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.

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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.

These few and many others are classic examples of how small players in the e-commerce market have managed to exploit unique opportunities in a market dominated by giants. That’s what sets them apart from the giant players—and their strategies seem to be working.

Most of these startups in the e-commerce space can match blow-for-blow the add-ons offered by the market giants to customers including free shipping, samples, promotions, and quantity discounts, among others. But they are also able to offer something different and this is keeping them in play even when most people wonder where the opportunity is.

The global e-commerce market is estimated to be worth just over $2 trillion but recent research reports have forecasted it to reach $20 trillion within the next ten years. Amazon and Alibaba are expected to continue dominating the market for the foreseeable future while the likes of Wal-Mart and other traditional retail stores that have joined the online selling community are tipped to grow their share of the market as expansion continues.

Despite the undisputed global internet penetration that has been driven by the growing use of smartphones, several regions and countries are yet to fully embrace the culture of online shopping. As they catch up with the rest of the world, the addressable e-commerce market will grow, and this is probably why the value estimates are now in the tens of trillions in dollar value.

And as the new markets begin to embrace the paradigm shift, startups and small businesses will look to disrupt the space again by offering region-specific products. This is already evident in established e-commerce markets where locals are prioritizing shopping from locally based e-commerce players rather than the multinational giants.

It also means that they can have a hands-on approach to the market thereby enabling them to come up with more customized products for the locals.

Conclusion

In summary, it appears as if differentiation is the key to breaking into the e-commerce ecosphere. Startups are targeting products that customers might prefer getting from a localized supplier or where they can have their products rebranded. They are also looking to the increasing penetration of the internet and the regions where online shopping is being embraced to strategically set up their online shops that target customers from the new regions.

As such, while the giants will continue to dominate, startups and other small businesses launching their services online will still find opportunities that they can exploit.