Different companies in the same market are competing for sales with you. You should familiarize yourself with your competition so you can always stay one step ahead of them. How I can do this as a manager is through competitor analysis. Competitor analysis in marketing and strategic management is an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of current and potential competitors. This analysis provides both an offensive and defensive strategic context to identify opportunities and threats. Through competitor analysis, I will be more educated about the strengths and weaknesses of my competitors and this in turn will give me the upper hand in the market because I can take their weaknesses into account and start to use it to my advantage. .
Say, for example, that I work for H&M, my competitors would be other fashion retailers such as Abercrombie and Fitch (A&F) and so on and so forth. There was a controversy at one point where the CEO of A&F, Michael Jeffries had indicated that he only wanted good-looking people wearing his clothing. In a 2006 interview with Salon, Jeffries himself said that his business was built around sex appeal. .
A&F also does not sell XL or XXL sizes for large women, despite offering them for men. It also doesn't offer above a size 10 in women's pants. CEO Mike Jeffries "doesn't want larger people shopping in his store, he wants thin and beautiful people," retail analyst Robin Lewis told Business Insider. .
After Business Insider's coverage highlighted the brand's exclusion of this group, the company faced a storm of public backlash and their sales have been reclining ever since. If I were a competitor to A&F, I would take advantage of Jeffries' blatant PR catastrophe by making a subtle emphasis in my advertisements that my clothing brand caters to people of all shapes and sizes. .
Indirect.
For indirect actions, we shall be looking at the following factors:.
1) Technological variables.
