Stop 06 · Business Modeling & StrategyTopics · 7/9

Competitive Analysis for BAs

In short

When a stakeholder says 'our rival already has this', you need to know if that's true, how well it works and whether copying it even makes sense. That's competitive analysis.

Studying competitors' processes, offerings, and market positioning to inform internal recommendations — understanding the competitive landscape a business decision needs to account for.

The purple blob peeks around a supermarket shelf with a small notebook and a shopping basket on its arm.

Think of it like this

The kirana owner's Sunday visit

A new supermart opens down the road. The kirana uncle walks over with a notebook: what do they stock, what do they charge, how long is the billing queue? He can't beat their prices, but he can deliver in ten minutes and give credit to regulars.

Watch it happen

From rivals to a recommendation

Pick rivals

Criteria

Gather

Grid

So what

1/5Choose 3 to 5 rivals: two direct competitors, one indirect one, and maybe the manual way people do it now.

The big ideas

What you need to know

Scope it to the decision

A BA's competitive analysis supports a specific requirement or project, not a full market research report.

Use the product

Signing up and trying the flow yourself teaches more than reading a rival's marketing page.

Reviews are gold

Play Store and app reviews show what customers love or hate about rivals, in their own words.

Don't just copy

A feature that works for a rival may not suit your users. Ask why they built it before matching it.

Save yourself the pain

Common mistakes

Oops

Comparing only features in a big tick-box table.

Do this instead

Compare how well things work too: steps to complete, time taken, what reviews complain about.

Oops

Ignoring the 'non-obvious' competitor, like WhatsApp groups or spreadsheets.

Do this instead

Include whatever people use today instead of you, even if it's not a company.

Your mission

Compare three food apps

~35 min

Quick check

Your stakeholder wants a feature 'because Competitor X has it'. What's your best first step?

Go deeper

1Build a comparison table of 3 competitors for a business you're studying.
2Identify a competitive gap or opportunity a business could exploit.
3Learn why competitive analysis informs strategy but shouldn't dictate simple imitation.