Competitive intelligence is the gathering of information about a business’s competitors to make one's own business more competitive.
Competitive intelligence, then, is the kind of market research designed and carried out to find and keep a business’s market share.
Gathering information about the competition and analyzing it is an important part of working through a business plan, but competitive intelligence is just as important to established businesses. New competitors may move into a market; existing competitors may change their practices.
For successful small businesses, competitive intelligence is regular and ongoing. Without it, you won’t be able to make the marketing decisions that will keep or draw customers and/or clients.
What sorts of information might a small business building competitive intelligence gather? Information about a competitor’s products and/or services and the prices they’re charging for them, of course, but also information such as who their suppliers are, what their customer or clients say about them, what their company policies are, what sorts of communications they send out... In short, any information that’s going to help you know more about them.
Competitive intelligence sources for small businesses include media such as newspapers, television and the Internet, other business people, your competitors’ staff and your competitors’ customers or clients. If you are a bricks-and-mortar business, you will certainly want to visit your competitors’ stores.
