ensure success,then you have no competition. Your success and failure in the profession of selling lies in you and nothing else.stay blessed.