If I were you, I would start by manually searching my top 5-10 keywords on Amazon in an incognito window. That single action is going to give you the most honest, unfiltered look at your competitive landscape right now. It shows you who is willing to pay for the top ad spots and who has the authority to rank on page one organically. That’s your battlefield.
In the first week, I’d focus entirely on analyzing those page-one competitors. I wouldn't even use a tool yet. I’d be manually auditing their pages, just like Oana on Seller Sessions suggests, making a spreadsheet of their price, their main image, their coupon strategy, and the promises they make in their headlines and bullets. Most importantly, I’d read their 1, 2, and 3-star reviews. This is where you find the gold. Customers will tell you exactly what the competition is doing wrong and what they wish the product did instead. That’s your roadmap for product improvements and marketing angles.
Then, in the first month, I’d start zooming out to strategy. Now you can bring in tools to track your competitors' keyword positions and Best Seller Rank over time. This helps you understand if their success is a fluke or if it’s stable. A concept that comes up on The EcomCrew Ecommerce Podcast is learning from the “silent giants,” the brands that are consistently successful. You start to see their patterns. Are they just one-hit wonders, or are they building a real brand with a defensible moat? I remember hearing Scott Voelker discuss how the game is shifting toward long-term brand building on Amazon, and your competitive analysis should reflect that. It’s not just about one product, but their entire brand presence.
There are two things I would actively ignore. First, daily BSR or sales rank fluctuations. It’s a vanity metric that will drive you crazy with its noise. Look at trends over weeks and months, not hours. Second, I’d ignore any competitors who are clearly in a race to the bottom on price. You can’t win that game, and you don’t want to. As Mike Jackness often points out, you need to focus on profit, not just revenue.
The biggest trap to avoid is becoming a copycat. The goal of all this research isn't to make your listing a slightly worse version of the #1 seller. It’s to find the gaps. Ben Aldern talks about A/B testing ads and listings on the Serious Sellers Podcast, and that’s the right mindset. Use competitive intel to understand the market, then test your own unique angle to see how you can serve the customer better. That’s how you use competitive analysis to actually grow, not just to keep score.