How to Do Competitor Research on Amazon: A Step-by-Step Guide for E-Commerce Sellers

If you're an e-commerce seller, selling on Amazon is one of the fastest ways to tap into a massive global marketplace with over 300 million active users. But with millions of products and sellers competing for visibility, success doesn't come from guesswork—it comes from strategic competitor research.

Knowing exactly what your competitors are doing, how they're ranking, what's working for them (and what isn't), gives you a major edge in product development, pricing, keyword strategy, listing optimization, and advertising.

In this in-depth guide, you'll learn how to spy ethically and strategically on your competitors, using both free and paid tools, real-world tactics, and smart data interpretation—so you can out-position and outsell them.

🧠 Why Competitor Research Is Critical on Amazon
Amazon is not just a storefront—it's a search engine powered by an algorithm (A9/A10). That means:

Better listings = more visibility

More visibility = more traffic

More traffic + better offer = more conversions

Competitor research helps you:

Identify winning products and underserved niches

Understand pricing psychology in your category

Discover which keywords are driving traffic and sales

Learn what kind of listings actually convert

Track reviews, ratings, and common customer complaints

Optimize your PPC campaigns and ad spend

🛠️ Tools for Amazon Competitor Research
Let's break down the best free and paid tools, starting with essential ones.

✅ Free Tools:

Amazon Search Bar & Auto-Suggest: Use it to see what people are searching for and how competitors are optimizing titles and categories.

Amazon Product Listings: Every product page is packed with competitor info: Bullet points, Product descriptions, Q&A sections, Reviews (especially 1–3 stars).

Google Trends: See if a product or category is gaining momentum.

Keepa (Free Version): Tracks Amazon product pricing and sales rank history over time.

Fakespot: Helps analyze whether competitors' reviews are genuine.

💎 Paid Tools (With Free Trials):
These tools go way beyond what's visible on the surface.

Helium 10 (Most comprehensive for Amazon FBA sellers)

Key features for competitor research:
- Black Box: Find top-selling products by niche/keyword
- Xray (Chrome Extension): Sales, revenue, price, and fees for any listing
- Cerebro: Reverse ASIN tool that shows all keywords your competitors rank for
- Review Insights: Extract and analyze reviews in bulk

Example:
You want to sell resistance bands. Paste your competitor's ASIN into Cerebro → Instantly see the keywords bringing them traffic → Use this for your listing and PPC strategy.

Jungle Scout

Best for beginners who want a simplified UI and a powerful database. Great for:
- Product research
- Market trends
- Competitor keyword rank tracking
- Opportunity scoring

ZonGuru

A powerful suite for product tracking, customer sentiment, listing optimization, and more.

DataHawk or Sellics

Advanced tools for enterprise sellers—used to track keyword positions, competitor advertising, and organic rank trends.

🔍 How to Research Amazon Competitors (Step-by-Step)

🧭 Step 1: Identify Your Top Competitors
Search your main keyword(s) on Amazon and take note of:

The top 10–20 listings that show up on page 1

Sellers that have similar product types, price ranges, and target audiences

Pro Tip:
Open an Incognito tab so your results aren't skewed by Amazon's personalization.

📊 Step 2: Analyze Listing Strength
For each competitor, look at:

Title: Are they keyword-stuffed or clean and user-friendly?

Images: Lifestyle vs studio? Number of images? Infographics?

Bullet Points: Do they emphasize benefits or just features?

A+ Content: Do they have Enhanced Brand Content?

Price + Shipping: Are they Prime eligible? Is their pricing aggressive or premium?

Review Count + Rating: Do they have more than 100 reviews? Above 4.2 stars?

Use Helium 10's Xray or Jungle Scout Chrome extension to export this data quickly into a spreadsheet.

🔎 Step 3: Use Reverse ASIN Lookup Tools (Cerebro or Keyword Scout)
Paste their ASIN into Cerebro (Helium 10) and unlock gold:

Top keywords driving organic traffic

Search volume per keyword

Where they rank for each keyword

Competing products per keyword

This tells you:

Which keywords are worth targeting

Where you can outperform or differentiate

Whether a product is riding a trend or has long-term demand

🗣️ Step 4: Review Mining for Customer Sentiment
Read the 3-star reviews and Q&A section—this is where the goldmine of insights lives.

Ask:

What do customers love?

What do they complain about?

What features are missing or broken?

What language do customers use to describe their problems?

Use this data to:

Improve your product design

Preemptively answer objections in your description

Improve customer service and packaging

Helium 10's Review Insights Tool can extract thousands of reviews and organize them into themes in seconds.

📈 Step 5: Track Competitor Pricing, Ranking & Changes Over Time
Use Keepa or Helium 10's Keyword Tracker to:

Track BSR (Best Seller Rank) movement

Monitor pricing fluctuations

See when they launch discounts or coupons

Watch how seasonal trends affect their position

This helps you know:

When to time your promotions

Whether you can price above or below competitors

If your competitor is on a downward trend (opportunity to overtake)

📦 Example: Let's Say You Want to Sell a Bento Lunch Box
You find a top competitor with 4,000+ reviews. Here's how you'd reverse-engineer them:

Pull their ASIN into Cerebro

→ You find 180 keywords, 12 of which drive 80% of their traffic

Top keyword: "Bento box lunch adult"

→ High search volume, low competition
→ You add this to your title, tags, and backend keywords

Reviews say:

- "Wish it was microwave safe"
- "Doesn't seal tightly enough"
- "Too small for a full meal"
→ You make your version larger, BPA-free, and leak-proof

They price at $19.95

→ You price at $21.99 but offer a bundle with a free utensil set and A+ packaging

They run 7-day discounts around back-to-school season

→ You plan yours a week earlier and run social media promos to generate early buzz

🧠 Advanced Tactics to Level Up Competitor Research

🎯 Track Competitor Ads with Helium 10's Adtomic or ZonGuru
You can see:

Which keywords they're bidding on

How often they show up in Sponsored Listings

What copy and offers they're testing

🔥 Use Brand Analytics (if Brand Registered)
Amazon gives Brand Registered sellers exclusive access to:

Search Term Reports

Market Basket Analysis (what items are bought together)

Demographics

Use this to gain an edge your competitors may not have.

📦 Place a Test Order
Yes, really. You'll learn:

Packaging quality

Delivery speed

Customer service responses

Insert marketing and upsell attempts

💡 Final Thoughts: Competitor Research is Your Secret Weapon
Every click, conversion, and keyword your competitor is ranking for leaves behind clues. With the right tools and strategies, you can reverse-engineer their success, fill in their gaps, and position yourself as the better, smarter, more trustworthy option.

Here's the roadmap:
✅ Use Amazon itself to identify top sellers
✅ Leverage Helium 10, Jungle Scout, and Keepa to gather deep insights
✅ Read and mine reviews to improve your offer
✅ Track pricing, keywords, and trends
✅ Make data-backed decisions on product development and advertising

Whether you're a side hustler, full-time seller, or building a brand empire—understanding your competition is the key to dominating on Amazon.