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Conceptual framework for monitoring the competitive environment. Analysis of competitors, methods of monitoring activities in a competitive environment Monitoring of competitors tools stages of direction

As a manuscript

Maksimova Marianna Igorevna

enhancementeefficiency
monitoring competitors
vmarketingooactivities
tradecenters

Specialty 08.00.05– Economics and Management
national economy (marketing)

Krasnodar

Dissertation work performed at the Department of Marketing
FSBEI HPE "Kuban State University"

The defense will take place on March 2, 2012 at __ o'clock at a meeting of the dissertation council D 212.101.13 on economic specialties at the Kuban State University at the address: 350040, Krasnodar, st. Stavropolskaya, 149, room. 231.

The dissertation can be found in the scientific library of the Kuban state university at the address: 350040, Krasnodar, st. Stavropolskaya, 149, reading room.

Scientific Secretary

dissertation council

Dr. econ. Sciences, Professor G.G. Vukovic

1. GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF WORK

Relevance of the research topic due to the need to constantly take into account the factor of competition in the development and implementation of the marketing strategy of shopping centers in a competitive market. Competition from the point of view of shopping centers can be viewed as a process of development, implementation, obsolescence of innovations, which requires full mobilization of competitive potential, continuous full-fledged monitoring support marketing activities, making specific management decisions in conditions of risk and uncertainty, which can be studied and reduced when applying modern methods and tools for monitoring competitors, introducing relevant information models and systems that ensure the implementation of the principles of consistency, complexity and orderliness in the implementation of the information function of marketing of modern enterprises various industries and areas of activity.

Competitor monitoring serves as the starting point for the development and implementation of the competitive strategy of any subject of competition, regardless of its size, location, management concept, goals and objectives of the activity. At the same time, the organizational and economic support of monitoring activities in terms of monitoring competitors is today insufficient to increase the efficiency of its practical implementation as part of the marketing activities of modern enterprises. The existing methodological approaches to organizing the monitoring of competitors do not take into account the specifics of developing and implementing a marketing strategy in a competitive environment, are characterized by excessive generality and lack of specificity.

A separate area of scientific research is the development and implementation of specialized monitoring and information models and corporate-level systems that make it possible to increase the effectiveness of marketing support for competitive activity, its effectiveness and, ultimately, the economic efficiency of enterprises in a competitive environment. These circumstances determine the relevance of the chosen topic of the dissertation research.

The degree of elaboration of the scientific problem. The works of V.D. Andrianova, G.L. Azoeva, V.V. Glukhova, I.B. Gurkova, A.V. Ishkhanova, G.V. Kulikova, O. V. Mikhailova, Yu.B. Rubin, S.G. Svetunkova, R.A. Fatkhutdinova, A. Yu. Yudanov. The issues of enterprise management in an aggressive competitive environment are considered in the works of N.A. Ovcharenko, A.A. Orlova, S.S. Sulakshina, K. Yu. Totyeva, N.E. Fonareva, A. Shastitko, V.I. Yakunin. Selected aspects the organization of monitoring competitors in the marketing activities of the enterprise are covered in the works of G.L. Bagieva, A.A. Gavrilova, B.I. Gerasimov, V.P. Zinchenko, S. Kiseleva, E.I. Mazilkina, M.O. Manvelyan, T.G. Panichkina, Yu.D. Panova, N.R. Romacheva, V.M. Tarasevich. The peculiarities of using information models in the practice of marketing activities of an enterprise are considered in the works of A.V. Berezkina, N.N. Mozgova, I. Yu. Nezhdanova, S. Nishcheva, N.A. Savelyeva.

Among foreign researchers in the development and implementation of a marketing strategy in a competitive environment, it should be noted D. Aaker, P. Doyle, M. Porter, M. Sakakibar, H. Takeuchi, F.A. Hayek. The works of J. Robinson, E. Chamberlain are devoted to the development of a structural approach to the problems of competition, the works of J. Schumpeter are devoted to the development of an innovative approach.

At the same time, issues of organizational and economic support for monitoring competitors remain little-studied areas of scientific knowledge in terms of monitoring competitors, first of all, a meaningful classification of its goals and corresponding directions. marketing research, its features in the conditions of markets of different levels of competition, assessment of the information efficiency of monitoring competitors and its improvement based on the development and implementation of specialized information models integrated into corporate marketing information systems. All of the above made it possible to formulate the goals and objectives of this dissertation work.

The purpose of the dissertation research- theoretical substantiation and development of methodological support for monitoring competitors in the activities of modern shopping centers, aimed at increasing the efficiency of marketing activities of enterprises in the field of retail trade.

The realization of this goal led to the formulation and solution of the following tasks:

analyze and critically summarize the theoretical foundations of competitors in the marketing activities of the enterprise;
summarize existing methods and approaches to monitoring, analysis and assessment of competitors' activities in marketing and characterize their effectiveness;
develop and test the author's approach to improving the organizational and economic support for monitoring competitors in the marketing activities of the enterprise;
substantiate the author's concept of information efficiency of monitoring competitors in the marketing activities of shopping centers;
to identify the dynamics, factors and trends in the development of the retail trade in Russia and the Krasnodar Territory, to conduct a marketing study of the competitive positions of shopping centers in Krasnodar;
to propose specific ways to improve the efficiency of monitoring competitors in the marketing activities of shopping centers through the development and implementation of specialized information and monitoring models.

Compliance of the topic of the dissertation with the requirements of the Passport of Specialties of the Higher Attestation Commission (in economic sciences). The study was carried out within the framework of the specialty 08.00.05 - Economics and management of the national economy: marketing, p. 9.8 “Assessment of competitors' activities, its use in the company's marketing policy; benchmarking "Passports of specialties of the Higher Attestation Commission of the Ministry of Education and Science Russian Federation(economic sciences).

Object of study- shopping centers in Krasnodar, belonging to the segment of large trade enterprises, providing a significant volume of goods turnover in the structure of regional trade.

Subject of study – economic relations arising in the course of the marketing activities of shopping centers in a competitive market.

Theoretical and methodological base of the research served as legislative acts of the Russian Federation, scientific works of domestic and foreign researchers devoted to the problems of monitoring competitors in the marketing activities of shopping centers. The work used the laws of the Russian Federation, regulatory documents of state economic management bodies, documents of individual enterprises, materials from special periodicals, educational literature. The methodological basis of the research was formed by general scientific methods of retrospective, system-functional, comparative analysis, as well as methods of marketing research, marketing modeling and forecasting, scenario economic and mathematical calculations, economic and statistical methods of collecting and processing information.

Information and empirical research base presented by empirical and analytical materials of shopping centers in Krasnodar, statistical data from Rosstat, the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Industry and Trade on the specifics of organizing monitoring of competitors in the field of trade in the Russian economy, materials of public accounting and internal reporting of shopping centers in Krasnodar.

Dissertation research hypothesis consists in the assumption that there are reserves for the growth of information and economic efficiency marketing activities of a trading enterprise through a continuous systematic and systematic study of the characteristics of competitors' activities with subsequent analysis of its results, copying successful competitive innovations, forecasting the competitive environment and adapting its own marketing strategy to it.

Theses of the dissertation submitted for defense

1. The main trend in the development of competition between trading enterprises, primarily modern formats(shopping centers), is its aggravation due to the commissioning of a significant number of retail space and facilities that are not coordinated with each other within the framework of the development strategy of Krasnodar. At the same time, the level of provision of retail space per capita in the city exceeds the average Russian indicator by almost two times, the number of shopping centers exceeds the objective need for them, which negatively affects the competitiveness and financial results of work.

2. Information efficiency monitoring of competitors is determined by the ratio of the number and scale of competitive innovations identified and implemented over a specific period. At the same time, the strategic direction of increasing the efficiency of monitoring competitors in the marketing activities of shopping centers is the introduction of specialized information monitoring models that allow to implement the business process of monitoring competitors on an ongoing basis, involving all employees of the enterprise, representatives of key contact audiences of the shopping center, using information resources of the Internet.

