Amazon competitor analysis: how to find, analyze and outrank your rivals

Our team manages $100M+ in annual Amazon client revenue across 50+ Amazon accounts, and competitor analysis is part of every account we run. This guide covers how to find your real competitors, how to tell which keywords you can win, what to analyze on each rival and how to turn it into a plan. It includes data from keywords and ad accounts we manage.

TL;DR

The table below shows the 3 competitor tiers and what to analyze first for each one. Use it to decide where to spend your research hours.

Read the table as a priority order. Spend most of your time on primary competitors, and check the other tiers for pricing and cross-sell ideas.

What does an Amazon competitor analysis tell you?

It tells you who you are really up against, why they win the sale and where they leave gaps you can fill. That matters on Amazon, where the store is crowded with independent brands. According to Amazon's 2025 Small Business Empowerment Report, more than 60% of sales in Amazon's store come from independent sellers, and more than 75,000 of them passed $1 million in sales in 2025.

A good analysis gives you three things: what already works in your category, the weaknesses buyers complain about, and the price, listing and ad moves that will win you a bigger share of sales.

How do you do an Amazon competitor analysis step by step?

It's easy to gather surface-level information about competitors. Follow the steps below to find the rivals that actually matter and judge whether you can beat them.

Step 1: Which keywords define your market?

Your competitors are the brands that rank for the keywords your buyers type, so the keyword list comes first. Build it with our free Amazon keyword research tool. For the full process of pulling the keywords your rivals rank and bid on, see how to find competitor keywords on Amazon. This guide focuses on what you do once you have the list.

Step 2: Who ranks for those keywords?

For every target keyword, run an Amazon search and record the brands on the first 2 pages of organic results. Those products are your direct competitors.

If you are enrolled in Amazon Brand Registry and hold the Brand Representative role, add a second check. According to Amazon, Amazon Brand Analytics shows the three top-clicked products for each search term, with their click share and conversion share. Pull the Top Search Terms report for each keyword and record those 3 products with both shares. It shows which listings win the clicks and which win the sales.

Say you sell a potato masher. From the top 10 organic results for "potato masher", record:

• The price range and the most common price band
• The pack size, so you can compare price per unit
• The materials and terms that recur in titles
• The brands with 2 or more products on page 1

Step 3: Which competitors should you prioritize?

You'll end up with a long list. Narrow it to the brands that win on performance, not just on budget.

A sponsored position reflects ad spend. According to Amazon Ads, the more competitive the bid, the more likely the ad is shown. Organic rank reflects sales performance. If a product shows up only in sponsored slots and never in organic results on pages 1 or 2, drop it from the list.

Keep Best Sellers, Amazon's Choice products and brands with 2 or more products on page 1. If you have Brand Analytics, open Search Query Performance and compare your brand's click share with all brands on each keyword. Then prioritize the 3 to 5 competitors taking the largest share, and sort them into the 3 tiers from the table above.

Step 4: Can you actually win this keyword?

Before you plan against a competitor, check how concentrated the keyword is. In the keyword data we track for brands we manage (259 keywords with sales in the last 4 weeks, using Datarova), the top product took a median 21% of a keyword's sales. On 26 of the 259 keywords, about 1 in 10, a single product took half or more.

How to read it: when the top product holds around a fifth of sales, the keyword is open and a better listing and steady ads can take share. When one product holds half, a head-on push gets expensive. Start with the longer, more specific keywords around it, win those first, then come back to the head term.

What should you analyze on each competitor?

Once you have your shortlist, analyze each competitor on six things: ad presence, listing quality, price, reviews, promotions and stock, and share of sales. The table shows which tool covers which job.

Brand Analytics is the only tool in the list with Amazon's own click and conversion data. Use the third-party tools to fill in keywords, prices and history around it.

How are your competitors advertising?

Search each target keyword and note which brands hold sponsored slots, and whether the same brands also rank organically. Use Helium 10 Cerebro to see which keywords a competitor pays for and their search volume.

Brands that hold both tend to win. Across the ranked keywords we track for brands we manage, 22% of keywords where the brand also held a sponsored slot ranked in the organic top 10 (18 of 83). Without a sponsored slot it was 4% (5 of 119). Brands also advertise more where they already rank, so treat this as a pattern, not proof. But it's why we look at ads and organic rank together, never one without the other.

Also check who targets your listings. Competitors place ads on your product pages and on searches for your brand name. On Wedge Guys we run a brand defense campaign that targets the brand's own product pages, so those shoppers see Wedge Guys products instead of a rival's.

