Competitor research skills to make your products and services more popular

In a market economy, competition is everywhere, and no matter how good your products and services are, there will always be other companies trying to share your market share. Therefore, understanding and analyzing competitors is an important link for enterprises to formulate strategies and optimize products. But how to effectively analyze competitors and find out their own advantages and differentiation points? This article provides you with some practical skills and suggestions from four aspects: the definition of competitors, research content, research methods and research cases, to help you better understand the competitive environment and enhance the competitiveness and attractiveness of your products and services.

Who are 1. competitors?

The definition of competitors is not set in stone, but should be determined according to the characteristics of your products and services and the target market. In general, competitors can be divided into the following categories:

Direct competitors: Companies that offer the same or similar products and services as you, meet the same or similar customer needs, and have similar prices and quality. For example, a direct competitor to Champ Consulting may be other consulting firms that provide services such as market research, investment consulting, and IPO consulting.

Indirect competitors: Companies that offer products and services that are different from yours but can be replaced, meet the same or similar customer needs, and have different prices and quality. For example, Champ Consulting's indirect competitors may be companies that provide services such as data analysis, business intelligence, and financial technology.

Potential competitors: Companies that have not yet entered your target market, but have the ability and willingness to enter in the future. For example, potential competitors of Champu Consulting may be some internationally renowned consulting firms, or some enterprises with strong resources and channels.

Alien competitors: Companies that offer products and services that are completely different from yours and meet different customer needs, but may influence your customers' purchasing decisions. For example, a heterogeneous competitor to Champ Consulting may be a number of companies that provide services such as education and training, media communications, and social networking.

There are several factors to consider when identifying competitors:

Customer needs and preferences: Your competitors are those businesses that can meet the needs and preferences of your customers, not necessarily those with the most similar products and services to you. For example, if your client needs professional consulting services, some companies that provide free or low-cost consulting services may not be your competitors, but some companies that provide high-priced but high-quality consulting services are your competitors.

Market size and growth: Your competitors are those who have a certain share and influence in your target market, not necessarily those who are successful in other markets. For example, if your target market is the Chinese consulting market, then some internationally renowned consulting companies may not be your competitors, but some consulting companies with strong market penetration and customer reputation in China are your competitors.

Product substitution and differentiation: Your competitors are those companies that provide products and services that are highly substitutable and less differentiated from your products and services, not necessarily those that provide products and services that are exactly the same as your products and services. For example, if your products and services are extended-range electric vehicles, then some companies that provide traditional fuel vehicles or pure electric vehicles may be your competitors, but some companies that provide other types of new energy vehicles may not be your competitors.

What is the research content of 2. competitors?

After determining the scope of competitors, it is necessary to collect and analyze relevant information about competitors in order to understand their strengths and weaknesses, discover their strategies and actions, look for their vulnerabilities and opportunities, and develop their own competitive strategies and action plans. Competitor research can be divided into the following areas:

Basic information: including the name, address, contact information, establishment time, registered capital, legal representative, shareholder structure, organizational structure, business scope, main business, main customers, main partners and other information of the competitor to understand the background and scale of the competitor.

Development history: including the founder, entrepreneurial story, development stage, important events, milestones, honorary awards and other information to understand the origin and growth of competitors.

Competitive strategy: including competitors' mission, vision, values, goals, positioning, brand, core competitiveness, innovation ability, risk management and other information to understand the strategic direction and advantages of competitors.

Product strategy: including competitors' product portfolio, product characteristics, product quality, product price, product life cycle, product innovation, product differentiation and other information to understand competitors' product advantages and disadvantages.

Marketing strategy: including competitors' market positioning, market share, market growth rate, market segmentation, target customers, customer demand and customer satisfaction.

Customer relationship strategy: including competitors' customer communication, customer service, customer loyalty, customer feedback, customer maintenance, customer value-added and other information to understand competitors' customer relationship strengths and weaknesses.

Channel strategy: including competitors' sales channels, distribution channels, promotion channels, cooperation channels, channel coverage, channel efficiency and other information to understand competitors' channel advantages and disadvantages.

Financial status: including competitor's revenue, profit, cost, assets, liabilities, cash flow, investment, financing and other information to understand the competitor's financial advantages and disadvantages.

