Your agency gave you competitors. But when I looked at the list? Every single on
By John Aspinall ✱ · June 11, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
Your agency gave you competitors.
But when I looked at the list?
Every single one was China direct.
And at $6.99.
That's not a competitor.
A competitor is the same product, same quality tier, same value proposition, fighting for the same customer.
A $7 China direct item and a $30 US-brand premium item are not fighting over the same buyer.
One competes on price.
The other competes on trust, quality, and brand story.
Here's why it matters:
If you build your image stack by studying what a $7 China item is doing, you will build the wrong images.
Same lifestyle shots.
Same bland claims.
Nothing that earns the price premium.
Instead, find the US-based brand at your price point and ask:
- What do their images look like?
- What claims are they leading with?
- Where are they showing us versus them?
- How many photos do they have?
That's your real creative brief.
You can still look at China competitors for keyword data. They're pulling search volume.
Fine.
But for listing optimization and image strategy? ⤷ You need apples to apples.
If you're comparing to a $7 item and trying to compete on price, you will lose every single time.
The value prop is completely different.
Lean into what they can't match:
US-owned, real customer service, quality that ships once and stays shipped.
The moment you know who your real competitor is, the whole image stack writes itself.