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How to Write Competitive Analysis in a Business Plan (w/ Examples)

The Competitive Analysis Kit

• Vinay Kevadia
• January 9, 2024

14 Min Read

Every business wants to outperform its competitors, but do you know the right approach to gather information and analyze your competitors?

That’s where competitive analysis steps in. It’s the tool that helps you know your competition’s pricing strategies, strengths, product details, marketing strategies, target audience, and more.

If you want to know more about competitor analysis, this guide is all you need. It spills all the details on how to conduct and write a competitor analysis in a business plan, with examples.

Let’s get started and first understand the meaning of competitive analysis.

What is Competitive Analysis?

A competitive analysis involves collecting information about what other businesses in your industry are doing with their products, sales, and marketing.

Businesses use this data to find out what they are good at, where they can do better, and what opportunities they might have. It is like checking out the competition to see how and where you can improve.

This kind of analysis helps you get a clear picture of the market, allowing you to make smart decisions to make your business stand out and do well in the industry.

Competitive analysis is a section of utmost value for your business plan. The analysis in this section will form the basis upon which you will frame your marketing, sales, and product-related strategies. So make sure it’s thorough, insightful, and in line with your strategic objectives.

Let’s now understand how you can conduct a competitive analysis for your own business and leverage all its varied benefits.

How to Conduct a Competitive Analysis

Let’s break down the process of conducting a competitive analysis for your business plan in these easy-to-follow steps.

It will help you prepare a solid competitor analysis section in your business plan that actually highlights your strengths and opens room for better discussions (and funding).

Let’s begin.

1. Identify Your Direct and Indirect Competitors

First things first — identify all your business competitors and list them down. You can have a final, detailed list later, but right now an elementary list that mentions your primary competitors (the ones you know and are actively competing with) can suffice.

As you conduct more research, you can keep adding to it.

Explore your competitors using Google, social media platforms, or local markets. Then differentiate them into direct or indirect competitors.

Direct competitors

Businesses offering the same products or services, and targeting a similar target market are your direct competitors.

These competitors operate in the same industry and are often competing for the same market share.

Indirect competitors

On the other hand, indirect competitors are businesses that offer different products or services but cater to the same target customers as yours.

While they may not offer identical solutions, they compete for the same customer budget or attention. Indirect competitors can pose a threat by providing alternatives that customers might consider instead of your offerings.

2. Study the Overall Market

Now that you know your business competitors, deep dive into market research. Market research should involve a combination of both primary and secondary research methods.

Primary research

Primary research involves collecting market information directly from the source or subjects.  Some examples of primary market research methods include:

• Purchasing competitors’ products or services
• Conducting interviews with their customers
• Administering online surveys to gather customer insights

Secondary research

Secondary research involves utilizing pre-existing gathered information from some relevant sources. Some of its examples include:

• Scrutinizing competitors’ websites
• Assessing the current economic landscape
• Referring to online market databases of the competitors.

Have a good understanding of the market at this point to write your market analysis section effectively.

3. Prepare a Competitive Framework

Now that you have a thorough understanding of your competitors’ market, it is time to create a competitive framework that enables comparison between two businesses.

Factors like market share, product offering, pricing, distribution channel, target markets, marketing strategies, and customer service offer essential metrics and information to chart your competitive framework .

These factors will form the basis of comparison for your competitive analysis. Depending on the type of your business, choose the factors that are relevant to you.

4. Take Note of Your Competitor’s Strategies

Now that you have an established framework, use that as a base to analyze your competitor’s strategies. Such analysis will help you understand what the customers like and dislike about your competitors.

Start by analyzing the marketing strategies, sales and marketing channels, promotional activities, and branding strategies of your competitors. Understand how they position themselves in the market and what USPs they emphasize.

Evaluate, analyze their pricing strategies and keep an eye on their distribution channel to understand your competitor’s business model in detail.

This information allows you to make informed decisions about your strategies, helping you identify opportunities for differentiation and improvement.

5. Perform a SWOT Analysis of Your Competitors

A SWOT analysis is a method of analyzing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of your business in the competitive marketplace.

While strengths and weaknesses focus on internal aspects of your company, opportunities and threats examine the external factors related to the industry and market.

It’s an important tool that will help determine the company’s competitive edge quite efficiently.

It includes the positive features of your internal business operations. For example, a strong brand, skilled workforce, innovative products/services, or a loyal customer base.

It includes all the hindrances of your internal business operations. For example, limited resources, outdated technology, weak brand recognition, or inefficient processes.

Opportunities

It outlines several opportunities that will come your way in the near or far future. Opportunities can arise as the industry or market trend changes or by leveraging the weaknesses of your competitors.

For example, details about emerging markets, technological advancements, changing consumer trends, profitable partnerships in the future, etc.

Threats define any external factor that poses a challenge or any risk for your business in this section. For example, intense competition, economic downturns, regulatory changes, or any advanced technology disruption.

This section will form the basis for your business strategies and product offerings. So make sure it’s detailed and offers the right representation of your business.

And that is all you need to create a comprehensive competitive analysis for your business plan.

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How to Write Competitive Analysis in a Business Plan

The section on competitor analysis is the most crucial part of your business plan. Making this section informative and engaging gets easier when you have all the essential data to form this section.

Now, let’s learn an effective way of writing your competitive analysis.

1. Determine who your readers are

Know your audience first, because that will change the whole context of your competitor analysis business plan.

The competitive analysis section will vary depending on the intended audience is the team or investors.

Consider the following things about your audience before you start writing this section:

Internal competitor plan (employees or partners)

Objective: The internal competitor plan is to provide your team with an understanding of the competitive landscape.

Focus: The focus should be on the comparison of the strengths and weaknesses of competitors to boost strategic discussions within your team.

Use: It is to leverage the above information to develop strategies that highlight your strengths and address your weaknesses.

Competitor plan for funding (bank or investors)

Objective: Here, the objective is to reassure the potential and viability of your business to investors or lenders.

Focus: This section should focus on awareness and deep understanding of the competitive landscape to persuade the readers about the future of your business.

Use: It is to showcase your market position and the opportunities that are on the way to your business.

This differentiation is solely to ensure that the competitive analysis serves its purpose effectively based on the specific needs and expectations of the respective audience.

2. Describe and Visualise Competitive Advantage

Remember how we determined our competitive advantage at the time of research. It is now time to present that advantage in your competitive analysis.

Highlight your edge over other market players in terms of innovation, product quality, features, pricing, or marketing strategy. Understanding your products’ competitive advantage will also help you write the products and services section effectively.

However, don’t limit the edge to your service and market segment. Highlight every area where you excel even if it is better customer service or enhanced brand reputation.

Now, you can explain your analysis through textual blocks. However, a more effective method would be using a positioning map or competitive matrix to offer a visual representation of your company’s competitive advantage.

3. Explain your strategies

Your competitor analysis section should not only highlight the opportunities or threats of your business. It should also mention the strategies you will implement to overcome those threats or capitalize on the opportunities.

Such strategies may include crafting top-notch quality for your products or services, exploring the unexplored market segment, or having creative marketing strategies.

Elaborate on these strategies later in their respective business plan sections.

4. Know the pricing strategy

To understand the pricing strategy of your competitors, there are various aspects you need to have information about. It involves knowing their pricing model, evaluating their price points, and considering the additional costs, if any.

One way to understand this in a better way is to compare features and value offered at different price points and identify the gaps in competitors’ offerings.

Once you know the pricing structure of your competitors, compare it with yours and get to know the competitive advantage of your business from a pricing point of view.

Let us now get a more practical insight by checking an example of competitive analysis.

Competitive Analysis Example in a Business Plan

Here’s a business plan example highlighting the barber shop’s competitive analysis.

1. List of competitors

Direct & indirect competitors.

The following retailers are located within a 5-mile radius of J&S, thus providing either direct or indirect competition for customers:

Joe’s Beauty Salon

Joe’s Beauty Salon is the town’s most popular beauty salon and has been in business for 32 years. Joe’s offers a wide array of services that you would expect from a beauty salon.

Besides offering haircuts, Joe’s also offers nail services such as manicures and pedicures. In fact, over 60% of Joe’s revenue comes from services targeted at women outside of hair services. In addition, Joe’s does not offer its customers premium salon products.

For example, they only offer 2 types of regular hair gels and 4 types of shampoos. This puts Joe’s in direct competition with the local pharmacy and grocery stores that also carry these mainstream products. J&S, on the other hand, offers numerous options for exclusive products that are not yet available in West Palm Beach, Florida.

LUX CUTS has been in business for 5 years. LUX CUTS offers an extremely high-end hair service, with introductory prices of $120 per haircut.

However, LUX CUTS will primarily be targeting a different customer segment from J&S, focusing on households with an income in the top 10% of the city.

Furthermore, J&S offers many of the services and products that LUX CUTS offers, but at a fraction of the price, such as:

• Hairstyle suggestions & hair care consultation
• Hair extensions & coloring
• Premium hair products from industry leaders

Freddie’s Fast Hair Salon

Freddie’s Fast Hair Salon is located four stores down the road from J&S. Freddy’s has been in business for the past 3 years and enjoys great success, primarily due to its prime location.

Freddy’s business offers inexpensive haircuts and focuses on volume over quality. It also has a large customer base comprised of children between the ages of 5 to 13.

J&S has several advantages over Freddy’s Fast Hair Salon including:

• An entertainment-focused waiting room, with TVs and board games to make the wait for service more pleasurable. Especially great for parents who bring their children.
• A focus on service quality rather than speed alone to ensure repeat visits. J&S will spend on average 20 more minutes with its clients than Freddy’s.

While we expect that Freddy’s Fast Hair Salon will continue to thrive based on its location and customer relationships, we expect that more and more customers will frequent J&S based on the high-quality service it provides.

2. Competitive Pricing

John and Sons Barbing Salon will work towards ensuring that all our services are offered at highly competitive prices compared to what is obtainable in The United States of America.

We know the importance of gaining entrance into the market by lowering our pricing to attract all and sundry that is why we have consulted with experts and they have given us the best insights on how to do this and effectively gain more clients soon.

Our pricing system is going to be based on what is obtainable in the industry, we don’t intend to charge more (except for premium and customized services) and we don’t intend to charge less than our competitors are offering in West Palm Beach – Florida.

3. Our pricing

• Payment by cash
• Payment via Point of Sale (POS) Machine
• Payment via online bank transfer (online payment portal)
• Payment via Mobile money
• Check (only from loyal customers)

Given the above, we have chosen banking platforms that will help us achieve our payment plans without any itches.

4. Competitive advantage

5. SWOT analysis

Why is a Competitive Environment helpful?

Somewhere we all think, “What if we had no competition?” “What if we were the monopoly?” It would be great, right? Well, this is not the reality, and have to accept the competition sooner or later.

However, competition is healthy for businesses to thrive and survive, let’s see how:

1. Competition validates your idea

When people are developing similar products like you, it is a sign that you are on the right path. Having healthy competition proves that your idea is valid and there is a potential target market for your product and service offerings.

2. Innovation and Efficiency

Businesses competing with each other are motivated to innovate consistently, thereby, increasing their scope and market of product offerings. Moreover, when you are operating in a cutthroat environment, you simply cannot afford to be inefficient.

Be it in terms of costs, production, pricing, or marketing—you will ensure efficiency in all aspects to attract more business.

3. Market Responsiveness

Companies in a competitive environment tend to stay relevant and longer in business since they are adaptive to the changing environment. In the absence of competition, you would start getting redundant which will throw you out of the market, sooner or later.

4. Eases Consumer Education

Since your target market is already aware of the problem and existing market solutions, it would be much easier to introduce your business to them. Rather than focusing on educating, you would be more focused on branding and positioning your brand as an ideal customer solution.

Being the first one in the market is exciting. However, having healthy competition has these proven advantages which are hard to ignore.

A way forward

Whether you are starting a new business or have an already established unit, having a practical and realistic understanding of your competitive landscape is essential to developing efficient business strategies.

While getting to know your competition is essential, don’t get too hung up in the research. Research your competitors to improve your business plan and strategies, not to copy their ideas.

Create your unique strategies, offer the best possible services, and add value to your offerings—that will make you stand out.

While it’s a long, tough road, a comprehensive business plan can be your guide. Using modern business planning software is probably the easiest way to draft your plan.

Use Upmetrics. Simply enter your business details, answer the strategic questions, and see your business plan come together in front of your eyes.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is swot analysis a competitive analysis.

SWOT analysis is just a component of a competitive analysis and not the whole competitive analysis. It helps you identify the strengths and weaknesses of your business and determine the emerging opportunities and threats faced by the external environment.

Competitive analysis in reality is a broad spectrum topic wherein you identify your competitors, analyze them on different metrics, and identify your competitive advantage to form competitive business strategies.

What tools can i use for competitor analysis?

For a thorough competitor analysis, you will require a range of tools that can help in collecting, analyzing, and presenting data. While SEMrush, Google Alerts, Google Trends, and Ahrefs can help in collecting adequate competitor data, Business planning tools like Upmetrics can help in writing the competitors section of your business plan quite efficiently.

What are the 5 parts of a competitive analysis?

The main five components to keep in mind while having a competitor analysis are:

• Identifying the competitors
• Analyzing competitor’s strengths and weaknesses
• Assessing market share and trends
• Examining competitors’ strategies and market positioning
• Performing SWOT analysis

What is the difference between market analysis and competitive analysis?

Market analysis involves a comprehensive examination of the overall market dynamics, industry trends, and factors influencing a business’s operating environment.

On the other hand, competitive analysis narrows the focus to specific competitors within the market, delving into their strategies, strengths, weaknesses, and market positioning.

About the Author

Vinay Kevadiya

Vinay Kevadiya is the founder and CEO of Upmetrics, the #1 business planning software. His ultimate goal with Upmetrics is to revolutionize how entrepreneurs create, manage, and execute their business plans. He enjoys sharing his insights on business planning and other relevant topics through his articles and blog posts. Read more

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How to Write the Competitor Analysis Section of the Business Plan

Writing The Business Plan: Section 4

Susan Ward wrote about small businesses for The Balance for 18 years. She has run an IT consulting firm and designed and presented courses on how to promote small businesses.

The competitor analysis section can be the most difficult section to compile when writing a business plan because before you can analyze your competitors, you have to investigate them. Here's how to write the competitor analysis section of the business plan.

First, Find Out Who Your Competitors Are

If you're planning to start a small business that's going to operate locally, chances are you already know which businesses you're going to be competing with. But if not, you can easily find out by doing an internet search for local businesses, looking in the online or printed local phone book, or even driving around the target market area. 

Your local business may also have non-local competitors that you need to be aware of.

If you're selling office supplies, for instance, you may also have to compete with big-box retailers within a driving distance of several hours and companies that offer office supplies online. You want to make sure that you identify all your possible competitors at this stage.

Then Find Out About Them

You need to know:

• what markets or market segments your competitors serve;
• what benefits your competitors offer;
• why customers buy from them;
• as much as possible about their products and/or services, pricing, and promotion.

Gathering Information for Your Competitor Analysis

A visit is still the most obvious starting point - either to the brick and mortar store or to the company's website. Go there, once or several times, and look around. Watch how customers are treated. Check out the prices.

You can also learn a fair bit about your competitors from talking to their customers and/or clients - if you know who they are. Other good "live" sources of information about competitors include a company's vendors or suppliers and a company's employees. They may or may not be willing to talk to you, but it's worth seeking them out and asking.

And watch for trade shows that your competitors may be attending. Businesses are there to disseminate information about and sell their products or services; attending and visiting their booths can be an excellent way to find out about your competition.

You'll also want to search for the publicly available information about your competitors. Online publications, newspapers, and magazines may all have information about the company you're investigating for your competitive analysis. Press releases may be particularly useful. 

Once you've compiled the information about your competitors, you're ready to analyze it. 

Analyzing the Competition

Just listing a bunch of information about your competition in the competitor analysis section of the business plan misses the point. It's the analysis of the information that's important.

Study the information you've gathered about each of your competitors and ask yourself this question: How are you going to compete with that company?

For many small businesses, the key to competing successfully is to identify a market niche where they can capture a  specific target market  whose needs are not being met.

• Is there a particular segment of the market that your competition has overlooked?
• Is there a service that customers or clients want that your competitor does not supply? 

The goal of your competitor analysis is to identify and expand upon your competitive advantage - the benefits that your proposed business can offer the customer or client that your competition can't or won't supply.

Writing the Competitor Analysis Section

When you're writing the business plan, you'll write the competitor analysis section in the form of several paragraphs. 

The first paragraph will outline the competitive environment, telling your readers who your proposed business's competitors are, how much of the market they control and any other relevant details about the competition.

The second and following paragraphs will detail your competitive advantage, explaining why and how your company will be able to compete with these competitors and establish yourself as a successful business.

Remember; you don't have to go into exhaustive detail here, but you do need to persuade the reader of your business plan that you are knowledgeable about the competition and that you have a clear, definitive plan that will enable your new business to successfully compete.

How to Write a Competitive Analysis for Your Business Plan

11 min. read

Updated January 3, 2024

Do you know who your competitors are? If you do, have you taken the time to conduct a thorough competitor analysis?

Knowing your competitors, how they operate, and the necessary benchmarks you need to hit are crucial to positioning your business for success. Investors will also want to see an analysis of the competition in your business plan.

In this guide, we’ll explore the significance of competitive analysis and guide you through the essential steps to conduct and write your own. 

