Want some tips & tricks on how to go comp shopping? In today’s Elevate Your Curiosity podcast you’ve got them! Listen in either below, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify or read the show notes.
Comp shopping or competitive/competitor shopping is where you analyse what your competitors are doing in terms of products, offerings and their marketing message.
It’s important as anyone selling products, or even services, means you need to know what your competitors are doing. It’s not enough to just know what you’re selling.
I’m not saying to go down the comparison route by thinking another brand has something you don’t or can’t have. And do keep your eyes on your own lane. But you can use comp shopping as a way of spotting new opportunities and trends that you can interpret and offer in a unique way to your customers.
So let’s break down the steps to going comp shopping:
First off you’ll want to identify who your competitors are. These should be businesses that are similar to yours in style, customers and price points.
Write a list of these companies to review on a regular basis which could be anything from every month to every quarter.
Identify how you are different from these companies and what your USP is. If you need help with these I’ve written a Brand, Design & Product USP checklist you can download for free when you sign up to my newsletter.
Before you go comp shopping come up with a plan for what are you looking for.
- This could be to see what new stationery designs are emerging or what toys are currently being promoted and which ones are no longer so prominent.
Then head into shops or go online and see what’s on display.
- What’s at the front of the store or on the homepage banners?
- What’s on sale/promotion?
- Can you spot any styles this company continually revamps each season?
- What is their marketing message in-store and online?
Visual merchandising is a great way to spot new themes and trends that are emerging. Most stores will test themes in their visual merchandising before bringing in products based on these themes. It starts to get the customer used to the trends and open to it so their more receptive to buy when products appear.
- Companies like J Crew, Anthropologie, Selfridges are always experimental in their approach and ones to watch.
Be a customer and ask questions to the sales staff. Pretend you need inspiration and ask them:
- Are they doing other colours in certain ranges?
- What’s popular?
- And is there anything new coming in that’s similarly based on certain styles you’ve picked out?
Take photos while you’re in the store of the products and visual merchandising. Or take screenshots online of the home and product pages. Having the visuals will remind you of the details of what you’ve seen. If it’s a quiet store and you feel it’s not appropriate to be overt with taking photos. Then a top tip I was given once was to keep your camera open, place a notebook over the top and then take photos using the volume buttons on the side. This is for iPhones but I’m sure there’s a way you can do this with Android phones too!
Write down notes while you’re in-store or online. It doesn’t have to be a dissertation but do jot down the key points. I find creating a simple PowerPoint presentation or Google Slides doc is great as you can add to it for future visits and it keeps the documentation very visual.
- Top tip > Go comp shopping at trade, craft and retail shows you attend
Christmas is the ideal time to go comp shopping and check out what’s going on to inform your product development. So head out and have fun!
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