Keeping Tabs on the Competition
The pet industry is growing fast, with the potential for equally fast change in the kind of products that sell, competitors' marketing strategies, and pricing structures.
Regular competitive reviews will not only help you keep track of your competition but will help you spot gaps in the market specific to what you offer, uncover opportunities to innovate, and areas of your business that would benefit from a renovation or refresh.
When And Why To Carry Out A Competitive Analysis
Regular competitive reviews should be a part of your ongoing market responsibilities. That being said, a competitive review can be beneficial when your company is hitting specific roadblocks. For example, if sales of a new product aren't taking off at the rate you were hoping for, or you need to identify gaps in your existing product portfolio, your business could benefit from running a competitive analysis.
This will help show you:
Your competitors' market share vs. your own
Where do your price points sit compared to other similar brands
How does other brands' marketing compare to yours
A competitors product portfolio compared to your own
Customer reviews on what they like/dislike about your competitors' products
How To Approach And Plan A Competitive Analysis
First, identify exactly what you want to analyze
Are you launching new products or changing your existing product portfolio?
Usually, companies want to review how existing products are performing or test new product ideas.
The process for analyzing competition is similar either way, but for new products, you should look closely at emerging trends to ensure new product ideas are aligned.
Look at both direct and indirect competitors
Look at companies who offer the same products and services as you and those who provide similar products and services. Pet trends tend to follow human trends, so analyzing indirect competition might also mean looking at current health & wellness brands on social media or products that are already selling well.
Decide which parts of your competitors' businesses are relevant for benchmarking
When you analyze other businesses, you should look at them holistically before drilling down into the information you need for benchmarking. This information could be:
Product features
Market share
Pricing
Marketing strategy and materials
Differentiators
Customer reviews
Identify areas to improve your brand or product
Once you have benchmarked your brand or product against competitors you are ready to use that information to create an action plan for improving your brand recognition and sales.
The best way to use the information you gathered during benchmarking is by building a SWOT analysis report. From there, you can create a road map for ongoing success. A SWOT should include:
Your successes: what's going well for the business internally
Your weaknesses: what needs work internally
Potential opportunities: gaps in the market, emerging trends, advertising strategies you could try, or untapped customer bases
Potential threats: growth of competition, changes in global buying patterns, supply chain issues
What Ongoing Competetive Reviews Offer
Whether you're carrying out a competitive review to combat a specific problem within your business or to stay ahead of emerging opportunities, a competitive review isn't just for emergencies. It's important to keep up with the competition by reviewing them regularly and tracking where you sit compared to similar brands.
Of course, if you're as busy as most marketing teams, you could probably do with some industry experts to help gather, analyze and identify opportunities for your brand. The Marketing Lens can help. With pet industry experience across several categories and channels, competitive reviews are our specialty. Let us take your business to the next level.