30 min
#14 - How to compete with the Giant of the Digital World - Amazon eCommerce Podcast
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- Entrepreneurship
Welcome my fellow eCommerce Entrepreneurs! My name is Matt Edmundson and this show is for those of us Kurious About eCommerce and want to know how to get better at digital business.
Coming up in today's show we’re going to be talking about how we can compete with the giant of the digital world, that is Amazon.
Let's face it, Amazon is at the top of the food chain when it comes to the eCommerce marketplace. There is no doubt about it. From it's humble beginnings in the garage of Jeff Bezos 25 years ago to an annual excess of $230 billion with more than 647,000 employees, Amazon is huge and it is a Goliath of an eCommerce business.
And it isn't showing any signs of slowing down. CNBC recently reported Amazon's plans to take on the Indian market. They've got plenty of hurdles to overcome but it'll probably only be a matter of time before they resolve those issues and take their place as the dominant player in India's economy.
As they grow and take on other countries, markets and industries, we have got to ask ourselves, do we actually stand a chance?
Yes and here's two reasons why we absolutely stand a chance.
1) We leverage with Goliath.
eCommerce is only 10% of overall retail sales. The retail business is a $5.5 trillion business and only 10% of that is online. In the next decade it will jump to 20% to 40% and no one company can serve all those customers and all their needs. This is a great time to be starting eCommerce businesses.
2) We compete like a Digital David.
If you are familiar with the old Sunday school story of David and Goliath, in your head you will have a picture of this giant who is a champion, and is head and shoulders above everyone else. He is complete monster of a man and he is so intimidating that not one from the Israelite army is willing to go up against him. David, a shepherd boy, is the only one who volunteers. King Saul gives David his armour for battle but David takes it off because it doesn't feel right and instead chooses to slay the giant with what's familiar to him - stones and a slingshot.
Malcolm Gladwell has written a great book called David and Goliath in which he talks about how to overcome giants. He explains how David is cool because he's unique, he's authentic and he knew what would work for him. He wasn't going to pretend to be a warrior in the King's armour. He chose to go with what was right for him - five stones and his slingshot.
This is how we Digital Davids compete - with what's authentic about us and with the tools we have.
Here are my five stones:
Stone one: Customer relationships
Amazon cannot create the relationship with customers in your niche that you can create. They just can’t. They are too big and they don't have the people, the resource, the drive, or the knowledge to create that relationship that you can have with your customer. We have to understand that our customers hold all the cards. They can choose to spend their money with us right here, right now, or choose our competitor half way around the world. As a business you need to get to know your customers by listening to them, anticipating what they need and solve their problems for them. Like David we can be quick and agile and adapt to the needs of our clients.
By investing heavily in your customer you can earning their trust and loyalty.
Amazon isn’t personal on any level. It’s totally transactional. People buy with their emotion and so you have the advantage of being able to appeal to your customer’s emotions by being remarkable and awesome their eyes.
People love values. Other than speed and convenience, I am not sure what values Amazon does have. There is a whole host of tax issues with them, they are no longer the cheapest and the fake reviews are creating credibility issues for them. All these crevices can be exploited and can work in your favor.
Stone two: Shipping
May sound odd but shipping is one of the key...
Welcome my fellow eCommerce Entrepreneurs! My name is Matt Edmundson and this show is for those of us Kurious About eCommerce and want to know how to get better at digital business.
Coming up in today's show we’re going to be talking about how we can compete with the giant of the digital world, that is Amazon.
Let's face it, Amazon is at the top of the food chain when it comes to the eCommerce marketplace. There is no doubt about it. From it's humble beginnings in the garage of Jeff Bezos 25 years ago to an annual excess of $230 billion with more than 647,000 employees, Amazon is huge and it is a Goliath of an eCommerce business.
And it isn't showing any signs of slowing down. CNBC recently reported Amazon's plans to take on the Indian market. They've got plenty of hurdles to overcome but it'll probably only be a matter of time before they resolve those issues and take their place as the dominant player in India's economy.
As they grow and take on other countries, markets and industries, we have got to ask ourselves, do we actually stand a chance?
Yes and here's two reasons why we absolutely stand a chance.
1) We leverage with Goliath.
eCommerce is only 10% of overall retail sales. The retail business is a $5.5 trillion business and only 10% of that is online. In the next decade it will jump to 20% to 40% and no one company can serve all those customers and all their needs. This is a great time to be starting eCommerce businesses.
2) We compete like a Digital David.
If you are familiar with the old Sunday school story of David and Goliath, in your head you will have a picture of this giant who is a champion, and is head and shoulders above everyone else. He is complete monster of a man and he is so intimidating that not one from the Israelite army is willing to go up against him. David, a shepherd boy, is the only one who volunteers. King Saul gives David his armour for battle but David takes it off because it doesn't feel right and instead chooses to slay the giant with what's familiar to him - stones and a slingshot.
Malcolm Gladwell has written a great book called David and Goliath in which he talks about how to overcome giants. He explains how David is cool because he's unique, he's authentic and he knew what would work for him. He wasn't going to pretend to be a warrior in the King's armour. He chose to go with what was right for him - five stones and his slingshot.
This is how we Digital Davids compete - with what's authentic about us and with the tools we have.
Here are my five stones:
Stone one: Customer relationships
Amazon cannot create the relationship with customers in your niche that you can create. They just can’t. They are too big and they don't have the people, the resource, the drive, or the knowledge to create that relationship that you can have with your customer. We have to understand that our customers hold all the cards. They can choose to spend their money with us right here, right now, or choose our competitor half way around the world. As a business you need to get to know your customers by listening to them, anticipating what they need and solve their problems for them. Like David we can be quick and agile and adapt to the needs of our clients.
By investing heavily in your customer you can earning their trust and loyalty.
Amazon isn’t personal on any level. It’s totally transactional. People buy with their emotion and so you have the advantage of being able to appeal to your customer’s emotions by being remarkable and awesome their eyes.
People love values. Other than speed and convenience, I am not sure what values Amazon does have. There is a whole host of tax issues with them, they are no longer the cheapest and the fake reviews are creating credibility issues for them. All these crevices can be exploited and can work in your favor.
Stone two: Shipping
May sound odd but shipping is one of the key...
30 min