“Keep your Friends Close but your Enemies Closer”- Sun Tzu

In a business, it is not just about sincerity but also about being aware and reacting as per situations. Plagiarism is in bad taste but being inspired is considered respectable. But when it comes to a cut-throat market, following the competitor’s journey and adopting his best practices in an improvised manner is an essential move.

Competitor Analysis is the process of identifying, researching, and evaluating competitors to understand their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It is an essential part of any business strategy, as it helps you to make informed decisions about your own products, services, marketing, and pricing.

Companies hire firms to perform competitive analysis for them and spend a good fortune. But did you know that if you are a Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM user, you could do it seamlessly with Maplytics? Yup! It is true. Let’s explore!

Plotting of records-

For a hotel chain, it is of utmost importance that the location of the hotel is suitable. It should be convenient from the airports, and stations, near a city/ town, accessible by healthcare services, closer to marketplaces, and a lot more. It is a bright idea to spot effective locations by looking at competitor hotel chains. The records of competitor hotels could be plotted. If one hotel is near the bay and the other in the city, the popularity and revenue generated from both could be compared. The relevant target group could be interviewed for experience and reviews and the right areas could be shortlisted for potential new hotel places.

Mapping of Land Area-

A popular fabric manufacturer scrapped his idea of setting up his new manufacturing plant at a location when he read that the reason one of his competitors left it was the area flooded easily during rains. He analyzed the location using Land Area Mapping and understood that the location fell in the extended river bed of a huge river that swelled during monsoons. A stitch in time saves nine!

Supplier Analysis-

If a cosmetics business is looking at setting up a production lab, they could check on the competitors’ suppliers. Where do they source their ingredient from, the chemicals arranged by which suppliers, etc.? Some medium-scale cosmetics brands even share production labs with other competing brands. So, they could plot those nearby labs from their storefronts/ offices check their reviews, find the most convenient ones, and crack deals with them. Optimized routes could also be plotted for these newly discovered suppliers and labs in order to acquire the raw materials and products conveniently.

Offering comfortable travel-

If I own a resort near the coast, I can raid my competitors’ choice of touristy spots nearby. After that, using Point Of Interest Location, I can check more spots nearby and physically check out their significance. Accordingly, I can design a theme-based travel itinerary for my resort guests which would be more defined than my competitors’. I can also plot optimized travel routes for them with turn-by-turn navigation and better support my guests’ travel and plans. Real-Time Tracking option could also be utilized as an added safety measure to track my guests’ whereabouts, a facility edging over my competitors.

Exploring new Areas-

When a residential complex is being constructed, having a grocery store, or a convenience store nearby is extremely necessary. To be ahead of the competition and to grab the newest opportunities, a grocery store owner could study such residential sites and look for spots to set up a chain store. This would give them a competitive edge and the advantage of being the first. Such sites could easily be visualized on maps with Maplytics along with their surrounding region.

Self Analysis-

Maplytics could also assist in Analysing the sales of different business locations with Heat Maps. The strength areas with maximum results could be pushed for consistent improvement. The Weak areas could be remodeled like the Strength areas to boost growth. New Opportunities could be discussed and strategized upon in terms of expansion, revamping, or more. The popular Threats eating into sales and leads could be viewed and a tackling strategy could be devised. Thus, a SWOT analysis could be performed easily with Maplytics.

The possibilities to analyze competitors from across industries are plenty. It only depends on how smartly one uses it.

What’s More?

The unique features of Maplytics could be experienced when explored more with a trial. One can write to the Team at crm@inogic.com for mapping requirements, a free trial of 15 days, or a personalized demo within Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM / Dataverse.

To learn more about Maplytics, its applications across industries, and another multitude of features, do visit the Website or the Microsoft AppSource. For further details, one can hop on to the Blogs, Client Testimonials, Success Stories, Industry Applications, and Video Library for a quick query resolution.

Until then,

Happy Competing!