A professional chess player may spend a great deal of time watching their opponents' previous games and working on their own Competitor analysis Key players and their behaviors to gain insight into their style, strengths and weaknesses and develop effective tactics to confront them, similarly in business it is necessary to evaluate the performance of competitors and note their strategies and determine the tactics they work on to develop a plan for their competition. 

In this article we will talk about: 

1. What is competitor analysis? 
2. Why is competitor analysis important?
3. How do we analyze competitors? 
4. What are the best competitor analysis tools? 

What is competitor analysis? 

It is the process of identifying companies and people who work in your industry and target market and target your customers, then evaluate them and identify their strengths and weaknesses, to know your place in this market. 

Comprehensive competitive analysis includes analyzing various aspects of competitors, the quality of products and services they offer, pricing strategies, marketing campaigns, selling points, the public image of their customers, messages and the value they provide. 

These are some of the most important points that a competitive analysis should include, which enable you to gain a better understanding of the market and industry trends, and help you make decisions about how to offer your product or service to customers.

What is the importance of competitor analysis? 

Whether your company is the largest company in the market or a start-up, you need to get started BMarket Research And analyze competitors at least once a year in order to: 

• Determine the strengths and weaknesses of competitors: Competitor analysis helps you take advantage of strengths and improve weaknesses, to remain competitive in the market.

• Market understanding: By analyzing competitors' strategies, companies can gain clear insight into market trends, customer preferences, and new technologies and technologies.

• Identify opportunities: Competitor analysis helps companies identify opportunities for growth and expansion, identify gaps in the market, new customer segments, or untapped areas where they can expand their business.

• Risk Reduction: Companies can anticipate potential threats to their business and develop contingency plans to mitigate them.

• Distinguish yourself from competitors: Analyzing competitors helps you understand the products and services in the market and develop unique products that offer more value to customers and distinguish you from other competitors. 

How do we analyze competitors? 

1. Define your competitors:

   Make a list of direct and indirect competitors who offer the same product or service as you and in the same geographical location.

   For example: If you run a small perfume store in Riyadh, your direct competitors may include small perfume stores in Riyadh markets and malls and some small electronic stores. 

   While your indirect competitors may include large electronic stores such as Noon and Amazon, and major perfume stores such as Abdul Samad Al Qurashi. 

   At this point your focus should be on your direct competitors. 

2.  Understand their strengths and weaknesses:

   Find out what your competitors do well, what things they do well, and what things they do wrong.

   For example: You may find that competitor X has a strong presence on social media and has a variety of distinctive oriental and western perfumes, but its shipping costs are high, while Y has a weak presence on the Internet, but it has branches in the largest commercial markets in Riyadh 

   Studying and researching competitors can give you new ideas that help you enter the market or in marketing, attract customers and gain a competitive advantage, and here we are not talking about imitating competitors, but about making them a source of inspiration. 

3.  Watch your competitors closely:Check out their websites, online stores, and social media accounts  Research what they offer, how they deal with customers, shipping and return policies, pricing method, advertising campaigns, offers and discounts. How do they display their products in outlets and online stores, product descriptions, available payment methods, store ratings, comments and complaints. 

   There is nothing wrong with completing a purchase from them and then subscribing to their newsletter to see how the process goes from start to finish.

4. Analyze your competitors' customer base:

   Determine who are the customers your competitors are targeting and what are the ways in which they reach customers. 

   For example: You may find that X targets the youth category and uses Instagram and Tik Tok to reach its customers. It also cooperates with influencers and exploits trends and challenges. 

   While we find that the Y store targets business men and women and uses Twitter to reach its target audience. 

   And you, who is your target audience and what methods do you use to reach it?   

5.  Take action SWOT analysis :

   This analysis helps you identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of your competitors. For example : 

   You may find that Store X's strengths include a strong brand and wide range of fragrance options, while its weaknesses include high shipping costs and poor customer service.

   Meanwhile, Y Store's strengths may include low prices and fast shipping, but its weaknesses include a weak brand and online presence.   

    

6.  Look for gaps in the market:Discovering market gaps gives you an opportunity for rapid growth and quickly outperforming your competitors, but you must make sure that there is a reasonable size market within this untapped gap. For example :

   The market may need perfume companies that allow customers to choose their favorite scents and install a perfume designed specifically for them and that suits their individual taste, or to customize the packages in customized shapes and sizes according to the customer’s taste.

7. Use the information you have collected: 

Once you have analyzed your competitors, use the information you have obtained to improve your business strategy and outperform your competitors. 

For example :

Reduce shipping costs or make it free to outpace Store X, and build a strong brand and social media presence to outpace Store Y. 

Or create a strong competitive advantage by making it possible to design and install customized perfumes according to the customer's taste and promote this advantage to your target audience. 

What are the best competitor analysis tools? 

There are many tools that help in analyzing competitors, the following are the most popular ones:

1. SEMrush:  Provides valuable insights into the strategies used by competitors in search engine optimization, search engine advertising, and social media marketing. 
2. Ahrefs Backlinks: is another powerful tool that provides insights into competitors' backlink profiles, search engine rankings, and content strategies.
3. SimilarWeb : YProvide insights into competitor site traffic, audience demographics, and traffic sources.
4. SpyFu : It allows users to view competitors' keyword rankings, advertising campaigns, and search engine optimization strategies. 
5. Owler :  A tool that provides insights into competitor data, news and industry trends. 
6. Google Alerts:  Free tool that sends email notifications when a competitor is mentioned online. Users can set up alerts for specific keywords, phrases, or competitor names.

Conclusion :

Companies must continuously monitor their direct and indirect competitors, identify new competitors and market trends and adjust their strategies accordingly. 

In today's fast-paced business world, a company's ability to adapt to changing circumstances and stay ahead is paramount

Its competitors are critical to its long-term success.

Let us help you stay ahead of the competition with our competitor analysis services. Our team will provide you with valuable information about your competitors' strategies, strengths and weaknesses, helping you make the right decisions and stay ahead of the game. Contact Info Learn more about our comprehensive competitor analysis services and how we can help your business succeed.