Identify competitors

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The first step is to identify your direct, indirect and substitute competitors. This can be done through online research, industry reports and also by collecting customer feedback. Don’t be intimidated by the number of competitors. You need to choose those that are interesting due to their market share, customer feedback, pricing, product features.

Example: A cafe specializing in vegan dishes defines their direct competitors as other vegan cafes in the city. They also identify indirect competitors, including local supermarkets that offer vegan ready meals.

Finding substitute competitors can be more challenging as they are not estonia consumer email list always obvious and can come from completely different industries, offering alternative solutions to meet the same customer needs. To identify substitute competitors, you can use some frameworks such as: JBTD or Porter’s Five Forces Analysis etc. (we will talk about them later)

Example: Let’s say you run a chain of cinemas. Your direct competitors will be other movie theaters, and your indirect competitors will be rental and physical movie sales services. Substitute competitors may include streaming services such as Netflix or Amazon Prime that offer movies and TV shows online, as well as video games and virtual reality that also offer entertainment and can satisfy the need for leisure.

By analyzing these alternatives using the above frameworks, you can develop strategies to strengthen your competitive advantage and offer unique value.