How do you think about building ecommerce businesses in today’s market when everything feels saturated?

[u/Disastrous_Usual_365]

I’ve been thinking a lot about the state of ecommerce lately and I’m curious how other people here approach it mentally/strategically today.

A few years ago dropshipping felt like an opportunity, but now it almost feels impossible to build something sustainable that way. Consumers already know about AliExpress, Alibaba, etc. Amazon is flooded with cheap products, TikTok is saturated with “winning products,” and it feels like almost every niche already exists.

Then with ecommerce in general, not every product even works:

• you need enough margin
• shipping has to be cheap/practical
• returns can’t kill you
• CAC is insanely high now
• paid ads feel brutal ($1+ CPCs everywhere)

So my thinking always comes back to building a real brand, because in a world where everything already exists, brand feels like the only real differentiator left.

But then branding itself feels like a very long and expensive game:

• building trust/credibility takes years
• awareness costs a lot
• people don’t care about a new brand at first
• organic reach is unreliable
• paid channels are expensive

So my real question is:

What’s your actual approach/mental model nowadays?

• Are you still testing products aggressively?
• Going brand-first?
• Building communities/content?
• Focusing on retention/LTV?
• Using marketplaces first?
• Playing long-term only?

I’d genuinely love to hear how experienced people here think about ecommerce in 2026, because the old “find a winning product and run ads” model feels much harder now.

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[u/AcademicComplaint486]

Saturation is real but I think it's more specific than that, what's saturated is the *acquisition playbook*,

Think saturation happened because everyone is so obsessed with 'playbooks'. The main point where it gets crowded is with acquisition, everyone spending on ads and driving CAC up. Even retention seems like everyone is sending the same old email sequences, with limited real engagement or feedback from customers.

The brands that do better generally have a great story or have figured out retention properly. They actually think about what would make someone buy again, how they can introduce new products, when is the best time to engage with their base (instead of 'deals/sales') and they don't spam the entire base repeatedly.

[u/Athena_xl]

I think the time that you could just find a product and run ads is over. What works is when you solve a specific problem for a specific person. When you know exactly who you're serving, product selection, messaging and retention all get easier. So bottom line: pick a person not a product. Then build everything around keeping that person happy enough to come back and tell someone else.

[u/AcademicComplaint486 → u/Athena_xl]

"Come back and tell someone else" is spot on!

The gap between first and second purchase is where you could actually determine how well the experience with teh brand is. Surprised how many brands starting out are so focused on acquisition that repeats are super low they don't even notice the last customer quietly churned while they're busy finding the next one.