Analysis and monitoring of competitors– this is a must in modern business. Now you need to study not only your own, or the consumers of your services, but also keep under control your competitors who work in the same field as you. It is worth studying not only the weaknesses, but also the strengths of your competitors in order to objectively assess your capabilities in the market, and, if necessary, change your work strategy. Knowing weaknesses and prices of competitors, you can safely play on this and, most importantly, win.

To conduct a qualitative analysis of competitors, you need to properly debug the system for which you will study third-party organizations. It is for this reason that you are invited to conduct the following research.

First of all you need understand the types of competitors. They are active and potential. What does it mean? Active– organizations that are already operating in your field, and have already managed to gain the necessary momentum for a successful business. In its turn, potential competitors- these are those competitors who are just starting to operate in this area, who have not yet really mastered the market. The strategy for studying their activities will depend on the type of competitors.

In addition to these two types, there are competitors by industry. Competitors for selling goods will definitely have the same assortment as you, and will have a similar policy as your company. In this area, a product with similar qualities will have a serious struggle for the best price. Competitors' prices, yours may be much more attractive, and this should be taken into account when analyzing their activities. Also, rivals can compete in the promotion of their product to the market. This may also affect competitor monitoring.

First of all, starting analysis and monitoring of competitors, it is worth determining their exact number on your work path. Then, having found out the exact number, you need to start studying. First of all, it is worth finding out what category they belong to: large holdings, medium or small businesses. And only then, having assessed the entire possible situation, it is worth studying your opponents more deeply by conducting a competitor analysis.

We study the strengths and weaknesses of our opponents.

This moment includes: checking product quality, assortment, and most importantly, the quantity produced. After this, you need to make inquiries about where, how and in what quantity the company sells its goods. Innovations introduced in the production of products should not be ignored. One of the main secrets of successful products is professional personnel who not only manufacture, but also develop and market them.

At competitor analysis It’s best to have a card for everyone, where you can write all sorts of little things: address, name, number of employees, profits, losses, third-party income, date of foundation and other, but such necessary pieces of the overall picture. Also, when monitoring competitors, you need to carefully and thoroughly monitor all the actions that your rivals carry out and what results this leads to.

Particular care must be taken to monitor the expansion of activity, and in general, the products that will reach the sales market. Competitor monitoring– the process is long and painstaking.

But with the correct use of the obtained facts, from analysis and monitoring of competitors, your business will take a big step forward.

One of the common mistakes when promoting a personal brand is ignoring the experience of competitors in your industry. A lot of effort and time is spent on “reinventing the wheel”, and extra bumps are accumulated. All this can be avoided or at least minimized the consequences if you regularly conduct competitive monitoring on the network. What results can be achieved with its help and how to do it correctly, read on.

Goals of competitive monitoring

The main goal of competitor analysis is to identify your strengths. Most often they are realized in comparison with other market participants. For example, after analyzing the page of your nearest direct competitor on one of the social networks, you found out that it takes too long to respond to customer messages. And you try to respond to every message immediately after receiving it. Why not a competitive advantage?

What other purposes is competitor analysis suitable for:

1. Identification of reputational coloring. The feedback from their customers will show whether it is positive or negative. Analyzing this information will help you avoid mistakes that competitors make.
2. Target audience assessment. You will find out which audience is interested in your product or service. How she behaves, how she reacts to publications, what content is most in demand.
3. Creating a content plan. At the initial stage, you can model your content plan by looking at your competitor's publications. In the future, your own plan is supplemented and edited after analyzing and assessing the audience’s reaction to competitive content.
4. Understanding of strategy and concept. What is the philosophy of competitors, how do they convey it to the audience. What the competitor tells subscribers about himself and in what form.

Important! After conducting a competitive analysis, you will understand whether you should focus on the same target audience when promoting or choose a different one. Think about how you can leverage competitive experience and what you can do differently.

5 steps of monitoring

The process of conducting competitive analysis is similar to primary monitoring of a personal brand. If you do it regularly, you will not miss important changes in the market. – Google alerts, Brand analytics, Youscan, etc. And also manually – all you need to do is take 5 simple steps.

Selecting competitors for analysis

Unless you have chosen an overly narrow niche in which there is no competition at all, then you will most likely be able to find a lot of competitors online. Some are just starting to advance, while others have already conquered a decent portion of the market. You don't need to choose to monitor all your competitors. It is enough to select 3-5 closest, direct ones for analysis. You may already know who it is. If not, then it's time to find them.

Collection of platforms for promotion

Having selected your competitors, enter their first and last names in all search engines. See which of their sites are displayed in the first positions of search results. List the addresses of all their social media accounts, blogs, and personal websites.

The most important thing you should look at on each site you find is how your colleagues position themselves. What is their general concept and philosophy. Also pay attention to the links from their profiles - where they lead, where traffic from each site is sent, and what calls to action are used. This could be the main site, landing pages or individual articles.

Audience Analysis

At this step, the involvement and activity of the target audience is analyzed. What in competitors’ feeds evokes the greatest response from subscribers. Be sure to pay attention to the reviews they leave on sites and the competitor’s reaction to feedback, especially negative ones.

Content Analysis

Take a close look at what your colleagues are posting on each social network. What type of content do they post and how often, are there any “viral” posts in the feed.

conclusions

By collecting all available information from open sources, you will form your own idea of ​​the market situation in your industry. Correct conclusions about the behavior of competitors, their strengths and weaknesses will allow you to choose the right strategy for promoting your brand.