You’ll learn how to identify and evaluate competitors to better understand the opportunities and threats to your business. And you’ll be given a four-step process to describe and visualize how your business fits within the competitive landscape.

• What is a competitive analysis?

A competitive analysis is the process of gathering information about your competitors and using it to identify their strengths and weaknesses. This information can then be used to develop strategies to improve your own business and gain a competitive advantage.

• How to conduct a competitive analysis

Before you start writing about the competition, you need to conduct your analysis. Here are the steps you need to take:

1. Identify your competitors

The first step in conducting a comprehensive competitive analysis is to identify your competitors. 

Start by creating a list of both direct and indirect competitors within your industry or market segment. Direct competitors offer similar products or services, while indirect competitors solve the same problems your company does, but with different products or services.

Keep in mind that this list may change over time. It’s crucial to revisit it regularly to keep track of any new entrants or changes to your current competitors. For instance, a new competitor may enter the market, or an existing competitor may change their product offerings.

2. Analyze the market

Once you’ve identified your competitors, you need to study the overall market. 

This includes the market size , growth rate, trends, and customer preferences. Be sure that you understand the key drivers of demand, demographic and psychographic profiles of your target audience , and any potential market gaps or opportunities.

Conducting a market analysis can require a significant amount of research and data collection. Luckily, if you’re writing a business plan you’ll follow this process to complete the market analysis section . So, doing this research has value for multiple parts of your plan.

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3. Create a competitive framework

You’ll need to establish criteria for comparing your business with competitors. You want the metrics and information you choose to provide answers to specific questions. (“Do we have the same customers?” “What features are offered?” “How many customers are being served?”)

Here are some common factors to consider including: 

• Market share
• Product/service offerings or features
• Distribution channels
• Target markets
• Marketing strategies
• Customer service

4. Research your competitors

You can now begin gathering information about your competitors. Because you spent the time to explore the market and set up a comparison framework—your research will be far more focused and easier to complete.

There’s no perfect research process, so start by exploring sources such as competitor websites, social media, customer reviews, industry reports, press releases, and public financial statements. You may also want to conduct primary research by interviewing customers, suppliers, or industry experts.

You can check out our full guide on conducting market research for more specific steps.

5. Assess their strengths and weaknesses

Evaluate each competitor based on the criteria you’ve established in the competitive framework. Identify their key strengths (competitive advantages) and weaknesses (areas where they underperform).

6. Identify opportunities and threats

Based on the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors, identify opportunities (areas where you can outperform them) and threats (areas where they may outperform you) for your business. 

You can check out our full guide to conducting a SWOT analysis for more specific questions that you should ask as part of each step. 

• How to write your competitive analysis

Once you’ve done your research, it’s time to present your findings in your business plan. Here are the steps you need to take:

1. Determine who your audience is

Who you are writing a business plan for (investors, partners, employees, etc.) may require you to format your competitive analysis differently. 

For an internal business plan you’ll use with your team, the competition section should help them better understand the competition. You and your team will use it to look at comparative strengths and weaknesses to help you develop strategies to gain a competitive advantage.

For fundraising, your plan will be shared with potential investors or as part of a bank loan. In this case, you’re describing the competition to reassure your target reader. You are showing awareness and a firm understanding of the competition, and are positioned to take advantage of opportunities while avoiding the pitfalls.

2. Describe your competitive position

You need to know how your business stacks up, based on the values it offers to your chosen target market. To run this comparison, you’ll be using the same criteria from the competitive framework you completed earlier. You need to identify your competitive advantages and weaknesses, and any areas where you can improve.

The goal is positioning (setting your business up against the background of other offerings), and making that position clear to the target market. Here are a few questions to ask yourself in order to define your competitive position:

• How are you going to take advantage of your distinctive differences, in your customers’ eyes? 
• What are you doing better? 
• How do you work toward strengths and away from weaknesses?
• What do you want the world to think and say about you and how you compare to others?

3. Visualize your competitive position

There are a few different ways to present your competitive framework in your business plan. The first is a “positioning map” and the second is a “competitive matrix”. Depending on your needs, you can use one or both of these to communicate the information that you gathered during your competitive analysis:

Positioning map

The positioning map plots two product or business benefits across a horizontal and vertical axis. The furthest points of each represent opposite extremes (Hot and cold for example) that intersect in the middle. With this simple chart, you can drop your own business and the competition into the zone that best represents the combination of both factors.

I often refer to marketing expert Philip Kohler’s simple strategic positioning map of breakfast, shown here. You can easily draw your own map with any two factors of competition to see how a market stacks up.

It’s quite common to see the price on one axis and some important qualitative factor on the other, with the assumption that there should be a rough relationship between price and quality.

Competitive matrix

It’s pretty common for most business plans to also include a competitive matrix. It shows how different competitors stack up according to the factors identified in your competitive framework. 

How do you stack up against the others? Here’s what a typical competitive matrix looks like:

For the record, I’ve seen dozens of competitive matrices in plans and pitches. I’ve never seen a single one that didn’t show that this company does more of what the market wants than all others. So maybe that tells you something about credibility and how to increase it. Still, the ones I see are all in the context of seeking investment, so maybe that’s the nature of the game.

4. Explain your strategies for gaining a competitive edge

Your business plan should also explain the strategies your business will use to capitalize on the opportunities you’ve identified while mitigating any threats from competition. This may involve improving your product/service offerings, targeting underserved market segments, offering more attractive price points, focusing on better customer service, or developing innovative marketing strategies.

While you should cover these strategies in the competition section, this information should be expanded on further in other areas of your business plan. 

For example, based on your competitive analysis you show that most competitors have the same feature set. As part of your strategy, you see a few obvious ways to better serve your target market with additional product features. This information should be referenced within your products and services section to back up your problem and solution statement. 

• Why competition is a good thing

Business owners often wish that they had no competition. They think that with no competition, the entire market for their product or service will be theirs. That is simply not the case—especially for new startups that have truly innovative products and services. Here’s why:

Competition validates your idea

You know you have a good idea when other people are coming up with similar products or services. Competition validates the market and the fact that there are most likely customers for your new product. This also means that the costs of marketing and educating your market go down (see my next point).

Competition helps educate your target market

Being first-to-market can be a huge advantage. It also means that you will have to spend way more than the next player to educate customers about your new widget, your new solution to a problem, and your new approach to services. 

This is especially true for businesses that are extremely innovative. These first-to-market businesses will be facing customers that didn’t know that there was a solution to their problem . These potential customers might not even know that they have a problem that can be solved in a better way. 

If you’re a first-to-market company, you will have an uphill battle to educate consumers—an often expensive and time-consuming process. The 2nd-to-market will enjoy all the benefits of an educated marketplace without the large marketing expense.

Competition pushes you

Businesses that have little or no competition become stagnant. Customers have few alternatives to choose from, so there is no incentive to innovate. Constant competition ensures that your marketplace continues to evolve and that your product offering continues to evolve with it.

Competition forces focus & differentiation

Without competition, it’s easy to lose focus on your core business and your core customers and start expanding into areas that don’t serve your best customers. Competition forces you and your business to figure out how to be different than your competition while focusing on your customers. In the long term, competition will help you build a better business.

• What if there is no competition?

One mistake many new businesses make is thinking that just because nobody else is doing exactly what they’re doing, their business is a sure thing. If you’re struggling to find competitors, ask yourself these questions.

Is there a good reason why no one else is doing it?

The smart thing to do is ask yourself,  “Why isn’t anyone else doing it?”

It’s possible that nobody’s selling cod-liver frozen yogurt in your area because there’s simply no market for it. Ask around, talk to people, and do your market research. If you determine that you’ve got customers out there, you’re in good shape.

But that still doesn’t mean there’s no competition.

How are customers getting their needs met?

There may not be another cod-liver frozen yogurt shop within 500 miles. But maybe an online distributor sells cod-liver oil to do-it-yourselfers who make their own fro-yo at home. Or maybe your potential customers are eating frozen salmon pops right now. 

Are there any businesses that are indirect competitors?

Don’t think of competition as only other businesses that do exactly what you do. Think about what currently exists on the market that your product would displace.

It’s the difference between direct competition and indirect competition. When Henry Ford started successfully mass-producing automobiles in the U.S., he didn’t have other automakers to compete with. His competition was horse-and-buggy makers, bicycles, and railroads.

Do a competitive analysis, but don’t let it derail your planning

While it’s important that you know the competition, don’t get too caught up in the research. 

If all you do is track your competition and do endless competitive analyses, you won’t be able to come up with original ideas. You will end up looking and acting just like your competition. Instead, make a habit of NOT visiting your competition’s website, NOT going into their store, and NOT calling their sales office. 

Focus instead on how you can provide the best service possible and spend your time talking to your customers. Figure out how you can better serve the next person that walks in the door so that they become a lifetime customer, a reference, or a referral source.

If you focus too much on the competition, you will become a copycat. When that happens, it won’t matter to a customer if they walk into your store or the competition’s because you will both be the same.

Tim Berry is the founder and chairman of Palo Alto Software , a co-founder of Borland International, and a recognized expert in business planning. He has an MBA from Stanford and degrees with honors from the University of Oregon and the University of Notre Dame. Today, Tim dedicates most of his time to blogging, teaching and evangelizing for business planning.

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Home > Business Plan > Competition in a Business Plan

Competition in a Business Plan

… there is competition in the target market …

Who is the Competition?

By carrying out a competitor analysis a business will be able to identify its own strengths and weaknesses, and produce its own strategy. For example a review of competitor products and prices will enable a business to set a realistic market price for its own products. The competition section of the business plan aims to show who you are competing with, and why the benefits your product provides to customers are better then those of the competition; why customers will choose your product over your competitors.

• Who are our competitors?
• What are the competitors main products and services?
• What threats does the competitor pose to our business?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of our competitors?
• What are the objectives in the market place of the competitors?
• What strategies are the competitors using?
• What is the competitors market share?
• What market segments do the competitors operate in?
• What do customers think of the competition?
• What does the trade think of the competitor?
• What makes their product good?
• Why do customers buy their product?
• What problems do customers have with the product?
• What is the competitors financial strength?
• What resources do the competition have available?

The focus is on how well the customer benefits and needs are satisfied compared to competitors, and not on how the features of the product compare. For example, key customer benefits might include affordability, can be purchased online, or ease of use, but not a technical feature list.

Competition Presentation in the Business Plan

The business plan competitor section can be presented in a number of formats including a competitor matrix, but an informative way of presenting is using Harvey balls . Harvey balls allow you to grade each customer benefit from zero to four, and to show a comparison of these benefits to your main competitor products. The competitors might be individual identified companies, or a generic competitor such as ‘fast food restaurants’.

In the example below, the key benefits of the product are compared against three main competitors. Each row represents a key benefit to the customer, the first column represents your business, and the remaining three columns each represent a chosen competitor.

The investor will want to understand that your product has the potential to take a major share of the chosen target market by being shown that it is sufficiently competitive for a number of key customer benefits.

This is part of the financial projections and Contents of a Business Plan Guide , a series of posts on what each section of a simple business plan should include. The next post in this series will deal with the competitive advantages the business has in the chosen target market.

About the Author

Chartered accountant Michael Brown is the founder and CEO of Plan Projections. He has worked as an accountant and consultant for more than 25 years and has built financial models for all types of industries. He has been the CFO or controller of both small and medium sized companies and has run small businesses of his own. He has been a manager and an auditor with Deloitte, a big 4 accountancy firm, and holds a degree from Loughborough University.

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How to Write a Competitor Analysis for a Business Plan (with AI in 2023)

Competitor analysis is a critical component of any business plan. It helps you understand the landscape of your industry, identify opportunities for growth and differentiation, and craft strategies that take advantage of your competitors' weaknesses.

Here's a step-by-step guide on how to conduct a comprehensive competitor analysis, including how to leverage AI tools like Bizway to make the process more efficient and effective.

Step-by-Step Guide to Performing a Competitor Analysis

1. identify your competitors.

Understanding your competitive landscape begins with pinpointing who your direct and indirect competitors are.

Points to Consider

• Direct Competitors : Those who offer similar products/services in the same market.
• Indirect Competitors : Businesses targeting your customer base with different offerings.
• Utilize market research and customer feedback to list competitors.
• Identify geographical considerations - local, regional, or global competitors.

2. Analyze Their Products/Services

A thorough examination of competitors’ offerings unveils potential areas for differentiation and enhancement in your product/service line.

• Feature comparisons.
• Pricing structures.
• Unique Selling Propositions (USPs).
• Adopt a customer-centric approach to understand how consumers perceive competitors’ offerings.
• Identify gaps in their product/service lines that you could explore.

3. Assess Their Marketing Strategy

Understanding competitors’ marketing approaches aids in crafting a superior, data-driven marketing strategy.

• Target audience.
• Key messages and value propositions.
• Channel effectiveness and presence.
• Use social listening tools to gauge their social media effectiveness.
• Analyze the SEO performance of competitors’ websites.

4. Examine Their Sales Strategy

Investigating sales channels and tactics employed by competitors reveals market penetration strategies and potential areas for diversification.

• Distribution channels.
• Pricing and sales tactics.
• Customer relationship management.
• Secret shop to observe sales tactics and customer experiences.
• Review customer feedback on their purchasing experience.

5. Analyze Their Strengths and Weaknesses

Identifying what competitors excel in and fall short on enables strategic decision-making in exploiting market opportunities.

• Operational efficiency.
• Customer service quality.
• Brand reputation and loyalty.
• Conduct a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) for each competitor.
• Leverage customer reviews and testimonials to gauge reputation.

Using AI for Competitor Analysis

Automated data collection.

AI automates the harvesting of data from myriad sources, ensuring robust research while saving time.

• Use AI tools to scrape and aggregate data from competitors' websites, social media, and customer review platforms.
• Ensure the data is categorized and stored systematically for easy analysis.

Real-Time Updates

AI provides a competitive edge by monitoring and reporting real-time updates on competitor activities.

• Set up AI monitoring for specific competitor activity: product launches, PR releases, or marketing campaigns.
• Ensure to leverage real-time data to inform swift strategic adjustments.

Predictive Analytics

Predictive analytics via AI deciphers patterns and anticipates future competitor moves, positioning your business proactively.

• Leverage AI to analyze historical data for predicting future trends.
• Utilize these insights to anticipate and formulate preemptive strategies.

Using Bizway for Competitor Analysis and Business Planning

One such AI tool that can revolutionize your competitor analysis process is Bizway . Bizway is an AI-powered business planning and research app that can help you research your competitors and write your entire competitor analysis with just a few clicks. Moreover, Bizway can assist you in writing your entire business plan, saving you time and providing you with expert-level planning documents.

With Bizway, you can automate the process of generating clear, concise planning docs across all areas of business, from an SEO Content Plan to User Onboarding Plan. It also helps fill knowledge gaps in areas of business you're not well-versed in.

So, whether you're a solopreneur, a small business owner, or an aspiring entrepreneur still in school, Bizway is the AI assistant you need to take your business planning to the next level.

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How to Write a Competitor Analysis for a Business Plan

April 28, 2023

Adam Hoeksema

A competitor analysis for your business plan can be an incredibly important part of the business planning process.  By trying to learn as much as you can about your competitors, you can learn a lot about what to expect in your own business.  You can also identify how you can differentiate your business and gain a competitive advantage.  

In this article I plan to walk through the following:

• What to Include in a Competitor Analysis

How to Find Data on Competitors

Finding competitor data for online businesses, finding competitor data for physical retail businesses, competitor analysis business plan example.

With that as our road map, let’s dive in. 

What is Included in a Business Plan Competitor Analysis

A competitor analysis should include the following components:

Market Overview

• Key Competitors

Competitor Profiles

Competitive positioning, target market, opportunities and threats.

• Conclusions and Strategic Recommendations

Begin with a brief overview of the market or industry you operate in, outlining its size, growth trends, and key segments. This will provide context for the competitive analysis and help you understand the market dynamics.  You can often find some great industry trend data from sources like IBISworld . 

Key Competitors 

Make a list of your main competitors, which may include direct and indirect competitors. Direct competitors offer similar products or services, while indirect competitors offer alternatives or substitutes that could fulfill the same customer needs.  

One major turn off for investors and lenders is to say that you have “no competitors.”  You always have competitors.  If you are opening a coffee shop in your town that doesn’t have a coffee shop, your competitor might be the coffee at the local gas station, or coffee made at home.  

For each key competitor, provide a detailed profile that includes:

• Company background: Briefly describe their history, mission, and size.
• Market share: Estimate their share of the market compared to yours (if you haven’t started yet you won’t have any market share yet) and other competitors.
• Product or service offerings: Describe their products or services and how they compare to yours.
• Pricing strategy: Analyze their pricing model and compare it to your own.
• Distribution channels: Identify the channels they use to distribute their products or services, such as online, retail stores, or partnerships.
• Marketing and promotional strategies: Analyze their marketing efforts, including advertising, social media, and public relations.
• Strengths and weaknesses: Identify their competitive advantages and disadvantages in comparison to your business.

Assess your company's competitive positioning by comparing your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT analysis) to those of your competitors. Highlight what makes you unique and areas where you can gain a competitive advantage.

Describe your target market and how it differs from your competitors'. Understanding the market segments that your competitors serve will help you better define your own target audience and tailor your marketing strategies accordingly.

