Competitive benchmarking_ how it can be used for market research

1. Competitive benchmarking: how it can be used for market research? Competitive benchmarking is the process of comparing the performance of your brand to that of your competitors and the overall market by using a certain set of metrics. In essence, it enables you to assess your position within your industry. With the help of this comparative study, your company can assess its overall performance, identify best practices that are going on in the industry, and develop a future strategy that will help you sustain a competitive advantage. The data you obtain from doing competitive benchmarking helps you to have a better understanding of how your company is doing in comparison to your competitors. This information will provide you with the capacity to set acceptable goals, discover possible areas for improvement, and compare your performance, not just to that of the industry standards but also to that of the competitors. It will help you identify the industry standards and determine whether your company is performing according to the industry standards or not.

2. Importance of Competitive Benchmarking Competitive benchmarking, according to Competitor Intelligence Report, can be used to achieve three primary goals: to improve strategies (business models), processes, and performance (outcomes). All of them work together to reduce inefficiencies and promote business expansion. Additionally, competitive benchmarking enables businesses to spot trends more quickly and adjust their goals accordingly. Results from benchmarking their competitors' products often serve as the driving force behind this. Competitive benchmarking also makes it easier to understand the strategies and processes of competitors. Good strategic benchmarking may inspire a company to radically alter its strategies in ways it has never imagined and position itself for success. Nevertheless, setting up and monitoring competitive benchmarking can take a lot of work, and the investment costs can also be high. However, the gained insights are often seen as being worth the time and money spent. Additionally, while competitive benchmarking is good, a firm must still place a higher priority on developing SMART objectives and putting those strategies into practice to differentiate itself from the competition. Competitive benchmarking, according to the Competitor Intelligence Report, is a crucial part of market research, and to gain maximum insights from this, the following approach can be followed to ensure you have covered all the areas of competitive study - 1. Defining competitive benchmark metrics 2. Choosing Competitors for benchmarking 3. Measuring Competitive benchmark metrics a. Growth benchmarks b. Ranking metrics c. Brand awareness d. Product and service performance Conclusion

3. Although competitive benchmarking is crucial for market research, however, conducting competitive benchmarking is just a foundation work that has been carried out to understand the industry. Doing an in-depth analysis of the results and drawing crucial insights from them will help you develop your future strategies and improve product offerings. Competitive benchmarking is not intended to conduct a thorough analysis of each competitor separately. Instead, it provides you with a broad overview of the competitive environment, enables you to compile information on competitors' strategies, industry trends, and best practices, and lets you compare their success over time with your own.