A product comes from scratch. In every step of realizing it, there is a lot of work that we need to do.
There are many reports for us at every step. To write, for example, a competitive product analysis report.
What is competitive product analysis?
As newcomers, why should we do it and how should we do it?
Competitive product analysis is one of the most basic skill requirements for product practitioners. It refers to the analysis of competitor products
Refer to the description of "Competitor Analysis", we Competing products can be divided into the following categories:
1. Direct competing products: the same target market and target users, and are directly competitive with us;
2. Potential competing products Products: Different target markets, same target users. Although the markets are different, when the time is right, such competitors will choose to develop horizontally and invade our target market;
3. Indirect competing products: same target market, different target users. In the early stages of development, such opponents pose less of a threat to us, but when the market area becomes saturated, we will have to face their challenges.
As newcomers, when we first enter the industry, writing competitive product analysis seems to be one of our main tasks. Research on competitors' products can help us quickly establish a "feel" for the product and a "acumen" for the market.
It can be said that competitive product analysis is an important step for us to advance to a higher-level product manager.
Value is revealed through comparison.
When conducting market research and analysis, when we find the target market and discover the needs of target users, we cannot immerse ourselves in hard work immediately. At this time, competing product analysis is a good choice:
1. Understand the competitive status of the target market more accurately, determine whether the market is worth entering and whether we have the ability to enter
2. Study the development status of competitors’ products and market development trends , find our own position (whether we are a market follower or a first entrant, or a market filler or a challenger)
3. Master the strategic goals and operational strategies of our opponents, and understand the functions of our competitors' products Features can help us find product breakthrough points and seek product differentiation
4. Learn from the development history of competitors to avoid falling into unnecessary pitfalls during the rapid development of our own products
1. Determine the goal
Think more about why, and understand why we need to conduct competitive product analysis and what is the purpose:
To verify the feasibility of the product? Or is it to optimize the product itself? Or looking for a breakthrough point in your product?
An analysis report must have a result.
Before analyzing a product, you must be clear about your analysis goals, so that people who read our analysis reports can directly understand the purpose of our analysis, and do not analyze for the sake of analysis.
2. Determine competing products
The selection of competing products can be said to be the most basic, but it is also important. It not only tests our understanding of our own products, but also tests our attention to other products in the market.
Therefore, we usually use more products and make more classification and summaries. In this way, when we conduct competitive product analysis, we can easily think of which type the product belongs to and what are the representative products of the type.
Finally, by determining the target market and target users of competing products, the products that are consistent with our own product positioning are our competing products.
3. Collect data
a) Competitors’ official websites, Weibo or WeChat public accounts
b) Baidu Index, Taobao Index, ASO100 and other websites
c) Consulting media such as iResearch, Bida Consulting, and Analysys Think Tank
d) Competitors’ annual/quarterly financial reports
e) Opponent’s industry News, Huxiu, 36kr, Zhihu and other websites
In addition, many Weibo influencers and WeChat public accounts are publishing various data statistics. Pay more attention to them and save more, it will definitely be useful. Get the place.
4. Competitive product analysis
We can analyze the five elements of product experience (strategic layer, scope layer, structure layer, framework layer, and presentation layer), operational strategy, business model, Market background & industry development and other aspects are analyzed. The five elements mainly include:
Strategic layer: product goals and user needs, such as product positioning, target users, etc.
Scope layer: functional specifications and content requirements, such as main functions, core functions, process design, etc.
Structure layer: interaction design and information architecture, such as user processes, functional architecture, etc.
Framework layer: interface design, navigation design and information design, such as operation conditions, jumps, labels, etc.
Presentation layer: perceptual design, such as interface layout, typesetting, color, etc.
Competitive product analysis plays an extremely important role in the responsibilities of product managers. Its role is simply:
“Understand the market, understand the competitors, and understand the users”
If you want to write a good analysis report, you must do the following:
1. Be objective and fair
2. Explain from multiple angles based on the scenario
3. Keep up with market trends
4. The content is concise and easy to understand