by admin

September 9, 2021

eCommerce

Amazon competitors: The comprehensive review and its alternatives

With the position as the leader in many different fields such as ecommerce, retail, etc, it seems that it is difficult for any competitor to overtake Amazon at this time. However, subjectivity is not allowed in this fierce competition. This is because Amazon has a variety of competitors with surprising capabilities on the market. In this article, Arrowtheme will review for you the list of main and largest Amazon competitors. Aside from that, we also deliver you some great tips you need to know if you want to increase your competitive advantage to fight Amazon. So, let’s explore with us right now!

Top biggest Amazon competitors

Retail Market Competitors

Because of being a large retailer, Amazon has a bunch of formidable opponents in the field of retail market. Amazon competes with both physical and online retailers that sell a similar set of goods. Some of the outstanding Amazon competitors in this field are: Walmart, Target, Kroger, and Best Buy. Now, we will dig down further for more information about each one.

Walmart

No less than Amazon, Walmart is one of the largest brick-and-mortar retailers and a big-box department store in the world. It employs over 2.2 million people in 27 countries and has over 11,000 shops all over the world.

For more details, Walmart made $524 billion in revenue in fiscal year 2020, compared to $404.44 billion for Amazon. In terms of the garment industry, while Amazon boosted their share to 9.5% in 2020, that of Walmart’s only 6.9%. Besides, Amazon has a 10.5% share of the home goods and furniture market more than 10.1% of Walmart. Moreover, when it comes to the food and beverage industry, Walmart continues to have a dominating lead with 19%, at the same time, only 1.9% for Amazon.

In particular, Walmart also has a 5.4% share of the health and personal care market, which is more than double Amazon’s 2.5%. One thing worth mentioning is Walmart owns many rivals of Amazon including Flipkart and Sam’s Club. Not only that, the online sales of Walmart also level up 40% year over year. For a variety of reasons, Walmart is the most formidable retail rival of Amazon at this time.

Kroger

Coming to the second Amazon competitor that is the largest grocery chain in the United States with over 2,800 shops in 35 states named Kroger. In order to meet rising demand for grocery deliveries, Kroger has been going online since 2020. From that, it gained a lot of great benefits. Specifically, its ecommerce sales increased by 92% in Q1 ended May 2020 and surged 108% in Q3 ended November 2020. In addition, its revenue increased from $37 billion in the first quarter of 2019 to $41.55 billion in the first quarter of 2020. However, Q3 2019 to Q3 2020 saw the growth margin fall compared to the Q1 period, growing only from $28.0 billion in revenues to $29.7 billion.

Despite being excellent, its digital sales continue to lag behind Amazon. Therefore, it has merged with Ocado to create high-tech fulfillment centers in order to achieve the goal of catching up with Amazon. With the first store being launched in 2021, Amazon still has to be very wary of this potential competitor.

Target

Can’t help but mention Target when it comes to the list of biggest Amazon competitors. First and foremost, with 1,868 locations across North America, Target is one of the world’s largest discount retailers. But, compared to Amazon, Target’s US eCommerce sector only accounts for 1.2%, a number that has nothing to do with Amazon.

However, the assortment of both businesses overlaps and includes product niches such as: fashion, electronics, furniture, home appliances, etc. Moreover, Target’s revenue increased by 21% year over year in the third quarter of 2020, thanks to a 155% growth in digital sales. In addition, recognizing the growth of ecommerce, Target raised its digital-driven offerings by 200%. Then, in 2020, this gained $6 billion in market share from competitors. As a result, it propels into the top ten US eCommerce retailers. Above all, Amazon is always aware of Target’s growth and considers it a worthy competitor.

Costco

The next position in the list of Amazon’s competitors is Costco – a powerful membership-only wholesale retailer. In reality, Costco appears in the Top 10 best US eCommerce retailers. It is thanks to its 803 warehouses and eCommerce platforms that provide a wide range of products. Besides, Costco’s annual revenue in 2020 will be $163.22 billion, up 9.3% from $149.35 billion in 2019. What’s more, its membership cardholders climbed to 107.1 million in 2020, with a renewal rate of nearly 90%. In particular, the main reason that Costco is prefered a lot is because its items are 79% cheaper than Amazon’s. Not only that, when shopping on Costco, clients will experience a better feeling as well as gain higher satisfaction compared to Amazon.

