How do marketers identify and analyze competition?

Identifying Competitor

Category Membership: The products or sets of products with which a brand competes and which function as close substitutes.

Some examples

PepsiCo knows that Coca-Cola’s Dasani is a major bottled-water competitor for its Aquafina brand

Some examples

Citigroup knows that Bank of America is a major banking competitor.

Petsmart.com knows a major online retail competitor for pet food and supplies is Petco.com

Some examples

Competitors can be examined from two points of view

•Industry: Products that are close substitute for one another

•Market: Companies that satisfy same customer needs

Analyzing Competitors

A company needs to gather information about each competitor’s strengths and

weaknesses

Once the company has identified its

main competitors

and their strategies, it

must ask:

• What is each competitor seeking in the maketplace?

•What drives each competitor’s behaviour?

Summary•Identifying Competitor•Two points of view for defining competitors•Analyzing Competitors•Inspect role of main competitors