New ventures need to know what their competitions’ 
   strengths and weaknesses are, if they want to be 
   successful. To uncover this information entrepreneurs 
   need to conduct a competitor analysis.
   Including a competitor analysis in your business plan 
   shows potential investors and banks that you are 
   aware of the competition, that you understand your 
   marketplace and that you have plans in place to 
   compete at the same level as the current 
   competitors.
   In this competitive analysis, you need to describe 
    your product or service and how it compares to what 
    the competition has to offer. 
   Doing a SWOT analysis of your main competitors can 
    form part of this description.
      BENEFITS OF A COMPETITIVE 
              ANALYSIS
   1. It can help you understand your business’s 
    competitive advantages and disadvantages in your 
    industry
   2. You can gain an understanding of your competitors’ 
    business strategies
   3. To provide an informed basis to develop strategies 
    to achieve competitive advantage in the future
   4. To help forecast the returns that may be made from 
    future investments, ie how will competitors respond 
    to a new product or pricing strategy?
   WHAT IS A COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
   A competitor analysis is an assessment of the 
   strengths and weaknesses of your businesses’ 
   competitors.
   This in-depth analysis of your industry competitors 
   can help you to identify opportunities for 
   improvement within your own business.
   When you have completed your competitor analysis, 
   you will be able to come up with a strategy to make 
   the most of opportunities in your industry – and to 
   deal with potential threats before they arise.
       WHAT’S IN THIS ANALYSIS?
   
    A comprehensive analysis of your 
    competitors will allow you to track how 
    your business compares in terms of:
                   7. Customers
   1. Financial resources 8. Financial data
   2. Staff        9. Brand recognition
   3. Products     10.Location
   4. Service      11.Marketing tactics
                   12.Logistics
   5. Market share
   6. Pricing