First, it’s important to know what competitive intelligence is and how it can be used to a company’s advantage.
Competitive intelligence is the result of a company’s efforts “to gather and analyze data about its industry, business environment, competitors, competitive products and services.”
Gathering all this information manually is possible but it’s safer and definitely more efficient to use a Competitive Intelligence solution to make data gathering much faster, more frequent, and error-free, thus having relevant data much closer to the decision-making time. Such a solution helps by providing, among other things:
Prices – See what prices your competitors are selling their products at.
Product Assortment – Keep track of new products in the market, and know who is selling what.
Promotional Activity – See what promotions your competitors are running, including coupons and flash sales.
Competitive intelligence is useful for a variety of industries, but particularly
for retailers as well as businesses in highly competitive markets.
Driving Market Insights With Competitive Intelligence
Having data available is one thing, but turning that data into actionable decisions grows the bottom line of your business.
Here are practical ways that you can turn the data into actionable insights or game plans for growing your business:
Use this data to inform marketing campaigns and optimize ad spending.
Putting this marketing data to use, can assist your business directly through higher sales of your products.
This data can be used to find what products are available in the market.
This way you can optimize your assortment with new products or new categories, availability, and stock turnover. Also, you can start new cooperations with brands and even negotiate YEBs & exclusivity of products.
Can show how much a product’s price or availability is altered in the market.
This knowledge is fundamental in order to optimize the performance of the
current assortment and better position it in the market
Below, we will expand more on these practical ways to drive market insights, growth, and conversions from competitive intelligence.
When building out your ad campaigns, you can use competitive intelligence to maximize the return on ad spend. A simple way to measure the return on ad spend is to simply divide the total revenue from an ad campaign by the total cost of running the ad campaign.
At a tactical level, you can use competitive intelligence to identify the right products to bid for, as well as to improve your ad targeting so you reach the prospects most likely to buy.
When building out your ad campaigns, you can use competitive intelligence to maximize the return on ad spend.
In digital marketing, it’s well known that calls to action (CTAs) are one of the most important factors to convert a visitor into a customer.
Retailers use that strategy to attract visitors and convert them into customers by promoting offers through Homepage banners. When visitors click on a homepage banner then they will follow a well-planned customers journey with more products and more offers. By using Competitive Intelligence you can monitor your Competitor’s HomePage banners and be informed about all the offers behind every banner.
Furthermore, Competitive Intelligence will assist you to match and compare competitors’ offers with your products and understand your customer’s opinions about your company.
Pricing is a pivotal factor in securing the Buy Box on eCommerce platforms. While it doesn’t always favor the lowest price, there is a strong link between competitive pricing and Buy Box success. Sellers who strategically price their products have a better chance of winning the Buy Box, resulting in increased visibility and higher sales.
However, finding the right balance between competitive and profitable pricing is the challenge. Sellers must identify the sweet spot that allows competitiveness without sacrificing profitability. Pricing too low can lead to losses and unsustainable operations, while pricing too high can deter customers and reduce Buy Box chances. Therefore, a well-thought-out pricing strategy and regular assessment are essential to maintain a competitive edge and profitability.
Yet another way market data helps you is in spotting less competitive products to sell.
When a new product enters the market, competitive intelligence tools can help you spot an opportunity where few competitors are selling a product, or if they even have it available (keeping stock).
In this case, you should stock up and begin advertising this new product to interested buyers ahead of your competitors.
Using competitive intelligence in your retail business can drive market insights, growth, conversions, margin, and more. Competitive intelligence involves studying the competition and keeping tabs on what they are doing that is working.
Far from being a theoretical exercise, the data you gather can be used directly in growing your retail business. You can apply this data and insights practically in your ad campaigns, product pricing, and in finding new products to sell.
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