How do you use competitive intelligence to anticipate and respond to your competitors' moves and actions?

1 Define your objectives

Before you start collecting and analyzing data, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve with CI. What are your specific questions, goals, and scenarios? For example, do you want to know how your competitors are pricing their products, what features they are adding or removing, how they are marketing and distributing their products, or how they are dealing with customer feedback and complaints? Depending on your objectives, you will need different sources, methods, and tools for CI.

2 Collect relevant data

Once you have defined your objectives, you need to find and gather data that can answer your questions and support your goals. There are many sources of data for CI, such as websites, social media, reviews, forums, blogs, news, reports, surveys, interviews, and more. However, not all data is equally reliable, relevant, and useful. You need to evaluate the quality, accuracy, and timeliness of the data, and avoid any ethical or legal issues. You also need to organize and store the data in a way that makes it easy to access and update.

3 Analyze and interpret data

After you have collected the data, you need to make sense of it and turn it into actionable insights. You need to use various techniques and tools to analyze and interpret the data, such as SWOT analysis, Porter's five forces analysis, benchmarking, gap analysis, scenario planning, and more. You need to look for patterns, trends, gaps, opportunities, and threats in the data, and compare them with your own performance, capabilities, and goals. You also need to communicate your findings and recommendations clearly and effectively to your stakeholders.

4 Anticipate and respond to moves and actions

The final step of CI is to use the insights you have gained to anticipate and respond to your competitors' moves and actions. You need to monitor the market and your competitors regularly, and update your data and analysis accordingly. You also need to develop and implement strategies and tactics that can help you gain or maintain a competitive advantage, or mitigate or avoid potential risks. For example, you can adjust your pricing, features, marketing, distribution, or customer service based on your competitors' actions. You can also innovate, differentiate, or collaborate with your competitors to create value for your customers.

5 Examples of CI in action

To illustrate how CI can help you anticipate and respond to your competitors' moves and actions, here are some examples from different industries and contexts. For instance, a software company used CI to identify a new competitor that was offering a similar product at a lower price. They analyzed the competitor's product features, pricing, marketing, and customer reviews to determine their advantages and weaknesses. Consequently, they decided to highlight their own strengths in security and scalability in their marketing campaigns, as well as improving their user interface and customer service to match the competitor's level. A restaurant chain used CI to monitor the trends and preferences of their customers and competitors, noticing some of their competitors introducing new menu items that catered to health-conscious and vegetarian customers. Through surveys and interviews with their own customers, they found out that they were interested in more healthy and diverse options. As a result, they added some new dishes that met these criteria, promoting them on their website and social media platforms. Finally, a fashion retailer used CI to forecast the demand and supply of their products and competitors. They tracked the sales, inventory, and prices of their competitors, as well as the seasonal and regional variations in consumer behavior and preferences. Additionally, they used social media and online platforms to identify emerging styles and influencers in their target market. All this information enabled them to optimize their product assortment, pricing, and promotions while also spotting new opportunities and niches.