It’s only a given that if you grow as big as Amazon (rightly named as the largest online platform), you are going to have it all: copycats, imitators, and competitors. Established by Jeff Bezos, this eCommerce platform has always faced competitors and still has had the courage to grow and develop no matter what. Only in 2017, Amazon’s market share of the e commerce retail market was 37% across the United States, can you imagine its market share now? By the way, specialists expect to see Amazon’s market share surpass 50% this year! (If you want to start your e commerce business on Amazon, it’s time!)
Who Dares to Compete With Amazon?
Everyone, from department stores to online platforms! There are millions of online stores, ecommerce competitors and online marketplaces that compete with Amazon. Thousands of buyers and sellers prefer other marketplaces for making their online sales, it’s always about Amazon! Even though Amazon is one of the most popular e commerce marketplaces that ever existed in this world, its competitors are also near the top of the food chain! Who said that if you’re not Amazon you cannot succeed?
E Commerce Competitor N1 – Walmart
This platform wasn’t always an e commerce titan, nor an online retail store. As you know, it was popular for its brick and mortar stores, and brick and mortar purchases! However one day, Walmart decided to upgrade, and get into the e commerce fierce competition!
Now, Walmart is a big online retailer, and what’s more interesting, it’s the world’s biggest private-sector company! It seems that the decision of being present in the online world was the right one! By 2019 Walmart had 32,000 sellers on its platform, which means that now (taking into account Walmart’s popularity) their number has increased!
Yes, as an online platform, Walmart is a novice company, but in this case, beginner’s luck turns into experience and an enormous success! Compared to Amazon, Walmart has a lot to do, but let’s be honest: Walmart has already achieved dizzy heights. If they work more, they will win or at least be equal with Amazon in a very short period of time! Now what do you think? This online platform has over 32,000 third party sellers, and many customers! As you can see, Amazon is not the only platform that is worth working with, there’s also marketplaces like Walmart!
E Commerce Competitor N2 – Alibaba
In case you didn’t know, Alibaba is a Chinese company that specializes in eCommerce and retail. On its website, you can see that Alibaba brings hundreds of millions of products in over 40 different major categories, including consumer electronics, machinery, and apparel. What’s more, buyers for these products are located in 190+ countries and regions and exchange hundreds of thousands of messages with suppliers on the platform each day. This is one of Amazon’s biggest competitors, so consider it as an option, everything counts!
It’s accepted to consider Alibaba as the Chinese alternative to eBay and Amazon, however, one shouldn’t underestimate it! Not only ordinary customers use Alibaba, but also sellers who use it to source products for their online store.
E Commerce Competitor N3 – eBay
Just Like Amazon, Walmart or Alibaba, eBay is a highly competitive online platform where millions of sellers list their products, confirm and fulfill orders, and yes, earn money! This platform is one of the world’s largest Amazon competitors which also cares about the shopping experience of its customers. It’s an indispensable part of the ecommerce market, and even if you prefer Amazon more, just go and observe eBay! You will also see some products there at insanely low prices!
This online platform started its career in the area of auctions, but one day, eBay decided to enhance its customer service, and upgraded its selling system. That’s how we have what we have now! At the moment, eBay has 1.6B live listings, 183M buyers on the eBay Marketplace, and 1500 cities with eBay classifieds listings!
It’s Not Always About E Commerce Stores!
There are certain companies that Amazon considers its top competitors, and who are not Walmart, Alibaba or eBay.
Streaming Services
Amazon knows that customers are most likely to vote for its products; however, we should all accept the fact that competitors and their competing products are everywhere! Let’s take for example Amazon’s all-famous Amazon Prime Video. Who is the main competitor of prime? Undoubtedly Netflix! Yes, having an online store always means competition!
Cloud Computing Everywhere
Or take a look at Amazon Web Services, AWS: customers usually prefer AWS when they need compute power, database storage, content delivery, or other functionalities, but there are other companies as well! Such as Google Cloud or Microsoft Azure! As you can see, there are competitors even in the area of cloud computing, since big companies offer a wide range of opportunities, especially in this field!
Virtual Assistants Can Help!
What about Amazon’s Alexa? Google Home products are, of course, famous, but it seems like Alexa is winning the race! In other words, services Amazon offers are not only customer and user friendly, but also have their value, and that’s exactly why Amazon literally lives in this never-ending competition!
Subscriptions – Another Way to Earn Money
As an online marketplace, Amazon offers subscriptions, with the help of which it gains additional money! Let’s take for example Amazon prime, e-books, audiobooks, music, and so forth! Amazon is obsessed with subscriptions, but that’s when Amazon competitors come! In this area, Amazon’s biggest competitors are again, Netflix, Apple, Google and others.
Physical Stores
Did you know that a top ecommerce platform like Amazon has a physical store? Yes, platforms fill not only the online but also the physical market! Looks like Amazon’s injecting itself into every sphere, make sure it’s one of the biggest forces to reckon with. Now, Amazon operates Amazon Books, Amazon Pop Up, Amazon 4-Star, Amazon Go, which means that even a physical store can become their competitors. Who said that retail sales are smaller than online ones? Top competitors exist everywhere, you just can’t avoid them!
Conclusion
As you can see, a company won’t be successful without at least one direct competitor! Competitors can take away your motivation, but if you do everything right, your business will only succeed. If you’re thinking about selling in the online market, and don’t know which platform you should choose, observe platforms, their business model, sales and so forth. If you have questions, just let us know and we will help you with your online shopping business! And remember, it’s not always about Amazon: other platforms also have their benefits, you just have to do your research, and only then trust your name, email address and other information to a website! You already know three platforms which you can turn to if you even decide to step away from Amazon! It’s true, Amazon is a one stop ship for customers when it comes to ecommerce. But it’s not the only one!
