COMPETITIVE BENCHMARKING
Definition
Competitive benchmarking is the systematic comparison of prices, product assortments, and promotional offers between a retailer and its direct competitors.
More structured than a simple price monitoring system, it incorporates summary metrics (price index, promotional rate, product assortment depth) that enable companies to manage their price image and competitive position over time and by category.
Why it matters
- Objectively assess pricing strategy: replace perceptions with quantitative metrics derived from a panel of competitors.
- Managing by category: A department-by-department benchmark reveals where we are competitive and where we need to make adjustments.
- Internal communication: A shared benchmark dashboard with the sales department helps facilitate decision-making.
Example
A fresh food distributor compiles a monthly benchmark report on 7 competitors (4 brick-and-mortar retailers, 3 online grocery retailers) based on 1,200 SKUs.
The dashboard shows an overall price index of 102 (2% higher than the market average), with variations by department: 95 for dairy (very competitive), 108 for meat (expensive), and 100 for fruits and vegetables (in line with the market).
Targeted portfolio adjustments make it possible to bring the overall index back to 99 within 6 months.
Pitfalls to avoid
- Benchmarking on too broad a scale: including irrelevant competitors skews the metrics.
- Unweighted index: Simply averaging prices gives a bestseller the same weight as a niche title, which skews the analysis.
- Static benchmark: A quarterly benchmark is too slow for a market that changes every day. Aim for at least a weekly update.
FAQ
Competitive intelligence involves continuously monitoring market trends, while competitive benchmarking involves systematically comparing performance, prices, product assortments, or promotions across multiple retailers
. Benchmarking is primarily used to identify gaps and opportunities for improvement.
An effective benchmark goes beyond just prices
It also analyzes price indices, promotions, price differences, product availability, private labels, product assortments, delivery times, and—depending on the category—customer reviews or services offered
The goal is to gain a comprehensive view of your positioning in the market.
Benchmarking must adapt to market dynamics
In e-commerce or highly competitive categories, daily monitoring is often necessary
For other sectors, weekly or monthly benchmarking generally allows you to identify trends without generating unnecessary data.
It’s best to select the brands that actually influence your business: direct competitors, market leaders, local players, pure players, or marketplaces, depending on your categories
A benchmark that’s too broad complicates the analysis, while a relevant sample provides information that pricing teams can use immediately.
Benchmarking should not lead to automatically copying competitors' prices
It allows you to identify positioning gaps, measure your competitiveness on strategic products, simulate different pricing scenarios, and balance margin, sales volume, and price image based on your business objectives.
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Beaucoup d'organisations reçoivent chaque matin un tableau d'écarts de prix concurrents, mais peu ont une véritable stratégie. La différence tient à trois questions posées avant de lancer le dispositif : pourquoi collecter cette donnée, sur quoi précisément, et pour décider quoi une fois l'écart constaté.
Point de repère : les key value items (KVI) (les références dont les clients retiennent le prix) représentent généralement 15 à 25 % des ventes d'une catégorie. Concentrer l'effort de surveillance sur ce noyau restreint est plus rentable que de vouloir tout suivre avec la même intensité.
The timeliness of competitor pricing data is not a binary concept: it deteriorates continuously, like a perishable asset. A decision based on data that is a few days old may be incorrect by the time it is implemented, even if the dashboard displays an apparently reliable difference.
Academic research confirms this: the average time between two price changes at multichannel retailers fell from 6.7 months to 3.7 months between 2008–2010 and 2014–2017—a sign that the actual pace of the market has accelerated significantly.