Human resources: including the number of employees, employee structure, employee quality, employee training, employee motivation, employee benefits, employee mobility and other information to understand the human resources advantages and disadvantages of competitors.

External environment: including the impact of political, economic, social, technological, legal, ecological and other factors faced by competitors to understand the opportunities and threats of competitors.

What is the research method for 3. competitors?

After determining the content of the competitor's research, it is necessary to select the appropriate research method to collect and analyze the information. Competitor research methods can be divided into the following:

Desktop research: refers to obtaining competitors' information through public channels such as the Internet, libraries, newspapers, databases, reports, papers, etc. It is a low-cost, high-efficiency, and wide-ranging research method, but there are also incomplete, inaccurate, The shortcomings of not new.

Field research: refers to the direct understanding of the quality, price, characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of competitors' products and services through visits, observation, experience, purchase, trial, etc., is an intuitive, true and in-depth research method, but it also has the disadvantages of high cost, high risk and high difficulty.

Questionnaire research: refers to the design and distribution of questionnaires to competitors' customers, employees, partners, suppliers and other relevant personnel to collect competitors' information, is a systematic, quantitative and objective research method, but there are also low recovery rate, poor quality, distortion of the shortcomings.

Interview research: refers to the communication with competitors' customers, employees, partners, suppliers and other relevant personnel through telephone, video, face-to-face, etc., to obtain competitors' information. It is a flexible, qualitative and subjective research method, but it also has the disadvantages of difficult to contact, control and analyze.

Intelligence research: It refers to obtaining competitors' information through secret, illegal, and immoral methods, such as eavesdropping, candid photography, buying, deception, etc. It is a sensitive, dangerous, and undesirable research method that should be avoided.

When choosing a research method, the following factors need to be considered:

Information availability: different information has different availability, some public, superficial, basic information, can be obtained through desktop research or field research and other simple methods, and some secret, deep, key information, may need to be obtained through questionnaire research or interview research and other complex methods.

Reliability of information: different information has different reliability. Some objective, quantitative and official information can be obtained through objective methods such as desktop research or questionnaire research, while some subjective, qualitative and unofficial information may need to be obtained through subjective methods such as field research or interview research.

Availability of information: different information has different availability. Some fresh, timely and dynamic information can be obtained through timely methods such as field research or interview research, while some outdated, lagging and static information may need to be obtained through lagging methods such as desktop research or questionnaire research.

What are the 4. competitor research cases?

In order to better illustrate the skills and effectiveness of competitor research, here are some examples of competitor research provided by Champ Consulting to its clients:

Case 1: Investigating competitors in the Chinese market for a European automaker in order to enter the Chinese market. Shangpu Consulting Company adopts the methods of desktop research, field research and interview research, collects the information of automobile brand, product, price, sales volume, market share, customer demand, customer satisfaction, channel distribution, policies and regulations in the Chinese market, and analyzes the competition pattern, competition trend, competition opportunity and competition threat in the Chinese market, to provide customers with the Chinese market entry strategy, product strategy, pricing strategy, marketing strategy and risk response strategy, to help customers successfully enter the Chinese market, to achieve a good performance.

Case 2: Investigating competitors in the Indian market for an American e-commerce platform in order to expand the Indian market. Shangpu Consulting Company adopted the methods of desktop research, questionnaire research and interview research, collected the information of e-commerce platform, products, services, users, payment, logistics, law, culture and so on in Indian market, and analyzed the user demand, user behavior, user preference, user loyalty and so on in Indian market, it provides customers with user portraits, user segmentation, user growth, user retention, user conversion, etc. in the Indian market, helping customers optimize products and services, improve user experience, and increase user scale.

Case 3: For a Chinese education and training institution, research competitors in the Southeast Asian market in order to develop the Southeast Asian market. Shangpu Consulting Company adopts the methods of desktop research, field research and questionnaire research, collects the information of education and training institutions, courses, teachers, quality, price, certification, cooperation and so on in Southeast Asian market, analyzes the education demand, education level, education policy, education opportunity and so on in Southeast Asian market, and provides customers with the education profile, education trend, education opportunity and education threat in Southeast Asian market, help customers to develop the Southeast Asian market education strategy, curriculum strategy, teacher strategy and cooperation strategy, help customers to expand the Southeast Asian market, improve the education brand.