There are many ways to compete against Amazon. The digital market is still wide open for competition. Using Sitecore you have tools that can get your brand out in front of a wider audience with many more engagements and customer purchases. You can target customers based on their needs that would be a good fit to buy your brand. As a race director I have learned a few tricks on how to compete with other races. Participants want the experience of a good course, lots of support and some nice bling. Marketing in the digital world is not that much different. So, here are top five things that you can do to compete against Amazon and can be implemented with the custom site with a Sitecore CMS. Recently I got the chance to take a class on Sitecore’s commerce server. A lot of the features mentioned below are ready for use with little customization.

Drive Brand Awareness

There are many visuals and tools you can use to drive brand awareness. Here are some that are often used.

• Infographics – Infographics embedded in various places will catch the attention of potential customers getting to engage more with your brand.
  
• Social Media Tagging – Tagging related brands will not only make the brand company you tagged grateful it will also engage that company’s followers. In turn the brand company you tagged may tag you on another post.
  
• Social Media Contests – Having a giveaway is a great way to build up your contact list and get potential customers interested in your brand.
  
• Social media ad boosting – Many may see your ad but paying a little extra for your ad gets it in front of a wider range audience. We have all seen the sponsored ads in Facebook that we tend to click on.
  
• Partner with others that compliment your products – This goes along with social media tagging, but there are other things you can do to partner. You can present a case of working together with another brand that makes your brand a must buy when using the other brand. For example, a company that sells rags for cleaning may partner with a company that makes chemicals used in cleaning.
  
• Email Marketing – This is one of the best ways to keep your customer list up to date on new products and specials you may be running. It also keeps you on the customer’s mind when it is time for them to go shopping for your product brand.
  
• Blogging – Talking about your brand and giving real life cases for it can be accomplished easily with blogging. Blogs also can be shared on many social sites as well. Building up followers for your blog will get many to engage as you publish new ones or a series of blogs about a certain topic.
  
• Search Engine Optimization – A good site will be search engine friendly. Make sure each page in your site in the meta data describes the page well so search engines know to pick it up and show it in the expected results. Also having other complimentary brands link to your site helps search visibility as well.
  

Offer Fast Shipping

One of Amazon’s main selling point is their fast shipping for prime members. Many sites have now offered free shipping over a certain amount. A big difference between shipping from Amazon and a specific site is the personal touch a site gives to the order. If there is an issue the customer knows they can go directly to that company. Digital advertising of shipping is a keyway to get potential customers to order directly from you.

Dynamic Pricing – Shoppers are very price savvy these days. Checking competitor prices on brands you sell will keep you competitive with your competition’s prices. Amazon has done this to stay competitive and using dynamic pricing along with shipping deals can make sure a potential customer will buy from you.

Auto Delivery – Selling anything that will keep customers continuing to buy from you is a great way to keep current customers and make them happy, so they don’t run out of a product they continually buy. For instance, some vitamin shops will offer a 10% discount and free shipping when you use their auto-ship program. Ensuring you never run out.

Membership Pricing and Deals – It is always good to be part of the club. Having customers that are part of a free membership program will help you target their needs easier. When you have specials, they can be the first one that is notified based on their preferences.