Retail competitor analysis that shows where rivals are winning your shelf.

Retail competitor analysis is a store-level comparison of competing brands, covering their assortment, price architecture, pack formats and new launches against your own. In marketing, competitor analysis compares how rivals range, price and launch against a brand, and the retail version does it on the shelf. Brands use it to see what rivals actually do in store, which differs from what they announce or report. Nextyn builds the analysis from store audits and interviews with retail buyers and distributors, drawing on retail research in more than 85 countries, and includes private label wherever it competes.

A Nextyn competitor analysis delivers three outputs, one for each type of comparison: a side-by-side assortment comparison by retailer, a price ladder map by brand and format, and a competitor launch list with store evidence. Each output comes from store audits checked against interviews with retail buyers and distributors:

• Assortment comparison: the formats, sizes and variants each brand carries, retailer by retailer
• Price ladder map: where every pack sits against its nearest rival on the shelf
• Launch list: new competitor products, the stores carrying them and their shelf price

Nextyn combines store audits with interviews in three groups that see competitor moves early: retail buyers, distributors and industry experts. Nextyn store audits record what rivals have on the shelf today, and the interviews explain why and what is coming next:

• Store audits, recording assortment, formats and shelf prices for every brand in scope
• Retail buyers and category managers, on ranging decisions and upcoming launches
• Distributors and wholesalers, on what rivals are pushing into the trade
• Industry experts, on the strategy behind rival moves

Nextyn runs competitor analysis in the United States, Canada and Mexico, among other markets, with research in more than 85 countries and over 50 languages. The competitor set, retailers and markets are agreed at scoping, so a single US category and a multi-country European comparison each get their own store sample. Recent Nextyn retail work compared category health, formats and channels across 20 countries for a household-care brand, and benchmarked competitive positions for a premium air-purifier market entry.

Nextyn recommends competitor analysis before a range review or line review with a retailer, before a price change, and as soon as a rival launch reaches the shelf. At each of those three points, a store-level view of rival range and pricing shows where to defend and where to move. Repeating the study each season shows how competitors are moving over time, against the same baseline.

Nextyn analyzes retail competitors in four steps, from brief to read-out, and nothing is commissioned until the client approves the plan. The client sees the store sample, competitor set and price before any fieldwork, and reviews every finding with the Nextyn team at the end.

1. Submit the brief: the category, the competitors and retailers in scope, and the range or pricing decision ahead.
2. Receive a plan within 48 hours: which stores will be audited, who will be interviewed and what the work costs.
3. Approve the plan: fieldwork starts only after sign-off.
4. Review the read-out: store audits and interviews read together, showing where sources agree, where they conflict and what is still open.

Nextyn sends a research plan within 48 hours of receiving the brief, stating which stores will be audited, who will be interviewed and what the work costs. The plan sets the fieldwork length for the competitors, retailers and markets in scope, so a one-category, one-country read and a multi-country benchmark each get their own timeline. Nothing is commissioned until the plan is approved. A one-off study answers a single range or price decision, and repeat waves track rivals over time.

A Nextyn competitor analysis shows what rivals put on the shelf, at what price and in which stores, while syndicated sales data reports what sold through the checkout. The two answer different questions: scan data sizes share, and the analysis explains the range, pricing and launch moves behind it.