Based on your competitor analysis, identify potential opportunities to exploit in the market and threats that your competitors may pose to your business. This can help you develop proactive strategies to mitigate risks and capitalize on growth opportunities.

Conclusion and Strategic Recommendations

Summarize your findings and provide recommendations for how your business can differentiate itself, address competitive challenges, and gain market share. This may include recommendations for product or service development, pricing, marketing strategies, or strategic partnerships.

So one of your initial questions should be where in the world do you find reliable data on your competitors, it's not like you can call them and just ask them for their financial statements and customer database!  

Depending on whether your business is primarily online or a physical location, the approach and tools that I use to do competitive research will differ.  I am going to show you examples of the type of research that I like to do and the data that I am able to pull from a couple of tools that we like to utilize. 

There are a few data points that I like to find for online competitors.  I want to know:

• How much organic traffic is my competitor's website getting?
• How much paid traffic is my competitor’s website getting? 
• How much search volume is there for keywords that I want to compete for?
• How much would I have to pay per click for keywords that I want to rank for?

In order to find this data I use two tools.  

• Google Adwords Keyword Planner

Let me show you how I use both tools to gather data on my competitors.

How to Use Ahrefs for Competitor Analysis

Let’s assume I am working on a business plan for a gym in Indianapolis.  I would start by looking at the search volume for “Indianapolis Gyms” which would give me some idea of the number of people searching for this each month.  You can see below that there are 250 monthly searches for this keyword according to Ahrefs. 

Next, I would look to see which gym is top ranked for that keyword and in this example I found a Lifetime Fitness .  Now I can take that keyword and run it through the Ahrefs Site Explorer and I can now see how much website traffic that particular competitor is getting each month.  This particular website is getting about 800 organic website visitors per month. 

Ahrefs can also estimate how much paid traffic a particular website is receiving each month as well.  

If you want to see exactly how I use the Ahrefs tool, check out the short video below:

Watch:  I recorded a demo of using Ahrefs for competitor analysis here. 

How to Use Google Adwords Keyword Planner for Market Research

I also like to use Google Adwords Keyword Planner to gather some additional data about my market.  So again, if I search for “Indianapolis Gyms” I can see Google’s estimate of traffic per month as well as seasonal trends in search volume.  I can also see the average cost per click that advertisers are paying for that keyword.  

As you can see, the cost per click ranges from $1.32 to $5.29 for advertisers right now.  If you can see how much paid traffic your competitor is getting on Ahrefs and you know the average cost per click for relevant keywords from Google Keyword Planner, you can back into a rough estimate of how much your competitor is spending on advertising per month.  I think this can be useful as well.  

One other thing you might notice is that Ahrefs seems to have conservative search volume estimates compared to Google Keyword Planner. We saw 250 monthly searches from Ahrefs and 2,400 from Google Keyword Planner.  This should give you some range of how big your market might be. 

If your competition is not an online business, or doesn’t really have much of an online presence, then finding foot traffic data is going to be much more useful for you in your competitor analysis. 

We have partnered with a company called Advan Research to be able to pull foot traffic data reports from their platform. 

Here is some of the really cool data that we can get and how you might use it in your competitor research. 

Monthly Foot Traffic Data

You can pull monthly foot traffic data for your competitors.  This foot traffic data is based on cell phone GPS data and can provide some great insight on potential customer traffic you might expect.  For example, in the graph below we pulled the monthly traffic for a local Steakhouse that gets about 5,000 visitors per month. 

Daily and Hourly Foot Traffic Data

You can pull foot traffic data for a location by the day and the hour to get an idea of what days and hours are busiest for your competitors and likely to be busiest for you.  

Customer Location Data

One of the most powerful data reports you can pull on a competitor is a heat map of where their customers are coming from.  If you notice that customers are traveling a long distance to your competitor, you could look at finding a location that is closer to a large segment of your competitors' customers. 

Annual Revenue Estimate and Revenue per Square Foot Data

Finally, for larger businesses or publicly traded companies, Advan can provide you with estimates of their annual revenue, revenue per square foot and how many square feet they are renting for their business.  Talk about some serious competitor intelligence that can set you ahead and impress your investors and lenders. 

The following is an example of a competitor analysis for a restaurant business plan which you can adapt to your own business.  I would also recommend that you incorporate data from Ahrefs, Google Adwords Keyword Planner and our Foot Traffic Data Report into this section of your business plan.  The idea here is to get a good understanding of where the competitors stand and to identify your place in the market. 

I. Competitor Analysis

The purpose of this section is to identify and evaluate the main competitors in the local Italian restaurant industry and to determine our competitive positioning. Understanding the competitive landscape will help us to develop effective strategies that enable us to compete effectively in the market, differentiate ourselves, and carve out a sustainable market share. Our analysis will focus on the following key areas

A. Market Overview

The local Italian restaurant market is valued at approximately $X million and is expected to grow at a CAGR of X% over the next five years. The industry is characterized by the presence of several well-established Italian restaurants, popular chain restaurants, and a few emerging independent restaurants. The primary segments within the industry are fine dining, casual dining, and fast-casual dining.

B. Key Competitors

Competitor A (Fine Dining Italian Restaurant)

Market Share : X%

Strengths: High-quality ingredients, exceptional culinary skills, elegant ambiance, and strong brand recognition.

Weaknesses: High pricing, limited menu offerings, and a focus on a specific customer segment (high-income individuals).

Competitor B (Casual Dining Italian Restaurant)

Market Share: X%

Strengths: Wide variety of Italian dishes, family-friendly atmosphere, and strong customer loyalty.

Weaknesses: Inconsistent food quality, slow service during peak hours, and limited menu innovation.

Competitor C (Fast-Casual Italian Restaurant)

Strengths: Quick service, affordable pricing, and convenient locations.

Weaknesses: Limited menu variety, lack of authentic Italian flavors, and a focus on takeout and delivery over dine-in experiences.

C. Competitive Positioning

Based on our analysis, our competitive positioning is as follows:

Unique Value Proposition: Our primary differentiation lies in our commitment to providing authentic Italian cuisine using high-quality, locally-sourced ingredients, combined with exceptional customer service in a warm and inviting atmosphere. This will enable us to attract customers seeking a genuine Italian dining experience that sets us apart from competitors.

Competitive Pricing: Our pricing strategy is to offer value for money while maintaining profitability. By carefully selecting our suppliers and managing our costs, we will be able to offer a competitively priced menu without compromising on quality.

Target Market: We will cater to a broad range of customers, including families, couples, and groups of friends, by offering a versatile menu that appeals to various tastes and preferences. Our focus will be on attracting local patrons and tourists alike, who are looking for an authentic and memorable Italian dining experience.

Marketing and Promotion: We will invest in both traditional and digital marketing strategies to create brand awareness and drive customer traffic. This will include targeted social media campaigns, local newspaper advertisements, participation in local food festivals, and collaboration with local businesses and organizations.

I hope this has been helpful in giving you some ideas on how to gather relevant competitor research so that you can make informed decisions about where you locate and start your business. 

If you are interested in our Foot Traffic Data Report to help provide the data for your competitor analysis or other sections of your business plan, please don’t hesitate to contact us.  

About the Author

Adam is the Co-founder of ProjectionHub which helps entrepreneurs create financial projections for potential investors, lenders and internal business planning. Since 2012, over 50,000 entrepreneurs from around the world have used ProjectionHub to help create financial projections.

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• How to Write a Great Business Plan: Competitive Analysis

The seventh in a comprehensive series to help you craft the perfect business plan for your startup.

This article is part of a series on  how to write a great business plan .

The Competitive Analysis section of your business plan is devoted to analyzing your competition--both your current competition and potential competitors who might enter your market.

Every business has competition. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of your competition--or potential competition--is critical to making sure your business survives and grows. While you don't need to hire a private detective, you do need to thoroughly assess your competition on a regular basis even if you only plan to run a small business.

In fact, small businesses can be especially vulnerable to competition, especially when new companies enter a marketplace.

Competitive analysis can be incredibly complicated and time-consuming... but it doesn't have to be. Here is a simple process you can follow to identify, analyze, and determine the strengths and weaknesses of your competition.

Profile Current Competitors

First develop a basic profile of each of your current competitors. For example, if you plan to open an office supply store you may have three competing stores in your market.

Online retailers will also provide competition, but thoroughly analyzing those companies will be less valuable unless you also decide you want to sell office supplies online. (Although it's also possible that they--or, say, Amazon--are your real competition. Only you can determine that.)

To make the process easier, stick to analyzing companies you will directly compete with. If you plan to set up an accounting firm, you will compete with other accounting firms in your area. If you plan to open a clothing store, you will compete with other clothing retailers in your area.

Again, if you run a clothing store you also compete with online retailers, but there is relatively little you can do about that type of competition other than to work hard to compete in other ways: great service, friendly salespeople, convenient hours, truly understanding your customers, etc.

Once you identify your main competitors, answer these questions about each one. And be objective. It's easy to identify weaknesses in your competition, but less easy (and a lot less fun) to recognize where they may be able to outperform you:

• What are their strengths? Price, service, convenience, extensive inventory are all areas where you may be vulnerable.
• What are their weaknesses? Weaknesses are opportunities you should plan to take advantage of.
• What are their basic objectives? Do they seek to gain market share? Do they attempt to capture premium clients? See your industry through their eyes. What are they trying to achieve?
• What marketing strategies do they use? Look at their advertising, public relations, etc.
• How can you take market share away from their business?
• How will they respond when you enter the market?

While these questions may seem like a lot of work to answer, in reality the process should be fairly easy. You should already have a feel for the competition's strengths and weaknesses... if you know your market and your industry.

To gather information, you can also:

• Check out their websites and marketing materials. Most of the information you need about products, services, prices, and company objectives should be readily available. If that information is not available, you may have identified a weakness.
• Visit their locations. Take a look around. Check out sales materials and promotional literature. Have friends stop in or call to ask for information.
• Evaluate their marketing and advertising campaigns. How a company advertises creates a great opportunity to uncover the objectives and strategies of that business. Advertising should help you quickly determine how a company positions itself, who it markets to, and what strategies it employs to reach potential customers.
• Browse. Search the Internet for news, public relations, and other mentions of your competition. Search blogs and Twitter feeds as well as review and recommendation sites. While most of the information you find will be anecdotal and based on the opinion of just a few people, you may at least get a sense of how some consumers perceive your competition. Plus you may also get advance warning about expansion plans, new markets they intend to enter, or changes in management.

Keep in mind competitive analysis does more than help you understand your competition. Competitive analysis can also help you identify changes you should make to your business strategies. Learn from competitor strengths, take advantage of competitor's weaknesses, and apply the same analysis to your own business plan.

You might be surprised by what you can learn about your business by evaluating other businesses.

Identify Potential Competitors

It can be tough to predict when and where new competitors may pop up. For starters, regularly search for news on your industry, your products, your services, and your target market.

But there are other ways to predict when competition may follow you into a market. Other people may see the same opportunity you see. Think about your business and your industry, and if the following conditions exist, you may face competition does the road:

• The industry enjoys relatively high profit margins
• Entering the market is relatively easy and inexpensive
• The market is growing--the more rapidly it is growing the greater the risk of competition
• Supply and demand is off--supply is low and demand is high
• Very little competition exists, so there is plenty of "room" for others to enter the market

In general terms, if serving your market seems easy you can safely assume competitors will enter your market. A good business plan anticipates and accounts for new competitors.

Now distill what you've learned by answering these questions in your business plan:

• Who are my current competitors? What is their market share? How successful are they?
• What market do current competitors target? Do they focus on a specific customer type, on serving the mass market, or on a particular niche?
• Are competing businesses growing or scaling back their operations? Why? What does that mean for your business?
• How will your company be different from the competition? What competitor weaknesses can you exploit? What competitor strengths will you need to overcome to be successful?
• What will you do if competitors drop out of the marketplace? What will you do to take advantage of the opportunity?
• What will you do if new competitors enter the marketplace? How will you react to and overcome new challenges?

The Competitive Analysis section for our cycling rental business could start something like this:

Primary Competitors

Our nearest and only competition is the bike shops in Harrisonburg, VA. Our next closest competitor is located over 100 miles away.

The in-town bike shops will be strong competitors. They are established businesses with excellent reputations. On the other hand, they offer inferior-quality equipment and their location is significantly less convenient.

Secondary Competitors

We do not plan to sell bicycles for at least the first two years of operation. However, sellers of new equipment do indirectly compete with our business since a customer who buys equipment no longer needs to rent equipment.

Later, when we add new equipment sales to our operation, we will face competition from online retailers. We will compete with new equipment retailers through personalized service and targeted marketing to our existing customer base, especially through online initiatives.

Opportunities

• By offering mid- to high-end quality equipment, we provide customers the opportunity to "try out" bikes they may wish to purchase at a later date, providing additional incentive (besides cost savings) to use our service.
• Offering drive-up, express rental return services will be seen as a much more attractive option compared to the hassle of renting bikes in Harrisonburg and transporting them to intended take-off points for rides.
• Online initiatives like online renewals and online reservations enhances customer convenience and positions us as a cutting-edge supplier in a market largely populated, especially in the cycling segment, by customers who tend to be early technology adapters.
• Renting bikes and cycling equipment may be perceived by some of our target market as a commodity transaction. If we do not differentiate ourselves in terms of quality, convenience, and service, we could face additional competition from other entrants to the market.
• One of the bike shops in Harrisonburg is a subsidiary of a larger corporation with significant financial assets. If we, as hoped, carve out a significant market share, the corporation may use those assets to increase service, improve equipment quality, or cut prices.

While your business plan is primarily intended to convince you that your business makes sense, keep in mind most investors look closely at your competitive analysis. A common mistake made by entrepreneurs is assuming they will simply "do it better" than any competition.

Experienced businesspeople know you will face stiff competition: showing you understand your competition, understand your strengths and weaknesses relative to that competition, and that you understand you will have to adapt and change based on that competition, is critical.

And, even if you do not ever plan to seek financing or bring in investors, you absolutely must know your competition.

The Competitive Analysis section helps you answer the "Against who?" question.

Next time we'll look at another major component in a business plan: how you will set up your Operations .

More in this series:

• How to Write a Great Business Plan: Key Concepts
• How to Write a Great Business Plan: the Executive Summary
• How to Write a Great Business Plan: Overview and Objectives
• How to Write a Great Business Plan: Products and Services
• How to Write a Great Business Plan: Market Opportunities
• How to Write a Great Business Plan: Sales and Marketing
• How to Write a Great Business Plan: Operations
• How to Write a Great Business Plan: Management Team
• How to Write a Great Business Plan: Financial Analysis

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Start » strategy, 4 steps to assessing your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.

Score your competitors by stepping into a customer’s shoes to get an objective look at their products, positioning, pricing, and more.

When you conduct a competitive analysis, you’ll need to spend time identifying your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses. On the surface, this seems like a relatively straightforward task. However, there are many facets of each merchant that you could evaluate. How do you approach assessing your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses?

Many business owners start with the “ four Ps ” of the marketing mix and branch out from there. Here’s a useful framework to help you assess your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, as well as some key resources to help you get the information you need to fuel your competitive analysis.

Start with the four Ps: product, price, place, and promotion

The four Ps is a concept that originated from Harvard in the 1950s . It refers to four essential factors that play a role in marketing a product or service to consumers. The four Ps are:

• Product : What is your competitor’s product like? How is the quality? What features does it offer, especially compared to yours and the rest of the market?
• Price : How much is the competitor charging for the product? Do their prices vary depending on the channel partners? What is their discount policy? Can you tell their pricing model?
• Place : What is their geographic reach? Do they have a similar service area to yours? Do they have an online store, brick-and-mortar locations, or both?
• Promotion : What are their sales tactics? What marketing campaigns are they running? What is their social media presence?

To find information about the four Ps, put yourself in the shoes of the customer. Consider visiting their store in-person or online. Research the competitor’s social media channels and website. You may even decide to buy one of their products to compare quality, features, and pricing to your offering.

You may not think that a competitor’s product quality measures up, but if a customer is satisfied, that’s what matters.

Add in a few other key metrics

Don’t limit yourself to the four Ps. There are other factors that influence the customer experience and their purchase decision. It can also be helpful to look deeper into “how the sausage is made” — how does the competitor’s business operate differently than yours?

[Read more: 6 Steps to Performing a Competitive Analysis ]

As you consider the customer experience, look at your competitor’s reputation and positioning . Who is their target market? How are they defining their product in a unique way, relative to the rest of the market? What are people saying about your competitors on online review sites?

In addition, look at the inner workings of your competitors to see where they may have an operational advantage. See how many employees the organization has, what positions they are hiring for, and their suppliers. For example, are their shipping partners offering better rates than yours?

Look at your competitors’ career sites, LinkedIn, Yelp, social media channels, Google reviews, and Glassdoor pages to understand more about their inner workings.

Rank your competitors on a common scale

It can be helpful to standardize the way you assess each competitor so you have an objective view of the market landscape. Create a matrix that scores your competition on common criteria on a scale of one to 10, with 10 being the worst and one being the best. For instance, if a competitor has a great returns policy that customers mention frequently in their online reviews, give that business a one.

It’s important to approach this matrix through the eyes of the consumer. You may not think that a competitor’s product quality measures up, but if a customer is satisfied, that’s what matters. Customer perception plays a major role in sales and brand preference.