3. Monitoring of competitors serves as the initial stage in the development or adjustment of the business strategy of an enterprise in that part of it, which concerns activities in markets with a high level of competition. In a specific management situation, the developers of the competitive strategy form a set of data necessary for forecasting the activities of competitors, which can be differentiated in three main directions that determine the specifics research activities in the field of competitor monitoring: research of ongoing competitive activity, research of the competitive potential and resource base of competitors, research of competitive plans (ideas).

4. Formalized description of the business process "Monitoring of competitors" involves the allocation of three levels of participants in the business process (enterprise management, the head of the monitoring project, monitoring project specialists), which implement step by step actions that ensure the qualitative achievement of the goals of initiating a business process. The difference between the Competitor Monitoring business process and the complex of specialized marketing research carried out at the same time consists in the increased information efficiency achieved by the continuous implementation of monitoring procedures.

5. The proposed specialized information model, which provides a study of the competitive activity of shopping centers, has an information base of shopping centers as a basis. At the same time, the essence of the information model consists in the introduction of specific information attributes that make it possible to systematize and further process and use monitoring data, turning them into an up-to-date information product. The model includes the attributes of functional areas for monitoring competitive activity, competitive potential and competitive plans (plans), the use of which allows accumulating specific data about a competitor in a competitive dossier, taking them into account when developing and implementing one's own competitive strategy, adjusting marketing policy in accordance with experience and mistakes in marketing activities of shopping centers - competitors.

Scientific novelty of research results consists in substantiating the conceptual idea of the development of marketing activities of trade enterprises on the basis of increasing the efficiency of monitoring competitors in the context of increasing competition in the field of modern retail formats. The specific increment in scientific knowledge is as follows:

the content of the main trends in monitoring activities in relation to competitors has been expanded by highlighting and justifying the directions of competitive activity, competitive potential and competitive ideas, which makes it possible to clarify the structure and directions of monitoring activities, increase their focus and effectiveness;
organizational and economic support for monitoring competitors was added by introducing the term “competitive intention” into scientific circulation, meaning actions aimed at capturing competitive initiative, which allows to highlight a new direction of monitoring competitors in the marketing activities of an enterprise, to substantiate its goals, objectives and methods;
the methodological apparatus of monitoring activities was diversified due to the formalized description of the business process "Monitoring of competitors", which allows to ensure the continuous implementation of the research function of marketing activities in relation to competitors at enterprises of modern retail formats;
the composition of methods for specialized marketing research of competition has been expanded due to the methodology for assessing the competitive positions of shopping centers using the method of expert ranking of characteristics of the attractiveness of a shopping center, which makes it possible to increase the level of objectivity in assessing their competitive activity by combining quantitative and qualitative methods assessments;
an original approach to information modeling of competitive processes is proposed through the development and testing of a specialized information model for monitoring the competitive activity of shopping centers, which makes it possible to increase the efficiency of monitoring activities as part of the implementation of the marketing strategy of trading enterprises of modern formats.

The theoretical and practical significance of the dissertation work. The theoretical significance of the dissertation work is to improve the organizational and economic support for monitoring competitors in the marketing activities of an enterprise in a competitive market, providing for the structuring of the main directions of monitoring, goals, tasks and monitoring methods, the development and testing of an information model for monitoring competitors of shopping centers, as well as in the proposal and implementation the author's methodology for specialized marketing research aimed at expanding the composition of methods for assessing competitiveness.

The developed tools for organizing and monitoring competitors can significantly intensify the marketing activities of an enterprise in a competitive environment by assessing the implementation of the competitive strategy of the enterprise and its competitors, assessing the importance of competitive advantages, adjusting the marketing activities of shopping centers on this basis in strategic and tactical aspects.

Of practical importance is the study of the patterns of development of competition processes in the field of modern trade formats in Krasnodar, which makes it possible to characterize the features of the use of marketing tools in competition, to propose measures to improve the monitoring of competitors with the calculation of the economic effect of their implementation.

The results, conclusions and proposals obtained in the course of the dissertation research can be used by specialists from the central office and regional bodies of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Competition Development Department of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation and regional government bodies, industry associations, trade enterprises, regional government structures as a basis for the development and implementation of monitoring systems. providing the accumulation and the possibility of using marketing information in the strategic management of the development of individual segments of trade in Russia and the Krasnodar Territory.

The main provisions of the dissertation can be used in the educational process in the preparation of specialists in the field of marketing, marketing research, competition, trade economics, trade marketing.

Approbation of research results... The main results and provisions of the dissertation research are published in collections scientific papers, scientific journals recommended by the Higher Attestation Commission. Based on the dissertation materials, 16 scientific works, including 6 articles from the list of the Higher Attestation Commission. The total volume of publications on the topic of the dissertation is 21.5 pp. (ed. - 6.2 pp.).

Structure and scope of work determined by the logic of the research, its goals and objectives. The thesis consists of an introduction, three chapters, including eight paragraphs, a conclusion, a list of references (178 sources). The work contains 27 tables and 25 figures.

2. BASIC CONTENT OF WORK

In the introduction, the relevance of the topic of the dissertation research is substantiated, the goal, objectives, object and subject of research are determined, the theoretical and methodological foundations of the study of a scientific problem are given, the degree of its elaboration is analyzed, the hypothesis of scientific research, scientific novelty and practical significance of the dissertation work are presented, the provisions put forward for protection.

In the first chapter “ Theoretical basis assessing the activities of competitors as part of the marketing activities of an enterprise "the place of competition in the system of factors of the marketing activities of an enterprise is considered, modern approaches to its study are characterized, the role and importance of monitoring competitors in the marketing activities of an enterprise is indicated, an author's approach to the organizational and economic support of monitoring competitors in marketing activities is proposed enterprises. Competitor monitoring acts as a backbone element of the corporate business model, ensuring that the factor of competition is taken into account in the development strategy of an enterprise. In order to characterize the scientific and theoretical basis for monitoring competitors, we will consider its aspects that are relevant for science and practice. So, competitor monitoring is:

an effective tool for competitive struggle that allows you to obtain and maintain a competitive advantage in the volume and quality of information necessary for making managerial decisions in a competitive struggle;
a specialized marketing business process, which implies the development and implementation of a certain sequence of actions within the organizational structure of marketing at the enterprise;
the direction of marketing research functions, which implies a combination of methods of fair and unfair research activities, which allow obtaining information about competitors necessary for conducting a competitive struggle.

The competitive environment of the enterprise from the point of view of marketing is characterized by a number of features (Fig. 1). The need for comprehensive monitoring of competitors is highly differentiated depending on the level of competition in a particular market. By the level of competition, we mean the dynamics of the number and volume of competitive transactions in the total volume of the market (this approach was proposed and tested by N.A. Ovcharenko). The greater the market share and volume of competitive transactions, the more resources enterprises are forced to spend on competition. At the same time, the enterprise faces a dilemma: either the development and implementation of an active competitive strategy, its implementation and subsequent strengthening in the market and ousting competitors, or (if the enterprise cannot maintain the required level of competitive innovations) ousting from the market.

At the same time, the essence of the competitive struggle consists of three strategic directions:

the study of the consumer and the satisfaction of his needs and requirements on the basis of the marketing orientation of the enterprise management system;
forecasting the dynamics of the development of the competitive environment in order to find and realize competitive advantages;
research and forecasting of the competitive strategy of competitors, study of their strengths and weaknesses, development and implementation of counter-competitive measures.

By a competitive concept, we propose to understand a plan of actions that can lead to the seizure of a competitive initiative in a specific market for goods and services.

Competitive initiative is expressed in the possibility of constant competitive pressure on competitors in order to increase their costs of competing and push them out of the market. Sequencing competitive designs is an active competitive strategy. An example of a competitive design can be the introduction of a new product / brand to the market, a new enterprise entering the market, discrediting a competitor, a radical change in the format of a business model, the introduction of competitive innovations in the marketing mix, etc.

