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By Fatos Fatin · September 24, 2025 · Curated by George's Blog
🎯 Why I stopped telling clients to spy on their competition
Three years ago, I was obsessed with competitor analysis. Every client call started the same way: "Let's see what your top competitors are doing and do it better." Seemed logical, right? Then I had a client who broke every rule in the book, and crushed it.
Their main secondary image was "wrong" (product on white background instead of lifestyle). Their title was "too long" (pushing the recommended character count to the limit). Their price was "too high" (30% above the category average). According to every competitor analysis tool, they should have failed miserably. Instead, they hit $2.3M in their first year.
Here's what I learned: Your competition isn't your customer. While everyone else was copying each other's listings, this client was obsessing over their actual buyers. They spent hours reading reviews, not just their own, but reviews of completely different products their customers also bought.
They discovered their customers weren't just buying a kitchen gadget. They were buying confidence in hosting dinner parties. The "too long" title addressed every anxiety their customer had. The "too high" price reinforced the premium quality they craved. The competition was playing checkers. They were playing chess.
This happens everywhere, not just on Amazon. I see businesses copying their competitors' websites, pricing strategies, even LinkedIn content (yes, I see you copying other people's post formats 😉). But here's the thing: your competitors might be wrong. They might be targeting the wrong customer, solving the wrong problem, or optimizing for the wrong metrics.
When you copy your competition, you inherit their limitations.
The most successful sellers I work with now spend 80% of their research time studying their customers and only 20% glancing at competitors. They ask different questions: "What job is our customer really hiring this product to do?", "What would make them choose us even if we cost more?", "What problem are we solving that no one else is even talking about?" Your biggest competitive advantage isn't doing what others do better. It's doing what others aren't doing at all.
This doesn't mean ignoring your competition completely. But use them as a baseline, not a blueprint. Let them show you the floor, then build your ceiling. The market rewards differentiation, not imitation.
What's one way you've succeeded by doing the opposite of what everyone else was doing?
#CompetitiveStrategy #AmazonSelling #listingoptimization #productimages #CustomerResearch #Differentiation #Ecommerce #BusinessStrategy