Other factors to consider when monitoring your competition

18/07/2018

Angela de la Vieja

Competition monitoring is a fundamental task for every brand and online store. Knowing first-hand what other vendors and competitors are doing allows a business to operate within the market under the same conditions and also to consolidate its clientele. However, it’s not only important to take references from any price variations but also other factors are important when monitoring your competitors if you wish to improve the possibilities of our own brand.

When analysing the competition, for a brand or online store, it is essential to know what relationship exists with the customer. After all, these are the people that allow you to survive thanks to their purchases. This perception is influenced both by the presentation of each product and the connection with customers and potential customers.

In the first instance, the product presentation, it is essential to be aware of the innovations and aesthetic trends that allow the customer to get a real, un close, idea as possible about what they are buying. In this context, the product datasheet becomes vital for the eCommerce since it needs to contain all the information required, as well as a complete view of its characteristics. The 360° product photography is a clear example of how the needs of the customer has generated new ways of presenting the catalogues of both brands and retailers.

Keeping up with the image, comes the content. What kind of content does the competition create to reach out to the customer? How can it be improved? The content is a key piece in the customer experience and is also a factor that intervenes directly in the final decision making. We must bear in mind that both the sector and the type of product are going to delimit, quite profoundly, which content is the most coherent in each case. Once the competition benchmarking has been carried out, the real challenge lies in providing a fresh and renewed perspective to increase the value added on the purchase. In addition, it is essential to align the content strategy, and even the pricing, to the customer journey.

On the other hand, it is also necessary to take into account the direct relationship between the business and the customer. Today, the interaction through social channels is what allows one to build a community in which you create the online reputation of a brand. When it comes to monitoring the competition, it is necessary to know:

- Verbal brand identity that helps you connect with your potential customers.

- The actions carried out to encourage the creation of community.

- The type of content created to boost the connection with your audience.

- The online customer service offered by the brand through its social channels.

In addition, it is also important to situate yourself in the client’s shoes in order to gain breadth of perspective. Knowing their reactions and what their opinion is about each of the companies involved can help brands identify and indicate which are the strengths and improvements needed for them to enhance their overall offering. A practical way to access this information is to wade through forums and read user comments that can be found directly on most web sites.

Finally, now dealing with the economic part of the business, it is recommended that competitor prices are monitored by using a software tool that offers automatic tracking and data organisation. Thanks to specific dynamic-pricing tools it is now possible to visualise how competitive pricing strategies work and adapt your business to them within your own personalised parameters.

11/11/2022

Consumer behavior: How can behavior tracking be effective for setting the right pricing strategies?

Behavior tracking is becoming massively popular today. As a result, pricing strategies born from studying consumer behavior are a merchant's dream come true. If done right, it can conquer every market for the business quickly. With abundant data available, the strategic makeover of the pricing models is becoming easy for companies.

What is behavioral tracking, and how is the data beneficial in pricing?

For a quick understanding, behavioral tracking refers to gaining in-depth knowledge and insights into consumers through their web data. Their browsing habits, spontaneous decisions, shopping interests, and preferences come under behavioral tracking.

How can enterprises use customer behavior data?

Companies can use customer behavior data as a tool to strengthen their hold on the market. A customer’s preferences, values, and tendencies allow businesses to work in sync with them through the collected data. Apart from this, customer behavior can also aid in:

Tailoring customer needs for customer retention

Personalization is becoming the heart of a company’s growth. No matter in which area an enterprise is functioning, tailoring the services, products, and solutions is becoming increasingly crucial. Uniqueness and personalization attract the crowd like no other.

Increasing the overall value

One of the best ways customer behavior data affects a business is by upgrading the value of customers for the business. The customer’s characteristics allow the company to target the people that match the business prospects well.

Optimizing every type of content

Everything that is up for digital display requires content. You must have seen companies unveiling their products or services through advertisements and making the initial public appearance. Two essential sales strategies – upselling and cross-selling comes through content optimization.

Pricing Strategy

Last but certainly not least is the influence of customer behavior data on the pricing strategy. The pricing strategy essentially constitutes content derived from data analysis. Companies need to have a dynamic approach to the pricing system to attract the right customers.

17/02/2015

Saint Valentine’s Day, always a good opportunity

V-Day is looming, a long-awaited date for all and also a good occasion for the eCommerce. According the study conducted by Prosper Insights and Analytics, it is forecasted the average consumer expense that day will be the highest in last years. Furthermore, 25% of them will buy online, which means an increase of 4% regarding 2014 (The US department of Commerce). This is, therefore, a key date where market competitiveness increase and which could be assumed as a big opportunity for our business or, a big fail if we do not adopt the correct strategies.

How to turn this event into an opportunity? To achieve this goal, we need to adapt our prices to this hostile environment, i.e. we need to develop an appropriate Dynamic Pricing strategy that allows us to adapt our prices to the variations produced in supply and demand and to position us ahead of our competitors. In V-Day, the frequency in changes will be higher, carrying it out each hour or even each minute. It is estimated that 65% of leader retailers have the ability to respond quickly at these variations, such Amazon. For this reason, it acquires great importance the correct use of a software specialised in price motorisation of competitors. Do not miss the time and adapt your business to new adversities.

28/12/2022

Which are the best footwear marketplaces to sell on?

Footwear marketplaces are booming. The last decade has seen the launch of new specialized marketplaces with millions of different users. Among them are Spartoo, Sarenza and Farfetch, portals with international reach. Their main value is that they unite hundreds of footwear brands, as well as offering clothes and accessories. Although each has its own characteristics, they are all vertical marketplaces, i.e., they focus on a specific area, and their sales categories are interrelated. For sellers, these portals provide an opportunity to expand sales channels and drive the globalization of their e-commerce business. We explain how to sell on these footwear marketplaces so that you can assess whether they align with your plans for the future and then start defining a possible pricing strategy.