Market research case study

- So I want to give you an example of how this works and we'll work through this entire example. We picked the backpack industry to take a look at. So, the company that we're going to be is Bolsa Designs. Bolsa Designs creates these lovely backpacks, they're stylish, they're durable, they're made of wonderful fabrics, they're unisex, and they're great for home or work, and they have great anti-theft features. Now, so we look at comparable products within this market space and we actually work through our spreadsheet. So, we're going to go ahead and take a look at our spreadsheet. We're going to pop it on the screen. Let me give you some observations here. So, the first thing that we see is the price ranging. Really, in the industry of these competitors, we're looking at prices between $24.99 and $198.00. That's a really big price range. As we scan this list and look at all the players, we're looking for the median price, kind of that sweet spot. What's that price right in the middle where most of the competitors are grouped? And by the way, this is how it works for a lot of industries. In this case, it's $30 to $39. Now, we also see that this is a pretty competitive space, there's lots of competitors out there. And, they also use an interesting tactic. They use the 99 cent tactic. So that means that some of these competitors are more discount-oriented by using that 99. That kind of infers that something is on sale in the consumers mindset. So, that's an important data point to know as I'm looking at this, as well. We're also looking at some competitors in this list are value-based, they're using value-based pricing. So, on the higher end, how are they getting that higher price? By adding more features and more things, more value add to their overall product here. Some of the standout features that Bolsa offers, that, a lot of the other competitors didn't offer, is anti-theft, lightweight, durable, hard to cut, which is another anti-theft feature. They make this out of recycled material and they're perfectly sized for travel, and not everybody fell into that category. So, some interesting observations as we start to look at the overall grid that we're pulling out information that's going to be useful as we start developing our pricing strategy. So, you can look at this for your own business. This is very valuable information for you to know about your competitors. Now that we've made some observations by looking at our competitors spreadsheet, let's go into some questions that I want you to ask. First thing is, can I effectively compete in this market given my cost structure? And that's a really important one. In this industry, have they driven prices down so much that me to enter this market, for my business to enter this market would be very challenging? That could be a problem. Is there enough incremental value that I can deliver in my product or service that I can give back to the customers. That's going to drive higher margins and higher profits, as well. Do I need to charge a cheaper price for my product or service because I am missing something? I might be missing a feature, missing something that's important, that customers value. Can I position my product to capture more value in the marketplace? So, it could be something as simple as just changing the messaging and positioning it slightly different against my competitors so that I can get more value, or, it could be where I need to add a feature, or something extra, an add-on product, perhaps, or even bundle something together so I'm actually creating more value against my competitors. Something that I can do, that they're not doing.