How to Create a Competitor Analysis Report in Excel?

A competitors analysis report is a crucial component of any business strategy.

It investigates the strategies of a business’s rivals to identify their strengths and shortcomings. Consequently, you can adjust your strategies to compete more effectively in the market.

Say you run a small retail business. You may be up against bigger, more reputable stores in your neighborhood. A competition analysis report can help you obtain a competitive edge. It lets you see what the bigger stores do differently than your business.

You might discover that larger retailers provide better customer service or more discounts. This information can help you adjust your strategies and stay competitive.

Are you looking to grasp the competitive dynamics in your industry better?

You have come to the right place.

This blog post will help you learn how to create a competitor analysis chart in Excel. Consequently, learn how to use the chart to glean valuable insights into the competition.

Table of Content:

1. What is Competitors Analysis?
2. Why Should You Do Competitor Analysis?
3. Benefits of Creating a Competitor Analysis Report
4. Best Charts to Perform Competitors Analysis
5. How to Create a Competitor Analysis Chart in Excel?
6. Wrap Up

Let’s get started.

What is Competitors Analysis?

Competitor analysis entails gathering and analyzing data on rival businesses. This involves their financial standing, product line, pricing policy, customer service, marketing initiatives, etc. This seeks to identify your business’s areas of advantage and disadvantage in the competition.

Moreover, competitor analysis sheds light on market trends. You can learn more about the direction the industry is taking. As a result, inform decision-making on your strategies.

Why Should You Do Competitor Analysis?

• Get to Know Your Competitors

Competitor analysis helps you learn how your rivals function. This aids in developing effective plans to help you outperform the competition and boost your profits. Also, you can use it to identify potential partners who can help you increase your reach and visibility.

• Identify Opportunities

Competitor analysis is an excellent technique to find market opportunities you may have missed. You can also spot market gaps and develop better products or services to fill them.

• Spot Market Trends

You can understand the market’s direction by knowing your competitors’ strategies. It can also assist you in identifying changes in customer behavior or preferences. This is critical while developing your business strategies.

• Leverage Strengths and Weaknesses

Competitor analysis assists you in identifying and exploiting your competitors’ strengths and shortcomings. Understanding where your competitors fall short allows you to provide better customer solutions. Consequently, your company will gain a competitive advantage.

Benefits of Creating a Competitor Analysis Report

• Improved Decision-Making

Having detailed information about your competitors can help you make better decisions. Specifically decisions on product development, pricing, and marketing strategies.

• Better Understanding of Your Market

A competitor analysis report provides critical information about market trends and successful strategies. You can also locate market openings and prospective products or services that might succeed.

• Cost Saving

Long-term cost savings are attainable with a competitor analysis report. You can spot areas where you can cut costs and identify prospects for reducing expenses.

Thanks to this report’s insights, you can compete better and spend less on marketing and advertising.

• Increased Efficiency

Creating a competitor analysis report can help you improve efficiency in the long run. You can identify areas where you can streamline processes to increase efficiency.

• Improved Customer Service

You can pinpoint areas to enhance the consumer experience with a competitor analysis report. This entails giving more effective customer support and offering additional incentives and services.

Best Charts to Perform Competitors Analysis

1. Comparison Bar Chart

A Comparison Bar Chart is an effective data visualization tool for comparing multiple variables in a single chart. It displays the relative size of various dataset categories or objects.

The chart consists of bars adjacent to one another that indicate distinct categories or item sizes. The bars’ color and shape illuminate the differences between the compared items or categories.

A Comparison Bar Chart can be a great way to perform competitor analysis. It allows you to compare different metrics between competing businesses effortlessly. Visualizing the different metrics lets you identify which company has the most competitive advantage. Then use these insights to adjust your strategies to gain a competitive edge.

Example

Let’s say you have your website’s and competitors’ website quarterly traffic data, as shown below.

Quarters	Website URL	Traffic
Q1	YourWebsite.com	250986
Q1	Competitor1.com	26106
Q1	Competitor2.com	95563
Q2	YourWebsite.com	160466
Q2	Competitor1.com	78874
Q2	Competitor2.com	71263
Q3	YourWebsite.com	223179
Q3	Competitor1.com	134726
Q3	Competitor2.com	121635
Q4	YourWebsite.com	201495
Q4	Competitor1.com	32707
Q4	Competitor2.com	208904

Below is the Comparison Bar Chart visualization of the data. The chart shows each competitor in a distinct color, with the bars representing the quarters side by side.

2. Stacked Bar Chart

A Stacked Bar Chart is effective for visualizing data composition. It compares the relative contribution of different components of a whole.

The chart comprises layered bars. This results in a single bar indicating the sum of all the layered bars. Each bar represents a distinct data category.

The colors of the bars distinguish the categories. The total value of the category dictates the height of each bar. This allows you to compare the categories effortlessly.

Example

Assume you have the data below comparing your sales to the competition in different countries.

Countries	Companies	Garments	Electronics	Toys
USA	Your Company	56	37	7
USA	Competitor’s Company	25	11	64
Canada	Your Company	52	38	10
Canada	Competitor’s Company	52	34	14
UK	Your Company	53	22	25
UK	Competitor’s Company	32	35	33
UAE	Your Company	27	24	49
UAE	Competitor’s Company	44	26	31

A Stacked Bar Chart will allow you to see the differences in sales, as visualized below, quickly.