Best Buy

One of the biggest Amazon competitors in the retail field is Best Buy. Firstly, Best Buy is widely known with the reputation of a wonderful multinational retailer of consumer electronics with 1779 locations in North America. Besides, in 2020, Best Buy experienced extraordinary growth with a 242% increase in domestic internet sales to $5 billion. With the 7th position in the US eCommerce market rankings, it is not surprising that Best Buy is a formidable competitor to Amazon, especially in the field of consumer electronics business.

Home Depot

Last but not least among the Amazon competitors in this field is Home Depot. For more details, Home Depot is a famous supplier of low-cost home improvement products with nearly 3,000 thousand points of sale. In terms of online sales, Home Depot increased by 90% in the first half of 2020, compared to Amazon’s goods sales increasing by 31%. However, given online sales account for only 14% of Home Depot’s overall revenue, there is still space to grow. Furthermore, multi channel retailing strategy is the key competitive edge of this retailer, which is expected to generate more and more revenue in the future.

#2. Amazon competitors in Ecommerce space

The retail ecommerce industry is expanding at a breakneck speed thanks to the big change in consumer shopping habits, from brick-and-mortar shopping to online. In fact, by 2021, global retail ecommerce sales are predicted to surpass $4.8 trillion. And the name that stands out and holds the largest market share ever is none other than Amazon. However, Amazon is also in danger of being threatened by many famous names such as: Alibaba, eBay, JD and so on.

Alibaba

Coming to Alibaba – a famous Chinese eCommerce company. This is probably a name that is no longer a stranger to any online buyers around the world. Alibaba, AliExpress, Taobao, and Tmall are all parts of Alibaba that operate in over 200 countries. Alibaba is a B2B marketplace that provides direct access to manufacturers, whereas AliExpress is a B2C platform that allows dropshipping. For the Chinese market, Taobao and Tmall are B2B and B2C marketplaces where hundreds of millions of people use and host millions of shops and items. With an extremely large revenue stream, Alibaba has become one of the world’s top eCommerce enterprises. Additionally, its global eCommerce platform includes over 10 million businesses and produced $1.4 billion in revenue in the United States. Above all, Alibaba poses a challenge to Amazon’s market position in this market.

eBay

Coming to the next Amazon competitor that has a large market share in the ecommerce field and can threaten Amazon’s existence is eBay. eBay has the experience and reputation as the pioneer in consumer-to-consumer selling to tempt vendors and buyers. Besides, purchasing and selling both new and used goods take place on this platform. Alternatively, its capabilities have grown to cover B2C sales in addition to C2C. What’s more, eBay’s global gross merchandise value increased by 29% to $27.1 billion in Q2 2020 as well as active purchasers increased by 5% to 182 million. It can be said that the rise in eCommerce demand brings eBay with a strong opportunity to close the gap with Amazon.

Rakuten

Dubbed the Amazon of Japan, Rakutem has grown and expanded throughout strategic acquisitions. Currently, Rakuten accounts for around 14% of global eCommerce retail sales and is one of the biggest ecommerce platforms in the global market. In particular, Rakuten purchased Ebates, which had over 12 million users, in 2019 and rebranded it to better increase its footprint in the United States. By 2020, it had increased brand recognition by 60 points and added over 10 million new subscribers. All in all, due to its rapid global expansion, Rakuten promises a major Amazon competitor.

Shopify

Being one of the most common ecommerce platforms and widely used by millions of retailers all over the world, Shopify includes everything you need to build a successful store and start selling. Businesses can purchase one of over 3000 pre-built stunning themes on Shopify’s Exchange Marketplace. Shopify’s platform is used by over 1 million stores as of January 2021. On the other hand, Amazon’s platform functions similarly to a mall, renting out space for businesses to set up shop and providing storage, packaging, and delivery through Amazon Fulfillment (FBA).

Furthermore, with the great combination with Oberlo in 2020 with the aim of delivering drop-shipping, Shopify becomes the threat of Amazon in the eCommerce space.

Flipkart

Coming to Flipkart – one of the most outstanding Amazon competitors in the ecommerce environment. First and foremost, with over 100 million registered consumers, Flipkart is India’s largest online retailer. In 2018, Walmart bought 77% of the value of Flipkart. As a result, this makes Flipkart become one of the most robust worldwide eCommerce powerhouses. In a market as large as India, Flipkart owns 31.9% of the online retail market, while Amazon owns 31.2%, according to Forrester’s data. In particular, the key competitive edge that makes Flipkart successful is its wide selection of low-cost goods.

