Competitive Analysis

Overview

Competitive analysis is a systematic process for understanding the market landscape, identifying competitors, and finding differentiation opportunities. Research existing solutions, analyze their strengths and weaknesses, understand market positioning, and inform product strategy with evidence-based insights.

When to Use This Skill

This skill should be used when:

• Researching competitors before starting a new project
• Analyzing market positioning and differentiation opportunities
• Understanding feature landscapes across competing products
• Identifying market gaps and opportunities
• Creating competitive analysis documents for stakeholders
• Informing product strategy and roadmap decisions

Visual Enhancement with Project Diagrams

When documenting competitive analysis, always include visualizations.

Use the project-diagrams skill to generate:

• Competitive positioning maps (2x2 matrices)
• Feature comparison charts
• Market segment diagrams
• SWOT analysis visualizations
• Competitor landscape maps

python .claude/skills/project-diagrams/scripts/generate_schematic.py "diagram description" -o diagrams/output.png

Competitive Analysis Framework

Analysis Components

Research Process

Phase 1: Market Discovery

Identify the market landscape:

1. Define the market category

   • What problem space are we in?
   • What are adjacent categories?
   • How do customers describe this space?

2. Search for competitors

   • Use research-lookup to find existing solutions
   • Search product directories (G2, Capterra, Product Hunt)
   • Review industry reports and analyst coverage
   • Search for "[category] alternatives" and "[competitor] vs"

3. Categorize competitors

   Category	Description	Priority
   Direct	Same problem, same solution approach	High
   Indirect	Same problem, different solution	Medium
   Potential	Could enter this space easily	Monitor
   Substitute	Alternative ways to solve the problem	Awareness

Phase 2: Competitor Profiling

For each significant competitor, research:

competitor_profile:
  name: "Competitor Name"
  website: "https://..."
  category: "direct | indirect | potential | substitute"
  priority: "primary | secondary | tertiary"

  company_info:
    founded: YYYY
    headquarters: "City, Country"
    funding: "Series X / Public / Bootstrapped"
    employees: "Range"
    valuation_revenue: "If known"

  product:
    description: "What they do in 1-2 sentences"
    target_market: "Who they serve"
    positioning: "How they position themselves"
    pricing:
      model: "SaaS / Usage / One-time / Freemium"
      tiers: ["Free", "Pro: $X/mo", "Enterprise: Custom"]

  strengths:
    - "Key strength 1"
    - "Key strength 2"

  weaknesses:
    - "Key weakness 1"
    - "Key weakness 2"

  market_presence:
    estimated_customers: "If known"
    notable_customers: ["Company A", "Company B"]
    geographic_focus: "Global / Regional"

  technology:
    platform: "Web / Mobile / Desktop / API"
    tech_stack: "If known"
    integrations: ["Integration 1", "Integration 2"]

  recent_developments:
    - date: "YYYY-MM"
      event: "What happened"

  sources:
    - "URL where information was found"

Phase 3: Feature Analysis

Create a feature comparison matrix:

feature_comparison:
  categories:
    - name: "Core Features"
      features:
        - name: "Feature A"
          description: "What this feature does"
          importance: "critical | important | nice_to_have"
          competitors:
            "Competitor 1": "full | partial | none"
            "Competitor 2": "full | partial | none"
            "Our Plan": "full | partial | none | future"

        - name: "Feature B"
          # ...

    - name: "Advanced Features"
      features:
        # ...

    - name: "Platform & Integration"
      features:
        # ...

Feature rating definitions:

• Full: Complete implementation
• Partial: Limited or basic implementation
• None: Not offered
• Future: Planned for our product

Phase 4: Positioning Analysis

Map competitors on positioning dimensions:

Common positioning axes:

• Price (Low ↔ High)
• Complexity (Simple ↔ Advanced)
• Target Market (SMB ↔ Enterprise)
• Focus (Generalist ↔ Specialist)
• Approach (Self-serve ↔ High-touch)

Positioning Map:

                    High Price
                        │
          ┌─────────────┼─────────────┐
          │ Premium     │ Enterprise  │
          │ [Comp C]    │ [Comp A]    │
          │             │             │
Simple ───┼─────────────┼─────────────┼─── Advanced
          │             │             │
          │ Budget      │ Power User  │
          │ [Comp D]    │ [Comp B]    │
          └─────────────┼─────────────┘
                        │
                    Low Price

Identify white space:

• Where are there gaps in the map?
• Which positions are crowded?
• Where could we uniquely position?

