Introduction

Amazon’s dominance over the eCommerce market is almost scary.

44% of all product searches, in fact, start with Amazon. They own 43% of all U.S. online retail sales. That’s almost half the market!

Not only that, but their most loyal customers are also incredibly brand loyal. Prime customers routinely spend twice as much as non-Prime ones. It doesn’t matter which stats or stories you read. They’re all the same in the end. Amazon dominates just about any market it touches. It’s often the first and last destination.

But that doesn’t mean they should be your only online marketplace option. In fact, you should actively avoid listing products on Amazon in many cases.

Here’s why and what you can do instead to survive in the age of Amazon.

Here are 12 do’s and don’ts on how to compete with Amazon and win!

1. Don’t sacrifice your margins
2. Don’t sell the exact same products as Amazon
3. Don’t wait until Amazon runs out of stock
4. Don’t re-direct Amazon shoppers to your website
5. Don’t add your promotional and marketing materials on Amazon product listings
6. Don’t have an overcomplicated checkout process
7. Don’t have a poor returns policy
8. Don’t have unclear shipping policies
9. Do work with niche marketplaces
10. Do build your own database and list
11. Do give people a reason to shop with you personally
12. Do restrict products on a competitive marketplace platform