[Read more: Bed Bath & Beyond Tackles Heightened Pricing Competition Amid Quicksilver Online Sellers ]

Assess what the results mean for your company

Finally, look at the scores in your matrix to see where there could be an opportunity for your business to gain traction. Perhaps you notice that customer service scores in your industry are low across the board. Or you see that all your competitors are using the same supplier. How can you adjust your business strategy to provide better service or avoid the risk of supplier delays?

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The Ultimate Guide to Competitive Analysis + Competitor Analysis Example Template

What is a competitive analysis?

What are the benefits of doing a competitive analysis, a step by step guide to conducting a competitor analysis, a competitive analysis template, tips and tricks for successful competitor analysis, competitive analysis - the takeaways and faqs.

Knowing your own products like the back of your hand is essential for getting your e-commerce store going. But stacking your offering up against the competition is what will keep it growing!

This is where competitor analysis comes in. It’s a handy competitive research tool that can help you effectively carve out an ever larger share of your market.

Competitor analysis can benefit you in multiple situations:

• Maybe you’re launching a new product and need to know how to present it,
• Maybe your brand is feeling stale and you need ideas (a great way to re-engage existing customers),
• Maybe you noticed your sales growth slowing, or even stopping completely,
• Or maybe you simply have some downtime in your marketing schedule and want to sharpen up your message and ads in relation to your competitors. 

Whatever stage your business is at, analysing your competitors can help you find new opportunities and keep on top of industry trends.

Evaluating your competition might seem like a daunting task, but we’ve prepared a detailed guide to all things competitor analysis. 

In this blog, you’ll find:

• A definition of what competitor analysis is;
• A breakdown of its main benefits ;
• A step-by-step guide to conducting a competitor analysis yourself;
• A free competitive analysis template you can use for your e-commerce store;
• And some tips and tricks for getting your competitor analysis right.

Ready to beat the competition? Then read on!

A competitive analysis - also known as a competitor analysis - is a process of evaluating what your current and potential competitors are up to . It involves looking at what the businesses you compete with are doing, and, more importantly, deciding on what you can do in response. 

Competitor analysis is about understanding your competition by evaluating:

• their products, 
• their marketing and sales strategies, 
• their customers and audience, 
• and their strengths and weaknesses.

So it’s less about just comparing prices and more about understanding the businesses operating in your niche, and what advantages you might have over them.

Analysing competitors is a crucial step in your business planning process. Ultimately, you’re going head-to-head with your competition to win the loyalty of the exact same customer base. Competitor analysis is a tool that reveals critical insights that can help you come out on top in this race.

The biggest benefit is that you will understand how to turbo-charge your business’ growth. That’s because you will know how to compete in the market. A clear competitive analysis will make any business decision you take more informed and more likely to succeed.

Here’s a breakdown of some of the main benefits of doing a competitive analysis:

Finding a competitive edge

While market research helps you find customers for your business, competitor analysis helps you make your business unique. A customer’s first question will be: Why do I need this product? But their second will be: Why do I need your version of this product?  Focusing attention on your current and potential competition will help zero-in on specific product features, pricing strategies, and marketing approaches that can distinguish your brand from its competitors and persuade customers to pick you.

Learning from others 

Competitive analysis helps you understand the businesses competing for your potential customers. This is key to figuring out where you can improve. By analysing your competitors, you can not only learn their best practices, but also avoid some of the mistakes that they’ve made.

Managing threats and reducing risk for your business

Even if your sales are rocketing right now, how can you be sure that this will continue?  Understanding your competitive landscape well makes you better prepared to face any unpleasant surprises . Competitor analysis allows you to identify your competitive vulnerabilities and keep an eye on potential threats. Scoping out where customers may go if they don’t choose you is a good way of making sure it doesn’t happen.

You can do it too.

Capitalizing on opportunities

Is there a product or niche that is on fire right now, and could propel your store from five figure earnings to six figure? Well, there might be, but without competitive analysis there’s a good chance you’ll miss it. Competitive analysis makes it easier to spot gaps in the market and jump on these opportunities while they’re still hot. 

Planning ahead

Many businesses find themselves wrong-footed, not because they did something wrong, but because they failed to anticipate changes in the market. A competitor analysis will help you identify the strategies your competition uses to provide value to your target buyers. By looking at these strategies, you can better recognise how you can enhance your own long-term business strategy, or find alternative strategies to attract additional customers. Just imagine you’re selling DVDs online right before Netflix launched its streaming service! If you’re analysing the competition, you’d understand that your business needs to change (maybe a pivot to movie merchandise instead). 

The more you can understand the businesses that directly and indirectly compete with you, the better you’re equipped for success. In essence, competitor analysis is a way to ensure you are one step ahead of your competition.

So, with no further ado, let’s see how it’s done.

It’s easy to burn hours of time on competitor analysis. To save you some time, we have set out a structured step-by-step guide that should help keep you focused on what to look for and where.

Let’s get into the how-to’s of a competitive analysis in 6 easy steps:

Step 1: Create a spreadsheet for collecting the data

The first step is the least interesting, but it’s important. You’ll need to be ultra organized when conducting your analysis, so get a spreadsheet set up. Make sure everyone working on the analysis can access it.

And in terms of the content of the spreadsheet, we’ll leave that for later in this blog, when we present your very own template for conducting a competitive analysis. 

Step 2: Identify your competitors

It’s time to find the competition. Of course, good ol’ Google will be a valuable tool here. But one important point to remember is that you should always add modifiers to your search terms. These are additional words or phrases that will dramatically narrow down the number of results for a search, and help you find your direct competitors more easily. 

For example, imagine you’re a US-based e-commerce business that sells monthly subscriptions of organic gourmet coffee. If you simply search for “Gourmet Coffee”, you return over 375 million results. And the first is a blog about coffee, not a competitor. 

Now add the modifiers “Monthly subscription” + “US” + “organic” and you get an 87.5% reduction in search results. Plus, all the results are for e-commerce coffee stores. Bingo!

Once you have tried the most obvious modifiers, make some variations like “best”, “cheapest”, and “fastest delivery”. And don’t forget Google tries to work out the intention of a search too (eg. whether you’re trying to buy something, research something, compare something etc.) So adding “buy” or “for sale” into your search enquiry might also help with honing in on your competitors. 

Step 3 - Define your competitors by type 

Once you have a list of competitors, it’s time to organise them a bit. The key categorization is to divide them into direct competitors and indirect competitors.

Direct competitors

These are e-commerce stores that are offering the same products (or very similar) to the same audience (or very similar) as you are. So, to go back to our coffee subscription example, any other e-commerce stores selling coffee as a subscription to customers in the same region and demographic would be a direct competitor.

Indirect competitors

These are e-commerce stores that are selling a similar product to you, but with some crucial differences. For example, you might be at opposite ends in terms of pricing (luxury vs low end). For our subscription gourmet coffee store, indirect competitors would either be those selling cheap, lower quality coffee, or those not selling as a subscription. You could even consider competitors selling a different product that solves a similar problem. For example, if you’re selling vitamin supplements, you may consider standard pharmaceuticals to be your competitors.

A different approach for different competitor types

It’s important to be careful when categorising your competitors into direct or indirect, because the way you respond to these types of competitors will differ. 

In the case of direct competitors, you might need to change specific parts of your product or service in response to what you discover about your competitors. Furthermore, when you’re targeting the same audience you’ll need to focus on specific benefits (like free shipping) that you can offer over your direct competitors.

But with indirect competitors, you might think more about persuasion. How can I get a customer who buys low-end coffee interested in trying gourmet coffee instead? So you’re going to focus less on the specifics, and more on the general benefit you have to offer.

Step 4 - Analyse each competitor’s value proposition and positioning

Now things are starting to sound a bit “advertising agency.” But don’t worry, fancy terms like “value proposition” and “positioning” describe really simple ideas. Here’s what they mean:

• Value proposition - a summary of the main reasons to choose a product or brand.
• Positioning - where a brand fits within the overall market.

Analysing these elements are important, because they give you a lot of information about the  company’s product, service, and audience. And this gives you an opportunity to stand out. 

For example, take a look at this value proposition from Apple: Looks brand new. Feels like home.

Apple is emphasising an important feature to their customers - the fact that its new iPhone looks modern, but will feel familiar for Apple users. 

Understanding this gives you important information about who Apple is targeting - existing Apple users looking for an iPhone upgrade. So, if you’re Samsung you can come up with a distinctive and different message. Something like this:

By creating a different value proposition - one focused on discovery - you stand out and offer something different. If you’re thinking about your own value proposition and how to make it stand out, check out this list of 9 great value proposition examples to get you inspired.

How to find your competitor’s value proposition and market positioning

While companies communicate a lot about their value proposition and market positioning, it can sometimes take a little bit of digging to find it. Here are some tips you can follow to make the process easier. 

Go to the about us section of your competitor’s website then:

• Note what they say their mission is. For example, if they say their mission is to “Make gourmet accessible to more people”, this probably means they’re cheap and are targeting the low end of the market. If they say they want to “Provide lovers of coffee with unique tasting opportunities,” this means they’re highly personalised (and therefore probably expensive).
• See if your competitor compares itself directly to other products on the market. For example, Four Sigmatic spell out on their website exactly where they see themselves in the health food market.

You should also take a look at their social media activity. This can give you a good snapshot of their size and activity, and help you identify their target audience too.

Step 5 - Compile this data in one place

Add all the data you’ve gathered into your spreadsheet. You could create a scoring system to make it easier to analyse and help you pick out key trends.

Step 6 - Find your competitive advantage

Here comes the toughest part. But this is the whole point of the exercise - to find a way to present yourself that will give you an advantage over your competitors. 

Start with your direct competitors. Look through your data to see if there are any gaps in the market positions. Are there loads of competitors in the low-end side of your market, but very few in the luxury segment. Or perhaps everyone is focusing on free shipping, but very little is mentioned about flexible returns policies. 

Once you have looked through each competitor, you’ll need to turn the attention onto your e-commerce store. Ask yourself:

• What are our biggest strengths as a team?
• What do we do badly or find challenging?
• What do we enjoy and value most?

For example, let’s say you realise that you are highly creative but not so great at organisation. Then it would make sense for you to focus on building a brand people love by being active on social media, rather than thinking about logistics-intensive benefits like flexible returns.

Combine the two (your analysis of your direct competitors and your reflection on yourself) to find the perfect competitive advantage for you. 

For example, take a look at this brilliant ad by Atoms shoes.

Here is a brand that knows exactly what its competitive advantage is: 

creating comfortable, long-lasting shoes made from high quality materials.

They even spell out exactly what they’re not. 

This level of clarity is what you’re aiming for with your competitive analysis. 

Finally, once you have identified your competitive advantage, take a look at your secondary competitors. You might spot gaps in the market, or think of ways to convince some of their audience to try your product.

You’ve got a clear idea of the steps you’ll need to follow for your competitive analysis. Now, as promised, here’s a handy template you can use. It’s designed for general use for e-commerce stores, but of course you can adapt or tailor to your specific niche.

We’ve filled in the answers for our fictional gourmet coffee store to give you an idea of how to answer each section.

OK, just time for 5 handy tips to you should follow when you’re carrying out your competitor analysis.

• Analyse web traffic and organic performance: If organic traffic is a key component of your marketing strategy, look for organic competitors by seeing whose content performs well for specific search queries. You’ll need to look at the content they create and see how you can offer more value. You can also use tools like ahrefs or semrush to get more granular. Useful metrics to look for are number of referring domains and volume of organic search traffic . 
• Check out the ads your competitors are running: If you rely mainly on ads for your marketing, look at your competitors ads to see how they engage their audience and sell their product. Here’s a step by step guide on how to find your competitor’s ads.
• Know when enough is enough: Although it’s always sensible to do competitor analysis, avoid obsessively researching every possible competitor. It’s easy to take research to the point where you get stuck in ‘analysis paralysis’ and never get round to actually taking action so your business grows. You could try limiting competition analysis to once every 3 or 6 months, and be tight on how long you give yourself for the process.
• Take everything you see from your competitors with a pinch of salt: Don’t assume that everything a competitor does actually works well. When looking at a competitor’s glossy website, it’s easy to think everything is perfect. But few businesses get everything 100% right for their customers. And many businesses do things that aren’t always ideal or profitable, but due to other pressures they never get round to changing. Even if it is right for them, it might not be right for you. 
• Repeat, repeat, repeat at regular intervals: Competitive analysis isn’t a one-and-done exercise. While the frequency of analysis can differ depending on the industry, we recommend conducting a competitor analysis anytime from once a quarter to once a year. This gives you time to react to your discoveries and benchmark your progress.

Competitive analysis is an important tool in maintaining your store’s continuous growth. By keeping tabs on what the other e-commerce stores in your niche are doing, you can:

• Constantly improve and clarify your value proposition so you really stand out in the market,
• Identify opportunities in the market that can bring in big bucks,
• Manage potential risks i n the future so that your business is secure for the long term.

And to carry out a successful competitive analysis, just adapt the competitor analysis example template in this article to fit your specific area of business. Then follow these 6 steps:

• Create a competitive analysis spreadsheet based on the template in this article,
• Identify your competitors (don’t forget to use a range of modifiers when you’re searching for them on Google)
• Define your competitors by type (separate them into direct and indirect competitors)
• Analyse your competitors’ value propositions and market positioning (for analysing your competitors’ social media activity, take a look at this guide to spying on your competitors’ ads in Instagram and Facebook.)
• Compile all your data in your competitive analysis spreadsheet
• Find your competitive advantage (after all, this is the main benefit of conducting a competitive analysis).

So, you’ve got the competitive analysis template. And you’ve got the steps for completing your competitive analysis. Now all you need is schedule some time to put this strategy into action (we recommend once every 3-6 months, and annually at the very least). Then get ready to propel your business’ growth and secure its long-term future.

What is competitive analysis?

A competitive analysis - also known as a competitor analysis - is like an audit. You gather information on who your competitors are and what they’re doing. This usually includes looking at their products, their marketing and sales strategies, their customers and audience, and the strengths and weaknesses of their business.

How does it work?

There are 6 keys steps to follow when conducting your competitive analysis: create a spreadsheet (based on the template in this article), identify your competitors, categorise them into direct and indirect competitors, analyse them, compile your data, and then identify your competitive advantage.

Why is it worth doing?

There are 3 main reasons to conduct a competitive analysis. The first, and most important, is to identify your own competitive advantages. See what you can offer that your competitors can’t and use this to attract new customers. Secondly, a competitive analysis will help you identify new opportunities and gaps in the market. Thirdly, it will enable you to secure your business’ future by being ready for changes and shifts in the market.

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Understand your competitors

Knowing who your competitors are, and what they are offering, can help you to make your products, services and marketing stand out. It will enable you to set your prices competitively and help you to respond to rival marketing campaigns with your own initiatives.

You can use this knowledge to create marketing strategies that take advantage of your competitors' weaknesses, and improve your own business performance. You can also assess any threats posed by both new entrants to your market and current competitors. This knowledge will help you to be realistic about how successful you can be.

This guide explains how to analyse who your competitors are, how to research what they're doing and how to act on the information you gain.

Who are your competitors?

What you need to know about your competitors, learning about your competitors, hearing about your competitors, how to act on the competitor information you get.

All businesses face competition. Even if you're the only restaurant in town you must compete with cinemas, bars and other businesses where your customers will spend their money instead of with you. With increased use of the Internet to buy goods and services and to find places to go, you are no longer just competing with your immediate neighbours. Indeed, you could find yourself competing with businesses from other countries.

Your competitor could be a new business offering a substitute or similar product that makes your own redundant.

Competition is not just another business that might take money away from you. It can be another product or service that's being developed and which you ought to be selling or looking to license before somebody else takes it up.

And don't just research what's already out there. You also need to be constantly on the lookout for possible new competition .

You can get clues to the existence of competitors from:

• local business directories
• your local Chamber of Commerce
• advertising
• press reports
• exhibitions and trade fairs
• questionnaires
• searching on the Internet for similar products or services
• information provided by customers
• flyers and marketing literature that have been sent to you - quite common if you're on a bought-in marketing list
• searching for existing patented products that are similar to yours
• planning applications and building work in progress

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 annual report - if they're a public company
• their media activities - check their website as well as local newspapers, radio, television and any outdoor advertising

Consult Corporations Canada’s Naming a corporation and the Registraire des entreprises' database in Québec to check the availability of a company name, and the Canadian Trade-marks Database for the availability of a trade mark.

How they treat their customers

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

• who they are
• what products or services different customers buy from them
• 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 strategy, for example:

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

Read about your competitors. Look for articles or ads in the trade press or mainstream publications. Read their marketing literature . Check their entries in directories and phone books. If they are an online business, ask for a trial of their service.

Are they getting more publicity than you, perhaps through networking or sponsoring events?

If your competitor is a public company, read a copy of their annual report.

Go to exhibitions

At exhibitions and trade fairs check which of your competitors are also exhibiting. Look at their stands and promotional activities. Note how busy they are and who visits them.

Look at competitors' websites . Find out how they compare to yours. Check any interactive parts of the site to see if you could improve on it for your own website. Is the information free of charge? Is it easy to find?

Business websites often give much information that businesses haven't traditionally revealed - from the history of the company to biographies of the staff.

Use a search engine to track down similar products. Find out who else offers them and how they go about it.

Websites can give you good tips on what businesses around the globe are doing in your industry sector.

