No matter the industry your business is in, it is always competing with other enterprises, fighting to win customers. Generally, competition revolves around quality and price range. When several companies deal with the same type of products, each must improve the quality of their goods and offer friendly prices to beat the rivals. Other incentives that businesses use to win customers against their competitors include promotions and reward programs.
Understanding the approach that your competitors are employing puts you ahead in terms of ideas as you strive to be better than they are. It reveals to you how satisfied or dissatisfied their customers are. That way, you avoid making mistakes they have made, making you understand how to improve your standards.
Understanding the Basics of Competitive Intelligence
Competitive intelligence is an ingredient of the market intellect, which mends your business by providing you with up-to-date information about market trends. Employing intelligence reveals what your competitors are doing and the strategies they apply to persuade customers in the industry. With accurate data, nothing comes by surprise, as you know when your rival is launching a new product or services. Similarly, you understand when they change prices on various merchandise.
In the business industry, there have been unethical approaches to acquire information from competitors through espionage. With competitive intelligence, a company employs legitimate and virtuous strategies to get the data they need. By working with an institution like NetBase Quid, a company gathers timely information from its competitors. What more, a business understands how to improve its game, using the data obtained as a gauge.
Understanding Your Business Rivals
Learning your competitor’s next move allows you to organize your camp. For example, if your rival plans to buy a new business apartment, switch your competition to improving services and product value. Similarly, if their next move is to import goods, prioritize marketing locally made materials, to be unique.
Competitive intelligence provides room for strategy assessment after understanding the current market trends. It reveals customers’ perception towards your rivals. That way, you know their weaknesses and strengths. Companies understand how the market is fairing, predict possible changes, and learn what competitors are doing to handle challenges.
Understanding Self Competitive Stand
Apart from gathering data about your competitors, understand your company’s position in the market. Assess your business using the following tools.
1. USP Analysis
USP Analysis shows the competition trends among other companies in your industry. It identifies your competitive stand, distinguishing you from your business rivals. Your company may not determine the best approach to employ unless you understand your competitive position compared to other businesses.
2. Core Competence Analysis
It shows the strategies that your company can execute exceptionally and better than your competitors. Investigate how your approaches influence customers to determine whether they are viable. Find out if they have multiple applications to keep your business ahead of the competition.
3. VRIO Analysis
The approach evaluates your company to determine the contribution that your assets, processes, and employees can have on your market stand. VRIO assesses your resources to define how they influence the productivity of your business.
Sources of Competitive Data
One of the main challenges when employing competitive intelligence is the source of information. It is rare for competitors to broadcast the information you are looking for, making it difficult to gather real-time data. However, there are several options to get accurate information from your rivals. Review brochures from other businesses, purchase their products, visit their website, read shareholder reports, and visit their stores, among others.
Competitive intelligence involves guessing, predicting, and speculating. With a new strategy, you understand your business needs and how to use the data you gather. Staying relevant in the market requires you to update yourself frequently.