For many brands and manufacturers, this question sounds banal at first – after all, they usually know their own competitors from brick-and-mortar retail or the industry very well. Often, you even know the responsible contact person at the competition personally – through shared history or industry events. With this “recognition pattern” in mind, people then search for known competitors on Amazon in order to derive measures and strategies. This is not fundamentally wrong – and is even necessary. The Puma brand needs to know what Adidas is doing on Amazon. Stanley Black & Decker analyzes the activities of Bosch, Makita and Einhell. Which products are being sold? What is the pricing strategy? Is there an Amazon Brand Store? Is A+ content used? How well are the products SEO-optimized and generally “retail ready”? Is the competitor a vendor or seller?
Brand search vs. generic search on Amazon
In fact, brands and manufacturers urgently need to broaden their perspective and, depending on the brands and manufacturers, should urgently broaden their view – depending on the product category, it is important to focus on significantly more potential competitors. A key aspect is generic search – i.e. search terms and phrases that are entered without a brand reference. Amazon users do not always search specifically for a brand, but often very generally. In some categories, this type of search is even much more relevant than a brand-related product search. In concrete terms, this means
- “Stainless steel barbecue tongs” is searched for more often than “Weber barbecue tongs”
- “Wooden barbecue tongs” more often than “Rösle barbecue tongs”
This shows: Even if there is a certain brand connection, generic searches are crucial. Therefore, as part of the competitive analysis, you should also consider all products and brands that rank particularly well for generic search queries – because this is where the most traffic and most likely the most sales are generated.
Amazon competition analysis
If you have identified unknown manufacturers as relevant competitors in addition to the well-known brands, you should analyze their portfolio, advertising activity and visibility on Amazon in more detail. Tools such as Amalyze, Sellics or Helium10 provide sound insights and enable efficient evaluation. Depending on the goal of your analysis, the following questions are particularly relevant:
- Does the brand work as a vendor or seller?
- Who dominates the BuyBox? How many third-party suppliers sell the product?
- How many products are offered?
- Is PPC marketing used?
- Is DSP retargeting used?
- How visible are the products?
- In which categories is the brand active?
- Do the products have Prime status, FBA or FBM?
- How many reviews do the products have? What is the average rating?
- How good is the keyword optimization?
- Is there A+ content? What is its quality?
- Is there a brand store? How professional and up-to-date is it?
All these questions can of course be explored in greater depth – depending on the analysis objective.
Competitive analysis: tools + manual observation
Not all factors can be analyzed with tools. The quality of content – for example in terms of sales psychology or target group appeal – often has to be assessed manually. Whether A+ content or brand store is available and how well it has been implemented is primarily a question of experience and know-how.
A+ Analyze content
If your competitors are using A+ content, it’s not enough to simply “add something”. You should take a close look at how high-quality the content is – and what you can possibly do better. If the content is already at a very high level, you must at least match it. If your competitor didn’t use A+ content before, but now has significantly better content than you, you urgently need to catch up – standing still costs conversions and sales.
Analyze Brand Store
Manual analysis is also necessary for the brand store. The store alone will not cause sales to explode – but it is a touchpoint in the customer journey. If it is missing or unprofessional, it leaves a negative impression. A brand store should not be the first step in a brand’s presence, but it is an important part of differentiation.
SEO & Retail Readiness
This is where tools come into play again: How many keywords and in which positions does a product rank in the search results? How many reviews are there? All of this can be tracked. You should also continuously monitor your own reviews – especially negative ones. If your competitors don’t do this, you have an advantage.
Another crucial point: product images. They are often the difference between success and failure – no matter how good the rest is. If the competition is better positioned here, this is a key lever for your optimization.
Vendor vs. seller – strategic evaluation
Often underestimated, but important: What role does the competitor play – vendor or seller? Vendors today have hardly any advantages, but many restrictions (e.g. in pricing, product range, data maintenance). If third-party providers also sell, SEO and advertising become even more difficult. If you are “trapped” as a vendor but realize that your competitors are more successful on Amazon, you should consider a seller strategy or hybrid solution. This is time-consuming, but a necessary step to remain successful in the long term.
Conclusion: competitive analysis is mandatory
What has long been practiced in traditional retail must also become mandatory in e-commerce: Know your competitors and react accordingly. The larger and more diverse your portfolio, the broader your competitive environment. In an open marketplace like Amazon, with low barriers to entry, even established brands suddenly encounter completely new players. Precisely because brand loyalty on Amazon is often low, other factors are decisive: price, Prime status, ratings, visibility. Many smaller sellers and new brands are more agile – this is a challenge for large brands, but can be solved with the right strategy.
The first step: Understanding how Amazon works.
The second step: A clear goal.
The third step: A targeted competitive analysis – as the basis for measures and success.
We support brands and manufacturers on Amazon
A well-founded competitive analysis and the right strategy take time and require an overview of many categories. As an agency, we have many years of experience in the seller and vendor area, PPC and DSP, A+ content, brand stores and Amazon SEO. We support medium-sized companies and international brands in developing, implementing and continuously improving their Amazon strategy.