A goal is valuable when you keep moving towards it with every other strategy you put forth on the table. The method retailers or businesses use to keep track of their developments is monitoring Key performance index or KPIs. Competitor KPIs can give insights about how a brand is performing. With the right understanding, you can adapt yourself and make better decisions and run successful campaigns.
In Part 1 of 11 Competitor KPIs every brand should track blog, we discussed the following 5 points:
Price tracking
Promotions tracking
Average rating stats
Stock availability tracking
Map tracking
Let’s take a look at the rest of the competitor KPIs.
KPI#6: Search rank tracking
SEO algorithms are designed in a way that it mimics the ideology of a human. Therefore, the question is, as a customer, what are we looking for through this KPI?
Firstly, one of the most important factors or the price and discounts applied to a particular product. Secondly, we want a product that matches its description. Furthermore, the delivery charge and delivery duration should not exceed the desired limit, such as a week. This will vary as per your region. Lastly, it’s ratings and reviews should be on point. These needs might vary as per your individual requirements.
Keeping all this in mind, you should start to track the search rank of your competitors. They might be listed in various e-commerce platforms or Search engines. Make it a point to find the whole list of such platforms your competitor is listed on to make the most of the insights from these KPIs. Weigh their performance against the various standards that we discussed in the previous paragraph.
Source: bluecorona.com
This will give you a comprehensive understanding of two things – what they are doing better than you and where you are performing better. This is precisely what you need. Once you get to know this, you simply bridge the gap and see if you rise in the search rankings.
Let us say you have fewer reviews. You can offer coupons if a buyer reviews your products. Or you can optimize the SEO of your product descriptions too.
KPI#7: Review count tracking
According to a study conducted by Dixa, 97% of buyers value the reviews of a product while making purchase decisions. In exact words, the review section is equally as crucial as your product.
When you see 2 good reviews, you might just scroll past. Whereas, when you 18 good reviews, you might want to wait and look better. Isn’t it? This is why, unknowingly, the number of reviews plays well for a retailer.
When you start to look at the number of reviews on your competitor’s products as one of the most important competitor KPIs, there is so much that you can learn. These reviews are open to the public domain. That is why some of it can be genuine, and some of it can be fake. When you look at their reviews, verify how many of those are real.
Sometimes, the higher the number of reviews, the higher is the appeal of the product. Therefore, while you are willing to compete with a work of such a request, you will have to employ various means to get into the business. Also, if your competitor solves all issues that their customers write about in the reviews, then they satisfy their customers better.
At other times, buyers review the products because they get coupons. Hence, this might be one promotional strategy that you might think of, including in your campaign. Furthermore, many a time, these reviews will illustrate their loopholes. That is another area worth digging in.
Therefore, the general idea to engage your customers better. If your competitor is better in terms of the number of reviews KPI, then their engagement game is worth millions. Now, it is your turn to figure out the means to do the same.
KPI#8: Discontinued products
It is commonly understood that knowing what you should not do is as good as knowing what you should do. That is precisely what a discontinued product tells us. It is only a matter of logic that we interpret what it means.
Firstly, a product that was discontinued must not have garnered the required appeal before the customers. As a result, its sale must be dropping. Moreover, your competitors must have failed to maintain the quality of a good enough product. In case it is an innovative product, the idea or the execution of the product must not be excellent.
All these factors tell you which path you should not tread on. Let us say you find a discontinued product and feel that due to a few loopholes, it failed. Then you have a chance of revamping the product and seeing if it works.
Additionally, many products are discontinued because the ration of revenue to cost-to-run is less than 1. This means that you are spending much more on making that product a reality than you are earning through it. Therefore, the lower margin of profit doesn’t fulfill the goal set by the seller or the manufacturer.
Similarly, there will be times where a product, in general, doesn’t appeal to the regional buyers. This is a clear cut indication that you will incur losses if you go the same way. But if you are careful enough and learn the insights this KPI gives you, you have a chance at saving yourself.
In case you are lucky, you will also come across products that could have performed well, but didn’t because of the wrong performance forecasts or evaluation. These are moments that have hidden opportunities for you. Go get them!
KPI#9: New products in the category
Every now and then, you must come across many advertisements for product launches. Many brands come up with products to understand consumer sentiments or test the product appeal.
For most of the brands or retailers, such new products are a mark of innovation. Most of the time, these products are the result of months of research and R&D. There is so much you can learn from these products making it one among the competitor KPIs to track.
Source: expert360.com
Firstly, you understand the number of resources your competitor pools into innovation. That is a clear cut indication that you need to up your game too.
Most of the new products start of a trend. This tells you a lot about consumer choices, likes, and dislikes. If a new product in a category is performing well, you understand the loopholes with the earlier products too. It is only imperative that you don’t make the same mistakes.
Furthermore, the new product might have a more significant revenue to the cost-to-run ratio. This can also give you details about the product optimization and cost optimization techniques your competitor employs.
Sometimes, consumers were looking forward to something new and better to come. As soon as your competitor launched the latest product, they jumped. This gives a valuable lesson about the level of product quality present in your market. People only select what’s best for them.
So if you want to make a tunnel and provide them something better, then go for it.
KPI#10: Counterfeit tracking
Manufacturers have MAP policies to protect their products and their quality. But many a time, you will find products that don’t adhere to MAP policies. Some of these products might as well be counterfeit.
If a seller receives 10 counterfeit products in a lot of 100 such products, then it is difficult to set them apart. Keeping this in mind, many sellers themselves don’t know if the products they are selling are genuine or not.
This is one actionable point for you among these many KPIs. Competing in the retail world also entails some responsibility to you. When you come across retailers selling such products, you can contact the platform manager and call for an action against them. This is how you help level the playing ground for every retailer out there.
In the end, it is the customers that understand the difference the best. A counterfeit product doesn’t generally come with a warranty card. In case they contact the brand to enquire, the retailer will be exposed. This is an example of bad publicity because once they are told, customers don’t pay much attention to them.
So, keep in a track such competitors because they give you a genuine chance to rise up from the lot.
KPI#11: Trendspotting
The primary goal of a marketing campaign is to act on trends or give people better trends to follow. So when you start to look at trendspotting as one among the KPIs, it provides a considerable number of factors to gain insight.
How active your competitor stays on the latest trends and how well do they adopt it tells a lot about their business story. For example, a summer trend can’t wait until winter to be launched. That is why each trend has a timeline or a period when it soars before it dwindles down to an optimal level.
It is essential to keep in mind that trendspotting doesn’t just relate to product-related trends but also with marketing or consumer relations trends. Look at the time when they launch such trends and how they promote it before people. Generally, to set forth new trends, retailers invest in several ways.
Also, many brands are making big because they make a path that differs significantly from the trend. This is another actionable way to grow your business. You can always innovate and give your consumers something new to work with. Moreover, they might bring back old trends and make it work again. How do they do it? That what we have to find out.
Many a time, brands just twist the trends a little to make it work in their favor. Look at all the methods your competitors use to gain from ongoing trends. With this, you will surely boost your own business.
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