Market Intelligence

If you have been running your business for a while, you will probably have a clear idea of your competitors. Gathering more information may cost time, money and effort, but there are many benefits to knowing more about what your competition is doing through competitor analysis.

What market intelligence can tell you

The type of competitor information that will be really useful to you depends on the type of business you are and the market you're operating in. Questions to ask about your competitors include:

who they are
what they offer
how they price their products
what the profile and numbers of their customers are compared with yours
what their competitive advantages and disadvantages are compared with yours
what their reaction to your entry into the market or any product or price changes might be

You will probably find it useful to do a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis. This will show you how you are doing in relation to the market in general and specifically your closest competitors. See the page in this guide on models for your strategic analysis.

How to find out more about Competitor Analysis

There are three main ways to find out more about your competitors:

What they say about themselves - sales literature, advertisements, press releases, shared suppliers, exhibitions, websites, competitor visits, company accounts.
What other people say about them - your sales people, customers, local directories, the internet, newspapers, analysts' reports, market research companies.
Commissioned market research - if you need more detailed information, you might want to commission specific market research via an organisation such as the Market Research Society (MRS).


Learn more about Competitor Price Watch Here.