As a business owner or manager, staying on top of the competition is critical to success. Conducting competitor analysis provides valuable insights that can guide your strategy and help you make smarter decisions to outperform rivals. Read on to learn effective methods for analyzing the competition and applying findings to get ahead.
Gather Information on Key Players
The first step is identifying who your main competitors are and gathering intel on their offerings, pricing, strengths, weaknesses, and more. Good sources include their websites, ads, customer reviews, product specs sheets, and talking to people that work with them. For bigger picture context, research their market share, growth trends, and recent news. Document findings in a grid or template for easy side-by-side comparisons.
Utilize a Template
Using a competitor analysis template ensures you cover all the essential areas for understanding where you stand versus competitors. Helpful sections to include are: basic business info, products/services, operations, marketing & sales tactics, online presence, strengths & weaknesses, customer service reputation, and market position. Getting concrete data down in an orderly format prevents missing key details and facilitates practical analysis.
Compare Your Pricing and Offerings
Now dig into comparing specifics of how you stack up. Pore over competitors’ price lists, discounts, bundling, and overall value proposition compared to yours. Break down feature sets and quality on popular or high-demand products where you go head-to-head. Assess who meets customer needs better in areas like breadth/depth of inventory, innovation pipeline, customization options, after-sales service, and ease of doing business.
Identify Vulnerabilities and Opportunities
Spotting weaknesses you can capitalize on is tremendously useful for gaining an edge. Does the competition have unfinished aspects in their customer experience? Do online reviews or social media spotlight areas of dissatisfaction you offer solutions for already? Are their lead times slower on certain products or perhaps inventory levels prone to stock-outs? Any apparent gaps in segments they underserve present opportunities if you move decisively to address them.
Apply Learnings to Your Strategy
With fact-based competitor insights in hand, you can formulate data-driven strategies and tactics to win market share. Set your pricing and features optimally based on customer value considerations. Shore up vulnerabilities revealed in their offerings and marketing to underscore strengths. Seize opportunities to tailor promotions, content, and partnerships toward niches that competitors underemphasize. Revisiting analysis quarterly allows adjusting approaches dynamically as market conditions evolve.
Execute Your Plan Tenaciously
An informed strategy only goes so far if you don’t execute determinedly. Foster an obsession across your organization for understanding rivals and responding aggressively based on competitive intelligence. Make staying atop the latest on their plans and innovations a management priority with resources allocated. Instill a relentless culture fixated on outpacing the competition daily. If you leverage competitor analysis diligently to fine-tune operations and decisions, you will gain a powerful edge.
Conducting and applying competitor analysis is a must for boosting competitive advantage. Sizing up rival offerings, pricing, weaknesses, strengths and strategy pays dividends if acted upon to differentiate intelligently. With a fact-based game plan powered by competitor insights, you can outsmart and outperform competitors to come out on top. Staying vigilant and responsive positions you to win in any market.
