Amazon hosts over five million marketplace sellers, with direct competition from a subset of these. A thorough Amazon competitor analysis is crucial for businesses to gain a comprehensive understanding of their rivals. Are you prepared to learn how to perform an Amazon competitive analysis in just eight steps? Continue reading to find out!While an Amazon competitive analysis may seem daunting, is it truly necessary? What benefits can it bring? The answer is a resounding “yes!” Researching your competitors can help you:
Ensure your pricing strategy is competitive
Gain insights to tailor your messaging and differentiate your product
Make informed sourcing decisions
Monitor profitability and performance
Initiate your competitor analysis by compiling a list of your competitors’ products, and for easy access, create a Google Sheet that you can share with your team. Here, you can evaluate every aspect of a product listing, from titles and descriptions to images. Focus on the following areas during your audit:
Product title: Compare the title against Amazon’s recommended format — Brand + Model + Product Type. Then, view it from a shopper’s perspective: Is it informative and free of pricing and promotional content?
Product features: Analyze the features listed beside the product images. What unique selling points (USPs) does your competitor emphasize — and how can you counter those points?
Product description: Examine the product description. What additional information does it provide or omit? Is the information presented in an easy-to-read, original format?
Product Q&A: Review the questions and answers section. Does the seller actively engage with shoppers? What types of questions are asked, and how can you leverage that information for your product listing?
Product images: Look at the product images at the top of the listing. What types of images are featured, and what is their quality? Are there images your team can recreate, such as showcasing product uses?
Take note if your competitor uses Enhanced Brand Content or A+ Enhanced Marketing Content.After your audit, assess your competitor’s branding. Many sellers overlook this step in an Amazon competitor analysis, but it can provide valuable insights into why shoppers choose your competitor over you. Evaluate branding through the following methods:
Examine the tone and language used in product descriptions, features, and Q&A
Evaluate the angle and approach in product images
Research product packaging, design, and labeling
Analyze Enhanced Brand Content or A+ Enhanced Marketing Content design
Spending 15 to 30 minutes studying your competitors can give you a good understanding of their brand. They may have a relaxed, humorous approach or be detail-oriented. In some cases, your branding may align with your competitors’, or you may offer a completely different perspective. With millions of sellers, you can expect to have direct competitors on Amazon.Next, read the consumer reviews on your competitors’ product listings. This step in the Amazon competitive analysis provides immense insights into your competition’s strengths and weaknesses, informing your future selling strategy. Look at the following aspects when reading reviews:
Quality: Amazon seeks detailed and meaningful reviews. Analyze your competitor’s reviews to understand why users like or dislike the product, or if they feature brief reviews.
Quantity: Amazon balances review quality with quantity. Ideally, Amazon’s algorithms prefer products with high-quantity, high-quality reviews. Compare the number of reviews for each of your competitors’ products to yours.
Perks: Identify the strengths of your competitors’ products and their features that consumers love. How can you showcase those benefits in your listing?
Problems: Understand the weaknesses of your competitors’ products to maximize your product’s value to shoppers. Identify what consumers dislike about your competitors’ products and how your product resolves those issues.
Ratings: Check the average score for each product and note the star rating in your Google Sheet. Consider a review management strategy to earn more genuine reviews if your competitors excel in this area.
Responses: Observe if your competitors respond to reviews, both positive and negative. Learn from their approach to interact with shoppers, particularly unhappy ones.
Based on your review assessment, your team can develop strategies to improve your overall strategy. For example, your company may decide to update specific product listings to capitalize on competitor weaknesses, like a short product warranty.
Depending on your competition, they may have an Amazon Store — a microsite-like presence on Amazon that offers shoppers convenient access to their products. If your competitor maintains an Amazon store, review it. Consider the following aspects when evaluating their storefront:
Design: Amazon provides various store templates, but the chosen design can reveal your competitor’s strategy. For example, they may feature select products on their homepage, highlighting their best sellers.
Product display: Amazon allows sellers to customize the products showcased in their Amazon Store — either hand-selecting products or using pre-programmed widgets. Some sellers use widgets to promote their best-selling items.
