Market research-1

 

Squeezing the most out of your market share data

There’s no denying that growing revenues year-on-year is a fantastic outcome. However, it is only within the context of performance within an industry/market that a full picture of success becomes apparent. Growing revenues by 5% is great. Growing revenues by 5% in a market that grew by 50% is less so…

Measuring a business against its competitors is not a new phenomenon. Market share is one of the most common measures of success for larger organisations, yet we frequently see businesses failing to utilise market share data effectively. Below are a few recommendations of how to get the most out of market share data:

 

Satelite     Fast data leads to fast decisions

Managing the regularity data is received with the ability to respond is key. Having the ability to react to competitor activity on a weekly basis, but only receiving market share data monthly means missing out on opportunities to tactically respond. On the flipside, a daily market share feed becomes more of a luxury than a need if the business takes weeks to do anything with the information.

 

Customer Analytics     Integration is key

Market share becomes extremely powerful when combined with other data sources. Combining market share data with other data sets such as competitor marketing or other promotional activity will provide context to changes in market share and help your business understand which levers are moving the needle the most. As market share data tends to come from external data sources and external partners, it is also a valuable as a trustworthy KPI and can be less susceptible to the bias that is sometimes seen with more internally focused business metrics.

 

Exclamation mark     Do we even know who we are up against?

Market share is impacted by two main variables; businesses performance, and that of competitors. With half of the equation being dictated by the performance of other players in the market, it is important to invest time upfront to define this group clearly. Just as importantly is that when this information is shared with the business, it is clear in the reporting. Different people within an organization may have different opinions on who is a competitor and who is not. If decisions are being made from this information (which is the primary reason for collecting and analysing this data) it is imperative that the competitor set is carefully agreed upon and clearly articulated in any reports.

Another point to note is that markets evolve over time. Just because a brand or organisation wasn’t a competitor last year, doesn’t mean they aren’t now. A competitor set should be regularly updated to reflect changes in market/industry. New innovations are changing up even the most established of industries.

 

Abacus     We are losing market share, now what?

In order to understand the ‘why’ behind a change in market share, the data needs to be aggregated at a level that makes sense for the organization using it. If your market share data is reported at a national level, but pricing decisions and marketing is regional, it is going to be almost impossible to truly understand the key drivers of any changes. Key stakeholders should be able to drill through this data quickly. If the data is available, but the process to reach it is time consuming and inefficient, it is less likely that this data will be considered in decision making.

 

Knowing that you are losing market share, but not being able to work out why, is as good as not knowing at all!

Is your market share data meeting the requirements of your business? Datamine are experts in this area and have a range of market data options to meet your businesses requirements. Reach out and have a chat, we love talking data.

 

 

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