Organisations and reference sources

• Your trade or professional association, if applicable.
• The local Chamber of Commerce.
• Directories and survey reports in any business reference library.
• Our Strategic Information Centre

Speak to your competitors. Phone them to ask for a copy of their brochure or get one of your staff or a friend to drop by and pick up their marketing literature.

You could ask for a price list or enquire what an off-the-shelf item might cost and if there's a discount for volume. This will give you an idea at which point a competitor will discount and at what volume.

Phone and face-to-face contacts will also give you an idea of the style of the company, the quality of their literature and the initial impressions they make on customers.

It's also likely you'll meet competitors at social and business events. Talk to them. Be friendly - they're competitors not enemies. You'll get a better idea of them - and you might need each other one day, for example in collaborating to grow a new market for a new product.

Listen to your customers and suppliers

Make the most of contacts with your customers. Don't just ask how well you're performing - ask which of your competitors they buy from and how you compare.

Use meetings with your suppliers to ask what their other customers are doing. They may not tell you everything you want to know, but it's a useful start.

Use your judgement with any information they volunteer. For instance, when customers say your prices are higher than the competition they may just be trying to negotiate a better deal.

Evaluate the information you find about your competitors. This should tell you whether there are gaps in the market you can exploit. It should also indicate whether there is a saturation of suppliers in certain areas of your market, which might lead you to focus on less competitive areas.

Draw up a list of everything that you've found out about your competitors, however small.

Put the information into three categories:

• what you can learn from and do better
• what they're doing worse than you
• what they're doing the same as you

What you can learn from and do better

If you're sure your competitors are doing something better than you, you need to respond and make some changes. It could be anything from improving customer service, assessing your prices and updating your products, to changing the way you market yourself, redesigning your literature and website and changing your suppliers.

Try to innovate not imitate. Now you've got the idea, can you do it even better, add more value?

Your competitors might not have rights over their actual ideas, but remember the rules on patents, copyright and design rights. For more information, consult Intellectual property as a business tool .

What they're doing worse than you

Exploit the gaps you've identified. These may be in their product range or service, marketing or distribution, even the way they recruit and retain employees.

Customer service reputation can often provide the difference between businesses that operate in a very competitive market. Renew your efforts in these areas to exploit the deficiencies you've discovered in your competitors.

But don't be complacent about your current strengths. Your current offerings may still need improving and your competitors may also be assessing you. They may adopt and enhance your good ideas.

What they're doing the same as you

Why are they doing the same as you, particularly if you're not impressed by other things they do? Perhaps you both need to make some changes.

Analyse these common areas and see whether you've got it right. And even if you have, your competitor may be planning an improvement.

Original document, Understand your competitors , © Crown copyright 2009 Source: Business Link UK (now GOV.UK/Business ) Adapted for Québec by Info entrepreneurs

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What Is a Competitor?

Written by True Tamplin, BSc, CEPF®

Reviewed by subject matter experts.

Updated on November 22, 2023

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Table of contents, define competitor in simple terms.

A competitor is a rival business whose activities have the potential to reduce another business's share of the market.

A competitor who sells the same or a nearly-identical product or service is a "direct" competitor, such as Pepsi and Coca-Cola.

A competitor who sells a different product or service which fulfills the same need is called an "indirect" competitor, such as Chipotle and Chick-fil-A.

Due to the law of supply and demand , when new competitors enter a market, the supply curve moves to the right, causing a decrease in the price customers are willing to pay per unit of product.

What Does Competition Mean in Finance?

Competition is the cause of two things that make economies flourish: innovation and affordability.

To retain market share , competitors must either differentiate their offerings through innovation and brand perception or through lower prices.

They challenge each other by offering improved services, better pricing, or enhanced products, all with the goal of maximizing profits and establishing dominance in the market.

Types of Competitors

Direct competitors.

Direct competitors are companies that offer similar products or services to the same target market, and they compete directly for the same customer base, often resulting in head-to-head competition in terms of pricing, features, and marketing strategies.

Indirect Competitors

Indirect competitors are businesses that may not offer identical products or services but fulfill similar customer needs or desires, creating a substitute or alternative option for consumers.

They indirectly impact the demand and market share of the primary company's offerings.

Local Competitors

Local competitors are businesses or entities that operate within the same geographical area or region.

Often, these businesses target a similar local clientele and deal with challenges unique to their locale, such as local regulations, culture, or consumer preferences.

The competitive landscape at a local level can be fierce, especially in densely populated areas, where multiple businesses might be targeting a limited consumer base.

On the bright side, local competitors often have a better understanding of the cultural and social nuances of their market.

They can adapt quickly, offer localized products or services, and create personalized experiences that resonate with their target audience.

Global Competitors

Unlike local competitors, global competitors operate on a much larger scale, spanning countries or even continents.

They often have a broader reach, extensive resources, and the ability to influence larger markets.

With their vast resources, they can tap into various markets, leverage economies of scale, and even influence market trends.

How To Analyze Competitor Performance

Compare financial metrics.

Key indicators like revenue growth, profit margins , return on equity , and debt levels offer insight into a company's financial health and its operational efficiency.

By benchmarking these metrics against industry averages and direct competitors, businesses can gauge their standing in the market and identify areas needing improvement.

A deeper dive into these metrics can also unveil operational strategies, potential vulnerabilities, and opportunities that competitors might be overlooking. Such insights can be invaluable for strategic planning and forecasting .

Analyze Market Share

By assessing a competitor's market share, businesses can understand their relative position and the threat posed by other players.

A declining market share might indicate dwindling customer loyalty, while a growing share could signal effective marketing strategies or product superiority.

Moreover, shifts in market share can predict future industry trends, providing proactive companies with a chance to adapt and innovate before they find themselves on the back foot.

Assess Competitive Advantage

Every company has its strengths—something that sets it apart from its competitors.

By identifying these unique advantages, whether it's a patented technology, an unparalleled distribution network, or exceptional customer service, businesses can gain insights into why customers might choose one company over another.

It's equally crucial for businesses to recognize their own competitive advantages. Harnessing these strengths while addressing weaknesses ensures a stronger position in the market, ready to face competitors head-on.

Competitor Strategies

Product and service offerings.

Understanding the range and depth of a competitor's product or service offerings can shed light on their market strategy and target audience.

By evaluating the features, quality, and user reviews of these offerings, companies can identify gaps in their products or potential areas for improvement, ensuring they remain competitive and responsive to market demands.

Pricing Strategies

Price can be a significant factor influencing consumer choices. Some competitors might adopt a premium pricing strategy, positioning their brand as a luxury or high-quality option.

Others might focus on cost leadership, aiming to provide value-driven solutions at competitive prices.

By understanding competitors' pricing strategies and the rationale behind them, businesses can adjust their pricing models, offer promotions, or bundle services, ensuring they provide compelling value propositions to their customers.

Marketing and Advertising Approaches

How a company markets itself can say a lot about its brand identity, target audience, and strategic goals.

By analyzing competitors' marketing campaigns, advertising channels, and promotional tactics, businesses can gain insights into market trends and evolving consumer preferences.

Such an understanding can guide companies in crafting effective marketing strategies, ensuring they remain relevant and resonate with their target demographic.

Expansion and Market Penetration Plans

Companies always aim to grow, whether by entering new markets, targeting new demographics, or launching new product lines.

By keeping an eye on competitors' expansion plans, businesses can anticipate market shifts, prepare for increased competition, or even identify partnership opportunities.

This forward-looking approach enables proactive strategy development, ensuring companies aren't caught off guard by competitors' moves.

Responding to Competitors

Competitive positioning.

In the face of competition, it's essential for businesses to reinforce their unique value proposition.

By emphasizing what sets them apart—whether it's quality, innovation, service, or price—companies can ensure they remain top-of-mind for consumers.

Clear and consistent competitive positioning not only builds brand loyalty but also acts as a barrier against competitors trying to encroach on a company's market share.

Strategic Alliances and Partnerships

By forming strategic alliances or partnerships , companies can pool resources, share risks, and access new markets or technologies.

Such collaborations can provide a competitive edge, enabling companies to offer something truly unique in the market.

However, it's crucial to ensure that these partnerships are symbiotic, with clear terms and shared goals, to maximize their potential benefits.

Innovation and R&D Initiatives

In the ever-evolving business landscape, innovation is key to staying ahead of competitors.

Investing in research and development (R&D) ensures that companies remain at the forefront of industry advancements, ready to introduce groundbreaking products or services.

Fostering a culture of innovation and continually seeking improvements allow businesses to ensure they're not just reacting to competitors but setting the pace in their industry.

Investors and Direct Competitors

Investors will often use direct competitors to compare and contrast financial statements and ratios.

Creating an analysis of an industry by examining the ratios of a group of competitors is called financial benchmarking and can help an investor detect outliers who may be over or underpriced.

Example of Competition

Starbucks is an example of a competitor that gained market share by differentiating itself through brand perception, rather than on price.

Generic breakfast cereals that are similar, cheaper alternatives to larger-brand breakfast cereals are an example of a competitor differentiating themselves with lower pricing.

Competitors are one of the 5 C's in marketing: Company, Customers, Competitors, Collaborators, and Climate.

Competitors are rival businesses whose activities have the potential to reduce another business's share of the market.

Direct and indirect competitors offer diverse approaches to vie for market share. Local competitors encounter distinct challenges and opportunities within their geographic regions, while global competitors leverage vast resources and influence.

To succeed in this competitive landscape, companies must conduct thorough competitor performance analysis, comparing financial metrics, assessing market share, and understanding competitive advantages.

By comprehending competitor strategies in product offerings, pricing, marketing, and expansion plans, businesses can proactively respond to market changes.

Strategic positioning, alliances, and continuous innovation are essential for maintaining a competitive edge.

Ultimately, competition fosters growth and compels companies to deliver superior value, benefiting both businesses and consumers in the dynamic world of finance.

Competitors FAQs

What is a competitor.

A competitor is a rival business whose activities have the potential to reduce another business’s share of the market.

What does competition mean in finance?

Competition is the cause of two things that make economies flourish: innovation and affordability, which means that to retain market share, competitors must either differentiate themselves through innovation and brand perception or through lower prices.

What's an example of competition?

How do investors look at competitors of companies, what is the difference between direct and indirect competitors.

A competitor who sells the same or a nearly-identical product or service is a “direct” competitor, such as Pepsi and Coca-Cola. A competitor who sells a differing product or service which fulfills the same need is called an “indirect” competitor, such as Chipotle and Chick-fil-A.

About the Author

True Tamplin, BSc, CEPF®

True Tamplin is a published author, public speaker, CEO of UpDigital, and founder of Finance Strategists.

True is a Certified Educator in Personal Finance (CEPF®), author of The Handy Financial Ratios Guide , a member of the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing, contributes to his financial education site, Finance Strategists, and has spoken to various financial communities such as the CFA Institute, as well as university students like his Alma mater, Biola University , where he received a bachelor of science in business and data analytics.

To learn more about True, visit his personal website or view his author profiles on Amazon , Nasdaq and Forbes .

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How to Analyze Competitors: What is a Competitor Analysis and Why Should You Do One?

Competition is an integral part of running a business, and it’s important to know what other companies in your field are doing. How does their pricing compare to yours? What does their product range look like? What services do they offer? What’s their marketing strategy?

While you shouldn’t let your competitors’ strategies dictate your own decisions, it’s important to know what they’re doing and how that could impact your own business. If your competitors consistently have better prices or more value-added features than you, it will be challenging to attract customers. Identifying disparities between you and your competitors can help you understand what your weaknesses are and how you can improve sales. It also allows you to identify strengths and opportunities, if you discover practices your competitors aren’t doing or niches they aren’t serving.

What is Competitor Analysis?

A competitor analysis involves identifying the competitors operating in your industry and researching their strategies and performance. By documenting and analyzing this data, you can evaluate both their strengths and weaknesses and your own. You can analyze competitors at a high level — a good idea when first entering a market — or do a deep dive into a particular product or aspect of business.

While it’s important to analyze competitors when you first begin operating in a particular market, it’s also very useful to conduct a new analysis at least once a year. Companies enter and leave markets, add new products, and change their strategies over time. If you aren’t periodically checking on your competitors, you could miss changes that put you at a disadvantage. Conducting regular analyses helps you keep on top of your competitors and adapt to changes in a timely manner.

How Do You Benefit from Analyzing Competitors?

A competitive analysis can cover a wide range of factors relating to the way you and other businesses operate, including:

• Product range
• Product features
• Marketing strategy
• After-sales service
• Company culture
• Target audience
• Customer reviews

Any one of these factors could be something that a competitor does better than you, or an opportunity for you to outperform your competitor. Studying these things lets you determine reasons why you might be falling behind in your industry, as well what makes your offerings unique. It can reveal a market segment your competitors are neglecting or new strategies that you could adopt. It can also identify potential threats: if there are new businesses in your industry that have a small market share but are offering things you don’t, they may spell trouble for you down the line. This gives you the opportunity to learn about those threats before they start impacting your business, and plan for ways to keep ahead in the face of new challenges.

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When Should You Perform a Competitor Analysis?

If you’re in a fast-moving category such as e-commerce where you have a large number of competitors, you may want to analyze your competitors as often as once every quarter. It’s also a good idea to do it when launching a new product or making a significant strategic change. If your company isn’t growing as quickly as you want or your customers are choosing your competitors over you, an analysis can help you identify where the problem is and how to improve your business.

Because there are so many different data points that can be collected and compared, it’s important to determine the scope that you want your analysis to cover. A broad scope is a good idea when you are entering a new market or when it’s been a long time since you last reviewed your competition. A narrow scope, on the other hand, can be a useful tool when you want to examine one particular product in depth, or one specific aspect of doing business, such as social media marketing or after-sales service.

How to Analyze Competitors

Identify Your Competition

The first step is to determine who your competitors are and decide which ones to focus your efforts on. Depending on your industry and the region in which you operate, there may be more competitors than you can feasibly analyze. In that case, focus primarily on those businesses that have a similar market share to you, but also select a few of the top performers.

If your market is small and there are few direct competitors in your area, you’ll want to branch out a little. Take a look at similar businesses that operate in other areas — this will help you learn how others operate and identify potential future threats, should those companies decide to expand into your area.

It’s also worth examining direct, indirect, and substitute competitors, as they all fill different roles in the market. Direct competitors are those that offer the same products or services as you: if you’re a restaurant that makes Italian food, your direct competition is other Italian restaurants. These are the companies you’ll want to devote most of your focus to.

Indirect competitors sell products that are similar to yours and target a similar audience. In the restaurant example, a Japanese restaurant would be an indirect competitor. Your customers cannot get an Italian meal from an indirect competitor, but they can still sit down for a meal there. These competitors are less relevant to consider when evaluating factors such as branding, but are still useful to examine, especially if there’s a chance that the nearby Japanese restaurant might decide to start putting Italian food on its menu.

A substitute competitor sells a completely different product to yours but satisfies a similar need. Substitutes for a restaurant meal include things like meal kits or frozen meals. While these companies are less important to your competitor analysis, it’s worth looking at what they offer and why customers might choose them over you. By understanding what value customers get from a substitute, you may discover ways that you can entice them to your business instead.

Gather Basic Company Information

Look up information like how long your competitors have been in business, how many people they employ, how much money they make, and where they operate. This can be easy to find for large, public companies but more challenging for smaller businesses. Take a look at sources such as “About Us” pages, social media, news articles, and sites like Glassdoor.

Depending on what country you’re based in, you may also be able to find information from government sources, such as statistics and company registrations. This can show you data such as average company size, revenue, and employee wages for your field.

Look at the Marketing Mix

The marketing mix is also known as the 4 Ps: product, price, place, and promotion. Look at each of your competitors and examine how they handle these elements.

• What are they selling?
• What features do they offer?
• What quality is their product?
• What to customers like about the product? What do they dislike? (Reviews and testimonials are good tools here.)
• How much do they charge?
• Are there multiple pricing options? A subscription model? What choices have they made and are their customers happy with their options?
• Do they offer regular sales or other promotions? How often? How much of a discount?
• If they sell products online, how much do they charge for shipping? Do they offer a free option, and if so, at what threshold? Do they have multiple shipping options?
• What do their pricing choices say about their target customers?
• Do they sell only online, only in-store, or a mix of both?
• What region(s) do they operate in?
• Do they sell directly to their customers, or through retailers, or both?
• What channels (print, email, online ads, etc.) do they use to reach customers?
• Do they use social media? What’s their strategy (type, frequency, and style of content)? Do they have easy-to-find links to their social media on their site? How good is their engagement?
• Do they produce free content such as blogs, whitepapers, or webinars?
• What features or services do they emphasize in their marketing? What are their selling points?
• How do they frame their company? What does this say about their target customers?

Research Sales Tactics

This overlaps with some of the questions outlined above, but it’s worth diving into a little deeper. Take a look what your competitors’ sales process looks like. Do they sell primarily to consumers, or to wholesalers and retailers? How big is their sales team? Do they have bulk rates or other specialized deals?

If you’re in a market with a long sales funnel where leads and customer relationships are important, evaluate how your competitors’ tactics compare to yours. If possible, reach out to those of your own customers who have considered buying from a competitor or who have made the switch, and ask them what factors made them consider that company over your own. If you don’t have that data, consider asking your sales team to collect it during customer interactions.

Evaluate Strengths and Weaknesses

Once you’ve gathered all this data, it’s time to make sense of it. Put together a chart or spreadsheet and rank yourself and your competitors on the various qualities you’ve researched. Is there something most of your competitors are doing that you aren’t? Is there an area where companies in your industry frequently underperform? A niche that isn’t being filled? Do your competitors often focus on one quality to the detriment of others, or are they more well-rounded?

