How This Brand Made $10M in a Year: A Complete Guide to Competitor Research for Global E-commerce
How to properly research competitors for global e-commerce: using Semrush, Similarweb and other tools to analyze competitor traffic and performance without being misled by fake data.
This is one of the most frequently asked questions I see in groups and on social media, and I highly endorse this learning approach (learning best practices). So I'm starting a mini-series to dive deep into how to properly research competitors for your independent site.
- Why is learning from competitors so important? (Why)
- What exactly should we learn from competitors? (What)
- Who are the right competitors to learn from? How to find them? (Who)
- How to use the right tools to find the answers we want? (How)
For this first episode, I'm going to start from the end. This might be more suitable for newbies eager to get hands-on, and it's also what I encourage—don't overthink it, just roll up your sleeves and get to work. Hands-on experience beats everything. We'll summarize the insights together at the end.
One Screenshot, Rest is Made Up
Solopreneurs, please promise me: throw any plugin with "Spy" in the name directly into your trash. And stay away from bloggers who promote these tools.
Why?
1) Try it yourself:
Can you install this plugin and monitor your own site? See if it's accurate?
What? You're asking why so many social media influencers use it? Are they lying to us?
Of course they are! I haven't taught you this before? These bloggers don't need to understand the actual business of global e-commerce. They're probably just salespeople in small studios selling courses and tools. Traffic is king—they create whatever newbies want to see.
2) Use your brain:
A site's core business data—can you really get it with a simple Chrome plugin click? If that were true, why would professional consulting firms and investment institutions bother with research? Just hire you! Forget global e-commerce, you should start a consulting company. Your daily job would be clicking on plugins to learn about any online retailer's performance worldwide. With that ROI, you'd be the fifth major consulting firm after the Big Four.
3)矛与盾？
I even found a "no-spy" plugin. Look at its core features: "anti-right-click" and "anti-copy." That's it—and they charge $15/month. Programmers would cry in the bathroom. Is solopreneur money that easy to earn?
Think about what happens when you use those spy plugins on a site with no-spy protection?
The Right Approach: Tools
Attention! Any tool or method only provides reference—the data is not absolutely accurate!
Recommended Tools
Only these two tools. Don't waste time researching others:
- Semrush or similar SEO tools (Ahrefs, Moz, Ubersuggest, etc.)
- Similarweb
Basic Tool Usage Notes
Adjust various data parameters including:
- Country/Region
- Time range
- Device type, etc.
Now let's dive into the specific questions newbies love to ask.
The Right Approach: How to Estimate GMV
Again, attention! Any tool or method only provides reference!
My most commonly used method is this simple formula:
Traffic × Average Conversion Rate × Average Order Value
Traffic
Get an approximate traffic range from the tools above. Let's estimate 12,000 visitors per month.
Conversion Rate
Based on your judgment of the industry/traffic channels, I might estimate a conversion rate around 0.7%.
This number is just an example—you need to judge based on the specific industry!
The conversion rate requires comprehensive market understanding of the industry, category, and market! Of course, newbies might have no concept of this. My suggestion: if it's not a very special industry, you can blindly estimate around 1%.
What affects conversion rate?
Factors like order value (higher might mean lower conversion), traffic channels (Google traffic converts higher, social media lower), and many other comprehensive factors. But since we're newbies and not making professional research reports, a rough estimate is enough for us to understand the basics.
Average Order Value
Just browse their official website to get a sense—say £600.
Calculation Example
Then this site's approximate monthly GMV would be:
12,000 × 0.7% × 600 = around £50,000
Note: this is just the DTC channel monthly revenue. If they have other distribution channels, platforms, etc., their total performance would certainly be higher. Of course, we small solopreneurs don't really need to consider these.
The Right Approach: Recognize Market Realities and Objective Laws
"This couple made $10 million in a year with their website."
"This 90s-born entrepreneur made $100 million in a year. What did they do right?"
"This Gen Z girl selling accessories made $300,000 in a month!"
How many newbies were misled by these clickbait headlines into "falling into the trap"?
Recognize Basic Common Sense and Objective Laws
In legal and compliant businesses, no matter what category, industry, channel, or method you use—how many resources you invest (human resources, money, time, ability) roughly determines how big a business you can build (revenue, profit). This is just basic common sense and understanding. You don't need professional research; you just need to face reality.
Too many newbies get "harvested" or even "scammed"—isn't it because they don't want to face reality? Isn't it because of greed and laziness?
Oh, some random person online tells you about a business that makes explosive profits, 50% margins, 30% annual returns, come on, dropshipping without inventory, looking for business partners. And you're there giggling "Hehe, I discovered a great business today." You deserve to be scammed.
Some sisters might be slightly more rational and not believe it. These bloggers will follow up with: "Hehe, you can't earn money beyond your cognition" to further blind and PUA you, trying to break you down.
Some newbies say, I really don't understand these "basic common sense" things? I don't know what effort leads to what rewards. I have no concept.
My suggestion: look at your closest circle—offline relatives and friends. Make sure they won't lie to you, then see what they're doing. What are their capabilities, investments, and outputs? Your circle represents your approximate resource capability upper and lower limits (within your cognition). You can't ask Jack Ma or Elon Musk, right?
So, wake up, please, little韭菜们。
Understanding Resource Investment Levels
When you have basic anti-scam awareness, we can use some tools and methods to judge the investment required for a business:
Time Cost
"This site gets 10,000+ organic free traffic per month and made $10 million in a year!"
Tempting, right? Wow, so delicious—free traffic, no money spent, and explosive profits!
Forget about your financial investment and capabilities for a moment. Go back and see how long they've persisted. Domain over 10 years, formal operation for at least 4+ years.
Ask yourself honestly: Can you persist at something for 4 years? You? Give up on dieting after 3 days? Haven't finished a book in a year? Only remember "Abandon" from English vocabulary?
Don't just envy others' results—look at their efforts.
Other Resource Costs
Even if they're now relying on free traffic, look at their advertising investment during the startup phase. Do you have that capability?
I'm not saying this brand is particularly good or bad—just look objectively at their real efforts.
Final Thoughts
Don't be discouraged or feel inadequate if you understand and then give up.
The examples above are just to tell newbies: don't be brainwashed by social media content thinking "I can do this too"; at the same time, don't let my words affect your determination to try.
Use basic cognition + basic tools + basic learning and practice to objectively understand the full picture, rather than following social media bloggers (possibly including me) running their mouths. Don't enter with unrealistic fantasies and end up giving up after a belly full of disappointment.
Finally, I also advise newbies: don't just watch, watching this and that, thinking that won't work, this won't work either. And if, like me, you haven't deeply cultivated the retail industry, with our current market understanding level, honestly—we can't make much sense of this data!
What's more important is to personally get involved and do it. Learning from benchmarks is important, but the prerequisite is to do yourself well first!
