What are the key steps of conducting a competitor analysis for Market Intelligence purposes?

Clearly outline the goals and objectives of your competitor analysis. Whether it's identifying market opportunities, assessing threats, or benchmarking performance, having specific objectives will guide your analysis.

Ultimately it is stakeholders that ask the questions of MI. But they have to be specific and in return, you have to be realistic with what you can answer after the research process is complete. There is very little point in overpromising. It leads to disappointment.

From my experience: 1- Begin by defining clear objectives and evaluation criteria to guide your competitive benchmark analysis. 2- Identify key Tier-1, Tier-2, and Tier-3 companies to gain a comprehensive view of the market. 3- Analyze their product strategies, market positioning, and operational tactics. 4- Focus on their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT Analysis), comparing these against industry benchmarks. 5- Evaluate their marketing and sales approaches and customer engagement strategies. 6- Continuously monitor market trends and evaluate how companies are reacting. 7- Finally, use a benchmarking platform based on the evaluation criteria to compare and feature the market players.

First, understand who requires the competitor analysis (e.g. the Board or Marketing) and their competitor analysis problem (the Board may want to know the competition's commitment to a core market and Marketing how they sell into that market.) Second, elicit from the stakeholder, as best you can, what they most want to learn about the competition; when they need the competitor analysis by; and how they want it delivered.

To optimize our competitive analysis, we should clearly define its main objective, which could include: - Entering New Markets: Understand the competitive landscape and consumer preferences. - Assessing Our Market Position: Evaluate our standing in current markets. -Staying Ahead in Competition: Focus on product assortment, pricing, and merchandising strategies.

Uma metodologia que ajuda muito nesta etapa é a utiliza??o da matriz de posicionamento de mercado, um tipo que sempre utilizo e gosto muito leva em considera??o o pre?o (no eixo X) e o valor agregado (no eixo Y). Para montá-la você precisará ranquear seus concorrentes, analisanto os servi?os que oferecem e seu patamar. Atribua uma nota para cada aspecto (qualidade, atendimento, suporte, etc), compondo o eixo Y, e o pre?o, para o X. Ent?o, você terá quatro quadrantes, o popular (baixo valor e baixo pre?o), a escolha recorrente (alto valor e baixo pre?o), o tradicional (baixo valor e alto pre?o) e o premium (alto valor e pre?o). Onde o seu produto está? Esta análise te dá maior assertividade na vis?o dos seus concorrentes reais.

Knowing our competitors gives us clarity about our innovations, our disadvantages and a general perspective of how the market is made up. We can create a comparative matrix highlighting main product characteristics, including price and highlighting innovations.

For a B2C company, customer feedback can provide great information. Gather feedback from customers through surveys and interviews. Ask them who else they consider when making purchasing decisions in the industry. This can provide valuable insights into direct and indirect competitors.

You will never win a battle where you know not your enemy. Your competitors don't have to be an enemy but they are nothing less. Don't go into war without knowing them fully well. You should be able to predict their next move better then themselves :)

Use Technology and Tools Suitable for Your Reality Invest in competitive intelligence technology and tools to enhance the efficiency of your department. However, before implementing innovative technologies, carefully assess if they meet the actual needs of your company. For a small business, Excel can be a useful tool. For a larger company, Power BI might be more appropriate.

This section confuses data collection and analysis: SWOT, Five Forces & PESTEL are data analysis frameworks. Data collection involves specifying the Key Intelligence Topics & Questions (KITs & KIQs) that you need to answer and then writing down next to each the data source that you will use. Keep in mind that as a rule 1/3 of KIQs can be answered by digital sources, 1/3 only by human sources & 1/3 require a combination of the two. Skilled data collection is the bedrock of accurate and detailed competitor analysis.

Single source data which some people use because of budget or time can be risky as it's only one perspective. I always apply an A-frame approach to data analysis. Two opposing views that can be bridged in the middle. If budgets are tight I see their exec summaries before committing to purchase and separate the over-optimistic numbers and the more pragmatic ones to create a blended average.

"Establish a Data Collection and Analysis Process Develop a structured process for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating information. This involves defining which data will be collected, how it will be analyzed, and how insights will be communicated to the management and sales team, as well as other areas of the company."