Look at your strengths and weaknesses. What do you do best, and are you advertising it? Highlighting your best features in your marketing can draw in more customers, especially if it’s something your competitors don’t do as well. Try to shore up your weaknesses, or look for ways that you can add value in order to make up for things that you’re unable to offer. Maybe you can’t match your biggest competitors in terms of discounts or free shipping, but you can provide personalized service or an attractive loyalty program.

Keep an eye out for upcoming threats as well. Maybe some of your competitors aren’t very popular right now, but are offering things that you aren’t. Watch these companies and consider what you can do to stand out if they start growing their market share. Take note of businesses in other regions that could expand into yours. Find out where your competitors are stumbling so you can avoid similar hurdles.

Armed with this knowledge, you’ll be able to make proactive strategic choices in order to stay competitive in the market, rather than reacting too late and losing market share to other companies. Analyze your competitors, learn from what they do best, keep an eye on changing market forces, and make sure your customers know what you can do for them.

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The 20 Best Business Plan Competitions to Get Funding

Business plan competitions can provide valuable feedback on your business idea or startup business plan template , in addition to providing an opportunity for funding for your business. This article will discuss what business planning competitions are, how to find them, and list the 20 most important business planning competitions.

On This Page:

What is a Business Plan Competition?

How do i find business plan competitions, 20 popular business plan competitions, tips for winning business plan competitions, other helpful business plan articles & templates.

A business plan competition is a contest between startup, early-stage, and/or growing businesses. The goal of the business plan competition is for participants to develop and submit an original idea or complete their existing business plan based on specific guidelines provided by the organization running the contest.

Companies are judged according to set criteria including creativity, feasibility, execution, and the quality of your business plan.

A quick Google search will lead you to several websites that list business planning competitions. 

Each site has a different way of organizing the business planning competitions it lists, so you’ll need to spend some time looking through each website to find opportunities that are relevant for your type of business or industry.

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Below we’ve highlighted 20 of these popular competitions, the requirements and how to find additional information. The following list is not exhaustive; however, these popular competitions are great places to start if you’re looking for a business competition.

Rice Business Plan Competition

The Rice University Business Plan Competition is designed to help collegiate entrepreneurs by offering a real-world platform on which to present their businesses to investors, receive coaching, network with the entrepreneurial ecosystem, fine-tune their entrepreneurship plan, and learn what it takes to launch a successful business.

Who is Eligible?

Initial eligibility requirements include teams and/or entrepreneurs that:

• are student-driven, student-created and/or student-managed
• include at least two current student founders or management team members, and at least one is a current graduate degree-seeking student
• are from a college or university anywhere in the world
• have not raised more than $250,000 in equity capital
• have not generated revenue of more than $100,000 in any 12-month period
• are seeking funding or capital
• have a potentially viable investment opportunity

You can find additional  eligibility information on their website.

Where is the Competition Held?

The Rice Business Plan Competition is hosted in Houston, TX at Rice University, the Jones Graduate School of Business.

What Can You Win?

In 2021, $1.6 Million in investment, cash prizes, and in-kind prizes was awarded to the teams competing.

This two-part milestone grant funding program and pitch competition is designed to assist students with measurable goals in launching their enterprises.

Teams must be made up of at least one student from an institution of higher education in Utah and fulfill all of the following requirements:

• The founding student must be registered for a minimum of nine (9) credit hours during the semester they are participating. The credit hours must be taken as a matriculated, admitted, and degree-seeking student.
• A representative from your team must engage in each stage of Get Seeded (application process, pre-pitch, and final pitch)
• There are no restrictions regarding other team members; however, we suggest building a balanced team with a strong combination of finance, marketing, engineering, and technology skills.
• The funds awarded must be used to advance the idea.

The business plan competition will be hosted in Salt Lake City, UT at the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute at the University of Utah.

There are two grants opportunities:

• Microgrant up to $500
• Seed Grant for $501 – $1,500

Global Student Entrepreneur Awards

The Global Student Entrepreneur Awards is a worldwide business plan competition for students from all majors. The GSEA aims to empower talented young people from around the world, inspire them to create and shape business ventures, encourage entrepreneurship in higher education, and support the next generation of global leaders.

• You must be enrolled for the current academic year in a university/college as an undergraduate or graduate student at the time of application. Full-time enrollment is not required; part-time enrollment is acceptable.
• You must be the owner, founder, or controlling shareholder of your student business. Each company can be represented by only one owner/co-founder – studentpreneur.
• Your student business must have been in operation for at least six consecutive months prior to the application.
• Your business must have generated US $500 or received US $1000 in investments at the time of application.
• You should not have been one of the final round competitors from any previous year’s competition.
• The age cap for participation is 30 years of age.

You can find additional   eligibility information on their website.

Regional competitions are held in various locations worldwide over several months throughout the school year. The top four teams then compete for cash prizes during finals week at the Goldman Sachs headquarters in New York City.

At the Global Finals, students compete for a total prize package of $50,000 in cash and first place receives $25,000. All travel and lodging expenses are also covered. Second place gets US $10,000, while third place earns US $5,000. Additional prizes are handed out at the Global Finals for Social Impact, Innovation, and Lessons from the Edge.

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The collegiate entrepreneurs organization business plan competition.

The Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization Business Plan Competition (COEBPC) exists to help early-stage entrepreneurs develop their business skills, build entrepreneurial networks, and learn more about how they can transform ideas into reality. It also offers cash prizes to reward entrepreneurship, provide an opportunity for recognition of top student entrepreneurs around the world, and provide unique opportunities for networking.

To compete, you must:

• Be a currently enrolled student at an accredited institution
• Have a viable business concept or be the creator of an existing business that generates revenue.

If you are among the top three finalists of the business plan competition and successfully receive prize money, you will be required to submit a class schedule under your name for the current academic semester. Failure to do so will result in the forfeit of the prize money.

All competitions are held online. The finalist will receive a trip to the International Career Development Conference, where they have an opportunity to win additional prizes from CEO’s sponsors.

• First Place – $7,000
• Second Place – $5,000
• Third Place – $3,000
• People’s Choice Award – Collegiate Entrepreneur of the Year – $600

MIT 100k Business Plan Competition and Expo

The MIT 100K was created in 2010 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to foster entrepreneurship and innovation on campus and around the world. Consists of three distinct and increasingly intensive competitions throughout the school year: PITCH, ACCELERATE, and LAUNCH. 

• Submissions may be entered by individuals or teams.
• Each team may enter one idea.
• Each team must have at least one currently registered MIT student; if you are submitting as an individual, you must be a currently registered MIT student.
• Entries must be the original work of entrants.
• Teams must disclose any funding already received at the time of registration.

Hosted in Cambridge, MA at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology beginning in October through May of each academic year.

Top finalists will have a chance to pitch their ideas to a panel of judges at a live event for the chance to win the $5,000 Grand Prize or the $2,000 Audience Choice Award.

20 Finalists are paired with industry-specific business professionals for mentorship and business planning and a $1,000 budget for marketing and/or business development expenses.

The 10 Top Finalists participate in the Showcase and compete for the $10,000 Audience Choice Award while the 3 Top Finalists automatically advance to LAUNCH semi-finals.

The grand prize winner receives a cash prize of $100,000 and the runner-up receives $25,000.

Florida Atlantic University (FAU) Business Plan Competition

The FAU business plan competition is open to all undergraduate and graduate student entrepreneurs. The competition covers topics in the areas of information technology, entrepreneurship, finance, marketing, operations management, etc.

All undergraduate and graduate students are eligible to participate.

The business plan competition will be held at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida.

• First prize: $5,000 cash
• Second prize: $500 cash

Network of International Business Schools (NIBS) Business Plan Competition

The Network of International Business Schools (NIBS) Business Plan Competition is designed to offer an opportunity to develop your business plan with the guidance of industry experts. It provides the opportunity for you to compete against fellow entrepreneurs and explore big ideas.

• Participants must be the legal age to enter into contracts in the country of residence.
• Participants may not be employed by an organization other than their own company or business that they are launching for this competition.
• The plan should be for a new business, not an acquisition of another company.

The Network of International Business Schools (NIBS) Business Plan Competition is held in the USA.

There is a cash prize for first, second, and third place. There is also a potential for a business incubator opportunity, which would provide facilities and assistance to the winners of the competition.

Washington State University Business Plan Competition

The Washington State University Business Plan Competition has been serving students since 1979. The competition is a great opportunity for someone who is looking to get their business off the ground by gaining invaluable knowledge of running a successful business. It offers a wide range of topics and competition styles.

• Any college undergraduate, graduate, or professional degree-seeking student at Washington State University
• The company must be an early-stage venture with less than $250,000 in annual gross sales revenue.

The Washington State University Business Plan Competition is held in the Associated Students Inc. Building on the Washington State University campus which is located in Pullman, Washington.

There are a wide variety of prizes that could be won at the Washington State University Business Plan Competition. This is because the business plan competition has been serving students for over 30 years and as such, they have offered more than one type of competition. The common prize though is $1,000 which is awarded to the winner of each class. There are also awards for those who come in second place, third place, etc.

Milken-Penn GSE Education Business Plan Competition

The Milken-Penn GSE Education Business Plan Competition is one of the most well-known competitions in the country. They have partnered with many prestigious institutions to provide funding, mentorship, and expertise for the competition.

Education ventures with innovative solutions to educational inequity from around the world are encouraged to apply, especially those ventures founded by and serving individuals from marginalized and historically underrepresented communities.

We encourage applicants working in every conceivable educational setting–from early childhood through corporate and adult training. We also welcome both nonprofit and for-profit submissions.

The competition is held at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

All finalists receive $1,000 in cash and $5,000 in Amazon Web Services promotional credits.

Next Founders Business Plan Competition

Next Founders is a competition geared towards innovative startups with a social impact, looking to transform society by addressing key global human needs. The competition inspires and identifies energetic, optimistic entrepreneurs who are committed to achieving their vision.

Next Founders is for Canadian business owners of scalable, high-growth ventures.

Next Founders is held at the University of Toronto.

You could win up to $25,000 CAD in cash funding for your new business.

Hatch Pitch Competition

The Hatch Pitch competition is one of the most prestigious business competitions in the US. The winners of the Hatch Pitch Competition are given access to mentorship courses, discounted office space with all amenities included, incubators for startups, tailored education programs, financial counseling & more.

The competition is for companies with a business idea.

• The company’s product/service must have launched within the past 2 years, or be launched within 6 months after the Hatch Pitch event.
• Founders must retain some portion of ownership in the company.
• Received less than $5 million in funding from 3rd party investors.
• The presenter must actively participate in Hatch Pitch coaching.

The Hatch Pitch Competition is located at the Entrepreneur Space in Dallas.

The grand prize for this business plan competition is access to resources like incubators and mentorships that could prove invaluable in bringing your startup company to the next level.

TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield

The Startup Battlefield is a business plan competition that is sponsored by TechCrunch.  It awards the winner $50,000. There are two different rounds to this competition:

• First Round – 15 companies from all of the applicants that submitted their business plans for this round.
• Second Round – Two finalist companies compete against each other at TechCrunch Disrupt NY’s main stage.

At the time of the application process, companies must have a functional prototype to demo to the selection committee. In selecting final contestants, we will give preference to companies that launch some part of their product or business for the first time to the public and press through our competition. Companies that are in closed beta, private beta, limited release or generally have been flying under the radar are eligible. Hardware companies can have completed crowdfunding but those funds should have been directed to an earlier product prototype. Existing companies launching new feature sets do not qualify.

TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield is held at different locations.

The Startup Battlefield rewards the winner with $50,000. In addition, the two runner-ups get a prize of $5,000 each.

New Venture Challenge

New Venture Challenge is a competition hosted by the University of Chicago. There are 3 main categories that will be judged:

• Innovative Concept – Arguably the most important category, this focuses on uniqueness, originality, and suitability.
• Market Fit/Business Model – Are you solving an actual problem for your target market? Does your project have the potential for profit?
• Presentation – Did you make a compelling, impactful presentation? Did you clearly communicate your goals and vision to potential investors?

You can find  eligibility information on their website.

The New Venture Challenge competition is held in Chicago, IL.

Finalists are awarded:

• First Place: $50,000 equity investment and access to industry mentors and other resources.
• Second place: $25,000 equity investment and access to industry mentors and other resources.
• Third place: $15,000 equity investment and access to industry mentors and other resources.

New Venture Championship

The New Venture Championship is hosted by the University of Oregon and has been since 1987. The championship brings new ventures and innovative business ideas to life and the competition offers plan writing as a service to those who need it.

The University of Oregon New Venture Championship is open to university student teams with 2-5 members that have at least one graduate student involved with their venture. Students should be enrolled in a degree program or have finished their studies in the current academic year.

The New Venture Championship hosted by the University of Oregon is held in Eugene, Oregon.

Every business plan has a chance of winning a cash prize from $3,000 to $25,000 and additional benefits like plan coaching and office space rental.

Climatech & Energy Prize @ MIT

The Climatech & Energy Prize @ MIT is a competition that focuses on companies that are involved in the area of energy, environment, and climate change.

• Participants must be a team of two or more people.
• At least 50% of formal team members identified in the competition submission documentation must be enrolled as half-time or full-time college or university students.

The Climatech & Energy Prize @ MIT is held in Cambridge, MA.

The grand prize winner receives $100,000 and other winners may receive other monetary prizes.

Baylor Business New Venture Competition

This competition has been offered by Baylor for the last 20 years. It is designed to help aspiring entrepreneurs refine business ideas, and also gain valuable insights from judges and other entrepreneurs.

Must be a current undergraduate student at Baylor University or McLennan Community College.

The Baylor Business New Venture competition will be held at the Baylor University, Waco, TX.

The grand prize winner will receive $6,000. There are also other prizes given out to the other finalists in each category which are worth $1,500 – $2,000.

13th IOT/WT Innovation World Cup

The 13th IOT/WT Innovation World Cup was organized by the 13th IOT/WT Innovation World Cup Association. It was organized to provide a platform for innovators from all over the world to showcase their innovative ideas and projects. The competition aimed at drawing the attention of investors, venture capitalists, and potential business partners to meet with representatives from different companies and organizations in order to foster innovation.

The revolutionary Internet of Things and Wearable Technologies solutions from developers, innovative startups, scale-ups, SMEs, and researchers across the world are invited to participate. Eight different categories are available: Industrial, City, Home, Agriculture, Sports, Lifestyle, and Transport.

Only those submissions that have a functional prototype/proof of concept will advance in the competition, mere ideas will not be considered. 

The competition is held in Cleveland, Ohio also an important center for innovation and cutting-edge technology.

Win prizes worth over $500,000, connect with leading tech companies, speed up your development with advice from tech experts, join international conferences as a speaker or exhibitor, and become part of the worldwide IoT/WT Innovation World Cup® network. 

The U.Pitch is a competition that gives you a chance to share your idea and for the community of budding entrepreneurs, startup founders, CEOs, and venture capitalists to invest in your enterprise. It also provides mentoring by experts in the field.

• Currently enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate program
• Applicants may compete with either an idea OR business currently in operation
• Applicants must be 30 years of age or under

The U.Pitch is held in San Francisco, California.

Enter to win a part of the $10,000 prize pool.

At the core of CodeLaunch is an annual seed accelerator competition between individuals and groups who have software technology startup ideas.

If your startup has raised money, your product is stable, you have customers, and revenue, you are probably not a fit for CodeLaunch.

CodeLaunch is based in St. Louis, Missouri. 

The “winner” may be eligible for more seed capital and business services from some additional vendors.

New York StartUP! Business Plan Competition

The New York StartUP! is a competition sponsored by the New York Public Library to help entrepreneurs from around the world to develop their business ideas.

• You must live in Manhattan, The Bronx, or Staten Island
• Your business must be in Manhattan, The Bronx, or Staten Island
• All companies must have a big idea or business model in the startup phase and have earned less than $10,000

The New York StartUP! competition is held in New York, NY.

Two winners are chosen: 

•  Grand Prize – $15,000  
•  Runner-up – $7,500  

First, determine if the competition is worth your time and money to participate.

• What is the prize money?
• Who will be on the judging panel?
• Will there be any costs associated with entering and/or presenting at the competition (e.g., travel and lodging expenses)?

Once you’ve determined the worth of the competition, then shift to focusing on the details of the competition itself.

• What are the rules of the competition?
• Are there any disqualifying factors?
• How will you be judged during the different parts of the competition?

After conducting this research, it’s best to formulate an idea or product that appeals to the judges and is something they can really get behind. Make sure you thoroughly understand the rules and what is expected from your final product. Once you know what is expected from you, you’ll be able to refine and practice your pitch to help you move through the stages of the competition.

These competitions are a fantastic method to get new business owners thinking about business possibilities, writing business plans, and dominating the competition. These contests may assist you in gaining important feedback on your business concept or plan as well as potential monetary prizes to help your business get off the ground.  

How to Finish Your Business Plan in 1 Day!

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With Growthink’s Ultimate Business Plan Template you can finish your plan in just 8 hours or less!

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Small businesses face a unique challenge today. They need to stand out in a sea of online competition while maintaining their local charm and customer base. Enter local search engine optimization — the beacon guiding potential customers to your digital doorstep.

