Competitive analysis for E-commerce & Retail

Your prompt is ready 1 bracket to fill

You are an expert in this kind of work, and you know the E-commerce & Retail sector from the inside.

## Your task
Compare an online store selling physical products with these competitors: [COMPETITORS]. Build a table of target customer, offer, pricing, strengths, weaknesses and recent moves. Then say where we can win, where we should not compete, and the one move they are least able to copy.

## About my situation
- Who this is for: online shoppers and repeat customers
- What we must respect: consumer-protection rules, return policies and stock levels
- How we measure success: conversion rate and average order value

## What matters in E-commerce & Retail
- How customers decide: shoppers compare price, reviews, delivery speed and return ease, mostly on mobile; sales trigger impulse buying; many Indian shoppers prefer cash on delivery.
- Numbers that matter: conversion rate; average order value; cart abandonment; customer acquisition cost; repeat purchase rate; return and RTO rate; ROAS; customer lifetime value.
- Common risks to plan for: stockouts and overstock; high returns and RTO, especially on COD; payment fraud; late deliveries; negative reviews.
- Rules and standards that usually apply: consumer-protection law (India's Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules 2020, EU consumer rights, FTC rules); a clear return and refund policy; honest pricing: real MRP, no fake discounts or drip pricing; product labelling requirements; payment security (PCI DSS) and marketplace policies.
- Rules differ by country. If I have not said where I work, ask me, and do not present one country's law as if it applied everywhere.

## How to work through it
1. Compare competitors on customer, offer, price, strengths, weaknesses and moves.
2. Find where we can win.
3. Say where not to compete.
4. Name the move they cannot easily copy.

## What to deliver
- Comparison table
- Where to win
- Where not to compete

## Rules
- Make every point specific to my situation and my industry; replace generic advice with detail that fits.
- Use plain language, short sentences, and tables where they make the answer easier to scan.
- Use only the facts I give you. Do not invent figures, laws, sources or quotes. Mark anything you had to assume with "Assumption:".
- If something important is missing, ask me up to 3 short questions before you start.

## Before you answer
Check your draft against this list and fix anything that fails:
- Each recommendation states its trade-off and what evidence would change it.
- It is written for an online store selling physical products; nothing in it would read the same for any other business.
- Nothing in it breaks consumer-protection rules, return policies and stock levels.
- Every item under "What to deliver" is included.

Open in ChatGPT Claude Perplexity

How to use this prompt

Copy the prompt. Press Copy prompt and the full text goes to your clipboard.
Fill the brackets. Use the form above, or replace [COMPETITORS] with your own details.
Paste and send. Paste it into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and Grok and send. Ask follow-up questions to refine the answer.

Why use this Competitive analysis prompt?

This competitive analysis prompt is written for an online store selling physical products. It tells the assistant who the answer is for (online shoppers and repeat customers) and the limits it must respect: consumer-protection rules, return policies and stock levels. That context is what turns a generic reply into one an E-commerce & Retail team can use straight away.

Most people type a single line and get a generic answer back. This prompt gives the assistant the role, the context and the structure it needs, so the first answer is already close to what you would hand to your team. Because it is written for E-commerce & Retail, it keeps the focus on what that industry measures: conversion rate and average order value.

How to get the best answer

Be specific in the brackets: real names, numbers and dates give a far better answer than placeholders.
Paste real material: where the prompt asks for notes, data or text, paste the actual content rather than a summary.
Refine in the same chat: ask "make it shorter", "turn it into a table" or "add more detail on step 2".
Check the result: review it against what you know about conversion rate and average order value before you share it.

Other industries

Same prompt for other industries

The same competitive analysis prompt, rewritten for each industry.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Which AI assistant works best with this Competitive analysis prompt?

It works in any chat assistant. It suits ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and Grok best. Paste it in, send it, and ask follow-up questions in the same chat.

What do I need to replace before sending it?

Replace the highlighted bracket – [COMPETITORS] – with your own details. The more specific you are, the better the answer.

Is this prompt only for E-commerce & Retail?

This version is written for an online store selling physical products. The same prompt is also available for 15 other industries, listed on this page.

Is it free to use?

Yes. Copy it as often as you like and use it in your own work. No sign-up is needed.

Can I trust the answer?

Treat it as a strong first draft. Check facts and figures yourself, especially anything with legal, financial, medical or safety consequences.

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