Seller guide · Competitor analysis
Ecommerce competitor analysis: a 5-layer framework and a real example
· Nolyn research team
This guide is for Amazon, Shopify and TikTok Shop sellers who want a competitor analysis they can act on, not a slide of logos. It gives a five-layer framework, a template you can copy, and a complete competitor analysis example built from a real Nolyn run: the top five water flossers on amazon.com by best sellers on October 17, 2026 (909 search results, then each product's details). Every figure in the example comes from the saved search and product-detail responses. The last sections cover what changes for a Shopify store, where there is no Best Sellers Rank, and how to turn a one-off analysis into a competitor benchmark you repeat.
How do you do a competitor analysis for an ecommerce store?
Collect the products that win your main search, then compare them in five layers: who they are, price, demand signals, the offer (variants, warranty) and what their buyers complain about. In Nolyn's October 17, 2026 example for “water flosser” on amazon.com, three brands held the top 10 best sellers, no top-10 listing was priced between $49.99 and $99.97, and durability was mostly negative (61–86% of mentions) for four of the top five: the price gap and the complaint a new product can aim at.
Step 0: decide who your competitors are
In ecommerce your competitors are the products that show up when a buyer searches for what you sell, not the companies you think of as rivals. A small brand loses sales to whatever sits on the first screen of results, whoever made it.
So start from one to three main keywords and take the top results sorted by best sellers, not by relevance. On amazon.com, “water flosser” returned 909 results; the top 10 by best sellers came from only three brands: five COSLUS listings, four Waterpik and one Onlyone. The top five were exactly the top five of Amazon's Power Dental Flossers category, which confirms the search picks up the real competition. Leave out accessories, refills and different product types.
The competitor analysis framework: five layers
Most competitor analysis frameworks (SWOT, Porter's five forces, a feature matrix) were built for companies. For a product listing, five layers are enough, and each one has a public number behind it. Fill one row per competitor; the template below is the same table used in the example.
| Layer | What to record | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Who | Search position (best-seller sort), brand, date first available | Who takes the sales today, and whether new listings can break in |
| 2. Price | Current price, list price, deal or coupon, price per unit | The price ladder and the empty price bands |
| 3. Demand | Best Sellers Rank, “bought in past month” label, ratings count | Which price points actually sell; ratings count shows age as much as demand |
| 4. Offer | Variants, bundles, warranty, power source or key spec, number of sellers | What buyers get for the price, and what is already standard |
| 5. Voice of customer | Share of 1–2 star ratings, review aspects with negative and positive mentions | The complaint the leaders share: the opening for a better product |
Five-layer competitor analysis framework for ecommerce products
Competitor analysis example: water flossers on Amazon
Here is the framework filled in for the top five “water flosser” best sellers on amazon.com, read on October 17, 2026. Price, rating, ratings, the purchase label and rank come from each product's detail page; durability is negative mentions out of all durability mentions in Amazon's review summary.
| Product | Price | List price | Rating | Ratings | Bought in past month | Rank in Power Dental Flossers | 1–2 star share | First available | Warranty | Durability complaints |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| COSLUS C20 | $35.98 | $42.99 | 4.4★ | 54,566 | 60K+ | #1 | 9% | June 30, 2022 | 2 years | 1,659 of 2,228 (74%) |
| Waterpik Aquarius (countertop) | $99.97 | — | 4.6★ | 158,452 | 50K+ | #2 | 4% | December 20, 2013 | 3 years | 2,223 of 2,975 (75%) |
| Onlyone | $19.99 | $23.98 | 4.5★ | 9,927 | 20K+ | #4 | 7% | May 31, 2024 | 1 year | 186 of 304 (61%) |
| Waterpik Cordless Gem 5100 | $49.99 | $79.99 | 4.1★ | 401 | 7K+ | #3 | 18% | April 10, 2026 | 2 years | not in summary |
| Waterpik Cordless Advanced | $99.99 | — | 4.2★ | 78,467 | 20K+ | #5 | 13% | June 8, 2016 | 2 years | 1,401 of 1,635 (86%) |
Top 5 water flossers on amazon.com by best sellers, October 17, 2026 (Nolyn run)
What the example shows, layer by layer
Price. The top 10 run from $19.99 to $99.99, but nothing in the top 10 sits between $49.99 and $99.97. Six of the ten cost $35.98 or less, and the only listings near $100 are two Waterpik models. A product between $50 and $100 would compete with two Waterpik listings instead of eight.
Demand. The volume leader is not the famous brand at $100: the COSLUS C20 at $35.98 is #1 in the category with “60K+ bought in past month”, against 50K+ for the Waterpik Aquarius at $99.97. Ratings count measures age as much as demand. The Aquarius has 158,452 ratings since 2013; Onlyone, first available in May 2024 with 9,927 ratings, shows the same 20K+ label as the Waterpik Cordless Advanced with 78,467.
