????銷售差異化的產(chǎn)品

????亞馬遜賣的東西很多都是“硬貨”，比如多媒體、電子、家電、玩具、園藝產(chǎn)品等。大多數(shù)暢銷的“硬貨”都是由大型制造商生產(chǎn)的，通過(guò)多種零售渠道進(jìn)行廣泛推廣。根據(jù)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的通用產(chǎn)品代碼（如U.P.C.）的定義，它們本質(zhì)上都是商品。一個(gè)例子就是佳能（Canon）的數(shù)碼相機(jī)，一旦佳能的數(shù)碼相機(jī)廣告讓你心動(dòng)了，你知道你差不多在任何地方都能買到這樣一臺(tái)相機(jī)。而且對(duì)于大多數(shù)商品來(lái)說(shuō)，最關(guān)鍵的差異點(diǎn)就是價(jià)格。消費(fèi)者們知道，亞馬遜幾乎總能搞到最低價(jià)，貨運(yùn)還是免費(fèi)的，而且速度很快。

????因此，許多零售商嘗試“放開(kāi)大路，占領(lǐng)兩廂”，在亞馬遜的主宰力較弱的領(lǐng)域進(jìn)行銷售?！败涁洝本褪且粋€(gè)選擇。雖然亞馬遜也想搞好這項(xiàng)業(yè)務(wù)，但目前它在這個(gè)領(lǐng)域還沒(méi)有達(dá)到它在“硬貨”領(lǐng)域的主宰程度。比如像被亞馬遜收購(gòu)之前的NastyGal（主打時(shí)尚前衛(wèi)小清新風(fēng)格的服飾網(wǎng)站）和Zappos（美國(guó)知名賣鞋網(wǎng)站），以及實(shí)體商場(chǎng)諾德斯特龍（Nordstrom）和奢華時(shí)尚精品店Neiman Marcus等都成功地實(shí)施了“軟貨”戰(zhàn)略，并且成功地在與亞馬遜的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)中存活了下來(lái)。家居零售商在這個(gè)領(lǐng)域也有機(jī)會(huì)，比如有些產(chǎn)品是“我今天就需要的”，再比如一些不太適合網(wǎng)購(gòu)的沉重的大塊頭商品。

????還有一個(gè)相關(guān)的策略，就是主打一般在亞馬遜上很少能見(jiàn)到或很少能搜索到的產(chǎn)品。比如霍洛維茨基金有兩筆投資就是給了兩家這樣的公司，他們主要銷售一些在全國(guó)沒(méi)有普遍銷售渠道的設(shè)計(jì)公司的產(chǎn)品。比如Zulily主要做母嬰產(chǎn)品，而Fab則主打創(chuàng)意類小商品。這些設(shè)計(jì)師的知名度一般不高，所以用戶在亞馬遜上搜索時(shí)一般找不到這些產(chǎn)品。

????開(kāi)發(fā)自有產(chǎn)品

????許多零售商通過(guò)直接開(kāi)發(fā)自己的產(chǎn)品與亞馬遜競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。由于這些產(chǎn)品是零售商專有的，因而一般可以避免直接的比價(jià)，同時(shí)生產(chǎn)這些產(chǎn)品的公司也可以選擇禁止其它電商去銷售它們。不少優(yōu)秀的線下連鎖企業(yè)都采用了這個(gè)戰(zhàn)略，包括露露檸檬（Lululemon）和維多利亞的秘密（Victoria's Secret）等知名品牌。其它一些網(wǎng)商也采取了這個(gè)策略，比如做珠寶的Chloe & Isabel、做化妝品的Julep、做女鞋的ShoeDazzle、做辦公用品的Poppin等。（注：霍洛維茨基金也是Julep和ShoeDazzle的投資方。）

????盡管設(shè)計(jì)和開(kāi)發(fā)自己的產(chǎn)品顯然要耗費(fèi)更多的精力，但是這樣做的零售商們一般都會(huì)獲得更高的毛利潤(rùn)，因?yàn)樗麄儺吘姑馊チ酥虚g環(huán)節(jié)的費(fèi)用，同時(shí)也避免了硬碰硬的價(jià)格戰(zhàn)。

