The Power of Perspective: Using Multi-Dimensional Data to Fuel Better Competitor Analysis

“Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion.” This adage, attributed to the legendary statistician W. Edwards Deming, suggests the vital role data plays in your market and competitor analysis. After all, you need to convince decision-makers across your organization that the insights you deliver are credible—not just a gut feeling.

Embarking on market and competitor analysis without the right data is like navigating with an incomplete map. Consider the decline of a once-dominant retail giant that failed to heed the digital transformation signals from competitors and market trends. The retailer’s fall serves as a reminder of the critical need to undertake exhaustive and multi-faceted data analysis to fully understand market dynamics and stay ahead of competitors.

Key Data Types for Enhanced Market and Competitor Analysis

To capture a well-rounded perspective of the market and competitive landscape, you can’t rely on internal resources or traditional search engines alone. At best, you’ll have an incomplete picture.  At worst, you’ll have a view distorted by obsolete data or lacking in credible sources—neither of which will help you earn the trust of decision-makers.

What types of data can help you see the bigger picture?

Print, Broadcast and Web News Data

Staying updated with global and industry-specific news offers near real-time insights into competitor moves, regulatory changes, and potential disruptions. Archival news offers value too, enabling historical analyses that can help you identify past patterns or signals that could indicate emerging opportunities or threats. For example, tracking mentions of technology partnerships or acquisitions by competitors could reveal insights into shifting strategic priorities. Meanwhile, broadcast transcripts can give you insights into what industry experts, top executives among competitors or other high-profile individuals are saying—with full context, not just a cherry-picked soundbite.  These types of insights can empower your organization to anticipate and respond to competitor priorities more quickly.

Company & Financial Data

Detailed company data, including financial performance, investment activities, M&A events, and strategic initiatives, provide a lens through which to view competitors' strengths and weaknesses. This information is crucial for benchmarking and strategic planning. Consider, for example, integrating news related to environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors and ESG ratings into your market and competitor analysis to better understand how organizations are managing rising expectations around corporate responsibility and sustainability objectives.

Legal & IP Data

Legal proceedings, filings, and litigation history can reveal much about competitors' strategic directions and potential challenges. Analyzing this data helps anticipate moves and identify opportunities or threats early on.  Similarly, Intellectual Property (IP) data offers insights into competitors' innovation focus and R&D investments. Such insights can highlight emerging industry trends and potential areas of competition, even from disruptors outside your traditional competitors.

Regulatory Data

Regulations can significantly impact market dynamics. Staying on top of regulatory changes and compliance requirements across different geographies can help you better understand cross-border complexities when exploring new opportunities in emerging markets. Many jurisdictions, for example, are introducing or have already passed mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence. By tracking regulatory trends related to sustainability efforts, you not only can provide important insights into potential risks, but it can inspire R&D strategies to meet growing demand for ESG-aligned products and services.

The Imperative for an Expert Data & Technology Partner

To effectively harness these diverse data streams, you need to choose a data and technology solutions provider that is proficient in the nuances of big data. What should they bring to the table?

• Diverse Data Universe: The more sources you depend on for data, the more wrangling required. Choosing a data and technology partner that offers a robust collection of data aggregated from reputable publishers and authorities worldwide streamlines data access and ingestion.
• Data Enrichments: Advanced data enrichment techniques enhance data quality and relevance, making it easier for you to identify critical insights among the noise. For example, applied metadata and index tags enables you to refine search results to focusing on topics, target companies, or the sentiment in media coverage to better understand the competitive landscape.
• Advanced Technologies: Leveraging generative AI and other cutting-edge technologies can dramatically increase the efficiency and accuracy of competitive intelligence research and analysis, allowing you to quickly distil vast amounts of information into clear summaries that bring insights into focus.

The depth and breadth of your market and competitor analysis can significantly impact your organization’s strategic direction and market positioning. By employing a multi-dimensional data strategy and partnering with an experienced data and technology provider like LexisNexis, you can capture a 360-degree view of the market landscape. This approach not only illuminates the path ahead but also equips you with the insights needed to manage market dynamics proactively and competitively.

Ready to embrace a multi-dimensional data approach in market and competitor analysis?

Explore how Nexis Data+^® or our new AI solution, Nexis+ AI™, can make it possible.