ecommerce Competitors Specify Web Site Design

The ecommerce market strategy should identify the specific promotional 
direction the web site design should take.

If you are going to deal effectively counter the strengths of your 
competitors in the market then it is important to recognise them clearly,  
as well as understanding that those competitors will be assessing the 
market and you and your web site design in the same way.

So it is important to fully exploit differences such as  longer, heavier, 
cheaper, better engineered, more reliable or whatever.

Analyse the market - it's structure and trends with it's opportunities and 
threats - the business climate with it's the competition and it's customers. 

SWOT analysis is a good structure for beginning an analysis of the ecommerce 
marketplace. The technique uses a grid layout to categorise and analyse how 
you will match your strengths to your opportunities and how you will overcome 
your weaknesses and meet your threats. 

Market segmentation is taking a target population and dividing it into 
categories - eg. young, old, suburban,
wealthy.

Weaknesses are things that you lack or do poorly compared to your competitors - 
something that puts you at a disadvantage. Isolate weaknesses by asking what do 
I do badly,  or what should I avoid?