Social media: Amazon Stores can feature social media links. This feature can help your team see which platforms competitors are promoting the most.
While your competitor’s Amazon Store may not offer substantial insights, it’s still worth visiting. For example, if your team reviews your competitor’s Amazon Store quarterly, you may notice a sudden shift in featured products, indicating a change in their strategy.The most critical step in an Amazon competitor analysis is researching your competitors’ keyword strategies. Based on your product listing audit, you probably have an idea of the keywords your competitors use.In most cases, sellers include their primary keyword in their product title. In the example below, for instance, you can see that most products feature the phrase “tv wall mounts” or “rv tv mount.” These repeated phrases suggest they are the targeted keywords. 
If that sounds like an exhaustive process for finding your competitors’ keywords, you’re right — there’s an easier way to research your competition’s keyword strategy.Free tools, like Sonar, allow your team to uncover your competitors’ keyword strategy quickly. To find competitor keywords on Sonar, follow these steps:
Copy the product’s Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN)
Enter the ASIN in Sonar
Click “Ping”
View the results
With Sonar, your team can also view which keywords your competitors target in their pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns. Plus, you can download all the keyword data in a convenient Excel file, which you can then import into your Google Sheet. Even better, you can discover the backend keywords they’re targeting.This is helpful since backend keywords don’t appear in product listings — they’re hidden on the backend, which is why Sonar is a useful tool to use. If you look at the results from Sonar below, you can see that the products in the earlier example did target the keywords “rv tv mount” and “tv wall mounts.” One product search result is even running a PPC campaign that includes “rv tv mount.” 
Price significantly influences shoppers’ purchase decisions — it can even lead them to buy from another seller. That’s why assessing the competition’s prices is another critical part of an Amazon competitor analysis. Like discovering your competitors’ keyword strategy, there’s an easy way to research competitor prices.Sellics, the company behind Sonar, offers price tracking software that allows your business to monitor your competitors’ product prices 24/7. Other alternatives include Priceyfy and CamelCamelCamel. While it’s important for your business to compete with your competitors’ prices, it’s critical to ensure you make a profit. Using your competitors’ prices as a reference, not a standard, is crucial.Improve your competitive analysis of your opponents on Amazon by researching their monthly sales. Understanding how much inventory your competitor moves each month can help you calculate their earnings and determine if they’re underselling their products. This step may seem challenging, but there are several tools you can use, including:
Sellics: Try Sellics’ Seller Edition software to track your competitor’s sales — this software requires a monthly subscription. It also includes competitor price monitoring and several other features to help your company.
Jungle Scout: Use Jungle Scout’s Amazon Sales Estimator tool to estimate the average monthly sales of your competitors. You’ll need to provide the marketplace region, product category, and best seller rank number.
After your research, your team can compare your sales to your competitors. You can also estimate the potential profits your company could make by becoming a more competitive choice for shoppers, whether through advertising, optimizing product listings, or another strategy.Conclude your Amazon competitor analysis with an in-depth evaluation of your competitor’s ad campaigns. With tools like Sonar, Helium, and Sellics, your team can uncover your competition’s advertising strategy. Focus your analysis on your competitor’s keyword choice.Examine the keywords your competition targets in their ads. What are the average cost-per-click (CPC), search volume, and competition for these keywords? How are these numbers affecting their Advertising Cost of Sale (ACoS)? With an inside look at your competitor’s advertising strategy, you can build a better one.For example, instead of focusing on short-tail keywords like your competitor, direct your attention to long-tail keywords, which have a lower CPC. This strategy allows your business to lower your ACoS, plus connect with your target market. It also contributes to your goals of increasing profits and reviews, which can help improve your search ranking.Now that you’ve completed your competitor analysis, are you ready to start accelerating your sales?Too overwhelmed or busy to complete an Amazon competitor analysis? WebFX can help! We offer a newsletter with exclusive tips and strategies for Amazon competitive analyses and provide Amazon services, including quarterly competitor analyses to boost your sales.Explore our services to learn more!