The characteristics of monitoring (or economic awareness) allow it to perform four main functions - anticipate, detect, observe and study:

• 1. anticipate: actions of competitors or environmental changes;
• 2. discover: new or potential consumers, companies with whom, for example, partnerships can be established, new market opportunities;
• 3. observe: the dynamics of offers on the market, changes in technology or production processes that affect the type of activity of the company, rules and regulations that change the market context;
• 4. study: new characteristics of the market, other people’s mistakes and successes, this allows you to re-evaluate your own projects, organize a new management practice or create a community of managers.

It can be noted that monitoring combines two complementary techniques: constant “combat readiness” and long-term observation.

Main types of monitoring: consumer monitoring, press monitoring, competitor monitoring

Commercial monitoring: monitoring consumer needs

This type of monitoring involves tracking changes in consumer tastes and needs and, in a more general sense, supply dynamics. Commercial monitoring affects both end customers and distributors.

Monitoring companies producing clothing and footwear for young people consists of periodically collecting information on trends related to fashion, lifestyle, cultural habits of young people, etc.

Press monitoring

Media monitoring - review, selection of articles from the media on a specific topic. Includes full texts of articles with comments, where and when they were published.

Media monitoring is an effective way to obtain open information about markets, brands, companies, personalities, socio-political processes and events.

Analysis of the PR activity of competitors is an important component of any marketing research, allowing you to correctly assess the market situation and develop the most effective strategy.

Competitive monitoring: survey method

Competitive monitoring mainly involves studying competitors, their pricing policies, and assessing the impact on the company’s activities of risks associated with any change in the behavior of competitors. Competitive monitoring is one of the components of marketing intelligence. Addirection uses this type of monitoring as one of the marketing tools most often.

• 1. Systematic collection at professional exhibitions of all information (brochures, documentation, materials on stands, etc.) on well-known competitors and identification of new participants or innovations.
• 2. Collecting information using the Internet, because Companies provide accurate and up-to-date information on their websites. Thus, they provide, often unintentionally, valuable information to competitors. At Addirection, we use this method when we research the websites of our client's competitors.

Thus, monitoring allows the client to monitor the price situation in the market, identify those participants who strive to increase sales by reducing prices for services, as well as those competitors (market participants) who raise prices, and therefore have in their arsenal effective non-price methods of stimulating the sale of a service or product. In our case, these are legal services.

Monitoring competitors is one of the most important functions of marketing. Monitoring competitors consists of carrying out activities to collect, subsequently process, classify and analyze information about competing companies. Sources for obtaining such information are the media: television, radio, newspapers, magazines, as well as Internet resources.

Monitoring competitors is necessary for companies seeking to strengthen their position in the market, maintain or increase market share, introduce new products to the market, change sales strategies and pricing policies, as well as enter and develop new markets.

In the process of monitoring competitors, mentions of competing companies in the press, media and the Internet, references to their goods and services are monitored, operational information about competitors is collected, media of strategic importance are identified, consumer opinions about goods, services and the competing companies themselves are studied. . Competitor monitoring has a wide range of tools for collecting and subsequent analysis of information. This could be a personal visit to places of sale of a competitor’s goods or provision of services, telephone, Internet, e-mail. Monitoring competitors, as a rule, draws information from open sources, with great attention paid to surveying the opinions of its own clients, who could potentially be clients of competing companies.

The information received must be analyzed. The analysis will be based on generalized data on sales volumes, main types of advertising, work with suppliers and other parameters affecting the company’s activities. It must be remembered that monitoring of main competitors must be carried out constantly and continuously. Indicators such as market share, product price, promotional activities and marketing moves of the main competing firms, as well as the movements and appointments of executives of these companies, should always be under the vigilant attention of the business monitoring service. Less significant competitors do not require such attention - it is enough to periodically conduct a general assessment of their actions.

Monitoring competitors allows you to develop effective methods of dealing with competing companies, adopt positive experiences, introduce effective methods of work in your company, thereby maintaining the existing position in the market, improving it and making a profit.

The need to analyze the competitive position

In the process of transition to the market, enterprises faced many survival problems. Full access to the external environment brought not so much new opportunities as new problems for the effective functioning of an enterprise in the market. Enterprises came to the introduction of marketing and are still coming to this day only as a result of the disastrous situation with the sale of their own products. This is typical for most domestic enterprises. Moreover, often, the newly created marketing department turns into a second sales department. Also, management often does not fully understand the essence of marketing and “ties” the salaries of marketing department specialists to sales volumes. And as a result, marketers do not have enough time or significant motivation for constant and comprehensive analysis of the market. The actions of the management are clear - it is necessary to sell the products and make a profit now and to the maximum, and not waste the time, money and efforts of specialists so that they conduct research, which often does not bring a quick and one hundred percent return. Thus, by creating a marketing department, the company hopes to get additional consumers and ensure sales of its products.

Meanwhile, focusing solely on sales, the company cannot fully control the situation. It stews in its own juice, unaware of the danger of becoming an industry outsider.