Rice. 1. Variants of enterprise behavior in a competitive environment
(authoring)

We interpret competitive innovation as the introduction of an innovation that provides a competitive advantage in a specific market. This definition develops the approach of “Schumpeterian competition” (founders J. Schumpeter, J. Gelbraith), according to which the organizing and stimulating principle in the capitalist economy is not price reduction, but the threat of innovations from potential competitors.

Competitive innovation is a special case of innovation in general, it is the application of innovation to a specific market and its commercialization, implemented by a specific enterprise in the course of competition. Moreover, in Russian economy a whole layer appears innovative development related to the diffusion of innovations at the international level (international markets - Russian market) and regional (market of federal centers - markets of regions).

Unlike an active competitive strategy in a weakly competitive or monopoly market, enterprises do not need to actively compete and spend resources on relevant business processes, including monitoring competitors. Competitive struggle in this case is reduced either to passively following competitors and copying their competitive innovations, or to fragmentary attempts to conduct a competitive struggle.

In the absence of the function of monitoring competitors in marketing activities in highly competitive markets, an enterprise increases the level of uncertainty regarding the implementation of a competitive strategy, since saving resources in the study of competitors is fraught with the repetition of typical mistakes in the business model and typical market situations, as well as a decrease in the rate of competitive innovation and subsequent displacement from market due to the outstripping growth of competitors' competitiveness.

The essence and importance of monitoring competitors in the development and implementation of the competitive strategy of an enterprise is reflected in Fig. 2. Monitoring competitors is the initial stage in the development or adjustment of the business strategy of the enterprise in that part of it, which relates to activities in highly competitive markets (ie competitive strategy). At the same time, in a specific management situation, the developers of a competitive strategy form a set of data necessary for forecasting the activities of competitors, which can be differentiated in three main directions that determine the specifics of research activities in terms of monitoring competitors: research of ongoing competitive activity, research of the competitive potential and resource base of competitors, research competitive designs.

Rice. 2. The essence and main directions of monitoring competitors in the development
and implementation of the competitive strategy of the enterprise (authoring)

The above differentiation of research activities in relation to monitoring competitors allows you to clearly distinguish between the required data in relation to competitors' activities and to select appropriate marketing research methods that will sufficiently reduce the uncertainty of decision-making in terms of competitive strategy. At the same time, a significant part of Russian enterprises deliberately neglects the ethics of research activities and often uses low-budget methods of unfair competition that are effective in terms of the volume and reliability of the information received (for example, industrial espionage, interviewing former employees of a competing enterprise, purchasing confidential data, etc.) Unfortunately, in Russian reality there is no developed law enforcement practice, according to which severe sanctions are provided for actions of unfair competition, up to the liquidation of legal entities and the disqualification of individuals.

The result of monitoring competitors is an array of information about competitive activity, competitive potential and resource base, as well as the competitive intentions of competing enterprises, which allows predicting the development of the situation in a specific market (industry or regional), simulating the competitive situation and forecasting the results of activities in the market, taking into account opportunities and activity of competitors.

It is possible to characterize the content of competitor monitoring as a specialized marketing business process, which implies the development and implementation of a certain sequence of actions within the organizational structure of marketing at an enterprise, as follows (Fig. 3). The initiator of the business process is the management of the enterprise or the head of the marketing department responsible for setting goals, objectives and results of the business process "Competitor Monitoring". The next step in the business process, which is also in their competence, is to formulate terms of reference for specialized marketing research. A temporary project team leader is then appointed to carry out the specialized marketing research.

The competence of the head of the project group includes:

assessment of the attainability of the goals and objectives of the research by methods of marketing research, selection of indicators that are available for collection only by methods of unfair competition or not available for collection at all;
selection of monitoring indicators available for research in sectoral, time, regional perspectives;
formation of a research plan, a set of methods, sample calculation, research budgeting and budget approval;
development of research methods and methodological materials, selection of the necessary directions and methods for the implementation of the research concept, ensuring their relationship and interdependence;
transfer of the methodology and methodological materials to the specialists of the working group, their training and instruction before the start of the study.

Rice. 3. Description of the business process "Monitoring competitors"
in the marketing activities of the enterprise (author's development)

The specialists of the working group consistently implement the following stages of the business process:

a pilot study aimed at practical testing of methodological materials and their correction, if necessary;
basic research and quality control of filling in teaching materials;
transfer of research data to a specialized analytical environment;
marketing analysis and visualization of the received analytical information;
drawing up analytical report on the results of the research;
transmission of the information received and a report to the project manager.

The project manager assesses the level of achievement of the research objectives, formulates recommendations for the use of its results and draws up a schedule for their implementation in the activities of the enterprise, after which he submits the received report to the management of the enterprise.

The proposed description of the business process "Monitoring of competitors" allows you to implement it in a chain of executors, while clearly identifying the sequence of the main stages of the business process and responsible executors. This approach also makes it possible to carry out preliminary, current and final marketing control of the initiation, conduct and finalization of the business process, evaluate the effectiveness of setting and achieving the goals of specialized marketing research.

We propose to consider its information efficiency as the key characteristic of competitor monitoring. The information efficiency of monitoring competitors in the author's interpretation is determined by the ratio of the number and scope of competitive innovations identified and implemented over a specific period. At the same time, the strategic direction of increasing the efficiency of monitoring competitors in the marketing activities of shopping centers is the introduction of specialized information monitoring models that allow to implement the business process of monitoring competitors on an ongoing basis, involving all employees of the enterprise, representatives of key contact audiences of the shopping center, using information resources of the Internet.

In the second chapter, "Methodological support for monitoring competitors in the marketing activities of shopping centers", modern methods of monitoring, analysis and evaluation of competitors' activities in marketing are considered and critically analyzed, methods for studying consumer behavior in solving information problems of monitoring competitors are described, an original methodology for competitive ranking of shopping centers is proposed and a specialized information model applicable to the organization of continuous monitoring of competitors. This technique determines the procedure for assessing the competitive position of shopping centers based on the calculation and comparison of the competitive ratings of shopping centers - participants in the study.

The competitive rating calculation is based on the system expert assessments, reflecting the key factors of the competitive position of the shopping center, determining the current competitiveness and potential opportunities for its strengthening, the results of the implementation of the marketing management concept.

As the initial data for the study, expert assessments are used, obtained in the course of a survey of respondents who had experience of visiting shopping centers over the last month.

1. Determination of the number and composition of shopping centers participating in the study. Produced in accordance with the goals and objectives of applied research.

2. Compilation and selection of significant parameters of the competitive position of the shopping center. It is carried out on the basis of a series of focus groups with various categories of visitors and buyers of shopping centers (regular / irregular, lost, etc.).

3. Determination of a representative sample of the study using the following methods:

random non-repeated sampling up to a statistically significant number of expert assessments for each shopping center (at least 100) using street or door-to-door survey methods;

random unrepeated sampling up to a statistically significant number of expert assessments during a survey at the exit from shopping centers - participants in the study;

a concentrated sample using quotas by gender, age, frequency of visits to a shopping center, average purchase size in a shopping center.

4. Drawing up and approbation of the methodological form of research, obtaining results and their transfer to a special research environment.

5. Calculation of the reference value of the assessment of the competitive position of the shopping center and its actual value (the sum of expert assessments).

The calculation of the reference value of the assessment of the shopping center is proposed to be carried out according to the formula

where is the reference assessment of the competitive position of the shopping center - the research participant; - the maximum number of parameters of the competitive position of a shopping center, as defined in the questionnaire; - the maximum score of the expert assessment, which the respondent could set, assessing the parameter of the competitive position; - the number of respondents - research participants.

The calculation of the actual value of the assessment of the competitive position of the shopping center is proposed to be carried out according to the formula

where is the actual assessment of the competitive position of the shopping center; i is the number of respondents; j is the number of estimated parameters of the competitive position; Is the actual score given by the i-th respondent to the j-th parameter of the shopping center's competitive position.

6. Ranking of shopping centers - research participants in accordance with the actual level of assessment of the competitive position.

To introduce the author's approach into monitoring activities, a specialized information model for monitoring competitors was developed, suitable for researching the activities of specialized trade organizations- shopping centers.

The basic structure of the information model of a competing shopping center is shown in Table. one.

