Entry Strategy: Why Competitors Analysis Matter?

Crafting an entry and marketing strategy can be challenging without understanding the competitive landscape. The best advice we can offer is to observe what your competitors are doing and how they are doing it.

Today, we’ll dive into strategy segmentation from a competitive perspective. We’ll examine competitive positioning by identifying key strengths, weaknesses, and entry points in the market.

Let’s look at an example from one of our clients.

Our client manufactures high-end PC gaming cases for the European market and wants to understand how they differ from competitors and how those competitors operate.

EU Client

Step 1: Identify Your Competitors

If you haven’t identified your competitors yet, we have summarized one of our articles here. Pinpointing the competitive landscape can be difficult, but as experts, this is what we do every day.

In the high-end PC gaming cases market, we focus on premium products with high entry price points. By examining the pricing strategies of key players, including the major ones, we can see where we stand. Our client’s products are priced at $500+, whereas most cases average between $50 and $150.

This process might take some time, but we recommend looking at key marketplaces for professional PC gaming or similar retail platforms. Here are the competitors we identified.

Step 2: Understand the Strengths and Weaknesses

It’s crucial to understand why consumers favour or reject certain products. For instance, companies like Corsair excel in cooling solutions, high build quality, and RGB lighting systems. Conversely, Asus benefits from a strong brand reputation and global presence.

As newcomers without a well-established brand, we should focus on features that meet potential demand. We should also avoid replicating existing weaknesses, such as lack of flexibility and limited variety in case design.

We recommend prioritizing cooling systems, innovative designs, durable construction, and high-quality materials, as consumers primarily seek performance and aesthetics in their cases.

Step 3: Analyze Product Features

With an understanding of the key strengths and weaknesses, we now analyze product features. This involves identifying essential features for a premium case (expert advice is beneficial) and comparing them across competitors.

Here’s our analysis:

Ideally, we should aim to incorporate all essential features to stay ahead of competitors, while maintaining our price point.

Step 4: Competitors’ Strategies for Client Acquisition and Retentions

We recommend analyzing competitors’ strategies for acquiring and retaining clients, as well as their main marketing activities. This understanding helps identify the best ways to stay ahead through targeted marketing efforts.

By comparing key competitors, we identify several common strategies:

1. Strategic partnerships with gaming events, often through sponsorships.
2. Exclusive product launches.
3. Partnerships with boutique PC builders.
4. Direct-to-consumer (D2C) sales channels.

Step 5: Marketing Channels and Strategies

Finally, we delve into the marketing channels used by competitors. We examine how they promote their products, the timing of their promotions, and the marketing activities typically employed. This comprehensive analysis helps inform our own marketing strategy.

Conclusions

Now that you have all the inputs, you can confidently draft your entry strategy and future marketing activities. We understand that conducting this analysis can be challenging without the right tools and experience.

At Ricirca, we specialize in helping you understand your market and competitive landscape. We can propose various entry strategies and marketing rollouts tailored to your needs. A dedicated consultant, an expert in your field, will guide you through the entire process and continue to support you afterward.

Get in touch with us to learn more about our process, or click here to explore our services.