Management often has a misconception - “we know our competitors, we don’t need to constantly monitor the situation in the industry...”. This misconception leads to the fact that the enterprise freezes at a certain stage of development. Because the competitive position is not clearly defined, management begins to realize that something is wrong only after a clear decline in sales volumes. In this situation, as a rule, attempts are made to establish sales by searching for more and more new markets for their products, while its life cycle, for example, due to the development of technology among competitors, is already at the stage of residual demand. Or, for example, the discovery of new raw materials allowed competitors to significantly reduce prices for their products. This clearly shows the need for constant monitoring of the industry and a comprehensive study of one’s competitive position in it.

Information needed for competitor analysis

It should be noted that classical marketing does not insist on an in-depth study of competitors; they are offered a simple ranking based on the breadth of the range, external advantages, quality characteristics, prices and product promotion systems. Consumer opinions regarding competitors' products are also used, which also affects the competitor's rank.

In my opinion, such superficial research is unacceptable for Russian enterprises. The fact is that the situation in most domestic markets is extremely unstable and those who were “nobodies” yesterday can become leaders tomorrow and vice versa. This is due to many features and macro factors. This situation can be characterized as “the unpredictability of one’s own position and the position of neighbors in the market.”

In this regard, it is necessary to highlight the problem that faces the majority of Russian marketers - how to predict changes in the situation in the industry in a year, in a number of years. To answer this question, a fairly detailed study of competitors is necessary.

All information about competitors can be classified into two groups: primary and secondary.

Data specifically obtained to analyze specific aspects of a competitor’s activities are primary information. The main methods of collecting primary information are observations, surveys and experiments. With their help, facts of interest are established and the actions of a competitor are described quantitatively and qualitatively. The main sources of primary information about competitors are, as a rule,: product distribution channels, suppliers and consumers of products; advertising agencies, sales agents, marketing firms serving a competitor, engineering, sales and management personnel of a competitor's enterprise, special analytical services.

The main advantage of primary information: the speed of answering questions of interest, the ease of its subsequent reduction into the required form, and the presentation of a “live” opinion about the activities of a competitor.

The disadvantages of primary information are: subjectivity, incompleteness, high degree of unreliability, difficulty of access and high cost (in the case of enterprise personnel and special analytical services).

Secondary information about a competitor includes data that has undergone preliminary analytical processing, the purposes of which, as a rule, do not coincide with the purposes of the analysis. In this regard, this information requires additional selection, ranking and compilation procedures to bring it into the form necessary for analysis. The main sources of secondary information include: reports on production and economic activities, articles about the activities of a competitor in periodicals, reference publications on market conditions, trends and problems of its development, including data about the competitor, published interviews with management personnel and company management, consumer opinions about characteristics of competitor's products.

Problems associated with collecting the necessary information

It should be noted that often the above information is clearly not enough to create a picture of competition. For an in-depth study, secondary information of a confidential nature is also necessary, for example, production volumes of a particular product item, production schedule, shipping base of a competitor’s enterprise, which also includes a description of all its consumers. In general, an in-depth study of a competitor begins with an analysis of financial indicators (balance sheet data) - here it is already possible to trace the dynamics of the competitor’s development and its relative strength.

All secondary information according to the degree of availability can be divided into three groups:

• 1. Open information (nomenclature, prices, quality characteristics of products, promotion system, market presence).
• 2. Conditionally open information (company’s balance sheet, profit and loss statement, company rating).
• 3. Confidential information (product production volumes broken down by product lines, production schedule, shipping base, technologies used).

When collecting and analyzing information, a number of problems arise: the first group is characterized by incomplete information for a full study of the competitive situation in the market, the second group is often characterized by unreliability - domestic enterprises tend to falsify balance sheet data in order to evade taxes, i.e. an inaccurate assessment of the strength of a competitor is possible, and finally, the third group is characterized by closed access or extreme high cost.

To solve problems of unreliability, it is desirable to collect information from various (independent) sources, which increases the objectivity of the results obtained. A good way here is to expertly weigh information sources based on their relative reliability, or on the credibility of the source. The solution to problems with the third group of information is seen in increasing marketing funding at the enterprise. As practice shows, not a single serious study of competitors’ activities can be completed without the use of such information.

Methods for analyzing the competitive position of an enterprise in the industry

All methods for studying the competitive position of an enterprise are usually divided into two groups.

The first group is parametric (mainly based on primary information, when parameters for comparing competitors are selected and the opinions of consumers, sellers, and suppliers regarding these parameters are clarified, then the information is compiled into a convenient form - a matrix or table). The advantage of these methods is speed and relative cheapness, but at the same time there is a danger of subjectivity and inaccurate opinions. It is quite difficult to trace the strength or weakness of a competitor, moreover, it is impossible to make forecasts for its development.

The second group is rating assessments (here, information obtained by interviewing managers and consolidated financial statements of competitors is used, then a clear mathematical model is built, on the basis of which all data on competitors is summarized into coefficient indicators). Based on the indicators, a rating of enterprises is built. The obvious advantage of these methods is sufficient accuracy and the ability to identify the exact position of one’s own enterprise in the industry.

But, in my opinion, it is necessary to add another group of techniques related to a more detailed study of the industry - an in-depth analysis of competitors and drawing up forecasts for industry development. What is needed here is information that reveals the internal mechanisms of a competitor’s work. Such information may include data on production volumes broken down into individual product items, detailed data on exports and shipments, production plans, etc. Based on these data, it is possible to build a model of the competitor’s behavior and its future state. These techniques will allow you to gain a huge advantage over your competitors and, possibly, win the competition, if used correctly.

