Understand your competitors

What you need to know about your competitors

Monitor the way your competitors do business. Look at:

• the products or services they provide and how they market them to customers
• the prices they charge
• how they distribute and deliver
• the devices they employ to enhance customer loyalty and what back-up service they offer
• their brand and design values
• whether they innovate - business methods as well as products
• their staff numbers and the calibre of staff that they attract
• how they use IT - for example, if they're technology-aware and offer a website and email
• who owns the business and what sort of person they are
• their media activities - check local newspapers, radio, television and any outdoor advertising
• their online presence - check online networking sites as well as their website

Their customers

Find out as much as possible about your competitors' customers, such as:

• who they are
• what products or services they buy
• what customers see as your competitors' strengths and weaknesses
• whether there are any long-standing customers
• if they've had an influx of customers recently 

What they're planning to do

Try to go beyond what's happening now by investigating your competitors' business strategies, for example:

• what types of customer they're targeting
• what new products they're developing
• what financial resources they have

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• Who are your competitors?
• What you need to know about your competitors
• Learning about your competitors
• Getting to know your competitors
• How to act on the competitor information you get