6 Strategies for Small Businesses to Compete with Amazon Effectively

Compete with Amazon…Are you kidding me?

For a lot of online retailers including many of our VoIP resellers, Amazon, a $470 billion e-commerce and cloud computing giant, is extremely difficult to compete with. Actually, VoIP Supply is in the same boat with many of you; we have to compete with Amazon for certain products, and we understand how frustrating it can be! Therefore, we want to share some tips that we found effective to help you get your share back from Amazon!

1. Point out the Violators

Many manufacturers have a strict Minimum Advertised Pricing (MAP) that resellers and distributors have to follow. It is the lowest price a business can sell the product online or in advertisement. Follow these steps to protect your margin:

1. Check with your partner, like VoIP Supply  to learn what brands have  MAP
2. Watch for violations on Amazon
3. Report those who are breaking  MAP a partner like VoIP Supply so that they can help escalate it to the brand

This way, you can avoid starting an unnecessary price war and gain your margin back!

Check out the list below for some of the VoIP manufacturers that have a MAP:

• Grandstream
• Sangoma
• Yealink
• Jabra/VXi
• Digium
• Patton
• Polycom

2. Boast your Excellent Customer Service

Go extra miles for your customer to locate a one-of-a-kind product. Provide multiple channels for customers to reach you at their convenience: Phone, Email, Chat, Social Media, etc. Or even make the process of returning products easy.

All these will help you deliver excellent customer experience and win the deals! Amazon has a large customer base so sometimes it’s hard for them to customize their service for certain customers, but you can. That’s what makes you different.

3. Exceed Customer Expectation with Convenience

Live up to customer expectations. When it comes to convenience, there are a number of tools you can use to gear yourself up to be Amazon-equivalent. One easy way to do this is to find a right partner.

If you are a VoIP reseller looking for an opportunity to better serve your customers and exceed their expectation, consider VoIP Supply’s Partner Program. Utilize our relationship with multiple service providers and our dedicated VoIP Supply team as your extension to keep your customers engaged at all times! Fill out the form below to consult with our VoIP experts:

4. More than just Price and Speed

Yes, Amazon might be an e-commerce monster with low prices and fast shipping speed. But, some customers care more than just that! Ask yourself some questions first: Do you serve a specific market segment? Do you sell unique products? Create a distinguish product that is not in the category where Amazon dominates to make yourself stand out in the crowd.  

5. Create a Fantastic Browsing Experience

Amazon’s catalog is huge but they are not experts for everything. For customers who already knew what they are looking for will prefer visiting a website that only shows what they need.

As a small retail business with specific product lines, you should have the ability to design your online/ offline spaces to display your products in an effective way to engage with your customers better than Amazon. Create a fantastic browsing experience is a must for attracting more customers to your site!

6. Build Loyal Customers

Shoppers on Amazon are mostly looking for low prices and fast shipping so building a community is not a necessary strategy for Amazon. However, a small business like you can and should build a community with loyal customers!

Once your customers feel comfortable the way they shop on your site, the chances for them to return again are very high. Take this opportunity to build your own unique customer community and let your customers spread the word. Great word-of-mouth marketing is a most effective way to grow your business!

There you have it! Are you competing with Amazon? What are your effective strategies? Utilize the comment box below to share with us!