Why your competitors are important,
I was recently asked, “Should I block the competition from following me on social media”?
I was perplexed. Why would you block your competition, I asked?
And I got the reply “so they can’t see what I’m doing”.
And therein lies a deep-seated fear in so many retailers. Worrying whether they’ll be copied, or compared.
No matter where we are in business, we’re always comparing ourselves with others. Sometimes you’re the one comparing, and other times, you’re probably getting looked up to by others.
It’s actually really important to know what your competitors are doing. This is just good business practice.
Being able to identify who your competitors are and what products and services they offer can help you to differentiate yourself. It also helps you to track and adjust your pricing and marketing campaigns, based on what your competitors are offering
You’ve probably heard of SWOT analysis.
Identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to your business.
In order to be highly effective, you should be listing these out, and the actions you need to take to leverage the strengths and opportunities, and mitigate the weaknesses and threats.
Making sure that you ANALYSE your competitor’s behaviours, allows you to make small pivots in your business, to stay at the top of your niche.
For example
You may be following them on social media, and see that commenters regularly ask if they are going to stock a specific product. If they fail to reply, or say that t doesn’t fit with range, then there is an opportunity for YOU, to jump into a niche that your competitors aren’t fulfilling.
It could be a product, a service or even a customer base.
It also helps you take a critical look at your business, in the eyes of others.
So today, I challenge you to go out and identify your 5 main competitors and carry out a SWOT analysis of your business.
This week, I’ve put together a download that will help you do just that.
I will say, that this can be a confronting exercise. You have to critique both the good and the bad in your business.
But if you do this exercise, you’ll come out of knowing where you can excel in your business, and some things that you can do, to fix up those weak spots in your business, and we all have them, so don’t get too down on yourself!
Gift Fair season is coming up in Australia, so If you’re heading to Melbourne for Reed, Life in Style or Kids Instyle, come and join me at one of my live events. Maximise your time in Melbourne and discover how you can use the power of being an independent store, to increase your revenue and customers.
In this LIVE, full day Masterclass on Saturday 6 august, I’ll help you to create your own Masterplan to increase revenue and customers. You can grab your ticket at saleankight.com/live and if you have a bricks and mortar store, visit me at Reed’s Retail Therapy sessions on Sunday 7th August, where I’ll be talking about where you’re losing customers in your store, and how you can get them back. Grab your tickets at reedgiftfairs.com.au