It is impossible not to note the specificity of the third group of methods - there is a rather thin line between these methods and industrial espionage; special caution is required here.

Situational approach to the analysis of competition in the market (problems of choosing alternatives)

Despite the obvious relevance of constant monitoring of the competitive position of an enterprise, it is necessary to take into account the cost of information and the amount of time available for making a decision. When determining the composition of the data to be used, it is important to constantly compare these factors and the significance of the results obtained during the analysis. In other words, it is necessary to correctly determine your position regarding objective, but rather “expensive” results, and “cheap”, but not sufficiently accurate, comparing all this with time to make a decision.

Depending on the situation at the enterprise, marketers are recommended to select the information necessary to analyze the competitive position based on the following model (Fig. 1.).

Fig.1.

The presented model assumes the selection of one or another information for competitor analysis under the following conditions:

Block 1 - a quick response to the current problem is necessary, with a lack of funding for marketing research. Here it is possible to select only general information, such as: the number of competitors in the industry, their product lines, prices, assessments of enterprises - competitors in the press, external characteristics of promotion systems, etc. As a result, there is likely to be insufficient data for a full analysis of the industry.

Block 2, some tactical task is also solved here, most often a quick determination of one’s place in the industry. With sufficient funding, it is recommended to use ready-made ratings from the largest consulting companies or rating agencies for this purpose. Basically, these are companies such as: Standard & Poor's, Dun & Bradstreet, Moody's, etc., and in Russia - the Expert RA rating agency, AK&M agency, etc. The rating assessment allows you to quickly navigate and possibly accept any decision, but does not allow making plans for the future. Also, the basis for constructing ratings is the financial performance of the enterprise, and in Russia falsification and, as a result, incorrect assessment are possible.

Block 3 -- This block is questionable because it is probably not possible to conduct an in-depth analysis of the industry cheaply and quickly.

Block 4, here, most likely, the enterprise is in a crisis situation and management sees a way out in a quick change in the enterprise’s behavior in the market. In this case, in order to quickly navigate the capabilities of your enterprise and its neighbors in the industry, it is best to purchase a ready-made industry analysis report from a well-established marketing or consulting company. In this case, the result is guaranteed, but there are also disadvantages - firstly, you will have to trust other people's results, and secondly, you will have to pay quite a lot.

Block 5 - this block characterizes a situation when it is necessary to develop a line of behavior for an enterprise in the industry, without having large funds for this and without striving for detailed elaboration. In this case, the best way to analyze competitors is parametric analysis based on primary information. If carried out correctly, good results can be obtained.

Block 6 - this block, like block 3, raises doubts, but for different reasons - is it advisable to carry out a competitor analysis that is time-consuming and expensive, and even without a sufficient degree of detail? Most likely not, but if you still have to, we can advise you to develop a rating of enterprises on your own, although a lot of difficulties will arise and there will be quite large financial costs.

Block 7 characterizes the situation when the management of the enterprise feels that the leadership in the industry, which has been held for many years, has begun to “shake” and it is necessary to study in detail its competitors, which until recently were not visible. Here it is possible to draw up industry development forecasts on your own, by the marketing department. It is possible to use project management.

Block 8 - this block most likely does not show a specific situation, but rather constant monitoring of the situation in the industry. This is the most effective block, allowing you to maintain control over all your competitors and respond most effectively to market changes.

Based on the foregoing, we can conclude that the need for constant monitoring of the industry is obvious, but there are many options for using financial resources and time. Thus, by wisely using the knowledge of marketers, it is possible to gain a lot of advantages to achieve leadership in the industry or simply survive in it.

Stages of competitor analysis

The first stage of competitor analysis. At this stage, the main competitors are selected. Here you need to take into account your own field of activity, the format of your company, and many other factors. Data from survey questionnaires conducted among its clients. Geographical linking of competitors, if necessary, for example, a retail chain somewhere in St. Petersburg is unlikely to be a competitor to a similar chain in Moscow.

Or another example: a cable manufacturing plant in Saransk is most likely a direct competitor to a plant in Podolsk near Moscow, despite their considerable distance from each other. Or a small wholesale company selling lamps will be happy to grab a share from a large retail chain in the same field of activity.

The second stage of competitor analysis. We select information from what we managed to obtain in the process of collecting it, what we managed to dig up. This information about competitors needs to be sorted out and sorted into sections, forming a base of competitors, determining what are the key points and what is of secondary importance.

Third stage. Actually myself competitor analysis . As an example, I will try to describe the principle of analyzing the competitors of a small retail chain selling spare parts. In fact, the principles will be the same, the nuances will be different. A very important question here is what we analyze from competitors. It all depends on the tasks assigned. Sometimes the task may be to determine market capacity in the complete absence of any information or the company’s share in a particular region. Maybe the challenge is the company's brand awareness compared to its competitors. Although all this is difficult to achieve, it is quite possible, it all depends on the time spent and budget. I'll consider another case, a simpler one. You need to analyze the assortment, prices, places of sale and features of competitors.

Brief description of competitor analysis

We study price lists, preferably in Excel format (this will simply make the work much easier). If you couldn’t find it in Excel, then you need to analyze which ones exist. We determine the list of competitor’s products and connect it with the company’s own assortment. We carry out a positional price comparison.