????換種方式賣產(chǎn)品

????從核心上說(shuō)，亞馬遜網(wǎng)站是一個(gè)產(chǎn)品的搜索引擎。消費(fèi)者確切地知道他們想買的是什么的時(shí)候，亞馬遜可以說(shuō)是最強(qiáng)大的，許多消費(fèi)者也都在使用亞馬遜的搜索框。在亞馬遜上賣東西差不多完全靠算法的規(guī)則 ，比如“搜索‘甲’的時(shí)候同時(shí)考慮一下‘乙’和‘丙’”。很少有人用傳統(tǒng)的推銷語(yǔ)義在亞馬遜上瀏覽產(chǎn)品。

????有不少公司正在打造出色的瀏覽體驗(yàn)，借助非常有吸引力的展示方法，向消費(fèi)者展示一系列定向的精選產(chǎn)品，借此來(lái)與亞馬遜進(jìn)行競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。許多線下零售商也通過(guò)漂亮的展示櫥窗和展示柜來(lái)吸引顧客。現(xiàn)在有一批新型網(wǎng)商也在用這種法子，不過(guò)他們的做法通常被稱為“策劃展覽”。消費(fèi)者進(jìn)行此類沖動(dòng)消費(fèi)時(shí)，價(jià)格通常不是他們首先考慮的因素。

????Sell differentiated products

????Amazon's sales skew heavily towards "hard-lines," things like media, electronics, home and garden, and toys. Most best-selling hard-line products are produced by large manufacturers that market them heavily and distribute them broadly through multiple retail channels. They are essentially commodities, identified by a standardized Universal Product Code (aka, U.P.C.). An example is a Canon digital camera; once Canon's ads convince you that you might want a Canon camera, you know you can shop for it pretty much anywhere. And for most commodities, price is the key differentiator. Consumers know that Amazon almost always has the lowest prices, along with free and fast shipping.

????Many retailers try to "hit 'em where they ain't" and sell in categories where Amazon is less dominant. Soft-line is one choice. While Amazon is trying to build up this business, they have not achieved anywhere near the dominance that they have on the hard-line side. Online companies like NastyGal and Zappos (before their acquisition by Amazon) and offline companies like Nordstrom (JWN) and Neiman Marcus have successfully pursued soft-line strategies and have managed to weather competition from Amazon. Home improvement retailers also have a shot, as products that "I need today" or bulky, heavy items are less suited to online distribution.

????A related strategy is to feature products from companies that typically are not distributed or searched for on Amazon. a16z has two investments in companies that primarily sell goods from design firms that lack extensive national distribution. Zulily does this in kids' and moms' apparel, and Fab does this in design. These designers lack broad awareness, so users do not typically find these products when searching on Amazon.

????Develop your own products

????Many retailers compete with Amazon by developing their own products. These products can be largely insulated from direct price comparison as they are proprietary and the producing company can elect not to have them sold by other online retailers. A number of the best performing offline chains pursue this strategy, including Lululemon (LULU) and Victoria's Secret. Online retailers like Chloe & Isabel in jewelry, Julep in cosmetics, ShoeDazzle in women's shoes, and Poppin in office goods are pursuing this strategy as well (note: Andreessen Horowitz is an investor in Julep and ShoeDazzle).

????While it's clearly much more work to design and source your own products, retailers that do are often rewarded with higher gross margins as they both cut out expensive middlemen and avoid head-to-head price competition.

????Merchandise product differently

????Amazon.com, at its core, is a search engine for products. They are strongest when consumers know pretty much exactly what they are looking for, and many consumers use Amazon's ubiquitous search box. Merchandising on Amazon is almost completely algorithmic -- things like "others searching for 'x' also looked at 'y' and 'z.'" I know of very few folks who browse Amazon in the traditional merchandising sense of the word.

????A number of companies are trying to compete with Amazon by building a great browse experience, showing consumers a targeted assortment of attractively displayed products. Offline retailers have done this through beautiful window displays and in-store end caps. And a new breed of online merchants is doing this, too, although it's often referred to as "curation." Price is not typically top of mind when consumers make these impulse purchases.