JD

Another direct online retailer that also comes from China is JD, which stands for Jingdong. Similar to Amazon, JD has its own logistics and delivery network and has expanded into other areas like healthcare. However, this company accounts for a very small market capitalization, only 6% of Amazon. Following that, JD only created $83.5 billion in revenue in 2019, while this data of Amazon is $280.5 billion.

Besides, despite the fact that JD is substantially smaller than Amazon, it outperforms Amazon in a number of critical categories. Specifically, this is the market leader in China’s food retail sector, as well as the country’s largest online pharmacy. Not only that, it has developed a high-tech delivery system that combines AI-powered sophisticated robots and drones.

Streaming Service Competitors

Aside from retail and ecommerce fields, Amazon also provides Streaming video and music services. In this section, we will review for you several wonderful Amazon competitors in this field.

Netflix

In the field of video streaming, Netflix is Amazon’s main competition. For more details, Netflix is already a famous on-demand video streaming service that is no stranger to all users in more than 200 countries throughout the world. This platform witnessed the dramastic development with 28 million new customers in 2019 and another 26 million signing up in the first half of 2020.

On the other hand, Amazon Prime Video is also not inferior with 150 million subscribers in 2020. It is swiftly catching up, accounting for 23% of total SVOD subscriptions in Q2 2020, compared to 14% in Q1 2020.

In terms of content, Netflix outperforms Amazon with a treasure trove of attractive content, but it costs $9 per month for the base package. While, subscribers to Amazon Prime Video pay $119 for an annual membership that gives them access to all video content and other perks.

Spotify

In addition to Netflix, Spotify is also a redoubtable Amazon competitor when mentioning the video streaming market. Firstly, Spotify is a flawless online music streaming service that supplies millions of songs, playlists and so on. Besides, it has a global client base of 113 million paying customers and 248 million monthly users. Although in 2020, Amazon had 55 million new users that surpassed Spotify, the number was not enough for it to take Spotify’s place. Best of all, Spotify comes with a variety of songs with the subscription fee starting at $9.99 per month, while Amazon Music Unlimited is $7.99 per month for Prime members.

Disney+

After Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ is the third most popular video streaming service in the global market. There are over 86.8 million subscribers in Disney+ till the end of the fourth quarter of 2020, while Amazon Prime Video had 150 million. Both streaming services have much to offer and are backed by powerful organizations.

Apple Music

One of the most exceptional Amazon competitors in the streaming service is Apple Music. Firstly, Apple Music was created by Apple Inc as a music streaming service with over 60 million subscribers. Hence, it has become the second most popular and excellent music streaming service in the world. As mentioned above, with 55 million users in 2020, Amazon has been very successful when it is only 5 million people away from Apple Music. Best of all, this Amazon competitor contains over 45 million songs in its collection. Therefore, it still easily maintains its market dominance.

Amazon Competitors in Web Service

With 32.4% of the market, Amazon Web Service (AWS) is the global leader in public cloud services. However, this industry is growing with a series of big Amazon competitors appearing and two of them are Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. Then, let’s explore each one.

Microsoft Azure

Second only to AWS, Microsoft Azure holds 17% market share in the cloud services field. Microsoft Azure appeals to over 5 million businesses, also, there are 4 million developers that utilize Azure’s visual studio team services. About 40% of revenue produced by ISVs and start-ups comes through the platform. Basically, AWS and Azure are similar in terms of networking, computation, and other features. Thanks to Microsoft’s experience and ecosystem, Azure has an advantage over AWS.

Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

With 6% of the market, Google Cloud Platform is the third most popular cloud service behind two platforms above. Google Cloud made $8.9 billion in revenue in 2019, which was less than AWS’s quarterly revenue. However, in 2020, GCP had a spectacular flip, generating $2.6 billion in the first quarter alone. Thus, it levels up 53% from the previous year. Moreover, GCP has an advantage over AWS because of its interaction with Google’s ecosystem.

AI Virtual Assistant Competitors of Amazon

The AI virtual assistant of Amazon named Amazon’s Alexa that uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to replicate human-like interactions using natural language. In the market, there are 2 worthy rivals with Amazon’s Alexa that are Google Assistant and Apple Siri.

