How to Do Competitor Analysis in International Trade?

23 May 2023

Competitor analysis is crucial to identify the rivals of a company and understand their market strategies. It helps businesses be proactive, take action, foresee future trends, and develop strategies that make them ahead of their rivals. In almost every profitable business, there is competition. Where there is competition, there is a war to win.

So, how to do competitor analysis? Here are some steps that will help you in winning the competition race.

Collect Data and Analyze

Now that you know who you compete against, it’s time to monitor their moves by collecting and analyzing the data. Yes, it is a time-consuming and big challenge. But it is valuable for your business. Here is some information that you must analyze about your competitors.

                   1.    Product Analysis

All businesses want their offerings to be seen as perfect in the eye of their audience and they try to show their products on every platform possible. You must analyze the offerings of your competitors and try to find out what changes you can make in your business to leave them behind in the competitive market. As such you can learn:

·         Who are their ideal customers

·         Full product/service range

·         How they want to differentiate

·         Their sales policy – high volume, low price vs. premium offering, high price, etc.

Whether you want to get product information or full shipment details, you can get the B2B service and search data by HS Code, product, importer, exporter, port, origin country, destination country, and so on.

                    2.    Tree Map

By gaining access to crucial data, you can understand the business of your competitors with their trade partners. With product and pricing information, you can analyze the complete trade activities of companies and gain valuable insights.

                   3.    Country Analysis

Get essential data and know all the trade developments of your competitors across international borders. Find in which countries your competitors are supplying goods to or importing goods from. With detailed data, you can easily study the market share of companies and their business performance. 

           

                   4.    Marketing Strategy

To understand the market strategy of your competitors, you should analyze their social elements including newsletters, websites, blog pages, and social media performance. These channels show you:

              ·         Keywords mostly use

              ·         Ranking of keywords in Google

              ·         Kind of content create

              ·         Kind of visuals use

              ·         Audience interaction

              ·         Use of marketing channels to promote their products

              ·         Size of organization

 

                    5.    Pricing

You need to get the answers to certain questions about the pricing of products that your competitors offer. How are their products and services priced? What is their discount policy? Can you estimate their cost structure? These are a few major questions that you should look for and get the answers to have a perfect competition analysis.

                    6.    Technology

In this era of technology, you should also study technologies your competitors use in the product of their products. The more advanced technologies you use in your production, the higher the speed, efficiency, product quality, and standardization.

                    7.    Customers

Customer reviews are important when it comes to analyzing the offerings of companies. You can visit websites, social media channels, and other networks and go through reviews and testimonials provided by customers of companies. From there also, you can study the offerings and market strategies of your competitors.

                    8.    Trade Transaction Information

Last but not least, you can also get direct access to the trade data of companies from a reliable platform. Besides finding your competitors, you can track their operations as well by getting international transaction information.

Sources to Collect Data

The very first step is to find the answer to the question – how to find competitors domestically and internationally. For this, you should determine your market and find countries in which you want to trade your goods. Here are some of the sources from where you find your competitors.

                  1.    Chambers of Commerce

Every company must be registered in the chamber of commerce where it’s located. While some chambers do not expose their members online, most of them do. So, you can approach chambers to get details of companies who are into import and export business like you are. Analyze their business performance and find your competitors.

                   2.    Directories

Company directors are also great sources to find your competitors. Filtering by country, you can reach most of the business for free.

                   3.    Trade Data Websites & B2B Platforms

You can also search for information on websites of government and non-government organizations. There are trade data companies that sell international transaction information at fair prices and it’s legal. You can also take paid subscriptions to B2B platforms to access comprehensive and complete global import-export trade data. You can find accurate information and full details of companies that will help you to identify your competitors and analyze their market.

                  4.    Trade Promotional Councils

You can also register with trade promotion councils and look for trade information of companies. Many export companies use these councils to promote their product and business. Basically, trade promotional councils play an important connectivity role between importers and exporters.

 

                   5.    Global Trade Shows

Are you looking for genuine competitors that spend money on marketing? Of course, there are good companies that spend a lot on promoting their products and businesses. For instance, they attend global trade shows where they exhibit their products. You must also attend such trade shows where you can see which companies are dealing in the same product you do. And of course, you can note down their information and get a detailed analysis.

Action

After collecting and analyzing data about your competitors, you have to create actionable takeaways from them and compare your position against them. Definitely, you will gain success in your import-export business.

As you keep your competitor analysis updated and take necessary actions on time, you never stay behind your rivals.