Marketing research of competitors

The result of any marketing research of competitors is extremely important information. It helps companies make the right decisions in the areas of pricing, marketing, management and investment.

Analysis of the competitive environment helps answer a number of important questions.

• - The activities of which market participants need to be given special attention? Which of them is developing faster than the market and for what reasons?
• - What products and service options are not offered by other market participants? Are there any free niches in the market?
• - What successful experiences and best practices of competitors should be taken into account when building a business development strategy to increase sales and expand the customer base? (benchmarking)
• - What prices do competitors set for their products? What is the cost and margin of additional services?
• - How many employees do competing companies have, what are their qualifications, and employee performance indicators?

Answers to these and many other questions help companies solve the following problems.

• 1. Optimization of the range of goods/services
• 2. Pricing optimization
• 3. Conducting effective advertising campaigns
• 4. Optimization of sales channels
• 5. Maintaining a competent personnel policy - from recruitment to motivation
• 6. Product strategy development

At first glance, the company's development may look ideal. Profits increase, customer base expands. However, this may only be due to the growth of the market or its segment in a certain region.

Marketing research of competitors' activities allows you to accurately determine the company's position. The analysis reveals the strengths and weaknesses of other market participants, allows you to adopt positive experiences and develop an effective strategy aimed at staying ahead of competitors and becoming a market leader.

Competitor research is a fairly broad concept. In most cases, an audit involves the collection, study and analysis of business information. For this reason, independent research is quite a difficult task.

Having at its disposal the data collected by specialists, the company acquires many opportunities. Knowing the specifics of competitors' activities helps you quickly find ways to stay ahead of your main competitors and select suitable candidates for acquisition or merger.

BCGroup specialists use a wide range of methods and criteria to evaluate market participants. A professional approach guarantees the accuracy of results even in narrow areas.

For marketing research of competitors’ activities in a particular region, a minimum of 400 questionnaires and at least 10–12 expert interviews will be required. Moreover, it does not matter whether the audit is carried out in a specific city or throughout the country. If you need to compare data collected in several regions, the number of questionnaires and interviews will increase proportionally.

The survey of this number of people will be completed in 1 day. Expert interviews will take one week.

The final cost of studying the competitive environment depends on:

- number of questionnaires;
- number of expert interviews (prices depend on the topic);
- costs of analytics (10–15% of the cost of obtaining information).

You can determine the price of one survey using the calculator implemented on the website. To do this, you will need to enter quotas and the number of closed and open questions. The cost of a study with the minimum sample indicated above is from 2 000 £.

The most popular task when researching competitors is to compare the company’s key indicators with other market participants. The analysis can be carried out using various parameters. Among them:

- volumes of product sales;
- market shares occupied by competitors (in individual areas and in general);
- main consumer segments;
- average checks;
- structure of costs and sales;
- marginality;
- advantages;
- flaws;
- and much more.

1. The customer contacts BCGroup to conduct marketing research of competitors. The specialist clarifies the reasons that necessitated the audit and analyzes the market.
2. An NDA confidentiality agreement is concluded.
3. The research methodology is agreed upon. The BCGroup specialist and the customer determine a list of parameters for analyzing the competitive environment and the tools used. A version of the survey questionnaire and a guide for expert interviews are approved.
4. The customer and BCGroup draw up a list of competitors whose activities will have to be analyzed using additional parameters.
5. Specialists collect information. With a minimum sample it will take no more than a week.
6. A BCGroup employee transfers to the customer the entire array of collected information in SPSS or Excel format. Specialists begin to study and analyze the data.
7. After completing the study (after 10–15 days), the customer receives a detailed report containing all the audit results and an executive presentation.