Phase 5: SWOT Analysis

For each major competitor:

swot_analysis:
  competitor: "Competitor Name"

  strengths:
    - factor: "Strong brand recognition"
      impact: "high"
      evidence: "Top-of-mind in category, high search volume"

    - factor: "Extensive integrations"
      impact: "medium"
      evidence: "500+ integrations listed"

  weaknesses:
    - factor: "Complex pricing"
      impact: "medium"
      evidence: "Frequent complaints in reviews about unexpected costs"

    - factor: "Poor mobile experience"
      impact: "high"
      evidence: "2.5 star app store rating"

  opportunities:
    - factor: "Underserved SMB segment"
      impact: "high"
      evidence: "Pricing starts at $50/user, reviews mention 'too expensive for small teams'"

  threats:
    - factor: "Strong network effects"
      impact: "high"
      evidence: "Viral adoption within organizations"

Aggregate into market SWOT:

• Industry-wide strengths and weaknesses
• Market opportunities
• Competitive threats

Phase 6: Differentiation Strategy

Identify differentiation opportunities:

1. Feature Gaps

   • What do customers want that no one offers?
   • What's done poorly by everyone?
   • What new capabilities are becoming possible?

2. Market Segment Gaps

   • Which customer segments are underserved?
   • Where is pricing misaligned with value?
   • Which use cases are ignored?

3. Experience Gaps

   • Where is UX frustrating?
   • What's overly complex?
   • Where can we simplify?

4. Technology Gaps

   • What's outdated?
   • What new tech enables better solutions?
   • Where is performance lacking?

Differentiation Strategy Options:

Output Templates

Competitive Analysis Report

# Competitive Analysis: [Market Category]

## Executive Summary
- Market overview (2-3 sentences)
- Number of competitors analyzed
- Key insights (3-5 bullets)
- Recommended positioning

## Market Overview
### Market Size and Growth
[TAM, SAM, SOM if available]

### Market Segments
[Key customer segments and their characteristics]

### Market Trends
[Important trends affecting the market]

## Competitor Landscape

### Primary Competitors
[Detailed profiles of direct competitors]

### Secondary Competitors
[Brief profiles of indirect competitors]

### Competitive Positioning Map
[Visual representation of market positions]

## Feature Comparison
[Feature matrix comparing capabilities]

## Analysis and Insights

### Market Opportunities
[Where gaps exist]

### Competitive Threats
[What to watch out for]

### Differentiation Opportunities
[How to stand out]

## Recommended Strategy
[Positioning recommendation with rationale]

## Appendix
- Detailed competitor profiles
- Data sources
- Feature comparison data

Competitor Profile Template

# Competitor Profile: [Name]

## Overview
**Website:** [URL]
**Category:** Direct / Indirect
**Founded:** [Year]
**Funding:** [Amount or status]
**Employees:** [Range]

## Product Description
[What they do and who they serve]

## Pricing
| Tier | Price | Key Features |
|------|-------|--------------|
| | | |

## Strengths
- [Strength 1]
- [Strength 2]

## Weaknesses
- [Weakness 1]
- [Weakness 2]

## Key Features
[List of notable features]

## Customer Reviews Summary
**Positive themes:**
- [Theme 1]

**Negative themes:**
- [Theme 1]

## Recent News
- [Date]: [Event]

## Sources
- [URL 1]
- [URL 2]

Research Best Practices

Do's

• Use multiple sources (don't rely on competitor's marketing alone)
• Include customer reviews (G2, Capterra, Reddit, Twitter)
• Look for recent news and funding announcements
• Document all sources for credibility
• Update analysis regularly (market changes)
• Talk to actual users when possible

Don'ts

• Don't just copy competitor marketing claims
• Don't ignore indirect competitors
• Don't assume feature lists equal actual capabilities
• Don't skip pricing research
• Don't make analysis too long (focus on insights)
• Don't let analysis replace customer research

Finding Information

Product information:

• Company websites and blogs
• Press releases and news
• Crunchbase, PitchBook for funding
• LinkedIn for employee counts

Customer sentiment:

• G2, Capterra, TrustRadius reviews
• Reddit discussions
• Twitter mentions
• App store reviews

Market data:

• Industry analyst reports
• Market research firms
• Trade publications
• SEC filings (public companies)

Feature details:

• Product documentation
• Help centers
• YouTube demos
• Free trials

Quality Checklist

Before completing competitive analysis:

• Market clearly defined
• All major competitors identified
• At least 3 direct competitors profiled
• Feature comparison completed
• Positioning map created
• Strengths and weaknesses documented
• Differentiation opportunities identified
• All sources cited
• Analysis is actionable (not just descriptive)
• Insights support product strategy decisions