Amazon is a giant of online sales that has become the fiercest competition many businesses have. And here it does not matter if we sell or not by Internet, but rather if we are in a segment in which the giant has presence or not. If yes, you do not have to go around, Amazon is your competition.
There is only one niche of customers, those who do not use the Internet to buy, each time less, which would be the ones that the smallest business should take care of. The personalized attention and recommendations of the best for our client, take the product home after payment, buy in a long time or facilities for returns and exchanges are some of the weapons of small businesses. But the truth is that they are increasingly less effective.
The reality is that the convenience in the purchase and ease to do it from the living room of your house is much more attractive than having to fight to find parking and rummage through everything that we have in a store. The process of buying online for many products, especially those that we do not have to try before buying is a point in favor of Amazon. Also the possibility to easily compare prices and features.
Here one of the f fundamental actors is the price. Amazon by the volume of sales that it has can adjust more its margins and perhaps the prices are more adjusted than those that can be found in a traditional commerce. At least we have to match what Amazon offers if you want to compete.
At the same time, the e-commerce giant has developed a great logistic efficiency. This allows deliveries on the same day in large cities and the next day virtually everyone. In addition, the customers who buy the most subscribe to the premium service, which forces them to continue buying on the platform to make the service profitable. In favor of the small business the inconvenience of the deliveries plays, whether or not we are at home when the package arrives or if it is convenient for us to leave it at work.
The return policy is another important aspect of Amazon, where little to little that the small business put up, will end up losing to the customer. All you have to do is print a label and paste it into the box to return a product to Amazon. More simple impossible.
There is always the possibility of allying with the enemy and selling on the Amazon platform. Because it is not only about competing against the giant, but about many small businesses that already sell through it and are also our competitors.