Gathering competitor data for market intelligence analysis is tricky and depends on the business type. You can use reports from market research firms to understand the broader market context and trends. Some takeaways: - If your competitor is a public company you can analyze their financial reports for revenue, profit margins, and growth strategies. - If they are selling products online, you can have a better product offering understanding by applying webscrapping techniques.

Develop the stakeholder's competitor analysis objective(s) into Key Intelligence Topics (KITs) and questions (KIQs). For each KIT jot down what data sources to use. Many competitor questions can only be answered by human sources. Are there persons inside your company or its network who might know the answers to these questions or will a CI agency be needed? If so allow time and budget for this research work.

For data analysis it is very important to be familiar with the use of information, as well as have the appropriate tools to do it. The approach of using the correct variables is the most important thing to consider, as well as the practicality for obtaining the information and its interpretation.

Little has been said about semantic analysis as an instrument for competitive research. Brands are positioned in a semantic space, and that's the reason why semantic analysis makes perfect sense to use a market perspective (what people say about your brand, your leaders, and your companies) and not only on published material by the brands themselves. K-Means can be used to determine the distance and PCA for dimensionality reduction, and you get a perfect idea of the positioning, e.g., in a 3-dimensional space.

What I've noticed, this is where things get tricky if you are not an experienced market researcher. It is important to have some level of understanding of statistical significance and the impact of base sizes to determine if the gaps or percentage differences are actually meaningful before building a strategy around the data.

Few steps to analyze the data include: Data segmentation: Segment data based on relevant criteria such as demographics, geography, behavior, or other variables. This allows for a more granular analysis and helps identify patterns within specific customer groups. Utilize Descriptive Statistics: Start with descriptive statistics to summarize and describe the main features of your data. This includes measures like mean, median, mode, range, and standard deviation. Visualize Data Effectively: Use charts, graphs, and visualizations to make complex data more understandable. Visual representations like bar charts, pie charts, and scatter plots can help identify trends and patterns quickly.

The Lack of Market Research According to a study conducted by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), only 15% of companies believe that their current marketing efforts are significantly effective. One of the main challenges faced by companies is the lack of adequate market research. According to the Harvard Business Review, many companies still launch products or services without conducting proper market research. This results in offerings that do not meet the needs or desires of the target audience.

The insights from market research are very enriching. 1. It gives us clarity about how we are positioned vs. our competition (we identify our advantages and disadvantages) 2. We identify existing competitors 3. Existing marketing strategies 4. The behavior of the market in general and the future trend. We can make decisions regarding a new development, whether our commercial strategy is innovative and the differentiation of our product or service vs. the competition.

Another critical factor for effective marketing is the use of data to underpin decisions. Instead of relying solely on intuition, successful companies leverage data to inform their strategies, ensuring that their efforts align with market demands. We live in a data-driven era, where the amount of information available to marketing professionals has never been greater. However, many companies still struggle to translate this data into actionable insights. It is estimated that only 44% of marketing professionals use data to inform their decisions.

To utilize insights from your analysis, adapt your strategy and offerings based on competitor strengths and market trends. Use these insights for targeted marketing and improved customer experiences. Allocate resources where they have the most impact. Train your team with up-to-date competitor knowledge. Measure success with specific goals and continuously evolve your strategies as new information emerges.

Think through how to maximise the ROI of your competitor analysis deliverable. For example, if the output is for Sales, try to integrate your insights into their sales briefings and battle cards; if the deliverable is for management aim to develop a competitor story, a small number of takeways and actionable recommendations.

In my experience, maintaining a regular pulse or 'tracking' a key set of measures is recommended at least every 6 months but quarterly is highly suggested. Once you have determined benchmark measures and created a repeatable questionnaire, you can watch for any shifts in the data for you and your competitive set to see if you are closing the gaps 'or' leading the set on key measures that you identified as important to your market strategy.

While conducting the competitor analysis for your own company, following points need to be considered: Collaborate Across Teams: Share findings with relevant teams within your organization, such as marketing, product development, and sales. Collaboration ensures that everyone is aligned and can act on the insights you uncover. Ethical Considerations: Respect ethical and legal boundaries when collecting and using competitor data.