If you can find out who the competitor's supplier is, you can determine the level of markup. How to do it? Yes, it's elementary. Call the supplier and ask for his price list, finding out at the same time additional opportunities to reduce the price, for example, a discount for the volume of purchases. The resulting price list is compared with the competitor’s price list and voila, the markup level is before your eyes. Yes, of course there may be an error here, but it can be easily mitigated by knowing your sales, approximate format and number of competitor stores. Based on your own parameters, you can calculate the average purchase volume and, as a result, the discount percentage.

Naturally, this calculation will not be entirely accurate, but the overall picture can emerge quite clearly. So, based only on a few price lists, which are not particularly problematic to obtain, we see the range presented, the price level and the competitor’s markup. Comparing this data with our own assortment and prices, we get many reasons to wonder whether everything is so good with us.

The fourth stage of competitor analysis. We analyze competitors' traffic. By traffic I don’t mean traffic to competitors’ websites, although this too, if possible, at least there will be an understanding of who is the best on the network. However, here I mean traffic in competitors' stores. To obtain such information, a well-known method called observation is useful, naturally by directly visiting a competitor. You can also conduct a kind of analysis of a competitor’s checks, and with good accuracy. To do this, you need to make just a few purchases, their cost does not matter, and look at the receipt. Looking at the receipt number, shift, time of purchase, knowing the number of cash registers in the store, you can determine the average daily number of customers with an error of only 5-10%. This will not require much effort for an experienced retail analyst. Perhaps sometime later I’ll tell you how to do this.

At the fifth stage of competitor analysis, we pay attention to the USP (unique selling proposition) of competitors. The main task in this case is to understand why a competitor is better than us. Delivery, discounts, promotions and bonuses - you need to pay close attention to all of this. Which sales channels do competitors use and which ones do we not use? How does a competitor's advertising campaign work? What main types of advertising does the competitor use? What are the sources of advertising, for example, billboards, leaflets, media advertising? Does your competitor participate in exhibitions? Why is all this needed? Firstly, the USP is not only the proposal itself, but also the methods of its presentation. Secondly, analysis of a competitor’s advertising campaign will allow us to find new sources of attracting customers.

The sixth stage of competitive analysis is a SWOT analysis of some of the main competitors. Yes, that’s right, you need to try to sort out your competitor. Of course, with a limited amount of information it is extremely difficult to do this, but it is worth a try. If the outcome is successful, you will have an understanding of which direction your company should move and what steps to take in the existing competition.

The last stage is bringing everything together. All received data is compiled into one small or not-so-small report with conclusions, recommendations and, of course, data.

This article is a practical step-by-step guide for competitor analysis. A universal example will help to analyze competitors for a specific product or an entire company. Before starting work, we recommend that you read the material “”, which describes the goals of conducting such analytics.

What is competitor analysis and why do you need it?

Let’s say you want to open a lingerie store and you’ve even found a convenient walk-through location for it, come up with a name and purchased goods. How will you determine at what cost it is better to sell your products? Of course, the cost of linen should include all your expenses and profits, but the price should be competitive. This means that you will definitely go through similar stores, see how much they sell similar models, what their product range is, take a closer look at how customers react to the price and what they buy more often. Those. conduct a simple competitive analysis.

So, competitor analysis is the process of obtaining specific information about the activities of enterprises occupying a similar or similar niche, whose work may affect your sales. To know a competitor by sight means to navigate the market.

For example, a client asks you a question: “Why is the same flow-through water filter from your competitors 300 rubles cheaper?” If you know a competitor and his product, you can justify that the water filter sold by a competitor does not have a service guarantee and when installing it you have to pay for installation, while your company offers the same product with installation and a warranty for only 300 rubles expensive.

Thus, knowing your competitors gives you the opportunity to easily fend off customer objections, and if you use them in advertising and create billboards with information that you sell flow filters with installation and warranty, this is already a serious bid for victory over competitors in a specific product.

Preparatory stage

Before analyzing your competitors, you need to identify them. First, determine the geography of your market: district, city, regional, state, etc. For example, if you open a small sports bar in a residential area, then we are talking about a regional market; If you are engaged in cleaning services, then there is a city market. Trade in goods for restaurants and hotels (equipment for tableware, textiles) is already a regional or state market.

Once you have defined your geography, start identifying your competitors. To do this, you need to make a list of everyone who exists in your geographic (and adjacent) market, is engaged in similar activities and can attract your customers.

Let's start analyzing competitors

Step 1. Determine the degree of competition and identify key competitors.

The main - the main competitors are those who can significantly influence your activities and take away your customers. Indirect competitors are those that are engaged in similar activities, but in a related niche. For example: Internet provider for individuals and provider for legal entities.

Having received a list of direct and indirect competitors, we collect general information about them:

• location, points of sale, contacts, management;
• product range and quality;
• price policy;
• level of service and additional services;
• advertising activity;
• potential and development plans.

Also, if possible, it is necessary to estimate the quantitative level of sales of a competitor. For example, we analyze the same competitive lingerie stores. We come in the morning, almost immediately after opening, and make a small purchase and keep the receipt. We come to the same store before closing and buy something again. By comparing receipt numbers, you can guess the number of daily sales.

