The e-commerce industry is largely dominated by few giants. Amazon (AMZN) is the largest player in the market in terms of market capitalization. On the other side of the world, Alibaba (BABA) is growing fast as it continues to capitalize on its home country’s massive population and a growing community of online shoppers. Amazon and Alibaba have a combined market value of more than $1 trillion.
In the U.S. the likes of eBay (EBAY) and BestBuy (BBY) among others continue to trail Amazon while a flurry of traditional retail stores has also joined the race. This presumably leaves startup e-commerce players with little room to capitalize on, in the growing culture of online shopping. In fact, Amazon is expected to account for half of all U.S. e-commerce by 2021 and when you add the fact that traditional retailers like Wal-Mart (WMT) J.C. Penney (JCP), and Costco Wholesale (COST) have also joined the race, then it’s really getting squeezed.
However, small businesses seem to have found a way to disrupt the market that many would have surrendered to the few dominant giants. Other than selling just about everything as the big players are doing, startups in the e-commerce marketplace have sought to identify unique segments of the market, which they can then offer customized goods.
This is the current trend, and when you look around, they have managed to bring nearly every product that retails in the department store to the online community, but few sell more than three product types.
Some of them are unorthodox, offer rare products and come with incredible add-ons. Take for instance this car cover dealer that offers customers lifetime warranty for their products, or Beyond 4Cs, which is an e-commerce platform dedicated to selling diamond jewelry only. Another good example is Bumblebee Linens, which specializes in branded handkerchiefs and linens for special occasions.