In the third chapter "Research of tendencies and peculiarities of the competitive struggle of shopping centers using monitoring as a marketing tool", an assessment of the dynamics, factors and trends in the development of the retail trade in the Russian economy is given, the features of competition in the segment of shopping centers in the retail trade of Krasnodar are examined, and the results are presented. marketing research of the competitive positions of Krasnodar shopping centers, a project for introducing the author's information model for monitoring competitors in the marketing activities of a modern shopping center is presented.

Table 1

The fundamental structure of the information model
a competing shopping center

Functional direction monitoring	Attributes	Sources of marketing information
Competitive activity	1. Marketing events: sales, sweepstakes, lotteries, events. 2. Composition of tenants, new tenants, retired tenants, own retail outlets. 3. Rates of rent and utilities, the order of their definition and change. 4. Joint competitive activity of the shopping center and tenants: advertising budget, advertising opportunities, promotions, preferences. 5. Segmentation and positioning of shopping centers. 6. Marketing communications of the shopping center	Newsletters: fact, hypothesis, expert judgment, media data, competitors' message, message to contact audience, message own employee, agent message
Competitive potential	1. Traffic of visitors; average check; operating mode. 2. Location; total area; retail space and their distribution; floor plans. 3. Characteristics of the parking. 4. Key business figures of a competitor's shopping center. 5. Year of construction / modernization. 6. Owners / members of the group; partners; affiliated enterprises; contractors. 7. Competitive advantages. 8. Indicators of financial and economic activity. 9. Contact information. 10. Personnel policy
Competitive designs	1. Development plans and forecasts: strategic, annual. 2. Plans to change the format of the shopping center. 3. Plans and forecasts of competitive activity. 4. Plans for construction and modernization. 5. Plans for positioning / attracting new anchor tenants. 6. Plans for the sale of the shopping center / change of ownership

Strategic marketing decisions that determine the competitiveness of the future shopping center are made at the design stage, and the choice of the location of the shopping center is a typical marketing business task, the solution of which provides the future shopping center with significant competitive advantages. The second most important after the choice of location - marketing task selection of the format and marketing concept of the shopping center, on the basis of which the composition of its own strategic trade business units and tenants is formed within the framework of a single marketing concept: selection and marketing justification of the composition of its own SBU, anchor tenants, and other tenants.

At the stage of strategic marketing decisions, the owners and authors of the shopping center project lay down the strategic prerequisites for the competitiveness of the shopping center, which are subsequently implemented in its competitive activity at the tactical level of making marketing decisions.

Rice. 4. Strategic and tactical marketing decisions
in the competition of shopping centers

The current competitive activity of the shopping center, aimed at maximizing the use of the competitive potential of the enterprise, is a sequence of developing and implementing competitive ideas, introducing competitive innovations, continuous monitoring of competitors and benchmarking. Marketing activity at the tactical level allows you to realize the strategic competitive advantages inherent in the shopping center project. The results of the competitive ranking by the respondents of shopping centers - participants in the study are given in table. 2.

table 2

Competitive ranking of shopping centers by respondents

Competitive position parameter shopping center	Assessment of parameters by respondents competitive position of individual shopping centers, points
Competitive position parameter shopping center	the Red Square	Gallery	City Center	SBS-Mega Mall	Mega (Ikea)
Proximity to the respondent's place of residence	281	348	231	342	151
Acceptability of travel time to the shopping center	317	481	392	490	176
Convenient to get there	472	461	415	486	173
Convenient parking	356	242	378	473	411
Availability of free spaces in the parking lot of the shopping center	481	257	476	421	394
Convenient working mode	389	341	387	376	350
Convenient shopping	350	332	342	351	245
The presence of all necessary stores	459	354	418	416	364
The emergence of interesting stores	310	261	452	391	318
Quite reasonable prices	382	233	316	422	269
You can always find what you need	418	218	352	395	318
Convenient layout	471	210	480	387	365
Regularity of purchases in the mall	329	175	350	376	295
Regularity of visiting the shopping center with family	311	153	261	416	281
Regularity of visiting the shopping center with friends	417	209	452	463	196
Regularity of visiting the shopping center alone	176	378	371	376	152
Regularity of visiting the shopping center for no reason	389	170	364	254	178
You can always have a tasty snack	405	206	398	298	262


You can always have a good rest	376	195	316	485	254
Nice extra service	352	219	451	371	278
Polite staff	242	193	355	316	198
Convenient navigation system	271	279	251	376	376
Interesting promotions and events often take place	274	201	489	391	279
The preference of this mall to everyone else	392	205	370	306	216
Good security system	293	183	433	316	280
Comfort and convenience	419	394	487	399	195
Availability of shops / services / entertainment that are not available in other shopping centers	396	375	479	478	267
Possibility to recommend this shopping center	376	251	392	417	194
Standard (28 parameters of a competitive position 5 points (maximum possible assessment) 100 expert assessments)	14000	14000	14000	14000	14000
Actual score (respondents' score)	10104	7524	10858	10988	7435
Rating (the ratio of the actual score to the benchmark)	72,2	53,7	77,6	78,5	53,1

The main reasons for the aggravation of competition in retail trade include the factor of increasing modern retail space and the associated tendency to increase enterprises of modern trade formats, actively competing both with each other and with enterprises of traditional and outdated formats. One of the tools of such a competitive struggle is the monitoring of competitors, attempts to organize which are regularly undertaken by the heads of modern trade enterprises within the framework of the marketing orientation of the management system.

The logical result of the study is the development and assessment of the economic efficiency of a project to automate the business process of monitoring competitors, proposed for practical implementation. Let's calculate the economic effect from the implementation of the proposed event (calculations are given based on the results of marketing activities of LLC City-Center for 2010) (Table 3).

Table 3

Calculation of the economic effect from the introduction of automated
systems for monitoring competitors in the marketing activities of the shopping center

Indicator	Before implementation	After implementation
1	2	3
INITIAL INDICATORS
Ongoing costs of cooperation with a specialized monitoring agency
Providing information on competitors for drawing up an annual development plan, thousand rubles	250
Providing information on competitors for drawing up current (quarterly) development plans	100
Preparation of annual and quarterly reports
Number of reports actually drawn up, units	4
The cost of monitoring information for the report, thousand rubles	30
Cost of information for the development of reports, thousand rubles	120
Development of loan applications
Number of applications actually developed, units	5
The cost of monitoring information for the application, thousand rubles	20
Cost of information for the development of loan applications, thousand rubles	100
Development of competitors' dossiers at the request of line managers and top managers
Number of applications, units	31
Cost of monitoring information for a competitor's dossier, thousand rubles	15
The end of the table. 3
1	2	3
Cost of information for competitors' dossiers, thousand rubles	465
Costs of cooperation with a specialized monitoring agency, thousand rubles	1035
PLANNED INDICATORS
The ability to sell marketing information to third parties
Planned number of requests, units		100
Average cost of a request, thousand rubles		15
Total, thousand rubles		1500
Implementation costs automated system monitoring the competitors of the shopping center
Preparation of technical specifications for the development and implementation of the project and its approval, thousand rubles		100
Selection and design of technical infrastructure for project implementation, thousand rubles		450
Selection and design of software infrastructure for project implementation, thousand rubles		450
Design and development of a microsite for an automation project, thousand rubles		100
Debugging the system, ensuring its interaction with the central database of the marketing service of the enterprise, thousand rubles		250
System testing and putting it into operation, personnel training, thousand rubles		200
Total, thousand rubles		1550
CALCULATION INDICATORS
Savings from reducing the cost of monitoring activity in the marketing activities of the shopping center, thousand rubles		1035
Growth in sales of marketing information on the activities of competitors to third-party organizations, thousand rubles		1500
Costs for the implementation of an automated system for monitoring competitors of the shopping center, thousand rubles		1550
Economic effect from the implementation of an automated system for monitoring competitors of the shopping center, thousand rubles		985
Profitability of the proposed event,%		64

The economic effect, expressed in the difference between the amount of cost savings on cooperation with a specialized monitoring agency and possible sales of marketing information to third-party organizations and the cost of implementing the system, may amount to 985 thousand rubles. in the first year of operation of the system, the profitability of the proposed event is planned at 64%.