New entrants. The Waterpik Cordless Gem 5100 was first available on April 10, 2026 and is already #3 in the category with 401 ratings. A new listing can rank within months here, but this one also has the lowest rating of the five (4.1 stars, 18% at 1–2 stars), and water capacity is negative in 17 of 33 mentions.
Offer. Warranties run from 1 year (Onlyone) to 3 years (Aquarius), and the C20 comes in 11 color and set variants. A 2-year warranty is already standard in this category, so it is not a differentiator by itself.
Voice of customer. Durability is the complaint the whole category shares: 74% of durability mentions are negative for the C20, 75% for the Aquarius, 86% for the Cordless Advanced and 61% for Onlyone, even with 2–3 year warranties. Battery life splits the cordless models: 69% negative for the $99.99 Cordless Advanced against 34% for the C20 and 21% for Onlyone.
Turning the analysis into decisions
A competitor analysis is finished when it changes a decision. From the example, a seller would write three: price into the empty band (for example $59–79) with a feature the cheaper leaders lack, rather than racing the $19.99 listings; make durability the headline claim and back it with evidence (pump life, a longer warranty, replacement policy), because it is the shared complaint; and if the product is cordless, prove battery life, the gap that separates the $99.99 Waterpik from the $36 leader.
Write each decision next to the figure that supports it. When a teammate or client asks why, the answer is a row in the table, not an opinion.
Shopify competitor analysis: what changes off Amazon
A Shopify store has no Best Sellers Rank and no “bought in past month” label, so the demand layer needs other signals. Use the same five layers, but take price, offer and reviews from the competitor's own product pages, and read demand from where they spend and sell: the ads they run (the Meta Ad Library shows all ads currently running on Facebook and Instagram, searchable without logging in), how often their products appear in TikTok and Instagram posts, and whether the same products sell on Amazon or TikTok Shop, where public sales labels exist.
Many direct-to-consumer brands also list on Amazon. Running the Amazon analysis on their product type is often the fastest way to get demand numbers and review complaints for a Shopify competitor.
Competitor benchmark analysis: repeat it, do not just run it once
Prices, deals, labels and ranks move daily. In the example, the Gem 5100 showed “8K+ bought in past month” in the search and 7K+ on its product page a few seconds later. Record the date of every analysis, and repeat the same table on a schedule (monthly for a category, weekly for your direct competitors' prices) so you compare like with like.
For a competitor benchmark analysis, keep the rows fixed (the same competitors) and track four numbers over time: price including deals, ratings count growth, Best Sellers Rank and the purchase label. A competitor whose ratings count grows fast while its 1–2 star share climbs is a listing to watch, and possibly a gap to take.
How to do an ecommerce competitor analysis in 5 steps
Pick your keywords
Choose one to three main search terms buyers use for your product.
Collect the top competitors
Search each term sorted by best sellers and keep the top five to ten competing products, without accessories or refills.
Fill the five layers
For each competitor record who, price, demand signals, offer and voice of customer in one table, with the date.
Find the gaps
Look for empty price bands, new listings that rank fast and the complaint most leaders share.
Write decisions and repeat
Turn each gap into a pricing, product or listing decision tied to a figure, then repeat the table monthly.
Questions
What is a competitor analysis framework?
A fixed set of questions you answer for every competitor so the results are comparable. For ecommerce products, five layers are enough: who the competitor is, price, demand signals, the offer, and what their buyers complain about. Each layer has a public number behind it on Amazon.
What should a competitor analysis example include?
The competitors, the date, one table with the same fields for each, and the conclusions with the figure behind each one. The water flosser example on this page covers five products, eleven fields and five findings, all from listings read on October 17, 2026.
How do I do a competitor analysis for a Shopify store?
Use the same five layers, but take prices, offers and reviews from the competitor's product pages, and read demand from their ads (Meta Ad Library), their social posts and their listings on Amazon or TikTok Shop, since Shopify shows no sales rank.
Can I see my competitors' sales on Amazon?
Not exactly. Amazon shows a Best Sellers Rank and, on many listings, a “bought in past month” label such as 60K+, which is a floor rather than a count. Tools that print unit or revenue figures estimate them from rank.
What is competitor benchmark analysis?
Measuring the same competitors on the same numbers over time, such as price with deals, ratings count, Best Sellers Rank and the purchase label, so you see who is gaining. It turns a one-off competitor analysis into a monthly or weekly check.
How many competitors should I analyze?
Five to ten for each main keyword. In the water flosser search, the top 10 best sellers came from three brands, so five products already covered every brand that mattered.
Is there a free way to do this?
Yes. Search your keyword on Amazon, sort by best sellers, open the top listings and copy the fields into the five-layer table by hand. Nolyn does the same reading in one run; new accounts get 100 free credits.
Sources
- Nolyn: Amazon competitor analysis sample (“water flosser” on amazon.com, best-seller sort, 909 results, top 5 product details, October 17, 2026) · checked October 24, 2026
- Amazon Best Sellers: Power Dental Flossers · checked October 24, 2026
- Meta Ad Library (all ads currently running across Meta technologies) · checked October 24, 2026
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