If a competitor has several cash registers, then we multiply the difference in check numbers by the number of cash registers in the hall and subtract 20% (this is the natural downtime of the cash register). But this method is not suitable for everyone, so you can do basic observation or bribe a competitor’s employee to get the necessary data.

Step 2: Assessing the intensity of competition

In your industry, competition can be intense or low-intensity. If the market is characterized by weak competition, it is static and rarely subject to change. The more active competitors there are, the more often the conditions of coexistence change. In such a market it is important

• possess operational information about the activities of competitors;
• be able to quickly respond to their actions.

A prime example of a high-intensity market is the portable electronics industry - mobile phones, digital cameras and smartphones, tablets - all of these become obsolete as soon as they appear on store shelves, because competition between their manufacturers is incredibly strong.

Your task is to understand:

• how many competitors do you have in the market;
• how actively they introduce new products and change prices;
• to what extent they are represented in the media space, how and in what quantity they are advertised.

It may be that your competitor is stable, he introduces a new product no more than 1-2 times a year, but has a strong advertising presence. This is the position of a stable company that the consumer knows and you will also need such information.

Step 3: create a competitor profile

To do this, we need to know the entire range of the enemy. Conduct reconnaissance in force, get all your competitor’s price lists and compile his product portfolio, highlight his anchor (key) positions that provide the highest share of sales.

The key product is highlighted in green in the table, and the coincidence of the assortment position is highlighted in pink.

Step 4. Analyze the properties of anchor products

To understand how we can compete with a particular company or product, let's take a close look at the product that the competitor is betting on.

For example, we are talking about a sports bar. Such a comparative product will be proposals for menus and visual properties (screens).

It is most convenient to rank the assessment on a scale from 0 to 5, where
0 is no quality and 5 is the strongest offering.

You can analyze the qualities of a competitor yourself (by visiting his point of sale as a client). But the most objective assessment will be provided by a consumer survey.

The information obtained can be combined into a visual graph of product properties.M

The smoother and wider the circle on this graph (constructed in Excel - “radar chart”), the higher the competitiveness characteristics:

Step 5: Analysis of the price component

Finally, it's time to compare prices. since we already know the quality rating of the product, the price will be easier to understand. To do an analysis quickly, break your competitors into price segments:

• economy;
• average;
• average plus;
• high;
• premium

It's likely that one or two of the segments may be empty. For example, not all products exist in the premium segment, and the average plus may be rare. Next, we identify the prices of goods and their lower and upper limits, the average price:

Step 6: Identify competitors' market positions

Here it is important to understand how the consumer sees competitors and what he knows about them. It is best to monitor consumer opinion (forums, surveys, reviews).

We note the following points:

• how well known is the competitor and what is known about him;
• what price characteristic (expensive or inexpensive) does the consumer give him;
• what qualitative characteristic (good or bad) does the consumer give to the competitor’s product;
• when and why the client goes to a competitor (specialized product or general purpose);
• what message does the competitor convey to the consumer (promise in advertising);
• how often the buyer turns to a competitor's product.

Step 7: Evaluate your customer acquisition and advertising methods

Now it is important to understand how a competitor attracts customers. We know everything about his product, its price, how well the price corresponds to the product, it’s time to determine where the buyer receives an incentive to buy and what becomes the decisive argument for him.

Collect leaflets, take photographs of competitors’ billboards to see what steps they use to contact a client and not repeat them in their advertising.

Step 8: Identify the consumer profile of the competitor’s clients

To do this, we apply all previously acquired knowledge about the product, its price and qualities, about competitor’s advertising and its placement locations.

We identify the following parameters of the target audience:

• age and gender;
• profitability;
• family composition;
• field of activity;
• product selection criteria;
• psychographic characteristics (conservatives or innovators, dependence on impulse decisions, key incentive, degree of susceptibility to advertising influence, etc.).

All this will help determine a consumer survey, which, provided you have a small budget, can be conducted on your own on social networks.

Step 9: Assess the competitor’s approach and technology

The last collection of information is to understand what funds the competitor has, what kind of funding he has, and how thoroughly he approaches his business. For example, with a fundamental approach and an annual inventory, the company is much stronger than those companies that immediately use the proceeds from the sale of one batch of goods to purchase a second batch.

What salaries does the competitor offer, what technologies and equipment does it use, what are the qualifications of its employees, how much money can it raise to promptly respond to your actions.

Step 10: Conduct a SWOT analysis

Practical examples of SWOT analyzes can be seen in several of our materials:

• SWOT analysis of a restaurant in a shopping and entertainment center;

The essence of the analysis is to: for each competitor:

1. identify strengths and determine why they are dangerous for you;
2. identify shortcomings and weaknesses and understand what opportunities they give you.

In conclusion, it is worth saying that competitor analysis should be carried out regularly, at least once every six months, and constantly monitor the emergence of new players, any advertising activity, promotions, and assortment expansion. If you wish, you can even cooperate with those competitors who are indirect, which will give you a head start over stronger direct opponents.

Introduction

The need to monitor the competitive environment in Russian conditions is determined by a number of important factors, both on a general economic scale and at the level of an individual business entity.

