What variables should you use to monitor your competition?

25/07/2019

Angela de la Vieja

Monitoring your competitors is already one of the fundamental pillars when preparing any online sales strategy. Within the research phase, both in online stores and marketplaces, there are several factors that must be taken into account, but above all, there are certain elements that we cannot forget if we want to obtain reliable and representative results from competitor monitoring.

Competitor monitoring should be a continuous, regular, exercise that simplifies the investigation of each online player and returns highly detailed information for each of them. The objective is, with as few steps as possible and relatively minimal effort, that an online seller can be aware of the actions and modifications carried out by their competition.

When carrying out competitor monitoring it is essential to take into consideration two essential steps: correctly identify your competitors and select the variables needed for studying the competition.

Once the benchmarking of the online store is completed, the first thing that must be taken into account is what online competitors really are out there. What does this mean? That from among all the possible contenders you will have to differentiate the real competitors that, while operating in similar markets with the same (or a similar) range of products or any other common feature, do not pose a danger to the online store for any other reason: target audience profile, micro-sector being addressed, level of band perception by the public, etc.

Regarding what variables to use when monitoring the competition, it is essential to previously detail the data we want to collect, that which is necessary to compile reports that will allow us to better know our competitors. The ideal methodology is to establish a template in which as many fields as are required are added, along with a list of possible results that can be included in each one. In fact, this is the way in which the experts and the competitors monitoring tools make their periodic reports.

So, what elements should be taken into account in any competitor analysis? Let's review the different factors and variables that must be perfectly identified to successfully monitor the online competition.

Price monitoring. This is one of the essential aspects in competitor analysis. Knowing what type of pricing strategy is being carried out is essential to optimise sales for an online store at crucial moments in the market. Thus, when monitoring your competitors' prices, it will be necessary to record price variations for each product, the moment in time when they occur, how often, and, to what degree. This will be key to extrapolating the correct conclusions about the price elasticity of each competitor based on supply and demand in the market as a whole.
Catalogue analysis. Knowing at all times what products enter and leave the competition’s catalogues is essential to foresee both future launches and possible actions among the rest of products that accompany these new additions. Also, items such as the categorisation of products, their presentation and the variety of options in terms of models, forms and prices offered by each competitor will also appear.
Analysis of supply and stocking. Finally, as far as possible, we will always bet on the study of the relationship between the availability of competitors products and the level of supply and demand, for each, at every moment within the market. This information, together with the price monitoring, is really valuable for any online store, since you can have more in-depth knowledge about the profit margins within your competition, or understand what risks they assume at certain sales peaks along with their price fluctuations.

Setting-up a template with these necessary elements for competition monitoring is a resource available to all online businesses that, without a doubt, can make a huge difference when making a complete market analysis. The automation of this procedure is also a great help because with a monitoring tool it is possible to collect, categorise and filter a huge amount of data which would be practically impossible to manually manage frequently otherwise.

11/11/2022

Consumer behavior: How can behavior tracking be effective for setting the right pricing strategies?

Behavior tracking is becoming massively popular today. As a result, pricing strategies born from studying consumer behavior are a merchant's dream come true. If done right, it can conquer every market for the business quickly. With abundant data available, the strategic makeover of the pricing models is becoming easy for companies.

What is behavioral tracking, and how is the data beneficial in pricing?

For a quick understanding, behavioral tracking refers to gaining in-depth knowledge and insights into consumers through their web data. Their browsing habits, spontaneous decisions, shopping interests, and preferences come under behavioral tracking.

How can enterprises use customer behavior data?

Companies can use customer behavior data as a tool to strengthen their hold on the market. A customer’s preferences, values, and tendencies allow businesses to work in sync with them through the collected data. Apart from this, customer behavior can also aid in:

Tailoring customer needs for customer retention

Personalization is becoming the heart of a company’s growth. No matter in which area an enterprise is functioning, tailoring the services, products, and solutions is becoming increasingly crucial. Uniqueness and personalization attract the crowd like no other.

Increasing the overall value

One of the best ways customer behavior data affects a business is by upgrading the value of customers for the business. The customer’s characteristics allow the company to target the people that match the business prospects well.

Optimizing every type of content

Everything that is up for digital display requires content. You must have seen companies unveiling their products or services through advertisements and making the initial public appearance. Two essential sales strategies – upselling and cross-selling comes through content optimization.

Pricing Strategy

Last but certainly not least is the influence of customer behavior data on the pricing strategy. The pricing strategy essentially constitutes content derived from data analysis. Companies need to have a dynamic approach to the pricing system to attract the right customers.

17/02/2015

Saint Valentine’s Day, always a good opportunity

V-Day is looming, a long-awaited date for all and also a good occasion for the eCommerce. According the study conducted by Prosper Insights and Analytics, it is forecasted the average consumer expense that day will be the highest in last years. Furthermore, 25% of them will buy online, which means an increase of 4% regarding 2014 (The US department of Commerce). This is, therefore, a key date where market competitiveness increase and which could be assumed as a big opportunity for our business or, a big fail if we do not adopt the correct strategies.

How to turn this event into an opportunity? To achieve this goal, we need to adapt our prices to this hostile environment, i.e. we need to develop an appropriate Dynamic Pricing strategy that allows us to adapt our prices to the variations produced in supply and demand and to position us ahead of our competitors. In V-Day, the frequency in changes will be higher, carrying it out each hour or even each minute. It is estimated that 65% of leader retailers have the ability to respond quickly at these variations, such Amazon. For this reason, it acquires great importance the correct use of a software specialised in price motorisation of competitors. Do not miss the time and adapt your business to new adversities.

28/12/2022

Which are the best footwear marketplaces to sell on?

Footwear marketplaces are booming. The last decade has seen the launch of new specialized marketplaces with millions of different users. Among them are Spartoo, Sarenza and Farfetch, portals with international reach. Their main value is that they unite hundreds of footwear brands, as well as offering clothes and accessories. Although each has its own characteristics, they are all vertical marketplaces, i.e., they focus on a specific area, and their sales categories are interrelated. For sellers, these portals provide an opportunity to expand sales channels and drive the globalization of their e-commerce business. We explain how to sell on these footwear marketplaces so that you can assess whether they align with your plans for the future and then start defining a possible pricing strategy.