Competitive Analysis

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE 101

OVERVIEW

A Competitive Landscape provides a comparison between company X and that company’s major competitors across a number of specific points like target market, pricing, products/services and/or what the competitive advantages are for each.

GETTING STARTED

Step 1: Organize your research with a template:

Oftentimes, the client will identify how s/he would like the companies to be compared. In that case, create a Google spreadsheet (following best practices) outlining the comparison points identified by the client (or at least five major comparison points). If the client does not specify, use the template, adjusting any categories as needed to fit the companies and/or market you are researching. The template should be seen as a guideline, not as a required way to set up your response. The template is helpful for both sourcing and writing!

The template is a guideline. While some sections are necessary for most, if not all, requests, such as an overview and competitive advantage, other parts of the template may need to be adjusted to meet the client's request. There may be a need to add additional categories or change existing ones, as appropriate. Once you copy and paste the template into a Google sheet, make sure to adjust the template at this time to ensure that all parts of a request are covered.

As you add information, it is helpful to increase the size of the columns so the information is easier to read. Freezing the first column and/or top row will make it easier to see what information goes where without having to scroll back and forth.

Step 2: Finding Competitors:

To begin, you will need to identify three or four competitors of the company you’ve been asked to profile. If you’re lucky, the client will provide those competitors for you. If not, you’ll have to identify them from all companies within the primary company’s market.

Your first step should be using the databases listed in the next section to identify the company’s competitors.

If you cannot find competitors this way, then you will begin by identifying the market/industry of the primary company and determining its revenue. From here, conduct a general search using keywords like “ABC Company competitors,” or you can search by product type (“top US honey producers”) or business type (“top Chinese ISPs”) to find other companies within the market.

Make sure that the competitors you choose are in direct competition with the primary company.

That means, they are:

Within the same market, industry or industry segment
Offer the same or similar products/services
Have a similar target market
Earn similar average annual revenue

Unless a business is very different from most others or the request only includes an industry and not a specific company, there should be no need to only find high-level industry competitors over more specific ones. Regardless of the method and/or criteria you use to determine the competitors, be certain to fully explain (either in the source summary notes if you’re sourcing, or the write-up if you’re the writer) how they were selected so that is clear to the client.

Databases:

Crunchbase, Datafox and Hoovers are great places to start your search.

Wonder also has a larger list of great databases we recommend looking at here.

Starting Point of Search Terms:

In general, most of the information needed for competitive landscape requests can be located from a company's website. Knowing how to navigate these sites will improve the time it takes you to find the necessary information or see if it will require an outside search. This applies not just to the template categories, but also to other competitive landscape information a client may ask about. For example, sometimes a request asks for the clients of the different companies. In a case like this, look for customer testimonials on the business' site. Many sites also have their own search function, so be sure to make use of that, as well.

If the competitors are not easily found via the suggested databases, you can start with a general industry search, such as "top beauty companies" and narrow things down from there. For example, you can narrow it based on product type ("top makeup companies") or business type ("top beauty suppliers").

Sourcing Best Practices:

Ensure sources are high-quality, industry-specific, reputable sources
Ensure sources provide the most-current info possible or your calculations (like for revenue) utilize the most-recent figures available
Ensure all statistics and data points are accurate and clearly identified/outline
Ensure the companies selected for profiling are direct competitors (same market, similar products, similar revenue)
Start with each company’s website, annual reports, and investor info, as well as common sources like LinkedIn, Owler, Crunchbase, Datafox, and Hoover’s, then move to third-party sources

COLLECTING INFORMATION DURING SOURCING

When sourcing a Competitive Landscape, it is best to break up your search by company. That way, all sources for each company are grouped together and are easiest for the Writer to find. For each section/category of the Competitive Landscape, you will follow a slightly-different search strategy.

Overview:

This section includes basic company information like founding date, HQ location and number of offices (w/ locations), number of employees, as well as the company’s mission, objectives, or focus. This can all be found on the company’s website.

Products/Services:

This is a listing of the main products/services the company offers. If the client specifies s/he is only looking for a particular type of product/service (not all offered by the company), then focus your information solely on what was targeted (for all companies w/i the CL). This can be found on the company’s website or online catalog.

