Competitive Analysis Market Trends NOT marketing trends Examples

Competitive Analysis & Market Trends (NOT "marketing" trends) Examples & Do's and Don'ts © 2004 D. J. Foreman 1

Competitive Analysis-1 • Shows what's different about each competitor – I. e. ; why people buy from business A instead of B • No relationship to YOUR business • Examples: – – – Worst: Bad: Better: Great: © 2004 D. J. Foreman Joe's Pizza (what about it? ? ? ) Joe's Pizza costs less (but is it good? ? ? ) Joe's Pizza is everywhere (availability) Joe's Pizza comes in 17 flavors (variety) Only Joe's has Hawaiian pizza (unique) 2

Competitive Analysis-2 • It's all about CHOICES – Why do consumers choose one business over another? – What makes it a better business? (Price is NOT the answer!!!!!) • • © 2004 D. J. Foreman Provable/proven quality unique merchandise location, size, access ambiance (décor, "in") 3

Analysis Do's & Don'ts • DO: – Show what's NEW about them – Show what's DIFFERENT about them compared to EVERYONE ELSE – Be VERY specific • DON'T: – Mention prices – Refer to the stock market – Refer to "trends" © 2004 D. J. Foreman 4

Market Trends-1 • CHANGE OVER TIME!!!! • Examples: – Number of outlets/franchises – number of customers – number of units sold • Not about ONE company • Measured at 2 or more times • Market Trends vs Marketing Trends © 2004 D. J. Foreman 5

Market Trends-2 • Shows change over time, not "current value" • Examples – Worst: pizza shop stock went (up/down) last year – Bad: Joe's Pizza had great sales this year – Bad: Joe's Pizza sold 1, 000 pizzas this year – Bad: Joe's Pizza sold 50% more this year – Good: Avg shop sold 30% more pizza than last year! – Better: # of pizza's sold was up 50%, 1990 -2002 – Great: 1990: 100 M pizzas sold, 2000: 200 M sold © 2004 D. J. Foreman 6

Market Trends-3 • Avoid : – Statements about prices, profits or stock value – Bragging: "the best/most experienced/biggest/most popular" etc. They are advertising, not market trends © 2004 D. J. Foreman 7

Market Trends-4 • words to look for: – % since, % next/previous year/decade, etc (note use of "%" over some TIME; MUST HAVE BOTH ("next"=BAD, "previous"=OK) – growth/grew/grown, up/down, increase/decline, etc – became, turned/turning into, etc – from … to, compared to • They are NOT conclusive evidence of a trend • READ and ANALYZE before using it!! © 2004 D. J. Foreman 8

Market Trends-5 • Beware the word: SALES • Does it mean number of items or dollars? ? ? – If items, say so and the URL better have it. – If dollars or unknown, DON'T USE IT!!!! • e. g. …had over 1, 000 in sales. Is it #items or dollars ? ? Can't tell, so skip it © 2004 D. J. Foreman 9

Market Trends-6 • 3 directions for a trend line – Up (could mean failures are increasing) – Down (could mean costs are decreasing) – Flat • ALL are VALID trends • A "good" trend depends on what you want. • Don't think a trend is "good" only if it's "up" (see bullet 1 above) © 2004 D. J. Foreman 10

Trend Do's & Don'ts • DO – emphasize change – emphasize time – refer to a whole industry – mention sales in units (# of items) • DON'T – mention prices or sales (in dollars) – refer to one company's statistics – use company commercials © 2004 D. J. Foreman 11