What to Take from a Comprehensive Competitor Analysis

Every innovator comes up with an idea that makes them believe their product is the best out of the competition. However, just assuming the power of your idea rather than putting in the work for a comprehensive landscape analysis is taking an unnecessary risk you can avoid, and an advantage you are refusing to take. You want research that gives you a real picture of the market. 

Focus on What Matters 

Think about what your core service is, in this case, the biggest drawing feature of your app. Now focus on similar features and services offered by your competitors. 

If you do not narrow down your choices, chances are you will have a never-ending pile of information, most of which will be useless for you to strategize with. Save time, money, and effort, and research elements you want to be in the loop of. 

What Are You Looking For?

Don’t wait for something to fall in your lap. You need to outline exactly what you are looking for. Do you want to see how your competition handled a certain opportunity, what other app startups are doing right and where they are making errors. You may want to see the gap in the market that your app may be able to fill. 

This data will prove helpful when assessing angles that will give you an edge in the market and help propel your business. 

Not Everyone with Your Solution is Your Direct Competitor

As an app startup, you have to focus on businesses that are software-based. Data collected from a brick and mortar business will not be of much use as you will not have the same variables to compare. 

The simplest example of this is when during the Covid lockdown online retailers saw a growth in traffic, whereas physical retailers selling the very same items witnessed low footfall. 

Leave Room

Do not take the research you yield as what you will strictly follow. In the modern world, anything can rock the global market in a single day. It is getting harder and harder to predict upcoming trends. And your strategy should account for this as well. Make sure that you are open to switching gears and making changes should the landscape shift without notice. 

The Research is not the Future

After absorbing all the information you collect on your competition, remember that it is everything that has happened in the past. Being the founder of an app startup, you are expected to innovate, and that you do not repeat the same patterns again and again no matter how successful. The landscape analysis is for you to learn from, not to replicate. 

How past decisions have influenced the market is crucial when it comes to guiding your startup to the best course.