Google Assistant

There is no denying that Google Assistant is one of the top virtual assistants on the market. It works well with Android smartphones and can automate things such as alarm clocks and music playback. In general, these two platforms have similar features, however, in general knowledge tests, Alexa outperforms the other.

Apple Siri

Apple Siri is a powerful product of Apple Inc that was built for acting as a personal assistant. It can operate compatible smart home devices and open apps to assist the user with specific tasks such as phoning, texting, and creating reminders. In fact, Siri is a pioneer in the field of AI Virtual Assistant and it performs better than Alexa in simulating human-human interactions. However, its minus point is that it is only compatible with Apple devices.

Amazon competitors in Social media marketplaces

In addition to these fields above, Social media marketplaces are also the dangers of Amazon because social media is the ideal place to boost ecommerce sales as well as create a smooth buying experience. There are a huge number of buyers who say social media has an impact on their purchasing decisions. This is the reason why social shopping is on the rise more and more. What’s more, the changing eCommerce landscape has forced social media platforms to change how they connect with potential customers. In recent years, all major social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, have implemented in-platform shopping. Hence, it drastically alters the eCommerce sector.

Facebook Marketplace and Facebook Shops

In 2016, Facebook launched an online Marketplace with the goal of creating a place for individuals to buy and sell in their local communities. Because of its great reputation, it appeals to a big user base of up to 800 million ones each month in 70 countries. Besides, despite the fact that selling on Facebook is free, Facebook Marketplace has collaborated with a variety of eCommerce platforms, including ChannelAdvisor, Shopify, and BigCommerce, to ensure that smaller eCommerce vendors earn.

Facebook Shops is a new service that puts it in direct competition with Amazon. This is the most significant move forward in Facebook’s eCommerce efforts so far, as it allows users to shop directly on the platform rather than being redirected to other websites with adverts. Many businesses are drawn to the idea of being able to market and sell their products on a single platform, and Facebook could pose a serious threat to Amazon in the future.

In terms of Facebook Shops, they are a new service that puts it in direct competition with Amazon. In fact, it enables users to shop directly on the platform rather than being redirected to other websites with adverts. Nowadays, there are a lot of businesses that are drawn to the idea of being able to market and sell their products on a single platform. Therefore, social media like Facebook could pose a serious threat to Amazon in the near future.

Amazon faced strong competitions from Pinterest in 2018. Pinterest introduced Shopping Ads and Shoppable Pins, allowing users to make purchases without ever leaving the social media network. In reality, this new feature was a win-win for both customers and businesses, as it simplified the buying process without costing businesses a commission. Pinterest is one of Amazon’s increasing online competitors, with unique features aimed at iPhone users and offering a personalized buying experience.

Tips online stores should know to compete with Amazon

Build your brand

Branding is the face of any business, it can define who you are and will leave a big impression in customers’ minds. Simply speaking, all you have to do is create a brand that your clients identify and believe in. Because loyal customers are the main factor to make your business successful and boost your sales, even if a cheaper or more convenient alternative is available.

Additionally, on Amazon, you will catch up with a wide range of brands. However, due to the nature of Amazon’s platform, each product appears to be unbranded. When people shop on Amazon, it’s difficult for them to tell the difference between one brand and another. Therefore, other B2B ecommerce companies will have a big opportunity to differentiate themselves with their own distinct branding.

Maintain the long-term relationships with customers

Many store owners only focus on seeking new customers and forget caring about existing customers. Thus, that was one of the main reasons for their failure. When compared to new consumers, existing customers will surely spend more money and convert at a higher rate if you provide perfect items or services.

According to research, the opportunity for store owners to sell to a recurring customer is 70%, but this number is only 5% with new consumers. Moreover, returning consumers are 50% more likely than new customers to try new products and spend 31% more money.

Furthermore, Amazon’s Prime subscriptions are a tool for the company to keep customers well. Learn from Amazon, creating a customer loyalty program is the best method to boost customer retention with your online store.

Focus on ecommerce SEO

Ecommerce SEO should be a top goal for all B2B ecommerce businesses. Your site will rank high in SERPs for relevant keywords in your category if you perfect your SEO approach. As you probably know, 71% of clicks go to the first page of a Google search result. Thus, you will hardly approach potential customers if you don’t appear on the first page.

Besides, you are depending on customers browsing directly to your website and skipping the search engine if you don’t prioritize organic search traffic. So, paying attention to ecommerce SEO is one of the most crucial steps you must know to assist your store have a leg up in the global market.

