Did you know your competitive matrix can steer you towards the right pricing, assortment planning and more?
A lot of people think they’re alone. They have no competition and their customers aren’t looking anywhere else. But that can’t be farther from the truth. You’re always competing for consumers’ dollars, because they only have so much to spend. That’s why it’s important to develop a competitive matrix. It’s your tool for getting a clear idea of where else your shoppers may turn to, and where and how your brand stands amongst the competition.
Build Your Competitive Matrix
Make sure the brands on your list have an aesthetic or lifestyle that is selling to your ideal customer. Your customer has purchasing power. Which brands are earning their dollars?
Maybe no one comes to mind. That’s fine. You’ll approach your matrix from a different direction. Hop online, visit e-commerce stores where you think your customers shop, and start exploring to see what other brands are out there.
Enter their average price points (for skirts, for dresses, for tops, etc.), distribution info. (e-commerce, wholesale…) and product categories into a simple spreadsheet. The categories show the breadth of their assortment so you can leave with better insights on what your market actually looks like.
In addition to competitors selling similar products, look at brand adjacencies. These are the brands selling different products to your customers. For example, you sell sneakers, and your customer buys handbags from Cuyana and clothes from Everlane. Now you can study up on their marketing too. Find out how people are talking to your customer. What strategies are they using? What are they doing that you’d like to avoid? What’s great and can be used in your own strategies?
Just be realistic. Don’t get stressed, thinking you need to surpass the likes of Ralph Lauren. A brand may have the same target customer as you, but if they’ve been around for 20 years, you’re probably not competing for their market share.
Leverage It to the Fullest
Now that you know what your competitive space looks like, here’s what you can do.
- Develop price point ranges and understand where your pricing needs to be. You do know you should never price based on cost, right?
- Analyze your competitive matrix to develop a list of potential wholesale clients.
- Use the information to help you with your social media strategy, assortment planning, discovering where your competition produces and more.
- Improve product offerings, outdoing other brands with considerations like fabric and fit.
Your competitive matrix will always be useful. Check in with it from time to time, updating as new brands pop up in the market, product categories are introduced and new price strategies are put into place. It’s going to be your quick and easy guide to stay on top of what’s happening with competitors, customers and the market at large.
Dive deeper into perfecting your pricing strategy with your free download: “How to Price Your Product”.
Going from concept to launch can feel like a daunting task- especially the first time around! So what’s the good news? You don’t need to do it on your own. Turn to the Scaling Retail team for expert guidance and execution for everything from market entry strategy and pricing to assortment planning and OTB strategy. We’d love to hear your needs! Call us for a 30 minute consultation call at 310-957-5264 or send an email to hello@scalingretail.com.