Firstly, the development of economic reforms has significantly accelerated the spread of competitive relations in the Russian market. Secondly, the effectiveness of management of any enterprise largely depends on the quality of information support. To make rational management decisions, it is important for company management to systematically analyze and most accurately predict the dynamics of a number of socio-economic indicators, and this can only be done on the basis of regular analytical and forecasting activities. In addition, each company has internal reasons that determine the importance of constant monitoring of processes occurring in the industry. In order to find out what favorable opportunities the market opens up and what threats lie in wait for the company, it is necessary to regularly monitor the competitive environment.

Thus, we are talking about creating a system to support the process of making management decisions at the level of individual enterprises. And the central link of this system should be a system for monitoring the competitive environment.

Conceptual basis for monitoring the competitive environment

The concept of “monitoring” appeared in the process of studying the impact of human economic activity on the natural environment. Monitoring is a continuous monitoring of the state of the environment in order to prevent unwanted deviations in the most important parameters. Systematic tracking of the results of this activity and its correction is the essence of monitoring. In other words, monitoring is one of the methods of control, but control not of the result, but of the process of activity, identifying trends in the dynamics of its development.

In general, monitoring as a method of collecting information is a periodically repeated study that provides objective information about changes in the object being studied. Thus, from a process point of view, monitoring the activities of competitors can be presented as a sequence of procedures that close in a cycle of constant scanning of the market environment (Fig. 1).

Rice. 1.

The development of monitoring as a comprehensive method of collecting information regarding the observed object and monitoring its activities allows us to talk about the formation of information technology for monitoring, combining diagnostics (assessment of the current), genesis (assessment of the past) and forecast (assessment of the future) of the state of the objects under study.

The subject area of ​​monitoring is the interrelated processes of company management. The sources of changes in the competitive situation and, accordingly, the objects of monitoring are elements of the marketing, in particular competitive, environment of companies. The main task of monitoring the competitive environment is the timely identification and forecasting of trends in the development of competitive situations that affect the sustainable competitive position of companies, in order to develop and implement measures to take advantage of emerging opportunities or prevent impending threats, which should help ensure the competitiveness of companies.

Determining the characteristics of the competitive environment and identifying the causes of deviations in its state is carried out using diagnostics, which is a means of comprehensive research into marketing and, in particular, competitive relations. There are three forms of organizing the diagnostic process - analytical, expert and simulation.

Analytical diagnostics of the competitive environment is called desk research based on the analysis of secondary marketing, statistical information, and analysis of competitive maps.

Expert diagnostics are based on information obtained by contact methods, through special expert and socio-economic surveys during field research.

Simulation (model) diagnostics allows you to obtain information about the object of diagnosis through simulation modeling and setting up market experiments.

The result of the diagnosis should be a diagnosis, i.e. a description of the current state of the competitive environment, which will allow one to assess the company’s chances in a specific target segment and create conditions for a more rational use of available resources in the process of interaction with competitors.

The fundamental characteristic of monitoring studies - the systematic collection and analysis of data - makes it possible to study the genesis of specific competitive situations from the moment of their formation during the period of development determined by the researcher. This becomes possible subject to the implementation of the second distinctive feature of monitoring - the study of a strictly defined range of data.

Understanding the history of the development of the situation and having a diagnosis of its current state contributes to a more successful determination of the prospects for the development of competitive relationships at the stage of forecasting the competitive situation. Similar to diagnostics, there are three classes of forecasting methods: extrapolation, expert assessments, and modeling.

Extrapolation forecasting over time, based on the extension of past trends into the future, is used to:

Prospective calculations of market dynamics;

Assessments of possible changes in the structure of the competitive environment.

Most processes and phenomena in a competitive environment cannot be directly measured, and their quantitative or ordinal estimates can only be obtained using expert diagnostic methods, the ultimate goal of which is the ability to expertly predict the competitive situation.

The concept of simulation modeling combines diagnostics and forecasts based on experiments that allow optimizing the competitive activity of companies.

The forecasting results make it possible to assess the chances of an enterprise in a specific target segment and create conditions for a more rational use of available resources in the process of interaction with competitors.

The synthesis of diagnostics, genesis and prognosis determines the areas of functional responsibility for monitoring the competitive environment:

* prompt and constant information about the state of competition in the industry;

* determination of the competitive potential of the industry;

* comparative assessment of the competitiveness of enterprises;

* forecasting, identifying trends and prospects for the development of competition in the industry;

* accumulation of “historical” information about the nature of the development of competitive relationships.

To build an effective system for monitoring the competitive environment, each company needs to determine its own position regarding the breadth of use of the concept of a competitive environment, a set of structural units to be studied.

Rice. 2.

The classic model of the structure of a company’s operating environment is M. Porter’s model of market forces (Fig. 2). According to this model, the nature of competition in an industry is formed by five groups of factors (forces) that determine the maximum profit potential of a given industry:

1. rivalry among sellers competing in a given market - the situation in the industry;

2. competition from substitute goods - the influence of substitute goods;

3. the threat of the emergence of new competitors - the influence of potential competitors;

4. positions of suppliers, their economic capabilities - influence of suppliers;

5. consumer positions, their economic opportunities - the influence of buyers.

Each of the competitive forces under consideration can have a different impact on the situation in the industry, both in direction and in significance, and their total impact ultimately determines the characteristics of competition in the industry, the profitability of the industry, the company’s place in the market and its success.

However, the degree of penetration into the industry, in addition to these forces, also depends on the competition regulation policy pursued by the state. Therefore, in a full-scale approach to the study of the competitive environment, it is advisable to take into account the influence of six forces on it, including in their composition the force of state policy in the field of competition regulation.

