3 Ways to Compete in the Age of Amazon

As a threat, the massive market share and retail dominance of Amazon.com probably beats the hit Marvel "Avengers: The Age of Ultron" eponymous robotic villain, Ultron. This is the Age of Amazon.

Amazon recently made splashy headlines with its acquisition of Whole Foods for $13.7 billion. After the news dropped, the move raised more questions about just how big and competitive the tech giant will continue to grow. Accounting for 26 percent of all online retail sales, with 200 million items to buy, including 20 million sporting goods products and 5 million types of clothing, it might seem hopeless to operate in the same sphere.

Although it appears Amazon has used its low prices, large selection and overall convenience to corner the world of online retail, there are, in fact, many ways e-commerce brands can leverage their positions to build brand loyalty and grow their businesses in the face of this internet juggernaut.

To effectively compete in this Age of Amazon, retail brands need to implement a smart e-commerce strategy. Consider these three tips to boost brand awareness, improve the customer experience and increase revenue potential:

Connect your online and in-store inventory

Customers want a seamless journey whether they're shopping on in a physical location or on mobile devices, their PC or a tablet. This carries over to hybrid shopping excursions too, such as placing an order online and then traveling to the brick-and-mortar shop to pick it up. Without a smooth transition from one shopping channel to the next, customers will have a less-than-satisfactory shopping experience.

Retail brands need the ability to manage all of these channels with a single platform that coordinates both online and in-store inventory to ensure customers enjoy a seamless experience no matter where they shop from. An e-commerce platform that aggregates and manages inventory across warehouses, third-party logistics and retail stores can help in this process.

Leverage customer data

In the Age of Amazon, the old aphorism "Time is money" might be more appropriately updated to "Data is money." Nowhere is this more truthful than in using shopper data to improve the customer experience and boost brand loyalty.

Leveraging customer information through online data aggregation and market research allows brands to better target shoppers with more personalized ad campaigns and promotions at the right touch points along the sales funnel. Using e-commerce software to streamline data aggregation allows retail brands to leverage their customer data to optimize satisfaction and loyalty.

Utilize omni-channel operations

Aside from a few new Amazon Books store locations, Amazon exists purely on the internet. This gives e-commerce brands a leg up on the digital behemoth. Providing both online and brick-and-mortar locations gives customers more options and a greater chance of attracting shoppers who prefer using both methods.

An integrated omni-channel suite of tools gives retail brands the ability to optimize their distribution order management and enterprise inventory management across both online and physical locations.

Click here to learn more about Deck Commerce, a cloud e-commerce platform that simplifies omni-channel operations.