- Original Poster
- #1
I’ve run independent e-commerce websites for 12 years, though I took a 3-year hiatus for work. Now that TikTok, Amazon and Temu are grabbing bigger and bigger market shares, I’m curious: can standalone sites still drive sales?
Is there still room for standalone e-commerce sites when market share goes to Amazon, TikTok and Temu?
- Thread starter TIKTOPTOPS
- Start date
Depends on what you are selling and to whom. And of course, how good you are at marketing.
But to answer your question, yes you can succeed as an independent.
But to answer your question, yes you can succeed as an independent.
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As above the right research, know your market, exploit the weakness of others, what's your edge, what can you do differently (would be nice if a company actual had a human at the end of the phone) there are always opportunities to be found
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It depends on what you are selling. It is a brave person that goes up against Amazon if you are selling the kind of product that you would normally buy on Amazon. Ask yourself "if I was going to buy this, would I look on Amazon" and if you are the kind of person that avoids Amazon for some reason then ask someone neutral - it is a long, long list and getting longer every year.
Tiktok has grabbed some share and some of my clients launched there first and managed to go viral. However, a large % of people would rather buy on Amazon than Tiktok so you still need to be there.
Whichever way you cut it, you need traffic and you can either pay Amazon for that via the commission/PPC costs or you can go it alone, go up against them and try and buy the exposure yourself.
Tiktok has grabbed some share and some of my clients launched there first and managed to go viral. However, a large % of people would rather buy on Amazon than Tiktok so you still need to be there.
Whichever way you cut it, you need traffic and you can either pay Amazon for that via the commission/PPC costs or you can go it alone, go up against them and try and buy the exposure yourself.
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Had a message from a relative last night. Special offer on LEVI 501's on TIKTOK. I try my hardest to avoid buying from Amazon so damned if I'm going to support a comedy video channel!
Seriously, there are huge challenges for anybody that wants to go up against the big guys and whilst they are not a huge threat to my business, I'm going down the flip catalogue/magazine route with links to a webshop that is ultra simple to update. No SEO needed...... Maybe not an idea that suits a start up but I'm confident it will work for us.
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- Original Poster
- #7
Thank you all for sharing your expert perspectives. As Mr. Jones and Mr. Jumper noted, there will always be niche markets that the TikTok-Amazon integration cannot fully serve. What’s more, traffic remains absolutely vital. Many thanks again — I’m going to give running an independent online store another shot.
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Marketing, Marketing, Marketing, plenty of ways to market all ways of selling, Although the big players offer lots of advantages like doing the work for you and next day delivery, still lots of room for web sites if your willing to do a lot of hard work and spend money on Marketing, advertising and selling and making a Brand
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Ignore your own website at your peril.
It is a route to market that isn't the others. It is the destination that you should be pointing purchasers from the other outlets to.
It is a route to market that isn't the others. It is the destination that you should be pointing purchasers from the other outlets to.
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Of course they can. Why ever would you think otherwise?can standalone sites still drive sales?
Don't have to be niche to not use Tiktok or Amazon. I doubt many of my customers even use TikTok, let alone see it as somewhere to buy stuff.
I often find stuff cheaper off Amazon. Amazon is great for finding stuff then go looking elsewhere. It's only benefit is same or next day delivery that you get with Prime.
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- Original Poster
- #13
To be honest, I’m still on the fence about dropshipping. Shoppers purchasing low-value goods usually expect fast shipping, even next-day delivery. My experience mainly lies in custom products. That said, I want to test low-cost, high-demand items. If buyers are okay with extended lead times in return for more competitive pricing, I plan to offer low-MOQ wholesale by consolidating my supply-chain resources.
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