Being a successful brand in the market will always require some extra effort. After all, the market never stays the same and that’s why brands need to adapt to the changes. However, the task can be made easy with a thorough category analysis. Understanding today’s market and its trends is crucial. Using this method you will find it easy to understand your market category.
Category analysis is a method to systematically assess market dynamics. It helps you realize your competition and ultimately guide you to dominate the market. That’s why marketing professionals always prefer conducting a thorough category audit.
Establishing your dominance in the market is not an easy task. That’s why having a clear concept of category analysis is necessary. For having a better understanding, continue reading.
Category Analysis: What you Must Know
It provides a clear outline of all product categories and then creates a report on each product category. Using this technique brands can find their ultimate position in the market. Moreover, it is also crucial for marketing their products.
Category analysis is important:
- To comprehend the qualities of the category’s demand.
- To decide how to assess competitor and user experience.
- To identify factors that make the brand unique in the market.
- To decide how to present the products to gain profit.
Importance of Category Analysis
- Knowing the Market Opportunities:
Marketers conduct a category audit mainly to dissect categories. The purpose is to identify the gap in the market along with the latest changes. In the end, you will easily understand all your growth opportunities.
- Understanding Market Shifts:
Your brand will always have to stay one step ahead. That’s not possible without understanding the trends and changes. But what type of changes specifically? With a thorough category analysis, you can identify the trends and all the changes in consumer preferences.
- Knowing your Competitors:
Did you know that by understanding the strength of your competitors you can also make better branding strategies? Yes, that’s why making a thorough assessment of your competitors is crucial. This helps make growth strategies for your brand with the right data.
- Data-backed Decision Making:
A thorough and well-planned category audit provides proper data. With that data, you can make decisions about product development. Furthermore, making the right marketing strategies and resource allocation won’t seem difficult.
Category Analysis: What are the Crucial Steps
- Proceed after Defining your Category:
Without clearly defining the category you want to analyze you cannot proceed. So you will have to keep a few points in mind that are crucial. Firstly, be specific in terms of product types, services, or industries. But what’s the purpose of having a well-defined category? It ensures that your analysis remains focused.
- Proper Data Collection is Necessary:
While conducting your category analysis you must be very careful about the data that you collect. So you’ll have to collect data from various sources. You can also include reports on market research, and consumer surveys. For data collection, you can follow industry publications also. Moreover, make sure that you collect data that gives you the idea of market size, and growth rates.
- Analyzing the Trends of the Market:
You need to know and identify the shifts in the pattern of market trends. But how will you do that? You will have to put extra effort into collecting some past data. After that, you can compare it with the recent data that you may have collected. Also, keep in mind that you cannot skip certain points. For instance, track the changing consumer preferences, or any other major changes.
- Make Sure to Check Emerging Opportunities:
The fact that the market is ever-evolving is not unknown to you. With constant changes new opportunities also emerge. You will have to keep an eye out for all emerging trends and innovations within the category. Not just the new entrants, but also all the changing consumer expectations should be noticed. This will help your brand innovate new services and products to rule again.
- Taking the Help of Technology:
The task of category analysis may seem very difficult and tedious for you. But you can take the help of technology to make it a simple process. So, choose data analytics tools that are available in the market. Besides, there are many market research tools available that you can also use. Thus, processing and interpreting large datasets will be easier.
Endnote:
Each brand has to face difficulties when it comes to surviving in a market that’s competitive. So, using category analysis as a compass will be a smart step. So, consider it as the captain of your strategic ship and keep moving ahead.
As you start conducting category analysis, you will need to keep in mind that just knowing your competitors is not enough. You will also have to learn what will help you fulfill the demands of your customers. So, keep in mind the tips we have highlighted here. It will not just help you know the market but also your customers. In the end, your brand will emerge as the king in the market.