Local searches are a lifeline for small businesses looking to thrive in their communities. From the corner bakery to the family-run hardware store, local SEO is leveling the playing field, allowing smaller enterprises to compete with larger corporations in the digital realm.

But what exactly is local SEO, and how can small businesses use it to grow their customer base and revenue? Let's explore the landscape of local SEO in 2024 and uncover the strategies that will help your business shine in local search results.

What Is Local SEO?

Local SEO is a digital marketing strategy that involves optimizing your online presence to attract more customers from relevant local searches. This branch of SEO focuses on promoting your products and services to customers from your area at the exact time they're looking for them.

Unlike general SEO, which often targets a global or national audience, location-specific SEO zeroes in on specific towns, cities, regions, and even neighborhoods. It's about making sure that when someone in your area searches for "best coffee shop near me" or "emergency plumber in [your city]," your business shows up at the top of the results.

Key components of local optimization are:

• Google Business Profile optimization
• Local keyword targeting
• Online directory listings
• Localized content
• Review management
• Mobile optimization
• Local link building.

For small businesses, which often cannot stretch their budget to have a dedicated marketing team, it’s best to work with dedicated specialists. If you want to attract more customers through your website, work with a professional SEO company that specializes in  SEO for small businesses — they know what strategy will work best for your business.

Why Local SEO Matters for Small Businesses

Here’s why it’s beneficial for small businesses to focus on this strategy:

• Increased visibility: Local SEO helps you stand out in your community, even against larger competitors. It puts your business on the digital map, quite literally, making you visible to customers who might otherwise never know you exist.
• Higher conversion rates: Local searches often have a higher intent to purchase. When someone searches for a "dentist near me," they're likely looking to book an appointment, not just browsing. This high intent translates to better conversion rates for your business.
• Cost-effective marketing: Unlike traditional advertising methods, such as print ads or billboards, this strategy offers a high return on investment. It's targeted, measurable, and often more affordable than broader marketing strategies.
• Trust and credibility: Appearing in local search results, having positive reviews, and maintaining accurate business information online all contribute to building consumer confidence in your brand.
• Chances of competition:  Local SEO allows small businesses to compete effectively with larger corporations for local customers. It levels the playing field by focusing on proximity and relevance rather than just brand recognition.
• Targeted traffic:  This strategy drives highly targeted traffic to your website or physical store. These are customers in your area actively looking for the products or services you offer.

Top Local SEO Strategies for 2024

Now that we understand the importance of local SEO, let's dive into the best strategies for small businesses in 2024.

1. Claim and Optimize Your Google Business Profile

Your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is the cornerstone of local SEO. It's free, easy to set up, and crucial for appearing in local search results and Google Maps.

Key optimization tips:

• Provide accurate and complete information (name, address, phone number, website, hours)
• Choose relevant business categories
• Add high-quality photos and videos
• Regularly post updates, offers, and events
• Encourage and respond to customer reviews
• Add products or services directly to your profile
• Implement appointment booking features if applicable to your business.

2. Ensure NAP Consistency

Maintaining consistent NAP (Name, Address, and Phone Number) information across your website, social media profiles, and online directories is crucial for local SEO. Here’s why:

• Helps search engines verify your business information
• Builds trust with potential customers
• Improves your chances of appearing in local search results.

Use a spreadsheet to track where your business is listed online and regularly audit for consistency. Consider using citation-building services to manage your listings across multiple platforms efficiently.

Here are some NAP best practices:

• Use a consistent format for your business name (e.g., "Joe's Coffee" vs. "Joe's Coffee Shop")
• Spell out abbreviations in your address (e.g., "Street" instead of "St.")
• Use a local phone number rather than a toll-free number
• Update all listings promptly if your business information changes.

3. Create Localized Content

You can only attract a local audience if your content speaks directly to them. The most effective types of location-specific content are:

• Blog posts about events or news in your area
• Pages dedicated to each service area you cover
• Case studies featuring local clients
• Guides to local resources related to your industry
• Local customer testimonials and success stories
• Location-specific FAQs.

Remember to naturally incorporate local keywords, such as city names or landmarks, into your content.

4. Build Local Backlinks

Backlinks from reputable local websites signal to search engines that your business is an important part of the community. Some ways to build such backlinks include:

• Partnering with other local businesses
• Sponsoring events or sports teams from your community
• Getting involved with local charities
• Guest posting on local blogs or news sites
• Joining local business associations.

Quality matters more than quantity. Focus on earning links from respected local sources.

5. Optimize for Voice Search

People use smart speakers and virtual assistants more and more, so your content should be optimized for the way users search with these devices. Voice searches tend to be more conversational and question-based.

Tips for voice search optimization:

• Use natural language in your content
• Implement structured data to help search engines understand your content
• Create FAQ pages that address common customer questions
• Focus on long-tail keywords that mimic how people speak
• Ensure your website loads quickly and is mobile-friendly
• Optimize for featured snippets, which are often used for voice search results
• Create content that answers "who," "what," "where," "when," "why," and "how" questions.

6. Leverage Local Schema Markup

Schema markup (or structured data) is a type of code that tells search engines more about your page and helps them provide more informative results to users. Local business schema can help search engines understand and display your business information more effectively.

Key elements to include in your local schema:

• Business name, address, and phone number
• Opening hours
• Accepted payment types
• Menu (for restaurants)
• Reservations and online ordering links.

Use Google's Structured Data Markup Helper to generate the correct schema code for your website.

7. Encourage and Manage Customer Reviews

Online reviews play a crucial role in SEO strategy and consumer decision-making. If your business has many positive reviews, you have a higher chance to improve your search rankings and attract more customers.

Strategies for managing reviews:

• Consistently ask satisfied customers to leave reviews
• Make it easy by providing direct links to your review profiles
• Respond promptly and professionally to all reviews, positive and negative
• Address negative reviews constructively and work to resolve issues.

Remember, it's against Google's policies to offer incentives for reviews, so focus on providing excellent service that naturally encourages positive feedback.

8. Optimize for Mobile Users

Google primarily uses the mobile version of your site for ranking and indexing. So, here’s a mobile optimization checklist:

• Use a responsive design that adapts to different screen sizes
• Ensure text is readable without zooming
• Make buttons and links easy to tap
• Compress images to improve load times
• Use Google's Mobile-Friendly Test to check your site
• Use mobile-specific calls to action (CTAs)
• Optimize for local "near me" searches
• Consider developing a progressive web app (PWA) for a better mobile experience.

9. Create and Optimize Local Landing Pages

If your business serves multiple locations, create individual landing pages for each area. These pages should include:

• Location-specific content and keywords
• Unique descriptions of your services for that area
• Local customer testimonials
• Embedded Google Maps
• Location-specific schema markup.

Avoid duplicate content by making each page genuinely unique and valuable to local visitors.

10. Utilize Social Media for Local Engagement

While social media signals aren't a direct ranking factor, an active social presence can indirectly boost your SEO efforts.

Consider these strategies:

• Share content relevant to your community
• Use location tags in your posts
• Engage with other local businesses and community figures
• Promote events and special offers for your location
• Encourage customers to check in and share their experiences
• Use social listening tools to monitor local conversations and trends
• Leverage user-generated content from your customers
• Run location-based social media ads to complement your organic efforts.

Monitor and Analyze Your Local SEO Performance

To improve your SEO, you need to track your progress and understand what's working. Key metrics to monitor include:

• Location-specific search rankings for target keywords
• Google Business Profile insights (views, clicks, calls)
• Website traffic from local searches
• Conversion rates from local traffic
• Competitor performance in location-specific search results

Use tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and other SEO software to gather and analyze this data.

Putting It All Together: Your Local SEO Action Plan

Local SEO is a great way to attract more customers from your area, and here’s how you can optimize your local presence:

• Audit your current SEO status: Assess your Google Business Profile, NAP consistency, and current local rankings.
• Optimize your Google Business Profile: Update all information and start posting regularly.
• Improve your website: Implement local schema, create location-specific pages, and ensure mobile optimization.
• Develop a content strategy:  Plan and create localized content that provides value to your community.
• Build your online reputation: Implement a system for consistently gathering and responding to customer reviews.
• Engage locally online:  Actively participate in social media and seek opportunities for local backlinks.
• Optimize for voice and mobile:  Ensure your site is accessible and relevant for on-the-go local searches.
• Implement local link building:  Develop a strategy to earn quality local backlinks.
• Monitor and refine:  Regularly track your SEO performance and adjust your strategy based on the results.

Remember, the goal of local SEO isn't just to rank higher in search results — it's to connect with the right customers at the right time. Focus on providing value to your local community both online and offline, and you'll not only improve your search rankings but also build lasting relationships with the customers who matter most to your business.

As you implement these strategies, stay patient and persistent. SEO results take time, but the long-term benefits are well worth the effort. Be consistent and watch your local online presence grow throughout 2024 and beyond.

Copyright © 2024 SCORE Association, SCORE.org

Funded, in part, through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. All opinions, and/or recommendations expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA.

Hyundai plots India SUV rollout as domestic competition mounts ahead of IPO

• Medium Text

• South Korean automaker gearing up for $3 billion India IPO
• Will introduce first India-made EV, an SUV, in early 2025
• To launch at least two new gasoline-powered SUVs starting in 2026-sources

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Ford to recall 90,736 vehicles over engine valve issue, US regulators say

Ford will recall 90,736 vehicles as engine intake valves in the vehicles may break while driving, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said on Saturday.

How new CEO Hanneke Faber plans to grow brand Logitech

Faber, who took over as global CEO of the global consumer electronics company in December 2023, talks about how they stay differentiated from competition, plans to expand business in India, and more

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Naini is a writer at Forbes India, who likes to dabble in storytelling across all forms of media. She writes on various topics ranging from innovation and startups to cryptocurrency and agriculture—anything and everything that makes for an interesting story. Before her stint at Forbes India, she worked for close to a year at Outlook Business. With five years of work experience, she co-produces Forbes India’s video series “From The Field” and hosts the podcast “Teenpreneurs”. She also emcees at events and moderates panel discussions from time-to-time. Naini is a part of Forbes India’s digital team, also handles Forbes India’s Instagram account and helps plan events. An avid learner, she has completed her PGDM in Journalism from Xavier Institute of Communication and Bachelor’s of Mass Media from Sophia College for Women in Mumbai. Be it at work or home, you will not find her working without her headphones and work playlist. She loves trekking and travelling, experimenting in the kitchen, watching films and reading.

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Why the rise of house brands such as Loblaw’s No Name is not okay

No Name logos on shopping carts at a Loblaws store in Ottawa on Aug. 21. Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

Vass Bednar is a contributing columnist for The Globe and Mail and host of the new podcast, Lately . She is the executive director of McMaster University’s master of public policy program and co-author of the forthcoming book The Big Fix : How Companies Capture Markets and Harm Canadians .

Last week, Loblaw Cos. Ltd. L-T unveiled ultra-discount grocery stores that will focus on its No Name and President’s Choice house brands . Just under 60 per cent of the items at these stores will be Loblaw’s own private-label products.

A private-label product is one that a retail chain, such as Sobeys or Walmart, produces through a third party but sells under its own brand name. This type of item is usually offered exclusively by the company that owns it. And the products are moneymakers! For example, Costco’s infamous Kirkland Signature generates about a quarter of the chain’s sales . Sales of its store brand are bigger than those of Nike and Coca-Cola .

Many people like these discount brands, and for good reason: They’re often a steal. But they might also come at the cost of better competition. And in the long run, this negative impact on competition will hurt consumers. Unchecked, the rise of house brands will result in higher prices and worse products over time.

House brands give retailers an unfair advantage. Most grocery chains charge independent suppliers slotting fees and other additional costs. These chains can therefore earn more from their own brands (and feature them more prominently in stores and online) while still offering a cheaper price as they make it more expensive for competitors to access shelf space.

Sometimes, major retailers – now in competition with their suppliers – can weaponize the information they glean against competitor brands. Eight years ago, a leaked memo revealed that Loblaw kicked French’s ketchup off its shelves because customers preferred it to Loblaw’s in-house President’s Choice brand. Instead of being motivated to compete more effectively with French’s on price or quality, the company decided to just ban its rival from store shelves.

Loblaw later claimed that “customer preference” caused the product to be removed – interestingly, this preference was also the reason cited for bringing French’s ketchup back. The company used detailed information it had collected to make a disciplinary business decision in its own favour.

In the United States, reporters found that Target Corp. TGT-N had copycatted entire brands based on its detailed knowledge of what is successful and popular, and then ceased to distribute the brands that inspired the copies. While knockoffs and replicas have long been a feature of the economy, the ability to mimic designs quickly through data is newer.

Now, firms can copy how Amazon.com Inc. AMZN-Q leverages data to help it develop similar private-label products. The Wall Street Journal detailed how Amazon has spied on sellers and used data about their sales, costs and suppliers to help it develop imitations under AmazonBasics or one of its other private labels. Any company that owns and operates a marketplace can similarly entrench itself, exploiting a built-in advantage.

How does this structure affect the average person?

Over time, concentration has led to large, dominant retailers. When retail markets stabilize, companies don’t work as hard to steal market share from each other. Instead, they have started to steal market share from independent suppliers through the creep of private-label brands.

These private labels primarily harm independent suppliers that can’t compete fairly because retailers self-preference their own products, copy successful ones and sometimes use prices to discipline legitimate competitors. Many consumers don’t even realize that all the private-label brands are owned by the same parent company.

The impact of this will play out in a diminishing selection of products, as independent companies find it harder to compete with store brands. Recall Kleenex leaving Canada after facing years of competition from supermarkets’ house-brand tissues.

A smaller selection of items translates to worse products over time; the lack of competition means there is less of an impetus for businesses to innovate. Why come up with new flavours of ice cream or better running shoes if you don’t need to compete for market share?

And in an environment of limited competition, retailers can jack up prices of their house brands without fear of losing business. There is reason to believe this is already happening. Research has shown that the price gap between independent brands and private labels is getting smaller.

Low prices are typically a feature of discount private-label products, and they can be attractive. But if a cheaply-priced item is introduced to copy and eventually eliminate competitors, we’d do well to acknowledge the downside of the growth of these brands – that is, if we can detect them in the first place.

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Kroger, Albertsons defend merger plan in federal court against U.S. regulator objections

The federal trade commission sued to prevent the $24.6 billion deal, alleging it would eliminate competition and raise grocery prices. albertsons, owner of jewel-osco, said nixing a merger could mean layoffs..

Faye Guenther, president of local UFCW 3000 (yellow shirt), hugs Carol McMillian, bakery manager at Kroger-owned King Soopers and member of Local 7, after a news conference Monday about the Kroger and Albertsons merger outside the federal courthouse in Portland, Ore.

Jenny Kane/AP Photos

PORTLAND, Ore. — Supermarket chain Albertsons told a federal judge Monday that it might have to lay off workers, close stores and even exit some markets if its planned merger with Kroger isn’t allowed to proceed.

The two companies proposed what would be the largest supermarket merger in U.S. history in October 2022. But the Federal Trade Commission sued to prevent the $24.6 billion deal, alleging it would eliminate competition and raise grocery prices in a time of already high food price inflation .

In the three-week hearing that opened Monday, the FTC is seeking a preliminary injunction that would block the merger while its complaint goes before an in-house administrative law judge.

“This lawsuit is part of an effort aimed at helping Americans feed their families,” the FTC’s chief trial counsel, Susan Musser, said in her opening arguments Monday.

Musser said Kroger and Albertsons compete in 22 states, closely matching each other on price, quality, private label products and services like store pickup. Shoppers benefit from that competition, she said, and will lose those benefits if the merger is allowed to proceed.

Customers also are wary of the merger, the lawyer said. In Santa Fe, New Mexico, for example, 278 shoppers wrote to the FTC to express their concerns about a combined Kroger and Albertsons, which would own five of the city’s eight supermarkets.

But Kroger and Albertsons insist the FTC’s objections don’t take into account the rising competition in the grocery sector. Walmart’s grocery sales totaled $247 billion last year, compared to $63 billion in 2003, for example; Costco’s sales have grown more than 400% in the same period.

“Consumers are blurring the line of where they buy groceries,” Albertsons attorney Enu Mainigi said.

Mainigi said Albertsons’ customers now spend 88 cents of every dollar at competitors that range from Aldi and Trader Joe’s to Dollar General. Albertsons can’t compete with larger rivals that have national scale, but joining forces with Kroger would help it do that, she said.

Kroger attorney Matthew Wolf also defended the proposed merger.

“The savings that come from the merger are obvious and intuitive. Kroger may have the best price on Pepsi. Albertsons may have the best price on Coke. Put them together, they have the best price on both,” Wolf said.

The two sides also disagree on Kroger and Albertsons’ plan to sell 579 stores in places where their stores overlap. The buyer would be C&S Wholesale Grocers , a New Hampshire-based supplier to independent supermarkets that also owns the Grand Union and Piggly Wiggly store brands.

The FTC said C&S is ill-prepared to take on those stores. Laura Hall, the FTC’s senior trial counsel, cited internal documents that indicated C&S executives were skeptical about the quality of the stores they would get and may want the option to sell or close them.

But Wolf said C&S has the experience and infrastructure to run the divested stores and would be the eighth-largest supermarket company in the U.S., if the merger plan goes through.

The commission also alleges that workers’ wages and benefits would decline if Kroger and Albertsons no longer compete with each other.