Then decide where to target theirs. In a 30-day snapshot of 59 ad accounts we manage, product targeting (ads on other listings) took a median 13% of Sponsored Products spend. Those clicks were cheaper in 51 of the 59 accounts, a median $0.86 against $1.04 for keyword clicks, but converted less often, 5.3% against 8.4%. ACoS ended up close: 30% against 33%. Competitor targeting is cheap reach, and it pays when your listing beats theirs on price, rating or offer.

ACoS (advertising cost of sale) is ad spend divided by ad sales: $30 in spend that drives $120 in sales is a 25% ACoS. Check whether a competitor's cost per click works for you with our Amazon ACoS calculator.

"Bidding up to compete click for click with competitors when shoppers convert less is how budget gets burned. The smarter play is precision: win the placements that convert, hold back everywhere else, and scale back up when demand returns." Mike Todorov, Director of Amazon Growth, Olifant Digital

How strong is each competitor's listing?

Your listing turns the traffic you win into sales. Score each competitor on the same baseline we use in Amazon listing optimization:

• Product title
• Bullet points
• Main image and secondary images
• A+ Content and video
• Questions and answers
• Brand Store

When we took over Wedge Guys, its hero images were losing to sharper competitors. We redesigned them as part of a rebuild of targeting, listings and ads that grew Amazon sales 391% and added $305,771 in monthly revenue.

How are your competitors pricing their products?

Price weighs heavily on the decision. For Seller Central offers, Featured Offer prices are commonly at or below the lowest-priced alternatives, according to Amazon, and offers with fast, free shipping are more likely to be featured.

Compare price per unit, not just the sticker price. In pricing reviews for brands we manage, we often find a competitor selling a bigger bottle or pack for about the same price. Shoppers notice, and the cheaper-looking product loses.

Check each rival's price history in Keepa to see how often they discount. If you want to move your own price, test it on one product at a time in small steps, around $1, and watch conversion before you change the next one.

What do competitor reviews reveal?

Reviews show what buyers really think. Sort competitor reviews by recurring complaint and count how often each one appears. The most frequent complaint is the gap most buyers want closed.

Count the reviews too. In one equine supplement category we priced for a client, every listing with fewer than 30 reviews sold under 10 units a month, whether it was priced at $54 or $83. Listings with 100+ reviews sold 100 to 500 units a month. Review count can matter more than price, so a new product needs a plan to reach its first reviews.

How do competitors use promotions and stock?

Track coupons, Lightning Deals and Prime-exclusive discounts on your top competitors, and note when they run them. A coupon adds a visible savings badge in search results that lifts clicks and conversion.

For a new product priced above established rivals, we usually recommend a launch coupon for the first 6 to 8 weeks, then reduce it once the listing has around 20 reviews.

When a whole category runs deals and you don't, don't try to outbid them. Shoppers click, see a better discounted offer next to yours and buy that one. We cut ads on purpose in those windows to protect margin, then push again when the deals end.

Watch stock as well. A competitor that runs out of stock leaves its sales open for days or weeks, which is the moment to raise budgets on the keywords it held.

How much of the market does each competitor hold?

Share of sales is the scoreboard. In Brand Analytics, track click share and conversion share for the top 3 products on each keyword. In Search Query Performance, Amazon says the dashboard shows "the percentage of clicks for your brand's catalog compared to the total count for all brands." A falling share means a competitor is taking clicks on keywords you rank for.

What cadence keeps the analysis current?

Run the full analysis every quarter. Spot-check your top 5 competitors on your top 10 keywords every week: organic rank, sponsored slots, price, coupons, stock and any new listing on page 1. Rerun the full analysis early if a new brand reaches page 1 on a core keyword.

What should you do with the competitor data?

Put the analysis to work in five areas.

Develop or improve the product

Build your next product, or the next version of your current one, around the most frequent complaint in competitor reviews. If you sell in a crowded category, a bigger pack or a better price per unit can be the fix.

Fix your listing before you raise bids

Rewrite bullets to answer the objections competitor reviews reveal, and rebuild images that look weaker than the top 3 on page 1. Ads send traffic to whatever listing you already have.

Set your keyword priorities

Focus first on keywords where the top product holds a modest share and you already rank on page 1 or 2. Put primary keywords in titles and secondary ones in bullets and backend search terms. The full method is in how to find competitor keywords on Amazon.

