What do you have in common with Amazon & Walmart online?

These are a huge retail names. They have been successful and we all would not mind shopping with them online. We trust them and we know them. They made their name then they took their business online.

So what do you share with these companies. Go and see. Their web address is www.amazon.com and www.wallmart.com. If you sell products online you likely touch one or more items from these super-giants. Good, so you may sell similar or the same products and that is something you have in common. These guys make their business with logistics - yes logistics. I was a very successful big box manager and believe me on the surface it was merchandizing but it quickly became getting the right SKUs in the right volume. This is important because as an online business or smaller brick and mortar store, you are retailing from a different starting point. Trying to capture and servicing Amazon and Walmart's customers by being just like them is paying their retail game and on their terms. And there are lots of companies already trying to do just that.

I asked you earlier to go and visit the website for Amazon and Walmart. I am sure you had the web address already but I really wanted you to take a fresh look. I want you to have a clear picture of how they conduct online commerce. I call it the amazon model, no disrespect to anyone else or even Walmart, but I believe that amazon was a leader in the field of ecommerce. The amazon model is using a standard shopping cart with catalog like pages to display products. This model has not changed since its inception and it is so common that Walmart is even doing it. Take a second look. How they sell online is pretty much the same. Do your customers come to you for the same reason they come to Amazon or Walmart? Does your online store match their online/ brick and mortar core competencies?

If your answer is no or even maybe, here is the real challenge! Take a look at generally available ecommerce software, they all use the same shopping cart interface, catalog and to make it easier, you can use one of their templates. The finish product still resembles the amazon model with a splash of color. That means for the most part one retail store will look like the other. Not only does your online efforts look resemble Amazon's but it also mean that Campbell Retail Online and Jones Retail Online will essentially be the same.

Do something different. You have different core competencies than Amazon, Walmart or even Jone Retail Online, stop trying your best to look like them. Consider using a platform that has inline integration. This means that you do not sell from a catalog, you sell from the information on your site. Inline integration uses a link to activate pricing, configuration and ordering. This is more flexible for your store as its changes the shopping cart, which would remove you to away from your information, to an to an element that provides active configuration, reduces the clicks to get to order processing and removes the need to change your website. Those are the basic benefits. Consider selling from an image where the product is displayed while in use or a video of a service is being demonstrated. With inline integration you can sell from an area of a image or video, all you do is link to the spot that is of interest and you have a very dynamic selling environment that look and fells nothing like Amazon, Walmart or Jones Retail Online.

If you would like to see how inline integration works, you can get more information at www.aitendant.com. Get the software its free and its expanding the edges of how we conduct business online. I hope you found this write-up helpful, its something we are pretty passionate about. If we can be of any assistance please let us know.

 

Nothing. I do not work for a retail business.

 

That was standard long before Amazon showed up, and being used on any number of sites and systems which sold two or three products at most.

If you're going to mount an argument, at least do your damn research.

 

Thank you for your critique but please re-read the write up. I wrote that "I call it the amazon model, no disrespect to anyone else or even Walmart, but I believe that amazon was a leader in the field of ecommerce." So I made no assertions as to who was first or even that others did not use that model. I even said no disrespect to anyone else, anyone else in this context means those companies using such a model but are not amazon. You can call it the "CDarklock model" for all I care, I just dont think that readers would get that reference and therefore I called it the amazon model.

The point of the research is that carts and catalogs drive what we consider ecommerce today. Everyone is using the same layout, even if you get a super slick template. If everyone is using the same layout then that model may be less than competitive.

I go further. Most companies try to emulate industry leaders and that is a good thing, but (1) when you are selling simliar or same products as large companies that really compete with logistics vs speciality merchandize, competing using their merchandizing methods really puts you at a disadvantage, and, (2) not only are you competing against the "super-giants" but those companies that share your core competencies who are emulating the amazons of the world either intentionally or because the ecommerce industry has singularly adopted the amazon / CDarklock model. The write up really calls for companies to do something different from the "Jones Retail Online", who share and compete on your core competencies, and be as distinctive as possible from the heard following the ... you pick the name of the model.

 

When you're watching a race, and Bob Jones is the leader, who's first?