Before the hearing, several members of the United Food and Commercial Workers International union gathered outside the federal courthouse in downtown Portland to speak against the proposed deal.

“Enough is enough,” said Carol McMillian, a bakery manager at a Kroger-owned grocery store in Colorado. “We can no longer stand by and allow corporate greed that puts profit before people. Our workers, our communities and our customers deserve better.”

The labor union also expressed concern that potential store closures could create so-called food and pharmacy “deserts” for consumers.

For people in many communities across the U.S., when a grocery store shutters, “their only source of food actually is walking to the nearest gas station,” said Kim Cordova, president of UFCW Local 7, which represents more than 23,000 members in Colorado and Wyoming.

Mainigi argued the deal could actually bolster union jobs, since many of Kroger’s and Albertsons’ competitors, like Walmart or Costco, have few unionized workers.

U.S. District Judge Adrienne Nelson is expected to hear from nearly 40 witnesses, including the chief executives of Kroger and Albertsons, before deciding whether to issue the preliminary injunction. If she does decide to temporarily block the merger, the FTC’s in-house hearings are scheduled to begin Oct. 1.

But Nelson’s decision will seal the merger’s fate, according to Wolf. He said the FTC’s in-house administrative process is so long and cumbersome that merger deals almost always fall apart before it’s through. Earlier this month, Kroger sued the FTC, alleging the agency’s internal proceedings were unconstitutional and saying it wants the merger’s merits decided in federal court.

The attorneys general of Arizona, California, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Wyoming all joined the case on the FTC’s side. Washington and Colorado filed separate cases in state courts seeking to block the merger.

Kroger , based in Cincinnati, Ohio, operates 2,800 stores in 35 states, including the brands Ralphs , Smith’s and Harris Teeter. Albertsons , based in Boise, Idaho, operates 2,273 stores in 34 states, including the brands Safeway, Jewel-Osco and Shaw’s. Together, the companies employ about 710,000 people.

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Kroger and Albertsons defend merger plan in federal court against US regulators’ objections

Faye Guenther, president of local UFCW 3000, hugs Carol McMillian, bakery manager at Kroger-owned King Soopers and member of Local 7, after a news conference about the Kroger and Albertsons merger outside the federal courthouse on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

A grocery cart rests in a cart return area with a sign for Albertsons grocery store in the background on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024, in Lake Oswego, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

FILE - A customer exits a Kroger fueling center on June 26, 2019 in Flowood, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)

Kim Cordova, president of UFCW 7, center, speaks to reporters after a news conference about the Kroger and Albertsons merger outside the federal courthouse before a hearing on the merger on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024, in Portland, Ore.(AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Carol McMillian, bakery manager at Kroger-owned King Soopers and member of Local 7, speaks about the Kroger and Albertsons merger during a news conference outside the federal courthouse before a hearing on the merger on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

People line up outside the federal courthouse before a Kroger and Albertsons merger hearing on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024, in Portland, Ore. The two companies proposed what would be the largest supermarket merger in U.S. history in October 2022. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

A worker returns grocery carts at an Albertsons grocery store on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024, in Lake Oswego, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Supermarket chain Albertsons told a federal judge Monday that it might have to lay off workers, close stores and even exit some markets if its planned merger with Kroger isn’t allowed to proceed.

The two companies proposed what would be the largest supermarket merger in U.S. history in October 2022. But the Federal Trade Commission sued to prevent the $24.6 billion deal, alleging it would eliminate competition and raise grocery prices in a time of already high food price inflation .

In the three-week hearing that opened Monday, the FTC is seeking a preliminary injunction that would block the merger while its complaint goes before an in-house administrative law judge.

“This lawsuit is part of an effort aimed at helping Americans feed their families,” the FTC’s chief trial counsel, Susan Musser, said in her opening arguments on Monday.

Musser said Kroger and Albertsons currently compete in 22 states, closely matching each other on price, quality, private label products and services like store pickup. Shoppers benefit from that competition, she said, and will lose those benefits if the merger is allowed to proceed.

Customers also are wary of the merger, the lawyer said. In Santa Fe, New Mexico, for example, 278 shoppers wrote to the FTC to express their concerns about a combined Kroger and Albertsons, which would own five of the city’s eight supermarkets.

But Kroger and Albertsons insist the FTC’s objections don’t take into account the rising competition in the grocery sector. Walmart’s grocery sales totaled $247 billion last year compared to $63 billion in 2003, for example; Costco’s sales have grown more than 400% in the same period.

“Consumers are blurring the line of where they buy groceries,” Albertsons attorney Enu Mainigi said.

Mainigi said Albertsons’ customers now spend 88 cents of every dollar at competitors that range from Aldi and Trader Joe’s to Dollar General. Albertsons can’t compete with larger rivals that have national scale, but joining forces with Kroger would help it do that, she said.

Kroger attorney Matthew Wolf also defended the proposed merger.

“The savings that come from the merger are obvious and intuitive. Kroger may have the best price on Pepsi. Albertsons may have the best price on Coke. Put them together, they have the best price on both,” Wolf said.

The two sides also disagree on Kroger and Albertsons’ plan to sell 579 stores in places where their stores overlap. The buyer would be C&S Wholesale Grocers , a New Hampshire-based supplier to independent supermarkets that also owns the Grand Union and Piggly Wiggly store brands.

The FTC says C&S is ill-prepared to take on those stores. Laura Hall, the FTC’s senior trial counsel, cited internal documents that indicated C&S executives were skeptical about the quality of the stores they would get and may want the option to sell or close them.

But Wolf said C&S has the experience and infrastructure to run the divested stores and would be the eighth-largest supermarket company in the U.S., if the merger plan goes through.

The commission also alleges that workers’ wages and benefits would decline if Kroger and Albertsons no longer compete with each other.

Before the hearing, several members of the United Food and Commercial Workers International union gathered outside the federal courthouse in downtown Portland to speak out against the proposed deal.

“Enough is enough,” said Carol McMillian, a bakery manager at a Kroger-owned grocery store in Colorado. “We can no longer stand by and allow corporate greed that puts profit before people. Our workers, our communities and our customers deserve better.”

The labor union also expressed concern that potential store closures could create so-called food and pharmacy “deserts” for consumers.

For people in many communities across the U.S., when a grocery store shutters, “their only source of food actually is walking to the nearest gas station,” said Kim Cordova, the president of UFCW Local 7, which represents over 23,000 members in Colorado and Wyoming.

Mainigi argued the deal could actually bolster union jobs, since many of Kroger’s and Albertsons’ competitors, like Walmart or Costco, have few unionized workers.

U.S. District Judge Adrienne Nelson is expected to hear from around 40 witnesses, including the CEOs of Kroger and Albertsons, before deciding whether to issue the preliminary injunction. If she does decide to temporarily block the merger, the FTC’s in-house hearings are scheduled to begin Oct. 1.

But Nelson’s decision will seal the merger’s fate, according to Wolf. He said the FTC’s in-house administrative process is so long and cumbersome that merger deals almost always fall apart before it’s through. Earlier this month, Kroger sued the FTC, alleging the agency’s internal proceedings were unconstitutional and saying it wants the merger’s merits decided in federal court.

The attorneys general of Arizona, California, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Wyoming all joined the case on the FTC’s side. Washington and Colorado filed separate cases in state courts seeking to block the merger.

Kroger , based in Cincinnati, Ohio, operates 2,800 stores in 35 states, including brands like Ralphs , Smith’s and Harris Teeter. Albertsons , based in Boise, Idaho, operates 2,273 stores in 34 states, including brands like Safeway, Jewel Osco and Shaw’s. Together, the companies employ around 710,000 people.

GitHub Copilot competitor Codeium raises $150M at a $1.25B valuation

A startup whose product competes with GitHub Copilot and other AI-powered coding assistants has achieved unicorn status.

On Thursday, Codeium said it closed a $150 million Series C round led by General Catalyst that values the company at $1.25 billion post-money. The round, which also saw participation from existing investors Kleiner Perkins and Greenoaks, brings the company’s total funding raised to nearly a quarter-billion dollars ($243 million) a mere three years since its launch.

Codeium’s co-founder and CEO, Varun Mohan, told TechCrunch that Codeium hasn’t even touched the $65 million Series B tranche it raised in January yet. Back then, just eight months ago, Codeium was valued at half a billion dollars.

“Even though we’ve barely made a dent in our existing funding, we believe that this injection of capital will allow us to significantly ramp up R&D and growth while making even larger strategic bets,” he said.

Codeium was founded in 2021 by Mohan and his childhood friend and fellow MIT grad, Douglas Chen. Prior to Codeium, Chen was at Meta, where he helped to build software tools for VR headsets like the Oculus Quest. Mohan was a tech lead at Nuro, the autonomous delivery startup, responsible for managing the autonomy infrastructure team.

The startup began as a radically different company called Exafunction , focused on GPU optimization and virtualization for AI workloads. But in 2022, Mohan and Chen sensed a bigger opportunity in generative coding and decided to rebrand — and pivot.

“Despite the influx of generative AI tools, developers are still struggling with time-consuming coding tasks,” Mohan said. “Many of the AI-driven solutions provide generic code snippets that require significant manual work to integrate and secure within existing codebases. That’s where our AI coding assistance comes in.”

Codeium’s platform, powered by generative AI models trained on public code, serves up suggestions in the context of an app’s entire codebase. It supports around 70 programming languages and integrates with a number of popular development environments, including Microsoft Visual Studio and JetBrains.

To attract devs away from Copilot and other rivals, Codeium has released a generous free tier to start. The strategy seems to have worked: Today, the startup has more than 700,000 users and over 1,000 enterprise customers, including Anduril, Zillow and Dell.

Quentin Clark, managing director at General Catalyst, implied that Codeium won some of its larger contracts by embracing a steadfastly client-centric approach to product research.

“The team’s approach has always been to follow its customers, leading the company to build solutions on their terms — deployable in any environment and supporting more languages than anyone else,” Clark said in a statement. “What Codeium has created isn’t just a demo, an announcement, or an idea — this is a fully scaling business, with large enterprises adopting the product across their entire organizations.”

Businesses are often wary of exposing proprietary code to a third party — for instance, Apple reportedly banned staff from using Copilot last year, citing concerns about confidential data leakage. To attempt to allay such fears, Codeium began offering a self-hosted installation option alongside its standard software-as-a-service plan.

Companies can now deploy Codeium’s service on their own hardware if they wish. Or they can adopt a hybrid setup, keeping their data on their own devices while using Codeium’s servers for computing needs.

There’s always some risk involved in data transfers to the cloud, but Mohan claimed that Codeium leverages strong encryption. “We never train our proprietary generative autocomplete model on user data, never sell data and ensure all data transmission is encrypted,” he added.

Codeium has also taken steps to remove “non-permissively” licensed code (e.g., code under copyright) from the datasets it used to train its AI models. Some code-generating tools trained using restrictively licensed or copyrighted code have been shown to regurgitate that code when prompted in a certain way, posing a liability risk (i.e., developers that incorporate the code could be sued). Mohan said that’s not the case with Codeium, thanks to its training data prep and filtering approach.

“We also remove any remaining data that looks similar to code that is explicitly non-permissively licensed just in case other people copied code without providing the proper attribution and licensing,” he added. “On top of this, we have state-of-the-art, post-generation attribution filtering and logging in the case that these large probabilistic models produce code that is similar to public code, whether permissively or non-permissively licensed.”

But what about hallucinations ? Most AI coding tools are notorious for making stuff up, which can be quite destructive in an enterprise environment.

An analysis by developer tooling startup GitClear found that generative AI tools have resulted in  more mistaken code  being pushed to codebases over the past few years. And a Purdue study found that over half the answers that OpenAI’s  ChatGPT  gives to programming questions are incorrect. Security researchers have warned of the potential for such tools to  amplify existing bugs  in software.

A recent survey from cybersecurity firm Snyk found that nine in ten developers worry about the broader security implications of using AI coding platforms. But Mohan claimed that Codeium’s supposedly superior, deep context-rich tech yields more trustworthy results than most.

“Our context awareness engine is able to ground results in what is already existing in a user’s codebase, leading to suggestions with fewer hallucinations and more adherence to existing syntax, semantics and standards,” he said.

Whether benchmarks back that up or not, Codeium’s sales pitch seems to be resonating with the right execs: Revenue hit eight figures this year. Mohan said the 80-person, Mountain View-based startup plans to expand headcount to 120 by 2025 as it aims to make a bigger dent in a market with formidable competitors like Tabnine , Anysphere and Poolside .

Catching up to Copilot, which had over 1.8 million paying users as of April, probably isn’t in the cards for Codeium — at least not imminently. It doesn’t have to be. As Mohan rightly noted, given the widespread adoption of AI coding tools among developers (despite their reservations), even a small slice of the nascent segment is bound to be lucrative.

Polaris Research projects that the AI code tools market will be worth $27.17 billion by 2032.

“An overabundance of hype is a challenge the industry faces,” Mohan said. “This will make it harder for every company to truly convince end users that they are at the forefront of possibility. But we believe that truth-seeking and realistic AI companies like Codeium will eventually cut through this noise.”

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NASA picks SpaceX to bring home the American astronauts stuck in space. It's the latest blow to Boeing.

• Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will return to Earth on SpaceX's Crew Dragon.
• The astronauts have been stuck on the ISS since June due to issues with Boeing's Starliner.
• It's another blow to Boeing, which is competing with SpaceX to deliver NASA astronauts to space.

NASA has decided the lives of two astronauts stuck at the International Space Station will be in SpaceX's hands after weeks of intense deliberation and serious safety concerns.

The verdict means Boeing's Starliner spaceship will have to return to Earth empty, and the astronauts will have to stay on the ISS until 2025.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson made the announcement during a press conference on Saturday at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The two astronauts, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, have been on the ISS for 11 weeks. Their mission was originally supposed to last eight days.

The ordeal began when five of Starliner's 28 reaction control system thrusters failed as it traveled to the ISS in June. The spacecraft's helium system was also leaking.

Mission controllers have been working to resolve the issues and test the spacecraft ever since in the hopes that Boeing — and not someone else — could safely bring the astronauts home .

Related stories

NASA leadership held an internal meeting earlier on Saturday to review whether Williams and Wilmore could safely return to Earth on Boeing's Starliner spacecraft or if they should rely on SpaceX's Crew Dragon instead.

"I want you to know that Boeing has worked very hard with NASA to get the necessary data to make this decision," Nelson said. "We want to further understand the root causes and understand the design improvements so that the Boeing Starliner will serve as an important part of our assured crew access to the ISS."

Nelson said he spoke with Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg , who said the company would continue addressing issues with Starliner.

During a July press conference, a NASA official acknowledged that relying on SpaceX to retrieve the astronauts was an option but declined to provide details.

NASA confirmed its SpaceX backup plan this month and postponed the company's next launch to September 24. The delay allows Wilmore and Williams to fly home with a two-person SpaceX crew on its four-person spacecraft in February, about eight months later than their initial schedule.

The SpaceX plan isn't without risks.

Wilmore and Wiliams arrived at the ISS in spacesuits compatible with Boeing's Starliner — not the Crew Dragon spaceship. The scarcity of ports on the ISS, and some scheduling maneuvering, will mean that Starliner departs before the new Crew Dragon arrives with compatible SpaceX spacesuits for the duo. In the interim between Starliner's departure and the new Dragon's arrival, they'll be suit-less if there's an emergency that forces the ISS to evacuate .

This is possibly the biggest safety decision NASA has had to make in decades. The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, during which seven astronauts died, has weighed heavily on the minds of the Starliner mission managers, many of whom were involved in that failed flight, Ars Technica reported.

"I've been very hyper-focused lately on this concept of combating organizational silence. If you look at both, unfortunately, Challenger and Columbia, you can see cases where people had the right data or a valid position to put forward, but the environment just didn't allow it," Russ DeLoach, the chief of NASA's Office of Safety and Mission Assurance said in a briefing about the Starliner mission on August 14.

During Saturday's press conference, Nelson acknowledged that NASA has made mistakes in the past.

" Spaceflight is risky ," he said. "Even at its safest. Even at its most routine. A test flight, by nature, is neither safe nor routine. So, the decision to keep Butch and Suni aboard the International Space Station, and bring the Boeing Starliner home un-crewed, is a result of a commitment to safety."

NASA funneled $4.2 billion into Starliner's development. The contract is part of the agency's Commercial Crew Program , an effort to give NASA multiple US-based options for human spaceflight rather than depending on Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

The Starliner's original mission was to prove that it could safely ferry astronauts to and from the ISS regularly. Despite setbacks, NASA's comments on Saturday suggest that it plans to continue working with the company.

Both Boeing and SpaceX have spent a decade working with NASA on their Starliner and Crew Dragon vehicles, respectively.

NASA always insisted the program was not a competition or a race, but if it had been, SpaceX would've won by a landslide .

Not only did the company complete its first crewed test flight four years ago, as CEO Elon Musk pointed out ahead of Williams' and Wilmore's launch — it did it for cheaper, only costing NASA $2.6 billion.

After years of delays, technical issues, and rising costs, Wilmore's and Williams' flight was the last hurdle Boeing had to clear for NASA to certify Starliner for human spaceflight.

Correction: August 25, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misstated how Williams and Wilmore will return to Earth on SpaceX's Crew Dragon. The two astronauts will wear SpaceX spacesuits on their return trip.

Watch: Boeing's problems reach new heights with stranded astronauts

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