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5.03.2025
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Service Factors in E-commerce: Gaining an Edge Over Competitors
Delivery options, payment methods, interest-free installment plans, and other service factors play a crucial role in the decision-making process of online shoppers. However, these factors are often overlooked by e-commerce category managers. Instead, most focus on product assortment and pricing strategies. This is understandable, as price and product availability are the most dynamic elements in a highly competitive online marketplace. They tend to fluctuate frequently and have a significant impact on sales performance.
While pricing, assortment, and promotions are undeniably important, this article highlights additional opportunities for boosting sales — specifically, by analyzing service factors on competitors’ websites to improve your own offerings.
In the e-commerce context, service factors refer to extra services that impact the shopping experience and influence a customer’s final purchasing decision.
When making purchases, customers typically have several questions:
What are the delivery terms? How quickly will the product arrive?
What payment methods are available? Are there any hidden fees during checkout?
Can I take advantage of credit offers or installment payment options?
What ratings and reviews do competitors’ products have?
Can I pick up the product from a nearby warehouse or physical store?
The answers to these questions directly influence the customer’s purchasing decision. If you’re not the only seller offering a particular product, it’s likely that the customer will compare your terms with those of your competitors.
Winning with Service: Gaining an Edge Beyond Price
Competing on price isn’t an option if you don’t want to start a price war. Instead, you can attack from the flanks by offering the best terms and conditions, which will give you a competitive edge and help you capture a larger share of the market.
In his renowned work on marketing strategies, Philip Kotler highlights the power of flanking as a strategy for businesses that can’t directly dominate a market. Rather than focusing solely on price or scale, companies can carve out a niche by leveraging less obvious but highly effective competitive advantages.
In e-commerce, these “flanks” could include:
Flexible payment options that cater to customer preferences
Fast delivery and the ability to pick up products from physical stores
Transparent pricing, with no hidden fees during checkout
Attractive credit offers with favorable terms
Positive ratings and reviews that build customer trust
Success in sales often comes down to the smallest details. While your competitors may battle on price, you can focus on providing a superior shopping experience to win not through aggression but by paying attention to what truly matters to customers.
The service aspect of an online store is just as critical as pricing and assortment because it helps build long-term loyalty.
Customers don’t choose products based only on price — they also value the ease and comfort of their shopping experience. Loyal customers value the convenience of purchasing through a particular online store and are willing to pay more and purchase more frequently as a result.
How Pricer24 Helps Analyze Service Factors
Pricer24 offers a comprehensive analysis of your competitors’ offerings, going beyond prices, promotions, product availability, and ratings. We also evaluate a range of service factors that can influence customer decisions.
In addition to the standard platform features, we provide customized solutions tailored to specific customer needs. Below is a list of the parameters we can analyze and include in reports or deliver via API.
Delivery Times
Assess how quickly competitors promise to deliver their products. For example, one of our clients uses this feature to determine whether a competitor is sourcing products locally (delivery in 2–3 days) or importing from abroad (delivery in 2–3 weeks).
Availability and Terms of Interest-Free Installments
A longer installment period can be a key purchase driver. Compare the financing terms competitors offer, such as which store provides the longest installment period for a specific product and which banks are involved in the financing.
Labels and Product Positions in Competitors’ Categories
Identify which products stand out in competitors’ categories due to special labels like “bestseller,” “promotion,” or “recommended.” Combine this with data on reviews and ratings to gauge which products your competitors are actively promoting and which they are trying to clear out.
Payment Methods
By assessing the payment options your competitors offer — credit cards, Google Pay, Apple Pay, postpaid services, and more — you can identify the most common and convenient payment methods and assess which ones best meet your customers’ needs.
Fees During Checkout
Analyze whether competitors charge additional fees for certain payment methods and how these fees impact the final price.
Delivery
Compare competitors’ delivery policies: Do competitors offer free delivery for specific products or categories? What delivery services do they use? Do they offer self-pickup or express delivery? This information will help you assess the viability of implementing free shipping or other special conditions to boost conversion rates.
This list highlights just a few of the parameters Pricer24 can analyze. We offer custom solutions tailored to meet specific client needs, ensuring that reports focus on the metrics that guide your business decisions. With better insights, you can boost sales and build a more loyal customer base.
Conclusion
In a highly competitive market, the online stores that succeed are those that develop strategies based on a comprehensive understanding of what influences customers’ decisions.
While price and assortment are crucial, service factors can be the decisive element that tips the balance in your favor.
Building customer care and loyalty is not just a noble goal; it’s a practical business strategy that drives steady sales growth and long-term returns.
Request a demo to see how Pricer24 can meet your needs
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