What's Your Competitive Edge?

Learn How to Conduct Competitive Analysis

It's important for new businesses to complete a competitive analysis during the business
planning stage, but competitive intelligence can also be useful for marketing, pricing,
managing and other strategic planning for retailers.
Before you can know your competitive edge, you must know your competitor.
Competitive Analysis Questions

Where is your competitor located?

What are the competitor's strengths?

What are their weaknesses?

What are your competitor's annual sales?

What is the company's product line?

How do the products compare to yours, in terms of quality, appearance

and any other criteria?

What is their price structure?

What are the company's marketing activities?

What are the company's supply sources for products?

Is the company expanding or cutting back?

What do they do better than you?

To answer these questions, retailers will need to do some detective work and
gather competitive intelligence. Competition research and assessment doesn't
need to be complicated.
There's no need to hire someone to do what you can do yourself, but consider
employing research firms to find information that isn't available publicly. Here
are a few tools for acquiring competitive intelligence.
Online Searches are a quick method of finding competitive information.
However, this search will only provide information that has become public.

On-site Observations of the competitor's parking lot, customer service,

volume and pattern of suppliers' deliveries, etc. can yield useful information
about the state of the competitor's business.
Surveys and Interviews can yield plenty of data about competitors and
products. Research surveys and focus group interviews generally provide more
in-depth perspectives from a limited sample.
Competitive Benchmarking is used for comparing the organization's
operations against those of the competitor's. In making specific comparisons
within an industry, an organization gains information about common marketing
practices, available work force, and suppliers.
Put it to Work
The results of your competitive analysis establish the skills necessary to succeed
in your retail business and define your distinct competitive advantage.
To benefit from your research, take as many weaknesses of your competitors as
possible and turn them into potential strengths for your business. Narrow down
your list to only those items that will give you the competitive edge. Be sure
your list is:

Cost-effective and realistic

Planned to solve a particular problem or meet a specific need

Attractive to a niche market

If you begin a business without performing a competitive analysis, you run the
risk of creating marketing tools and product or service offerings that are way off
the mark. This can cost you valuable time and money during the critical early
months.
You should also plan to gather competitive intelligence as your business grows,
in order to stay competitive. Competitive analysis is an ongoing process and
retailers should always be gathering information about their competitors.