An example of the organization of such a policy is the creation in 1991. The Antimonopoly Committee of the Russian Federation (currently the Ministry of Antimonopoly Policy - author's note), which is designed to implement state policy on the development of commodity markets and competition, measures to limit monopolistic activities in the country.

Research conducted in these areas will enable the firm to determine the competitive “climate”, the intensity of rivalry and the type of competitive advantage that each of its competitors has. To do this, the company needs:

1. track existing competitors, their possible actions in the market, collect and process information about their goods and services, prices, innovations;

2. identify new potential competitors by collecting data regarding their preparation to enter the market segments of a given enterprise;

3. work with suppliers of raw materials, materials, components in order to identify trends in demand for suppliers’ products, price proportions, the possibility and conditions of reducing prices for supplied materials and components, changes in delivery conditions;

4. study the consumer profile, taking into account the type of competition in the market, the structure of product supply and the actions of competitors;

5. know current trends in technology development, identify and study innovations that can significantly affect the potential market capacity of a given enterprise’s product.

Creating a monitoring system that covers the study of all structural units of M. Porter’s model requires significant financial, time and human resources. Of course, analysis of the competitive environment based on processing of this information base is the most complete, systematic, but also much more labor-intensive, and therefore most companies focus on analyzing the activities of priority competitors who are vying to capture the existing market share of the enterprise.

From a practical point of view, at the moment the most relevant is the development of a system for monitoring the activities of direct competitors, which is equally effective for large and small businesses. Organizing a continuous and systematic study of competitors’ activities will allow timely development of solutions to such important problems as:

1. identifying trends and patterns in the formation of competitive advantages of companies over the period under study;

2. determination of the level of competitive advantages at the time of the survey;

3. identifying reserves for increasing the level of competitive advantages;

4. development of measures to improve the competitiveness of your own company;

5. drawing up a program for the company to enter new markets.

Many Russian companies are trying to carry out certain activities to study competitors, but they are faced with methodological difficulties, since with the abundance of literature on analyzing the activities of competitors that has existed in recent years, there is a significant shortage of specific methodological recommendations applicable in practice. As noted by G.L. Azoev, “in practice, in the absence of systematized recommendations, the analysis of the activities of competitors is often carried out by analogy with the analysis of the production and economic activities of one’s own enterprise.... At the same time, the analysis of the activities of competitors also has its own specific features and tasks, the solution of which should provide an answer to key analysis questions such as:

What are the goals and intentions of competitors?

What is their degree of market dominance?

How to anticipate changes in the product assortment policy of competitors?

How do competitors’ activities differ in stimulating product sales, organizing distribution channels, etc.

Obviously, without answers to such questions, it is impossible to assess the degree of aggressiveness of a competitor and its real capabilities in the struggle to increase market share."

Thus, we are talking about building a system for monitoring the activities of priority competitors. The conceptual model of this system, reflecting its basic design principles, is presented in Fig. 3.

Fig.3.

Implemented in practice, the monitoring system may vary depending on:

* the number of studied areas of activity of competitors;

* number of monitoring channels used;

* the breadth of setting the task of assessing the activities of competitors;

* information collection technology used;

* methods used by researchers for analytical and predictive processing of collected information.

The purpose and principles of operation of the monitoring system must remain unchanged in any embodiment. Moreover, the system for monitoring the activities of competitors must be easily compatible with the company’s general information support and decision-making system.

The main elements of the monitoring system are:

1. an information collection subsystem that directly interacts with the external environment and determines the composition and number of monitoring channels, technology and methods of information collection;

2. calculation and analytical subsystem for supporting management decision-making, consisting of a set of simulation and target models that reflect the main competitive processes of the industry and are the basis for forecasting the dynamics of market indicators;

3. a multidimensional database designed to accumulate and store information about the studied characteristics of the competitive environment.

A generalized structural model of the monitoring system, reflecting the main points of its functioning and the interconnection of elements, is presented in Fig. 4.

Fig.4.

In general, the system has a two-circuit structure. The internal loop manages the selection of monitoring objects, technologies and methods of collecting information, ensuring continuity of monitoring. The external contour of the system, connecting the monitoring system and the decision-making system through information flows, has the ability to influence the processes of operational, tactical and strategic management. It is at this level that the main goal of monitoring is realized - the formation of competitive advantages.

The information collected during the monitoring process should reflect the state of the competitive environment quite fully and in a time scale close to real. To set up a monitoring system for the effective implementation of set goals and coordinate its activities with the activities of the company, it is necessary to develop an individual program that takes into account economically feasible boundaries and optimal large-scale monitoring characteristics.

A competitive environment monitoring system should not only solve the issues of accumulating data and issuing reports; its main task is to provide management decision makers with information that would help them choose the most optimal solution to the problem facing the company.

Consideration of the essence of monitoring the competitive environment establishes the interdependence and interdependence of the following concepts

Thus, the conceptual basis for updating methods for analyzing the competitive environment at the present stage is a strategic orientation towards the formation of competitive advantages, which includes a set of scientific and methodological developments and organizational and managerial measures to create a system for monitoring the competitive environment. Accordingly, the implementation of this strategy should be aimed at developing a system of criteria and assessments, designing monitoring programs that form the methodological foundations of technologies for managing the competitiveness of companies.