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Paying A "Visit" To Your Competitors
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While businesses usually guard their secrets closely, especially against their competitors, you can still gather important information by simply observing their operations. This can be especially useful if you plan to set up location-sensitive businesses such as retail shops and foodshops. |
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First
- Identify a list of competitors that are located near your intended premises.
- Focus on 1 or 2 competitors.
- Count how many customers walk into the shop and make notes on the customer profile e.g. are they families with kids, teenagers, young couples, students?
- Use this as a reference to get a sense of the demand for your business and your targeted customers.
Next
- Walk into the shop and observe:
- how customers browse the items
- what they purchase and how they make their choices
- the layout used to display items
- the average amount of the purchases
- how the items are priced
- If you manage to gather all this information, you might be able to estimate your competitors' revenue.
Finally
- Ask yourself:
- how do I get customers to buy from me instead of my competitors?
- what is my competitive advantage? Is it the price, convenience, or something else?
- do I offer value-added services or any loyalty schemes to reward repeat customers?
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