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How to compete with competitors selling the same product for cheaper?
Hello, all in this community. You all have given incredible advise on Google ads and more ppc channels, and I figured I could ask this question here.
I have been struggling with my Dining specific online store, which host the most popular brands, and sell directly to consumers via dropship.
We focus only on Google ads, but we have competitors who can sell these same dining tables, chairs, and more at low prices that we just can't compete with.
Some of them do get slightly better bulk discounts but I'm wondering if there is any other ways we could compete with them, or perhaps a way on Google ads to compete with them.
My website is https://designateddining.com/
Please let me know if there is anything you guys may now.
Thank you
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1 Reply
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For dropshipping and selling the same products at a higher cost is a tough position. Your only move is to show why your higher cost is better, do you have a better warranty or return policy? What can help improve your offerings outside of the product cost to make it worth it?
Looking at the homepage 4 of the 8 products are sold out which I don’t think is a good first impression. In Google ads are you making sales? If you’re hitting roas goals your good, if not work on targeting and separation of your products to similar groups, you can have a pmax for each group, shopping only pmax, remarketing etc. To keep the messaging and targeting aligned.
Don’t push too many products of your budget doesn’t support it. If your prices aren’t much higher than competitors you should be fine getting sales, you’ll lose out on the bargain hunters (which may affect you this year)
Make sure your website is optimized for people, easy to find what they’re looking for and checkout experience is easy. If you have a better experience over the cheaper alternative you’ll win more sales at the higher price.
Review analytics and customer experience on the website and continually A/B test ads and elements on the website to find your best performing setup.
Lastly make sure all of your products are in merchant center to take advantage of the free listing’s.
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This seems like your question goes beyond Google Ads’ capabilities and is more a business supply chain issue. If you can’t win on price or quality (same products) can you win on delivery speed or customer service? Find your competitive advantage and exploit it as much as you can.
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Agreed.
You’re going to want to focus as much on the value as you can.You can give the purchaser a better buying experience like an easy to navigate site, multiple payment options, smooth purchase process, good information about the products and warranty and delivery, etc
Sometimes the price isn’t the hurdle, it’s something else.
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Don’t compete on price. Offer more than your competition and charge more. What additional problems can you solve? which of those would they pay more for? solve those and charge more.
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I would focus on your product photos, as well as your below the fold content, as well as your outside channels that drive traffic. Additionally, focus on review generation.
If you can make your content more engaging, and drive more traffic, and create a better reputation, then you’ll beat the competitor 7-8/10 times.
Great product photos are a must. Not good, not above average, but GREAT. This is the one area you want to devote the most attention to.
Next, focus on reviews. I am more likely to buy from an e-commerce listing with a 4.7 rating and 400 reviews than a listing with a 4.9 rating and 45 reviews. (That’s just me though, other people could be different).
Your below the fold content should be highly informative, don’t spare any details. You should have a well structured informational hierarchy that goes over every aspect of the product.
Finally, use other channels like social media to drive sales. Offer influencers discounts to review your products etc.
Lastly, you can think to incorporate the use of email and text marketing to attract recurring buyers however this is dependent on the specific product as to the effectiveness.
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I recommend that you read the book “How to sell at prices higher than your competitors” by Lawrence L. Steinmetz
In it, there’s an important concept that price makes a statement— a credibility statement
So you can compete on quality, delivery, help at reducing cost by realizing savings, etc. and not on price.
How that looks with Google Ads is things like landing page optimization, website load time, product images, reviews, below the fold, the product page copy, and return/shipping policies.
Others have given great feedback for retargeting, but I highly recommend the book, gave me great insights for my own business.
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My store has many competitors and while our pricing is competitive it’s not the lowest.
1. The design could be better. Especially for premium furniture, I don’t think the design matches the products.
2. Your selling premium furniture right? I don’t think pricing is as big of an issue as you may think. If price was an issue they probably wouldn’t be looking at these brands in the first place.
3. Way too much discounting. It’s confusing. All the items are on sale but then there’s another coupon on the product. I added another item to cart and got offered another discount. Especially pop ups – pop ups can get annoying.
If you want to discount stick to 1
4. I would think most people wouldn’t just need one chair. Perhaps a few chairs, a dining table, a coffee table to match everything else etc. you need to work on increasing your AOV by upselling and cross selling.
5. You need social proof. More reviews
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I would suggest concentrating on the best customer support possible that’s what can differentiate similar businesses selling the same, I have no problem paying +15-20% if in return the customer support is great (fast and can actually answer the questions)
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The only way to compete is building a better brand with better customer support. We have seen this work with kid toys and other areas that has similar issues of tons of sites selling the same product at different price points. You can also look to focus the business more, why try to sell everything for the home when you could become the XY brand for a certain category of products. That way you become an expert in the living room or dinning tables as an example.
Product price is a ranking factor with Google shopping ads, which means it will be hard for you to compete if you can not lower the price. Google ads support the business when it is already strong. Google ads won’t fix a struggling business that doesn’t have a strong foundation.
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Do you have any particular product category where you can have better prices than competitors? If so, focus your budget on those products.
Otherwise, you can try bundling your products. Sell your top sellers at the lowest you can but be aggressive on upsells and cross sells.
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