1. Competitive Analysis & Market Trends (NOT "marketing" trends)
Examples
&
Do's and Don'ts
© 2004 D. J. Foreman

2. Competitive Analysis-1
Shows what's different about each competitor
I.e.; why people buy from business A instead of B
No relationship to YOUR business
Examples:
Worst: Joe's Pizza (what about it???)
Bad: Joe's Pizza costs less (but is it good???)
Better: Joe's Pizza is everywhere (availability)
Better: Joe's Pizza comes in 17 flavors (variety)
Great: Only Joe's has Hawaiian pizza (unique)
© 2004 D. J. Foreman

3. Competitive Analysis-2
It's all about CHOICES
Why do consumers choose one business over another?
What makes it a better business? (Price is NOT the answer!!!!!)
Provable/proven quality
unique merchandise
location, size, access
ambiance (décor, "in")
© 2004 D. J. Foreman

4. Analysis Do's & Don'ts DO: DON'T: Show what's NEW about them
Show what's DIFFERENT about them compared to EVERYONE ELSE
Be VERY specific
DON'T:
Mention prices
Refer to the stock market
Refer to "trends"
© 2004 D. J. Foreman

5. Market Trends-1 CHANGE OVER TIME!!!!!!!! Examples:
Number of outlets/franchises
number of customers
number of units sold
Not about ONE company
Measured at 2 or more times
Market Trends vs Marketing Trends
© 2004 D. J. Foreman

6. Market Trends-2 Shows change over time, not "current value" Examples
Worst: pizza shop stock went (up/down) last year
Bad: Joe's Pizza had great sales this year
Bad: Joe's Pizza sold 1,000,000 pizzas this year  
Bad: Joe's Pizza sold 50% more this year
Good: Avg shop sold 30% more pizza than last year!
Better: # of pizza's sold was up 50%,
Great: 1990: 100M pizzas sold, 2000: 200M sold
© 2004 D. J. Foreman

7. Market Trends-3 Avoid : They are advertising, not market trends
Statements about prices, profits or stock value
Bragging: "the best/most experienced/biggest/most popular" etc.
They are advertising, not market trends
© 2004 D. J. Foreman

8. Market Trends-4 words to look for:
% since, % next/previous year/decade, etc (note use of "%" over some TIME; MUST HAVE BOTH ("next"=BAD, "previous"=OK)
growth/grew/grown, up/down, increase/decline, etc
became, turned/turning into, etc
from … to, compared to
They are NOT conclusive evidence of a trend
READ and ANALYZE before using it!!
© 2004 D. J. Foreman

9. Market Trends-5 Beware the word: SALES
Does it mean number of items or dollars???
If items, say so and the URL better have it.
If dollars or unknown, DON'T USE IT!!!!
e.g. …had over 1,000,000 in sales. Is it #items or dollars ?? Can't tell, so skip it
© 2004 D. J. Foreman

10. Market Trends-6 3 directions for a trend line ALL are VALID trends
Up (could mean failures are increasing)
Down (could mean costs are decreasing)
Flat
ALL are VALID trends
A "good" trend depends on what you want.
Don't think a trend is "good" only if it's "up" (see bullet 1 above)
© 2004 D. J. Foreman

11. Trend Do's & Don'ts DO DON'T emphasize change emphasize time
refer to a whole industry
mention sales in units (# of items)
DON'T
mention prices or sales (in dollars)
refer to one company's statistics
use company commercials
© 2004 D. J. Foreman