In the conclusion, the conclusions and proposals formulated based on the results of the dissertation research are presented.

The following publications have been published on the topic of the dissertation research.

Ladyga A.I., Maksimova M.I. Monitoring aspects of identification of unfair competition // Issues of Economics and Law. 2011. No. 2. 0.75 p.p. (ed. - 0.4 pp.).
Ovcharenko N.A., Maksimova M.I. Monitoring of the competitive environment as a functional business process of an enterprise management system // Issues of Economics and Law. 2011. No. 2. 0.75 p.p. (ed. - 0.4 pp.).
Maksimova M.I., Rybalchenko R.V., Senyuk A.A. Organization of monitoring of competitors in the management of a modern enterprise // Economic sciences. 2011. No. 5. 0.75 pp. (ed. - 0.25 pp.).
Grigorieva E.A., Maksimova M.I. Organizational and economic support for monitoring competitors in the marketing activities of an enterprise // Economics and Entrepreneurship. 2011. No. 5. 0.75 pp. (ed. - 0.4 pp.).
Voronov A.A., Maksimova M.I. Investigation of the characteristics of the competitive struggle of modern trade enterprises // Practical marketing. 2011. No. 9. 1 pp. (ed. - 0.5 pp.).
Grigorieva E.A., Maksimova M.I., Storozheva G.N. Information model of a competitor and features of its use in organizing monitoring of competitors // Economics and Entrepreneurship. 2011. No. 6. 0.75 pp. (ed. - 0.25 pp.).

In others scientific publications

Scientific publication

Maksimova Marianna Igorevna

the riseefficiency
monitoringcompetitors
vmarketingactivities
tradecenters

Signed to print on 20.01.2012. Format 60 × 84 1/16.

Boom. a type. № 1. Digital printing. Circulation 100 copies. Order no.

Publishing and Printing Center of KubSU

350040, Krasnodar, st. Stavropolskaya, 149.

Introduction

1. Theoretical foundations for assessing the activities of competitors as part of the marketing activities of the enterprise

1.1. Competition in the system of factors of the company's marketing activity and modern approaches to its study

1.2. The role and importance of monitoring competitors in the marketing activities of the enterprise

1.3. Organizational and economic support for monitoring competitors in the marketing activities of the enterprise

2. Methodological support for monitoring competitors in the marketing activities of shopping centers

2.1. Modern methods of monitoring, analyzing and evaluating the activities of competitors in marketing

2.2. Methods for researching consumer behavior when solving information problems of monitoring competitors

2.3. Information models and features of their use when organizing monitoring of competitors

3. Research of tendencies and peculiarities of the competitive struggle of shopping centers using monitoring as a marketing tool

3.1. Dynamics, factors and trends in the development of the retail trade in the Russian economy

3.2. Features of the competition in the segment of shopping centers in the retail sector of the Krasnodar Territory

3.3. Marketing research of the competitive positions of Krasnodar shopping centers

3.4. Project for the implementation of an information model for monitoring competitors in the marketing activities of a shopping center

Conclusion

List of used literature

Recommended list of dissertations

Methodology for the phased transition of retailers to marketing-oriented management 2012, Candidate of Economic Sciences Kompaniets, Olga Sergeevna
Administration of unfair competition in the pharmaceutical industry 2012, Candidate of Economic Sciences Ladyga, Anton Igorevich
Improving marketing approaches for the sale of food products in the retail trade network: the example of the Perm Territory 2008, Candidate of Economic Sciences Teterleva, Anna Sergeevna
Formation of competitive strategies of trade enterprises based on the marketing concept 2006, Doctor of Economics Yanenko, Marina Borisovna
Formation of the competitiveness of enterprises in the sphere of retail trade services: the example of the Rostov region 2012, candidate of economic sciences Khlopenko, Oksana Valerievna

Similar dissertations in the specialty "Economics and management of the national economy: theory of management of economic systems; macroeconomics; economics, organization and management of enterprises, industries, complexes; innovation management; regional economy; logistics; labor economics ", 08.00.05 code VAK

Features of the organization of a marketing strategy in the management of a small trading enterprise 2003, Candidate of Economic Sciences Shipovsky, Oleg Vladimirovich
Improving the competitiveness of retail trade enterprises 2008, Candidate of Economic Sciences Agalakova, Oksana Sergeevna
Marketing technologies for the development of retail trade in a metropolis 2006, candidate of economic sciences Zolotarev, Andrey Vladimirovich
Theory and methodology for the development and implementation of competitive strategies for industrial enterprises 2013, Doctor of Economics Glukhikh, Lilia Viktorovna
Formation of a system for monitoring the marketing activities of competitors 2005, candidate of economic sciences Berezkina, Anna Vitalievna

Conclusion of the thesis on the topic “Economics and management of the national economy: the theory of management of economic systems; macroeconomics; economics, organization and management of enterprises, industries, complexes; innovation management; regional economy; logistics; labor economics ", Maksimova, Marianna Igorevna

Conclusion

The study made it possible to formulate the following conclusions. The objective reality of the activities of Russian enterprises in competitive markets requires them to develop and operate effective corporate monitoring systems, the main purpose of which is to monitor and predict the competitive activity of competitors.

The main circumstances that determine the importance of organizing effective monitoring of competitors in marketing activities modern enterprise are: high level uncertainty of competitive activity, significant dynamics of the determinants of the competitive environment of enterprises; reducing the importance of unique competitive advantages, accelerating the processes of competitive reengineering and benchmarking; significant scale of unfair competition and the need to take this factor into account in organizing marketing activities in a competitive market; limited corporate resources allocated for monitoring activities.

Modern scientific approaches to organizing monitoring of competitors require modernization of organizational and economic support, which makes it possible to systematize monitoring activities, ensure its focus and balance between the cost and quality of monitoring information.

In the practice of marketing activities of a modern enterprise, it is advisable to consider monitoring of competitors in the following main aspects: as an effective tool of competition that allows you to obtain and maintain a competitive advantage in the volume and quality of information necessary for making managerial decisions in a competitive struggle as a specialized marketing business process, implying the development and the implementation of a certain sequence of actions within the organizational structure of marketing in the enterprise; as a direction of the function of marketing research, implying a set of methods of fair and unfair research activities, which make it possible to obtain information about competitors necessary for conducting a competitive struggle;

The need for comprehensive monitoring of competitors is highly differentiated depending on the level of competition in a particular market. The greater the market share and volume of competitive transactions, the more resources enterprises are forced to spend on competition. At the same time, the essence of the competition consists of three strategic directions: the study of the consumer and the satisfaction of his needs and requirements on the basis of the marketing orientation of the enterprise management system; forecasting the dynamics of the development of the competitive environment in order to find and realize competitive advantages; research and forecasting of the competitive strategy of competitors, the study of their strengths and weaknesses, the development and implementation of counter-competitive measures.

In a specific management situation, the developers of a competitive strategy form a set of data necessary for forecasting the activities of competitors, which can be differentiated in three main directions that determine the specifics of research activities in terms of monitoring competitors: research of ongoing competitive activity, research of the competitive potential and resource base of competitors, research of competitive designs competitors.

The proposed description of the business process "Monitoring of competitors" allows you to formalize its execution along the chain of executors, while clearly identifying the sequence of the main stages of the business process and responsible executors. This approach also makes it possible to carry out preliminary, current and final marketing control of the initiation, conduct and finalization of the business process, evaluate the effectiveness of setting and achieving the goals of specialized marketing research.