Pricing:

This is a listing of the company’s pricing for the targeted products/services. This can typically be found on the website or online catalog. You should include information about free trials, subscription pricing, fees, optional add-ons, and custom pricing, where available. If a company does not provide their pricing publicly, you must state that for the client. Using language like, “Company pricing is unpublished; recommend contacting their sales department”.

Some examples of pricing include:

Subscription pricing (including different levels of subscriptions)
Free trials first
One-time fees
Main product/service with optional add-ons
Custom pricing

As you complete these types of requests, you will run across companies that do not provide their prices publicly. In this case, it is a good idea to do a quick outside search to see if another site provides it. A helpful search phrase would be "(company name) prices". As alternatives to prices, you can try pricing, fees, costs, etc. This still may not result in pricing information. In cases where you cannot find prices, you should still cover the pricing structure the company uses (if available) and how one would find out their prices. Do they have a sales number to call, a quote form, a free trial before a quote, etc.?

Target Market:

A company’s target market is the main demographic or sector to whom it is selling its products/services. There are many types of target markets, including:

Businesses, individuals, governments, etc.
Life stages (such as teenagers or retirees)
Business size (such as medium-sized businesses or large enterprises)
Specific needs (such as a disability or better ways to complete a certain task)
Income levels (such as low-cost items vs luxury ones)
Different life situations (such as home owners or moms)

Most times, companies target a variety of demographics, sectors, or geographical areas, so you will need to narrow this down to those purchasing the specific types of products about which the client is asking (if possible or necessary). This information can be found on the company’s website, LinkedIn profile, or annual reports. An example would be high-income individuals that own homes and travel a lot.

The target market should also address the geographical areas that the company is targeting. A company's website should have this information. The About sections and annual reports (for public companies) are good sources for locating this information, but be sure to take a quick look at what the different sections of the site are. The company's product/service offerings and/or their pricing may even reveal this information.

As an example, when you view the products that Salesforce is offering, you will see that they are all business-related software, so businesses are a target market. When looking at their pricing, you will see that they offer packages for teams with very few users and go up from there, so they are targeting businesses of many sizes. In further searching the site, they also have a section for the industries they have products for. The page on why to choose them mentions their products are used in 50 countries, while the About Us overview mentions that they are a global company.

Competitive Advantage:

A company’s competitive advantage is what makes them stand out from their competitors. It’s what gives them a market edge or why customers choose their products/services over those of their competitors’. Sometimes this is as simple as that they are the cheapest or offer the highest-bang-for-your-buck, though sometimes it isn’t as easy to identify. It might be beneficial to leave this section until after you've had a chance to learn more about a company through the other sections.

Begin by looking at the company’s website and LinkedIn profile. What do they say are the advantages of choosing them? If you can’t determine it, check their website’s About page, investor relations’ information (if they are a public company) or third-party comparison sites. Lastly, search for third-party news articles or interviews.

As an example, in the 2015 Annual Report for P&G, they self-identify their competitive advantage as their focus "on improving execution and operating discipline in everything we do" (pg. 25). In another section, they speak about the competitive condition of the market. Within this section (pg 13), they talk about how their advertising, value, packaging, quality, and performance allows them to differentiate themselves in competitive markets. These reports tend to be long, so I highly recommend making use of the Table of Contents and search functions. A company will not always directly self-identify their competitive advantages, which is why it is important to not end your search if the phrase "competitive advantage" isn't used within a document.

As per the template, this section should be a paragraph or two. Identifying and discussing two competitive advantages is a good way to meet this amount.

STRUCTURING YOUR WRITING RESPONSE

When writing a Competitive Landscape, you’ll likely create a spreadsheet and a short write-up.

The write-up should include:

Insights that provide direct comparisons of the competitors to the primary company and to each other
Overview: that outlines the basics of each competitor, in relation to the primary company you are comparing to
An explanation of the methodology used to determine the competitors (if they weren’t identified by the client)
An overview of the findings detailed on the spreadsheet with the spreadsheet linked at least twice

The spreadsheet should:

Follow the template’s best practice, but you can adjust if the client has more nuanced needs.
Include categories for each company with all information filled in
Include a row or column for “Sources Used” for each company

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