Generate an email list

Email lists are one of the most effective ways for businesses to communicate with their customers well. As soon as you collect an email address from a customer, you can take advantage of it to notify them about offers or promotions that will tempt them to buy.

Following that, you can capture email addresses when your clients make payments. Hence, it makes it simple for the customer to subscribe by including this single checkbox in the procedure. It will not be necessary for them to go out of their way to opt-in.

What’s more, getting more subscribers by providing them a discount when they visit your website is another wonderful technique. As a result, you can encourage your clients to sign up to capture emails, at the same time, boost sales easily.

Consider website user experience is the prior top

When it comes to a website that has the best user experience, you can see Amazon as a genius. This company’s success is aided by its website, mobile app, and single-click checkout method. So if you want to compete with Amazon, your website must be able to stand out from the rest and bring customers the best buying experience. Specifically, you must make sure that the pages must load rapidly, and navigating must be as simple as possible. Because customers will quickly go somewhere else if they can’t find what they’re seeking for in a matter of seconds on your site.

Not only that, you must keep in mind that a person’s first impression of a website plays an important role. Consumers abandon websites with an ugly design 38% of the time. In addition, 88% of consumers will not return to a website after a negative experience.

Not the same business as Amazon

If you’re an online reseller, you should strive to avoid offering the same things that Amazon sells. Because Amazon has built such a great reputation for the products it sells, it will be difficult for new retailers to compete with Amazon. If your resources allow it, you should come up with your signature product. Otherwise, you have to figure out how to carve yourself a niche in your field.

Focus on conversions and funnels

Only conversions make an online store last. It’s fantastic to have a lot of visitors, but it’s pointless if they don’t convert. Then, the typical ecommerce benchmarks for each stage of the conversion funnel are described below.

In terms of conversions, Amazon blows the competitors with a stunning 74%. Although beating Amazon seems impossible, you may improve your sales by modeling your conversion funnel after Amazon’s. Following that, you should focus on main funnels and leading your consumers through the checkout process. Thanks to that, you can enhance ecommerce conversion rates easier. The goal is to figure out where in the funnel you’re losing consumers in order to come up with the suitable solutions. You should simplify the process to make the conversion to be completed as fast as possible. Moreover, the purpose of each additional step is to encourage buyers to alter their mind and abandon their shopping cart.

Have a simple return policy

No matter what products you sell online, returns are inevitable issues. Thus, instead of trying to avoid them, you should make it as simple as possible for customers to return items. Then, they will always have the highest satisfaction till the end. A convenient return policy can become an incentive for customers to place more orders in the future, resulting in boosting higher conversion.

According to research, before making a purchase, 66% of customers look into a company’s return policy. And, especially, up to 80% of shoppers turn away from companies with difficult or unclear return policies. Usually, the customer’s return request stems from the quality of your goods, which may be damaged or not according to their requirements. However, regardless of the reason, you shouldn’t ask them to pay for a refund. The majority of clients will only purchase at online stores that provide free returns. Hence, it is better if you allow them to print a return mailing label for free.

Make the delivery as fast as possible

In terms of the delivery process, Amazon has set a new standard for online shipping. Specifically, Prime members can get their orders delivered in two days that grab customers’ interest a lot. Hence, you should also do 2 day shipping and make sure it’s free for the customer.

Additionally, according to a recent study, free delivery is the most important motivator for customers to shop online more frequently. Furthermore, when free shipping is offered, 93% of buyers are attracted to buy additional things. Best of all, free-shipping orders have a 30% greater average value.

Interact and work well with marketplaces

Not only that, you can deal with other online marketplaces besides Amazon if you don’t want to sell directly from your website. This method is the perfect choice with smaller brands in specific categories. Then, you should consider cooperating with several outstanding marketplaces such as: Etsy, Fancy, Wayfair, etc. Hence, don’t hesitate to look for an online marketplace that focuses on your niche to promote your goods to shoppers.

Wrapping up

Although it is not easy to dislodge its position in the global market, Amazon also has many potential and formidable competitors in every field. Moreover, Amazon’s success also offers many valuable lessons that any online business should know to achieve such amazing results. Above all, Arrowtheme hopes our review will bring you a lot of useful information that you have been waiting for a long time. Then, if you have any questions on this topic, don’t hesitate to CONTACT US for more details.