Analysis of the modern methodological support for monitoring competitors allowed us to formulate the following conclusions:

To the main modern methods studies of the motives of consumer behavior in the process of making their purchasing decisions include secondary research, survey, focus group, projection methods, observation, Rokeach value scale, VALS method, ethnographic observation. The combination of these methods in complex marketing research allows you to provide the necessary level of understanding of the structure of consumer behavior motives and provide targeted management impact on it to achieve the marketing goals of the enterprise;

One of the main roles in the motives of consumer behavior is played by the attitude of a potential buyer to a product, a firm brand name... Attitude has a direct impact on the decision to purchase, and these decisions, in turn, themselves affect the formation and change of consumer attitudes. Therefore, the attitude of the consumer arises in the learning process (including habits, experience, cognitive and operational learning). The analysis of the consumer's attitude can serve as initial information both for diagnosing the motives of consumer behavior and for constructing his forecast, which is the methodological basis for developing a strategy for managing consumer decisions about purchasing a product. The main research methods of consumer attitudes are self-report, observation of behavior, indirect methods, solution of real problems, assessment of psychological reactions;

The proposed author's methodology for competitive ranking of shopping centers allows obtaining competitive ratings based on the study of consumer behavior patterns in a competitive environment and using them in practical marketing activities to adjust or enhance existing competitive advantages. It expands the arsenal of quantitative methods of marketing research and makes it possible to reduce the level of uncertainty in making managerial decisions regarding the development and implementation of specific measures of the marketing complex of shopping centers, as well as to increase the effectiveness of control of marketing activities when using repeated surveys that allow to record the dynamics of changes in the attitude of respondents to certain parameters and the competitive position of the shopping center - the research participant as a whole.

The main features of the competition in the segment of shopping centers in the retail sector of the Krasnodar Territory were as follows:

Retail trade continues to experience a systemic shortage of modern retail infrastructure facilities, the filling level in such shopping centers in Krasnodar is approaching 100%, while rebuilding projects are 50-70% filled;

The largest market players actively use all the features of the shopping center in their competitive struggle, while the active marketing activities are primarily characterized by the shopping center "Krasnaya Ploschad", SBS Mega Mall, "City Center", Ikea-Mega, Gallery. The rest of the shopping centers are implementing a passive competitive strategy, following the leaders and saving on marketing activities;

In the short term, the largest market players plan to increase their own competitive potential by putting into operation new retail space, which will cause a further transition of tenants from competitively passive shopping centers to leaders.

According to the results of the competitive ranking of the leading shopping centers in Krasnodar, it was revealed that from the above data it can be seen that the strongest competitive positions in Krasnodar among the research participants were possessed by SBS Mega Mall (78,% of the ideal), City Center LLC (77, 6%>) and Red Square (12.2%). The groups of leaders identified according to the results of the study were characterized by completely different competitive strategies:

SBS Mega Mall is a super-district shopping center with a powerful business entertainment unit "7 stars" and large anchor tenants "Auchan", "Leroy Merlin", "M-Video", "Our furniture", significant number own retail outlets and tenants, without a doubt, occupies a leading position among the shopping centers of the Krasnodar Territory;

- City Center is actively pursuing a strategy of concentration, being an example of a consistent and active competitive strategy aimed at winning the most well-to-do target group of clients. Competitive advantages of the City Center shopping center, consistently defended by the marketing strategy tools: a unique set of upper medium and premium tenants; improved interior, maximum comfort, a wide range of additional services; a stable image of a "status" place, a clear marketing strategy and original promotion methods. In 2010-2011. LLC "City-Center" refused large-scale actions to attract visitors. The main efforts are now focused on retention regular customers, provision of new services and new brands, improvement of the interior space in accordance with the wishes of visitors;

The Krasnaya Ploshchad shopping center (anchor tenants - Magnit hypermarket, M-Video hypermarket) actively competes with leading shopping centers, primarily due to a balanced composition of tenants, relatively convenient location, marketing concept of the center and an active competitive strategy, aimed both at maintaining the loyalty of regular visitors to the center, and at attracting new ones. An additional factor in the competitiveness of Red Square is active housing construction around the shopping center, during which at least three new residential neighborhoods will be built.

Based on the results of the study, the following proposals were made. The author has developed and tested an information model for monitoring competing shopping centers using a differentiated approach that provides coverage of competitors' activities in the context of their competitive activity, competitive potential and competitive intentions. On the basis of the proposed model, a project was developed for the implementation of an automated system for monitoring competitors in the marketing activities of the shopping center. The cost of its implementation in a standard version, suitable for use by the marketing department of the shopping center, should be 1,550 thousand rubles.

In current marketing activities, a shopping center can spend up to 1,035 thousand rubles per year for the implementation of the monitoring subfunction of competitors. At the same time, the main directions of using marketing information about competitors were the following directions: drawing up an annual development plan; drawing up current development plans; preparation of annual and quarterly reports on the activities of the shopping center; development of loan applications; development of competitors' dossiers at the request of line managers and top managers.

The functioning of the automated system for monitoring competitors of the shopping center also implies the possibility of selling information collected from open sources to third-party organizations on a paid basis, which makes it possible to predict the inflow Money per year in the amount of up to 1,500 thousand rubles. In accordance with the budget for the implementation of the automated monitoring system for the competitors of the shopping center, the total cost of developing its project and the actual implementation will be 1,550 thousand rubles. The economic effect, expressed in the difference in the amount of cost savings on cooperation with a specialized monitoring agency and possible sales of marketing information to third parties, and the cost of implementing the system may amount to 985 thousand rubles. in the first year of the system's operation, the profitability of the proposed event is planned at the level of 64%.

Summarizing what has been said, we note that the main ways to increase the effectiveness of monitoring competitors, considered and justified in the dissertation work, are:

Development of the author's approach to the organizational and economic support of monitoring competitors, implying a rethinking of the existing theoretical provisions in this area and allowing to ensure the continuity and complexity of monitoring activities;

Improvement of the methodological approach to organizing monitoring of competitors within the marketing activities of shopping centers in competitive markets through the development and implementation of specialized information models;

Development and implementation of the project of automation of the business process "Monitoring of competitors" with its further implementation in one of the largest shopping centers in Krasnodar.

Please note that the above scientific texts are posted for information and obtained by means of recognition of the original texts of dissertations (OCR). In this connection, they may contain errors associated with the imperfection of recognition algorithms. There are no such errors in PDF files of dissertations and abstracts that we deliver.

One of the common mistakes when promoting a personal brand is ignoring the experience of competitors in their industry. A lot of time and effort is spent on "reinventing the bicycle", extra bumps are packed. All of this can be avoided, or at least minimized, by regularly conducting competitive monitoring on the network. What results can be achieved with its help and how to do it correctly, read on.

Competitive Monitoring Objectives

The main goal of competitor analysis is to identify your strengths. Most often they are perceived precisely in comparison with other market participants. For example, after analyzing the page of the closest direct competitor in one of the social networks, you found out that it takes too long to respond to customer messages. And you try to reply to every message as soon as you receive it. Isn't it a competitive advantage?

For what other purposes is competitor analysis suitable:

Revealing reputation coloration. Feedback from their customers will tell whether it is positive or negative. Analysis of this information will help avoid mistakes made by competitors.
Grade target audience. You will find out which audience is interested in your product or service. How she behaves, how she reacts to publications, what content is in greatest demand.
Content plan creation. Initially, you can model your content plan by looking at a competitor's publications. Further, own plan supplemented and edited after analyzing and assessing the audience's reaction to competitive content.
Understanding the strategy and concept. What is the philosophy of the competitors, how do they communicate it to the audience. What the competitor tells about himself to subscribers and in what form.

Important! After conducting a competitive analysis, you will understand whether you should target the same target audience when promoting, or choose a different one. Think about how you can leverage the competitive experience and what you can do differently.

5 steps of monitoring

The process of conducting a competitive analysis is similar to the initial monitoring of a personal brand. If you conduct it regularly, then you will not miss important changes in the market. - Google alerts, Brand analytics, Youscan, etc. And also manually - for this it is enough to take 5 simple steps.

Selection of competitors for analysis

Unless you have chosen an overly narrow niche in which there is no competition at all, then on the network, most likely, you can find a lot of competitors. Someone is just starting to advance, and someone has already conquered a decent part of the market. You don't have to choose to monitor all your competitors. It is enough to select 3-5 nearest, straight lines for analysis. You may already know who this is. If not, then it's time to find them.

