How to find out who your competition is
Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2024 6:15 am
Knowing who your competitors are and where they are is an obligation that you must take into account from the first moment you decide to set up a company. When you develop your business idea, you should start studying where your competition is.
It is a very common mistake among first-time entrepreneurs to think that their idea is so revolutionary that there are no competitors in the market where they are going to establish themselves. This is almost never the case, and this mistake can be very serious if you keep this as a premise when writing your Business Plan.
There are two large groups of competitors when you enter a market sector:
Those who offer the same product or service as you or an equivalent one.
Those who offer a different but substitute product or service.
When you write your business plan, remember that you must include a market study. It is in this study that you must investigate the needs of your public and how the competition is providing solutions to them:
You should talk to your potential customers, they will be telecommunications email list your first source of information to find out who your competitors are. You can also put yourself in your customers' shoes and look for who can answer your needs, in the press, specialized guides, the Internet and as many sources as are available, such as professional colleges and associations in the sector.
Also talk to your future suppliers and distributors to continue analyzing the sector and detecting competitors.
In your industry analysis, it is as important to identify current competitors as it is to identify future ones. This means that there are companies that do not currently compete in your industry, but for whom it may be easy to make a change in their production line and become new players.
It is also possible that other startups like yours want to enter the same sector and compete. This is especially true in emerging sectors, where there are few barriers to entry.
Barriers to entry in the sector are a good tool to measure the possibility of having new competitors in the future. These barriers can range from suppliers that serve only one of the competitors to limited distribution channels, shortage of raw materials, etc.
Therefore, your own competitive advantages are very important to take a good position in the sector and prevent your competitors from damaging your bottom line.
It is a very common mistake among first-time entrepreneurs to think that their idea is so revolutionary that there are no competitors in the market where they are going to establish themselves. This is almost never the case, and this mistake can be very serious if you keep this as a premise when writing your Business Plan.
There are two large groups of competitors when you enter a market sector:
Those who offer the same product or service as you or an equivalent one.
Those who offer a different but substitute product or service.
When you write your business plan, remember that you must include a market study. It is in this study that you must investigate the needs of your public and how the competition is providing solutions to them:
You should talk to your potential customers, they will be telecommunications email list your first source of information to find out who your competitors are. You can also put yourself in your customers' shoes and look for who can answer your needs, in the press, specialized guides, the Internet and as many sources as are available, such as professional colleges and associations in the sector.
Also talk to your future suppliers and distributors to continue analyzing the sector and detecting competitors.
In your industry analysis, it is as important to identify current competitors as it is to identify future ones. This means that there are companies that do not currently compete in your industry, but for whom it may be easy to make a change in their production line and become new players.
It is also possible that other startups like yours want to enter the same sector and compete. This is especially true in emerging sectors, where there are few barriers to entry.
Barriers to entry in the sector are a good tool to measure the possibility of having new competitors in the future. These barriers can range from suppliers that serve only one of the competitors to limited distribution channels, shortage of raw materials, etc.
Therefore, your own competitive advantages are very important to take a good position in the sector and prevent your competitors from damaging your bottom line.