The barrier to entry in e-commerce has gotten lower and lower in the past 10 years. 

Nowadays, starting a running e-commerce store takes less than half a day with the combination of Shopify and dropshipping opportunities with Oberlo and Aliexpress. 

Therefore, the lower barrier of entry attracted more entrepreneurs to the e-commerce scene. 

As of 2024, there are approximately 4.64 million active WooCommerce stores worldwide, while Shopify has around 2.5 million active merchants.

To stand out and reach the right audience, e-commerce store owners must understand the competitive landscape. 

Analyzing competitors' strengths and weaknesses is key to gaining a competitive edge. 

Key areas to focus on include products, suppliers, pricing, and technology. 

Visiting Shopify stores can provide valuable insights not only for competition but also for discovering new business opportunities.

What is Competitor Analysis?

Competitor analysis is the process of identifying and evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of current or potential competitors within your market. 

By analyzing their products, pricing, marketing strategies, and customer engagement, businesses can gain insights to sharpen their competitive edge and identify growth opportunities. 

This helps businesses stay ahead of the competition and make data-driven decisions.

How to Find the First Published Product on a Shopify Store?

Navigate to the store URL and change to URL to this STORENAME.com/collections/all?sort_by=created-ascending. This will list all the published products within that store from oldest to the newest.

How to Find the Theme Name Used on a Shopify Store?

The geeky - also long - way doing this is looking into the HTML codes of the website and searching for keywords like theme_store_id or Shopify.theme. 

However, this is a cumbersome way of doing this and you can easily learn the name of the Shop by using the free tool called Koala Inspector Chrome extension.

The Koala inspector is also capable of showing "when the last product was added/edited" on the Shopify store among many other useful data.

How Many Products are Listed in a Shopify Store?

This is a tough one to answer by using manual methods. One way to accomplish this is to go to the STORENAME.com/collections/all?sort_by=created-ascending URL and count the # of products on a page. Total products = (# of products per page) x (# of pages)

If you want to go with the quick solution, you can use the Koala Inspector Chrome extension here as well.

The Koala Inspector also provides the following information at the blink of an eye:

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How to Find What Apps are Installed on a Shopify Store?

Shopify App Store offers hundreds of apps in each category and store owners pick and use the ones best for their interest. 

Sometimes you may wonder what app they are using for showing a beautiful carousel or a product outfit combination maker.

There are ways of finding out the apps installed on a Shopify store if the app leaves any traces (code) on the front (HTML) of the store however if the app is not changing anything on the front store, it is not very easy to track them down.

I often use  Koala Inspector to quickly check the apps installed on a store, having it installed on the browser is a great convenience when switching between tabs.

Finding Out the Suppliers of Your Competitors

At the beginning of the article, I mentioned how dropshipping is booming with Oberlo and Aliexpress combination. 

It is not impossible but it's hard to distinguish with products if you are dropshipping. You can make a difference with your narrative, marketing channels, and service quality.

However if you like to learn where your competitors are sourcing their products from, I've a couple of advice for you:

1. Google Reverse Image Search: If you are using Chrome; right-click on Product Image and Click on "Search Google for Image". This will bring you all the pages with the same or similar images. If this is a drop-shipped product, the chances of finding it on other websites are quite high.
2. Tiny Eye Image Search: Similar to Google's image search you can also use Tiny Eye

Competitor analysis is not a one-time task, it is an ongoing effort in competitive landscapes like e-commerce.

Considering the number of competitors out there, it can be very time-consuming to go to each of their websites and run all of these manual steps.

It would be better to use a tool like Koala Inspector, which also offers automated notifications whenever there are changes in the stores you tracking.

Many e-commerce businesses also use inventory management software and competitor analysis tools to streamline operations and maintain optimal stock levels.

Pro tip

Fabrikatör’s Control Center simplifies inventory tracking by highlighting key performance indicators like Average Order Value, bestsellers, and dead stock.

Regularly reviewing these insights lets you quickly identify sales trends and adjust stock levels before issues arise.

Bonus content from Shopify Blog: How to do a competitive analysis for your business?

Author's note: I've been using the Koala Inspector for the last 6 months for discovering and analyzing the Shopify landscape. It saved me from doing a lot of leg work. Recently I had the chance to meet the founding team and I decided to mention their product in one of our blog posts. This post covers the use cases of the Koala Inspector based on my personal experiences and unbiased views.

How Can Fabrikatör Help You with Competitor Analysis for Shopify Stores?

While competitor analysis is essential for e-commerce growth, as we said, it works best when combined with efficient inventory management. 

Fabrikatör not only helps you track competitors but also ensures your store is always stocked and optimized for growth.

Competitor Insights with Fabrikatör

✨ Monitor competitor stock levels – Identify when rival stores run out of stock and seize the opportunity to attract customers.

✨ Analyze pricing trends – Track how competitors adjust prices and fine-tune your pricing strategy for maximum profitability.

✨ Spot trending products – Discover bestsellers in competing stores and identify gaps in their offerings.

✨ Compare supplier options – Learn where competitors source their products and explore better alternatives.

✨ Track demand shifts – Stay updated on market trends, seasonal fluctuations, and emerging product categories.

Beyond Competitor Analysis: Inventory Optimization with Fabrikatör

To act on competitor insights effectively, you need an inventory system that’s fast, reliable, and data-driven. 

That’s where Fabrikatör comes in:

✅ Automate replenishment – Prevent stockouts and reduce overstock by aligning inventory with demand.

✅ Seamlessly manage supplier relationships – Track purchase orders, MOQs, and supplier-specific SKUs without hassle.

✅ Integrate with Shopify, QuickBooks, and Klaviyo – Sync inventory, finances, and marketing for streamlined operations.

✅ Enable backorders – Sell out-of-stock items to avoid losing customers while inventory is in transit.

With Fabrikatör, you don’t just track competitors—you act on insights by optimizing inventory, maximizing sales, and streamlining operations.

🚀 Ready to gain a competitive edge? Try Fabrikatör or request a demo today!