Collection of sites for promotion

After selecting competitors, enter their last names and first names in all search engines. See which of their sites are displayed in the first positions search results... Enter in the table the addresses of all their accounts in in social networks, blogs and personal sites.

The most important thing you should look at on each site you find is how your colleagues are positioning themselves. What is their general concept and philosophy. Also, pay attention to the links from their profiles - where they lead, where traffic from each site is sent and what calls to actions are used for this. This could be the main site, landing pages, or individual articles.

Audience analysis

This step analyzes the engagement and activity of the target audience. What in the feeds of competitors causes the greatest response from subscribers. Be sure to pay attention to the reviews they leave on the sites, and the competitor's reaction to feedback, especially negative.

Content analysis

Take a close look at what your colleagues are posting on each social network. What type of content they post and how often, are there any “viral” posts in the feed.

conclusions

By collecting all available information from open sources, you will form your own understanding of the market situation in your industry. The correct conclusions about the behavior of competitors, their strengths and weaknesses will allow you to choose the right strategy for promoting your brand.

This article is practical step by step instructions for competitor analysis. A generic example will help you conduct a competitor analysis for a specific product or the whole company... Before getting started, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the material "", which describes the goals of such analytics.

What is and why is competitor analysis needed?

Suppose you want to open a lingerie store and even found a convenient passage for it, came up with a name and purchased a product. How do you determine at what cost it is better to sell your products? Of course, all your expenses and profits should be included in the cost of linen, but at the same time the price should be competitive. This means that you will definitely go to similar stores, see how much they sell similar models, what assortment they have, take a closer look at how buyers react to the price and what they buy more often. Those. carry out the simplest competitive analysis.

So, competitor analysis is about obtaining specific information about the activities of enterprises in a similar or similar niche, whose work can affect your sales. Knowing a competitor by sight means navigating the market.

For example, a client asks you a question: "Why is the same flow-through water filter from your competitors cheaper by 300 rubles?" If you know a competitor and his product, you can substantiate that a water filter sold by a competitor does not have a service guarantee and during its installation you have to pay for installation, while your company offers the same product with installation and a guarantee of only 300 rubles more expensive.

Thus, knowing your competitors allows you to easily fend off customer objections, and if you use them in advertising and create billboards with information that you are selling flow filters with installation and warranty, this is already a serious claim to win over competitors in a particular product.

Preparatory stage

Before analyzing your competitors, you need to identify them. First, define the geography of your market: district, city, regional, state, etc. For example, if you open a small sports bar in a residential area, then we are talking about the regional market; if you are engaged in cleaning services, then there is a city market. Trade in goods for restaurants and hotels (equipment with dishes, textiles) is already a regional or state market.

Once you've identified your geography, start identifying your competitors. To do this, you need to make a list of everyone who exists in your geographic (and adjacent) market, is engaged in similar activities and can attract your customers.

Let's start analyzing competitors

Step 1. Determine the degree of competition and identify key competitors.

Main - the main competitors are those who can significantly influence your activities and take away your customers. Indirect competitors are those that are engaged in similar activities, but in a related niche. For example: an Internet service provider for individuals and a provider for legal entities.

Having received a list of direct and indirect competitors, we collect general information about them:

location, points of sale, contacts, management;
assortment and quality of goods;
price policy;
service level and additional services;
advertising activity;
potential and development plans.

Also, if possible, it is necessary to assess the quantitative level of the competitor's sales. For example, we analyze all the same competitive lingerie stores. We arrive in the morning, almost immediately after opening and make a small purchase, save the receipt. We come to the same store before closing and buy something again. Comparing the check numbers, we can guess the number of daily sales.

If a competitor has several cash desks, respectively, we multiply the figure in the difference in check numbers by the number of cash desks in the hall and subtract 20% (this is a natural simple cash desk). But this method is not suitable for everyone, so you can do basic observation or bribe a competitor's employee to get the data you need.

Step 2: Assess the intensity of competition

Competition in your industry can be intense and weak. If the market is weakly competitive, it is static and rarely subject to change. The more active competitors there are, the more often the conditions of coexistence change. In such a market, it is important

possess operational information about the activities of competitors;
be able to respond quickly to their actions.

A prime example of a high-intensity market is the portable electronics industry - mobile phones, digital cameras and smartphones, tablets - all this becomes obsolete as soon as it appears on store shelves, because the competition between their manufacturers is incredibly strong.

Your task is to understand:

how many competitors do you have in the market;
how actively they launch new products, change the price;
to what extent they are represented in the media space, how and how much they are advertised.

It may be that your competitor is stable, he displays new product not more often 1-2 times a year, but has a strong advertising representation. This is the position of a stable company, which the consumer knows and you will also need such information.

Step 3: create a competitor profile

To do this, we need to know the entire assortment of the enemy. Conduct reconnaissance in force, get all the price lists of your competitor and compose his product portfolio, highlight his anchor (key) positions that provide the most high proportion sales.

The key product is highlighted in green in the table, and the coincidence of the assortment position is highlighted in pink.

Step 4. Analyzing the properties of anchor goods

To understand how we can compete with a particular company or product, let's take a closer look at the product on which the competitor is betting.

For example, we are talking about a sports bar. Such a comparative product will be proposals for menus and visual perception properties (screens).

It is most convenient to rank the assessment on a scale from 0 to 5, where
0 is the lack of quality and 5 is the strongest suggestion.

You can analyze the qualities of a competitor yourself (by visiting his points of sale as a client). But the most objective assessment will be given by a consumer survey.

The information obtained can be combined into a visual graph of the properties of the products.

The smoother and wider the circle on this graph (the plot in Exel is a "radar diagram"), the higher the characteristics of competitiveness:

Step 5: Analysis of the price component

Finally, it's time to compare prices. since we already know the assessment of the quality of the product, the price will be easier to understand. To do your analysis quickly, break your competitors down into price segments:

economy;
average;
average plus;
high;
premium.

Probably one or two of the segments can be empty. For example, not all products exist in the premium segment, and the average plus may be rare. Next, we identify the prices of goods and their lower and upper boundaries, the average price:

Step 6: Identify the market positions of competitors

It is important to understand how the consumer sees competitors and what he knows about them. It is best to monitor the opinion of consumers (forums, polls, reviews).

We note for ourselves the following points:

how well-known the competitor is and what they know about him;
what price characteristic (expensive or inexpensive) the consumer gives him;
what quality characteristics (good or bad) the competitor's product is given by the consumer;
when and why a client goes to a competitor (specialized product or general purpose);
what is the message the competitor carries to the consumer (the promise in the advertisement);
how often a customer refers to a competitor's product.

Step 7: Evaluate Customer Acquisition and Advertising Techniques

Now it is important to understand how the competitor attracts customers. We know everything about his product, about its price, about how the price of the product corresponds, it's time to determine where the buyer gets the incentive to buy and what becomes the decisive argument for him.

Collect flyers, take pictures of competitors' billboards to see what steps they use to reach a customer and not repeat them in their ads.

Step 8: Revealing the consumer profile of your competitor's customers

To do this, we apply all the previously acquired knowledge about the product, its price and qualities, about the competitor's advertising and its placement.

We identify the following parameters of the target audience:

age and gender;
profitability;
family composition;
field of activity;
product selection criteria;
psychographic characteristics (conservatives or innovators, dependence on impulse decisions, key incentive, degree of exposure to advertising influence, etc.).

All this will help determine a consumer survey, which, subject to a small budget, can be carried out on your own in social networks.

Step 9: Assess the competitor's approach and manufacturability

The last collection of information is to understand what means a competitor has, what kind of funding he has, how thoroughly he approaches his business. For example, with a fundamental approach and an annual inventory, the firm is much stronger than those companies that immediately use the proceeds from the sale of one batch of goods to purchase a second batch.

What salaries the competitor offers, what technologies and equipment it uses, what are the qualifications of its employees, how much money it can attract to promptly respond to your actions.

