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Friday, March 24, 2006

Competitive Analysis

A competitive analysis is a formal evaluation in which you review the businesses of one or more companies that compete, directly or indirectly, with your own.Online, competitors have access to each other's company information and marketing materials that they might not be able to gather as easily in the offline world. This allows for even greater opportunities to benefit from competitive analysis data.But how can companies improve by analyzing their competitors? And what is the best way to implement a thorough competitive analysis?

Benefits of conducting a competitive analysis

The benefits of conducting a competitive analysis include:

* You will identify WHO you are competing against. You will be able to assess the threat levels presented by other companies in your market.
* You will identify your own weaknesses. Companies who do not pay attention to their competitors may not understand just what they are doing wrong because they have no frame of reference. Studying your competitors offers you a perfect opportunity to find out how you can better serve your customers.
* Once you've identified those weaknesses, you'll be able to improve your business in a number of ways. The order in which those improvements should be implemented will often be dictated by the analyses of your competitors. For example, if all of the other companies sharing your target market have a certain feature considered essential to that market, this will be one of the first things you will want to remedy.
* You will also identify your strengths. By comparing your own online presence to those of your direct competitors, you will discover what sets your business apart from theirs. These qualities can then be emphasized in your marketing efforts.
* Additionally, you will be able to identify or confirm your Unique Value Proposition (UVP). Your UVP is the single most important element of your business that sets you apart from your competitors. Do you have the largest catalog of products? The lowest prices? The (quantifiably) best customer service? Competitive analysis will help you develop your UVP and test the validity of the claims you make about your business.
* You will be able to determine what factors drive success in your market space. These may vary greatly from market to market, and may not be what you originally expected.
* You will identify what specific actions you need to take in order to improve your competitive position.

2 comments:

Rainerpeets said...

Hi... Can u pls tell the sites where i can get informatin of competitive analysis.

Regs,
Shanon

Rainerpeets said...

Hi... Can u pls tell the sites where i can get more information on competitive analysis.

Regs,
Shanon