3. Radar Chart

A Radar Chart displays multivariate data in a two-dimensional chart. The shape of the Radar Chart resembles a spider web or a star. As a result, it is also referred to as a Web Chart or Star Chart.

It plots the data along multiple axes and then connects them to make a polygon. Each axis represents a distinct data point. The resulting polygon visualizes how the data points compare.

Radar Charts come in handy when comparing multiple entities and spotting trends in data. They are beneficial for comparing entities with many data points.

Example

Assume you have your business’s sales data, as shown below.

Months	Your Website	Competitors Website
Jan	614000	646000
Feb	579000	740000
Mar	753000	954000
Apr	956000	616000
May	545000	880000
Jun	697000	531000
Jul	677000	462000
Aug	742000	962000
Sep	512000	688000
Oct	750000	553000
Nov	659000	518000
Dec	849000	457000

This is the Radar Chart visualization of your data.

How to Create a Competitor Analysis Chart in Excel?

Creating a competitor analysis chart in Excel can be a daunting task. It requires coding and data structuring knowledge.

Fortunately, ChartExpo exists to simplify the process of creating insightful visualizations in Excel.

With ChartExpo, you can easily create a compelling chart to help you analyze the competition. Consequently, gain insight into their strengths and weaknesses.

Benefits of Using ChartExpo

• ChartExpo provides a wide range of charting and graphing options. You can choose from a range of templates. This saves you the pain of starting from scratch when creating visualizations.
• There are numerous customizing options in ChartExpo. It empowers you to personalize the visualizations to meet specific needs. Therefore, you can visualize data more interestingly and creatively.
• ChartExpo is user-friendly. It has an intuitive interface making it easy for you to create insightful visualizations. This helps you to save time and effort when working with data.
• ChartExpo is cost-effective. It has a free 7-day trial to test the features before committing to its monthly $10 subscription. This makes it affordable and accessible to businesses of all sizes.

So why wait? Get started and create an insightful competitor analysis chart in Excel with ChartExpo.

How to Install ChartExpo in Excel?

1. Open your Excel application.
2. Open the worksheet and click on the “Insert” menu.
3. You’ll see “My Apps”.
4. In the office Add-ins window, click “Store” and search for ChartExpo on my Apps Store.
5. Click the “Add” button to install ChartExpo in your Excel.

ChartExpo charts and graphs are available in Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel. Please use the CTAs below to install your preferred tool and create insightful visualizations in just a few clicks.

Example

• To get started with ChartExpo, install ChartExpo in Excel.
• Now Click on My Apps from the INSERT menu.

• Choose ChartExpo from My Apps, then click Insert.

• Once ChartExpo is loaded. Click on “Radar Chart” from the list of charts.

• Click “Create Chart From Selection” button after selecting the data from the sheet, as shown.

• The Radar Chart will look like as follows.

• If you want to have the title of chart, click on Edit Chart, as shown in the above image.
• To change the title of the chart, click on the pencil icon that is available very next to Chart Header.
• It will open the properties dialog. Under the Text section, you can add a heading in Line 1 and enable the Show option. Give the appropriate title of your chart and click on Apply button.
• For saving changes click on Save Changes. This will persist the changes.

• To increase the size of the curve point on the line, select the “Settings” button at the top. Expand the “Curve Point” property and toggle the “Show” option. You can modify the radius of the curve point using the Radius property.
• Click the “Apply All” button to save the changes.

• The final chart will look like as below.

Insights

• January saw an almost equal number of visitors to your website and your competitors.
• Your rival maintained the lead for February, March, May, August, and September, likely due to their greater user base.
• You saw more visitors in April, June, July, October, November, and December. Thanks to your consistently high levels of traffic.

FAQs:

How do you create a competitor analysis report?

To create an efficient competitor analysis report;

• Identify the competitors.
• Analyze their strengths and weaknesses.
• Analyze the opportunities and threats of the market.
• Summarize the findings, highlighting the key points and providing recommendations.

What is a Competitor Analysis Report?

A competitor analysis report evaluates a business’s competition.

It helps you with the following;

• Understand your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.
• Identify areas where you can differentiate your products or services.
• Develop effective strategies for gaining an edge in the market.

Why should I do a Competitor Analysis?

Doing a thorough competitor analysis helps you accomplish the following;

• Identify your rival’s strengths and weaknesses.
• Develop better marketing and sales strategies.
• Create more effective products and services.
• Stay ahead of the competition and maximize your chances of success.

How do I create a Competitor Analysis Chart in Excel?

Use ChartExpo to create competitor analysis charts in Excel since it makes the process easy. Also, it has a wide range of chart types and data visualizations. Furthermore, it allows you to customize your chart to fit your needs.

Wrap Up

A competitors analysis report provides a wealth of insights. It can help you identify your rivals’ strengths and weaknesses and spot market trends.

What’s more?

It can aid in determining your position in the market and locating potential growth areas. This information lets you fine-tune your tactics and gain a competitive advantage.

While a competitors analysis report is a crucial marketing tool, it doesn’t have to be complex.

This is where data visualizations come to play.

The most efficient charts for visualizing competitor analysis data include;

• Comparison Bar Chart.
• Stacked Bar Chart.
• Radar Chart.

Creating a competitor analysis chart in Excel requires data structuring and coding knowledge.

ChartExpo helps to simplify the creation of compelling visualizations in Excel. It empowers you to create insightful visualizations with zero coding knowledge. Consequently, gain insights into competitors and leverage the information to your benefit.