Step 10: Conduct a SWOT Analysis

Practical examples of SWOT analyzes can be seen in several of our materials:

SWOT analysis of a restaurant in a shopping and entertainment center;

The essence of the analysis is that for each competitor:

identify strengths and determine how they are dangerous to you;
identify deficiencies and weaknesses and understand what opportunities they give you.

In conclusion, it should be said that the analysis of competitors should be carried out regularly, at least once every six months, and constantly monitor the emergence of new players, any advertising activity, promotions, and expansion of the assortment. You can even cooperate with those competitors who are indirect, if you wish, which will give you a head start over more powerful direct opponents.

In conditions market economy competition is a necessary stimulus for development. To enter the market new company must assess their prospects and opportunities. An existing organization regularly conducts competitor monitoring to develop your strategy. Several different techniques are used to accomplish this process.

Monitoring purpose

Market monitoring (competitors in a specific industry) is produced for a specific purpose. It is clearly stated at the beginning of the study. This allows the collection of information in a targeted manner. To do this, at the first stage of work, the analyst determines the circle of the main competitors, as well as the scope of their activities in the market.

Analysis of the main players allows you to accumulate and process information about their strengths and weaknesses, as well as the direction of development in the future. Real opportunities and existing goals of competitors are evaluated. Such work allows you to increase the efficiency of your company.

Directions

May be required to define your own current or strategic goals. This process is carried out when positioning your own product on the market, forecasting the volume of sales.

Also, similar actions are performed when developing a new line of goods or services, pursuing a sales policy. On the basis of the data obtained, prices are set, and the primary characteristics of the goods are selected. This allows you to increase sales revenue and profits.

Peculiarities

It is the process of collecting and analyzing information about the business environment of the company. This examines the behavior of not only competitors, but also consumers, suppliers, dealers, scientific developers, as well as market regulation mechanisms.

The collection of information about the main subjects of the industry began to develop actively at the end of the last century. The main provisions developed by economists at this time are still relevant today. The amount of information that analysts need to process to understand the situation in the business environment has changed. The automation of this process has somewhat simplified the work of the analytical service. However, the human factor for this process remains very important. This allows you to obtain reliable information, increasing the efficiency of research and strategy development in general.

Problems

In the modern world monitoring of competitors on the Internet becomes widespread. However, a qualitative analysis cannot be based solely on data from various sites and publications. There are several major problems with monitoring. First of all, it is necessary to note the large flow of information. It becomes difficult to filter it.

Also, the quality of monitoring may be affected by the irrelevance of the incoming data, the impossibility of setting one's own strategy based on the information received. It comes at times in a very expanded or indistinct form. In some cases, market monitoring cannot reflect the real development processes of the main actors in the industry. Also a negative factor is the secrecy of important information. Competitors are closely monitoring key strategic directions for leaks.

Existing methods of data collection can reduce the impact of negative factors. Its quality is more influenced by the lack of understanding of the connection between the information received and the development of the correct strategy.

Management strategy

It is produced according to a certain scheme in large companies monitoring. Competitor analysis produced according to a developed and tested system. Large companies over time, they develop their own unique methods of conducting such a process. If the approach an organization has developed to collect data about the business environment is effective, it has been used for a long time. However, it is rather difficult to clearly articulate its specific advantages. In the process of conducting research, it is important to understand the relationship between the management strategy and the chosen approach to analysis.

The manager conducts the strategy formulation process in two main stages. At the first stage, the direction of development is formulated, an assessment of one's own capabilities is given, and alternatives are analyzed in the future. At the same time, goals are set, the mission of the company is determined.

At the second stage, the developed action plan is implemented. It is the process of monitoring the business environment that makes it possible to formulate and implement strategic goals. Initially, analysts must establish a data collection process to formulate a promising direction for development. After that, the whole system is expanded and can be implemented.

Deep Scan

Various goals may be pursued monitoring of competitors. Program is developed taking into account the interests of the company and the specifics of the market. For a global, thorough analysis, M. Porter's method is used. It involves collecting data once every 3-5 years. This is a laborious but effective technique. It is broken down into five stages.

Initially, the research is carried out in the direction of assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the main market players. At the second stage, their goals and motivation are determined. The third stage involves identifying the current strategies of competitors. It examines its current position in the market, as well as current actions aimed at increasing profits.

The fourth stage further deepens the analyst into the essence of the structure of the competitive environment. At this stage, it is necessary to study the player's understanding of his position in the industry, his satisfaction with his position. At the fifth stage, the players' actions are predicted. This is the most responsible process, which involves using all the information obtained earlier.

Annual analysis

Monitoring of competing companies should be done not only once every few years. Constant monitoring allows you to react in time to changing market trends. For this, a simpler technique is used. The study is performed once a year.

During this analysis, it is given general characteristics industry competition, its development is predicted. For this, specialists draw up a special map of the business environment. Direct, key and indirect competitors are indicated. They compare their own assortment of goods, pricing, distribution, image. Product promotion channels are also analyzed.

During the annual analysis, consumers' loyalty, their awareness of the company's products are studied. The technologies used by competitors are compared with their own developments, a SWOT analysis is made. The quality of own resources is assessed. On the basis of the research carried out, the strengths and weaknesses of their own organization and of the main market participants are established.

Sources of information

It involves collecting information from various sources. It is not recommended to use only one direction of data acquisition. In this case, the research result may be incomplete or unreliable.

The main sources of information are consumer surveys. The opinions of various target groups are studied qualitatively and quantitatively. Analysts receive data from points of sale. The quality of the display of goods, promotions, assortment and prices are determined here.

You can also find certain information about competitors on the Internet. Surveys of industry experts also lead to conclusions about the state of the business environment. Obtaining information from sales managers is also one of the fairly reliable methods. Persons responsible for product promotion in stores can provide full information about the best practices of competitors.

Industry reviews provide reports on financial performance, ratings of companies in the industry. These are key characteristics of the industry's business environment. Visiting thematic exhibitions, seminars helps to understand the communication strategy of the main market players.

Market signals

Can use information of varying degrees of certainty. M. Porter introduced the concept of market signals into the management process. It refers to any action taken by competitors in the business environment. It can indicate directly or indirectly the intentions of the market participant, his internal situation.

Market signals can also be driven by the actions of buyers, suppliers, or other participants. Each event has its own resonance in the business environment. Monitoring picks up these signals. They are processed, the likelihood of a certain event occurring is estimated and passed on to the company's management for making strategic decisions.

Depending on the goals of monitoring, analysts can work with events that have already occurred or consider signals that notify about the possible actions of competitors in the future. Big competitors are making data-driven decisions that no one else in the industry has yet. This allows you to gain more market share before competitors do.

Price monitoring

Many companies today choose monitoring their prices from a variety of strategies for collecting data about competitors. This allows you to assess the market situation. This approach allows you to identify participants who seek to increase sales when prices decrease or, conversely, stimulate profits by selling expensive products. Some participants have non-price methods of marketing expansion. For this, monitoring of competitors' stores and points of sale of their products.

This monitoring assumes consideration of price options when the order volume changes (wholesale, retail price), as well as an assessment of warehouse stocks. For example, the Rettig group of companies has been operating for over 200 years. The range of its areas of activity includes various areas (from logistics to the production of heaters). Such a diversified structure is in dire need of precise definition of strategic issues and trends in the business environment. For this, the group of companies is constantly studying the prices of raw materials, terms of delivery, consumer preferences. Based on price monitoring and other methods, it is possible to predict future developments.

Scripts

If a company wants to monitor the prices of competitors, it may resort to one of the data collection scenarios. In accordance with the chosen methodology, the employee finds out the necessary information directly in the store.

Different levels of awareness require the researcher monitoring of competitors. Example a similar scenario could be as follows. An employee of a company comes to a competitor's store. He informs about the desire to make a large order. Based on the average level of knowledge in this area, he learns the information of interest.

Another scenario defines the role of the researcher as an inexperienced customer. It is less effective method... It allows you to learn about price, non-price ways of expanding a competitor's sales market.

If a researcher turns to a competitor as a knowledgeable person, he will be able to find out deeper, more detailed information.

After considering how it happens monitoring of competitors, the company can form and implement its development strategy, win a large market share.