Expand your Online Shopping beyond Amazon to Save Money

At BuyVia, we are focused on shopping and the reasons driving consumer’s purchase decisions. Some people buy on price alone and mostly online, while others prefer the traditional brick and mortar shopping experience.

We recently conducted a survey about online shopping and found that the majority of our respondents thought of Amazon more often than any other retailer - either offline or online - when they wanted to purchase a specific item. In fact, many of those surveyed now go straight to amazon.com (bypassing Google entirely) when they are shopping online.

It’s clear that Amazon has become the thousand pound gorilla in a room of smaller online retailers. Just a few years back, aspiring entrepreneurs were setting up shop on the web and competing with others in their niche - but now they have to factor Amazon’s advertising reach, branding, and cost of goods into their business plans. For many, it simply doesn’t make sense to compete with Amazon any more - and a quick search will find many blog posts from former ecommerce company stakeholders lamenting the almost monopoly-like power Amazon now experts of the online shopping experience. Smaller manufacturer’s often simply set up shop on Amazon and forego setting up an ecommerce experience on their websites altogether. Larger brands often hesitate, fearing Amazon may damage their brand and learn too much about their operations and customer base.

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