Alice.com, P&G’s eStore, and the Upcoming SOAP.com – Let the e-Race Begin!

E-commerce Stores for Everyday Items Start the Battle for Market Share

First, there was Alice.com, the go to site when it comes to any home essentials like toilet paper we don’t want to trudge to the store to buy. (If you’re unfamiliar with it, think of Amazon strictly for home goods). This site started in 2008 and has grown tremendously in popularity and gone through a few rounds of venture funding. And, it searches all coupons for you to compare sales and has free shipping… perfect!

Last month P&G announced the opening of their online store, “eStore“, which provides basically any small item you need to replace every so often (think Gillette razors, Crest toothpaste, Tide, CoverGirls makeup, soap, body wash, medicine, dog food, air fresheners, batteries, etc). They claim that this store is just a living-learning lab. Yet its competitive positioning is right on the money, taking market share from alice.com despite a $5 flat shipping rate (still pretty darn cheap!).

Today the creators of Diapers.com — the largest sellers of diapers and baby products on the Internet (currently generating about $300 million in revenues) — announced the launching of their new eCommerce site, SOAP.com. The website will offer 25,000 products (60,000 by the end of the year), once again, all daily essentials from cleaning supplies to floss — all for the same prices you’ll find at at Target and Wal-Mart (25% less than your typical drug store).

And get this – for any orders over $50 (which, let’s admit, is pretty easy to do when stocking up on these products, FREE OVERNIGHT SHIPPING.

It is clear that these companies would like to add features like social media, comparison, and online customer review to everyday products. But which will win? What is the differentiator? It is unclear whether audience-targeting venture capital funding, like that of Alice.com, will be the deciding factor. Diapers.com did well creating a competitive advantage because it solely targeted parents of young children, becoming a destination site for stocking up when running low. Alice.com did the same and became a first-to-market website. Meanwhile, I’m not sure what eStore has to offer (limited to P&G products and bound by shipping costs). However, SOAP.com, with its overnight shipping, might just take the lead.

Breakdown of E-Commerce Startups

Alice.com

• offers the most products
• first to market and has received great press and media coverage
• free shipping
• “today’s deals” coupons
• best product descriptions and reviews
• best e-commerce platform, social networking piece and UI so far

Soap.com

• will offer free, overnight shipping
• will offer 60,000 products by the end of the year
• hasn’t launched yet, but getting good press because of diapers.com

eStore

• Still in testing mode
• offers a great variety of products, however limited to P&G
• $5 shipping

The competition is on!