Plan competitor targeting

Target the listings you can beat. For Spade to Fork, we picked competitors with lower ratings and higher prices and targeted their product pages directly. It was part of a campaign rebuild that grew ad sales 132% and revenue 46% in 44 days.

Price competitively without giving away margin

Set your price against the most common price band and price per unit, then protect it. Use software like Repricer with rules that keep your margin, and review the data yourself before big moves.

How we handle Amazon competitor analysis at Olifant Digital

Competitor analysis is part of every account we run through full Amazon account management. Senior account managers with 7+ years of experience run it in this order:

• We audit your listings, organic rank and the share of sales competitors hold on each target keyword.
• We mine competitor reviews for objections their bullets don't answer, then write your bullets to answer them.
• We rebuild listings before scaling ad spend, because ads send traffic to whatever listing you already have.
• We pick competitor listings to target, starting with lower-rated or higher-priced products.
• We monitor rankings, sales and competitor moves daily through our in-house platform, Olifant AI, and optimize the account every day.

The third step is where profit shows up. Onsen Secret tripled profit and added $95,934 in monthly revenue after we rewrote its listings before increasing spend.

The same process runs across the accounts we manage today. Amazon store sales, January to September 2026 versus the same months of 2025: Dreamfarm UK +328%, Eye on Ball +113%, BenchFoods +84%, Novalogy (AYO) +66% and Dreamfarm US +45%.

You review the results with us on a weekly call and in a dedicated Slack channel.

Key takeaways

• Keywords define your competitors. Your real rivals are the brands on the first 2 pages of organic results for your target keywords.
• Check concentration first. On the median keyword we track, the top product takes 21% of sales. Where one product takes half, start with the longer keywords around it.
• Click share sets the shortlist. The 3 to 5 brands taking the most clicks per keyword deserve a full analysis.
• Ads and organic rank go together. Keywords where our brands also held a sponsored slot ranked in the organic top 10 far more often, 22% against 4%.
• Competitor targeting is cheap reach. Clicks on other listings cost less but convert less, so target the listings you can beat.
• Fix the listing before the bids. Price per unit, images and review count often decide the sale before the ad does.

Amazon competitor analysis FAQ

How often should you run an Amazon competitor analysis?

Run a full analysis every quarter and spot-check your top 5 competitors every week. The weekly check covers your top 10 keywords: organic rank, sponsored slots, price, coupons and any new listing on page 1. Rerun the full analysis early if a new brand reaches page 1 on a core keyword.

How many competitors should you track on Amazon?

Track 3 to 5 priority competitors per target keyword in depth. Pick them by click share in Brand Analytics, or by organic rank on page 1 if you aren't enrolled in Brand Registry. Keep the wider list from the first 2 pages of organic results as a watch list and recheck it each quarter.

What is the difference between competitor analysis and competitor keyword research?

Competitor keyword research finds the search terms your rivals rank and bid on. Competitor analysis is wider: it covers their listings, prices, reviews, promotions, ads and share of sales, and tells you how to beat them. For the keyword side, see how to find competitor keywords on Amazon.

Which tools do you need for an Amazon competitor analysis?

You need a keyword research tool, a competitor keyword tool, a price history tool and Amazon Brand Analytics. On this page that means our free keyword research tool, Helium 10 Cerebro or Jungle Scout, Keepa and Brand Analytics, plus a repricer if you change prices often. Brand Analytics is available to brands enrolled in Brand Registry and adds Amazon's own click and conversion data.

Does competitor analysis improve Amazon PPC results?

Yes. It shows which keywords competitors pay for, which listings you can target profitably and the cost per click you need to match. Compare each keyword's cost against your break-even ACoS, the ACoS at which ad spend equals your profit margin before ad costs. For example, a 30% margin before ad costs means a 30% break-even ACoS. If a keyword only works above break-even, bid on related terms with less competition.

How much does it cost to have an agency run competitor analysis?

At Olifant Digital, competitor analysis is included in Amazon account management. Our services start from $2,000 per month and are custom for each project, based on the complexity and workload required. Every engagement is backed by our 60-day money-back guarantee: if you're not happy in the first 60 days, we refund your management fees.

What should an Amazon competitor analysis give you?

A finished analysis answers 3 questions:

• What your market looks like right now, and how concentrated each keyword is
• Who the top players are, and why they win the sale
• Which listing, price and ad moves will win you a bigger share

If any of the three is missing, go back and research that area. Start with the gap closest to revenue: fix your listing against your top primary competitor before you raise bids on shared keywords.

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