????銷售差異化的產品

????亞馬遜賣的東西很多都是“硬貨”，比如多媒體、電子、家電、玩具、園藝產品等。大多數暢銷的“硬貨”都是由大型制造商生產的，通過多種零售渠道進行廣泛推廣。根據標準的通用產品代碼（如U.P.C.）的定義，它們本質上都是商品。一個例子就是佳能（Canon）的數碼相機，一旦佳能的數碼相機廣告讓你心動了，你知道你差不多在任何地方都能買到這樣一臺相機。而且對于大多數商品來說，最關鍵的差異點就是價格。消費者們知道，亞馬遜幾乎總能搞到最低價，貨運還是免費的，而且速度很快。

????因此，許多零售商嘗試“放開大路，占領兩廂”，在亞馬遜的主宰力較弱的領域進行銷售。“軟貨”就是一個選擇。雖然亞馬遜也想搞好這項業務，但目前它在這個領域還沒有達到它在“硬貨”領域的主宰程度。比如像被亞馬遜收購之前的NastyGal（主打時尚前衛小清新風格的服飾網站）和Zappos（美國知名賣鞋網站），以及實體商場諾德斯特龍（Nordstrom）和奢華時尚精品店Neiman Marcus等都成功地實施了“軟貨”戰略，并且成功地在與亞馬遜的競爭中存活了下來。家居零售商在這個領域也有機會，比如有些產品是“我今天就需要的”，再比如一些不太適合網購的沉重的大塊頭商品。

????還有一個相關的策略，就是主打一般在亞馬遜上很少能見到或很少能搜索到的產品。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沒有普遍銷售渠道的設計公司的產品。比如Zulily主要做母嬰產品，而Fab則主打創意類小商品。這些設計師的知名度一般不高，所以用戶在亞馬遜上搜索時一般找不到這些產品。

????開發自有產品

????許多零售商通過直接開發自己的產品與亞馬遜競爭。由于這些產品是零售商專有的，因而一般可以避免直接的比價，同時生產這些產品的公司也可以選擇禁止其它電商去銷售它們。不少優秀的線下連鎖企業都采用了這個戰略，包括露露檸檬（Lululemon）和維多利亞的秘密（Victoria's Secret）等知名品牌。其它一些網商也采取了這個策略，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。）

????盡管設計和開發自己的產品顯然要耗費更多的精力，但是這樣做的零售商們一般都會獲得更高的毛利潤，因為他們畢竟免去了中間環節的費用，同時也避免了硬碰硬的價格戰。

????換種方式賣產品

????從核心上說，亞馬遜網站是一個產品的搜索引擎。消費者確切地知道他們想買的是什么的時候，亞馬遜可以說是最強大的，許多消費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則 ，比如“搜索‘甲’的時候同時考慮一下‘乙’和‘丙’”。很少有人用傳統的推銷語義在亞馬遜上瀏覽產品。

????有不少公司正在打造出色的瀏覽體驗，借助非常有吸引力的展示方法，向消費者展示一系列定向的精選產品，借此來與亞馬遜進行競爭。許多線下零售商也通過漂亮的展示櫥窗和展示柜來吸引顧客。現在有一批新型網商也在用這種法子，不過他們的做法通常被稱為“策劃展覽”。消費者進行此類沖動消費時，價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.