To use other stores’ shortcomings to improve your own, compare product availability, assortment, information, price, and service. For each area, record your observations, check your own offer, and identify a specific action.
Choose the first changes based on expected benefit and the effort required. Check purchasing decisions against your own sales and stock. Calculate the economics before changing a price, and decide how you will assess the result before testing an improvement.
Put your observations in one table
A competitor analysis matrix compares your business and competitors using the same criteria. Create this table for internal use. Apply the same questions to your store as you do to others.
Record the date of the check and the specific offer. Instead of writing “poor description,” specify which detail is missing. If information is unavailable, write “not checked.” Use these questions in your working table:
| Area | What to check | Action to consider for your store |
|---|---|---|
| Availability | What availability is shown for the selected product? | Check the stock level and the information about it |
| Assortment | Is the required product or option available? | Review the data before making a purchasing decision |
| Information | Are the specifications and package contents clear? | Add verified details to the description |
| Price | What is included in the offer, and what additional costs apply? | Compare the terms and calculate your own price |
| Service | What inconveniences do your customers describe? | Review customer enquiries and identify a process change |
Keep observations separate from decisions. If another store does not have a particular product, check whether there is a basis for purchasing it yourself. Do not record assumptions about another store’s sales or internal resources as established facts.
Check availability and assortment needs
To plan your assortment, analyze historical data: sales volume, the share of stock sold, and how often a product is unavailable. Gather this data for the items you plan to replenish. For a new product, separately note which data is not yet available.
If you sell online, check that availability information matches on the product page, during checkout, and in the product data source. If you use structured data, check that too. If you find discrepancies, assign someone to correct them and check the result again.
Clarify product information to help customers choose
A specific and accurate description helps customers identify the product they need. Review your own product listings and add any details needed to make a choice. Verify every addition against the product data.
As a working checklist, check the model, size, material, or compatibility, depending on the category. If a specification has not been confirmed, verify it first. Do not fill in the description with assumptions.
Compare prices alongside offer terms
When analyzing prices, take delivery, extra options, discounts, and package contents into account. For a direct comparison, first check the model, specifications, and quantity. For comparable products, record the differences and collection or delivery terms separately.
When setting your price, balance profit with target customers’ expectations of an acceptable amount. After a change, track gross and net profit. Check whether the additional sales volume makes up for the lower price per unit.
Illustrative example: check the economics of a discount
Suppose a product costs UAH 500, its purchase cost is UAH 350, and other included selling costs per unit are UAH 40. After these costs, UAH 500 − 350 − 40 = 110 remains. At a price of UAH 450, UAH 60 remains.
Selling 10 units at the first price yields UAH 1,100 after the stated costs. At the second price, you would need to sell 19 units to reach at least that amount: 19 × 60 = 1,140. All figures are illustrative. Other costs are not included, so this is neither a net profit calculation nor a demand forecast. Use your own figures before making a decision.
Gather feedback and choose improvements
Gather feedback when customers receive their products or soon after purchase. As working questions, use: “What information was missing when you chose?” and “What was inconvenient when you received the product?” Record specific answers and actions to address them.
A prioritization matrix helps sort tasks by their impact on the business and the effort required. For each proposed change:
- Describe the customer’s problem and the action to resolve it.
- Estimate the expected benefit, costs, and staff time.
- Choose an outcome metric and a review timeframe.
- Assign an owner and record the result.
To check descriptions, you could track the number of enquiries asking about specifications; to guide replenishment, you could track how often a product is unavailable. These are possible working metrics; choose the ones that fit your task.
If you run an A/B experiment, include the metrics in the hypothesis before the check begins. Establishing a causal effect requires randomization and an appropriate experimental design. Do not use a simple comparison of sales before and after a change as evidence of its causal effect.
How to find low-stock products in Torgsoft
Before preparing a purchase order, review items with low stock. In Torgsoft’s “Формування замовлення постачальнику” mode (supplier order creation), the “Закінчується товар” filter (stock running low) selects products whose quantity is less than or equal to the set minimum stock level.
Use the list as a check before placing an order. Review the sales history and how often the selected products have been unavailable. Check the recorded quantity and set minimum, then decide what to replenish.
The filter result shows whether an item meets the minimum stock condition. Do not use it on its own as confirmation of future demand or the required purchase quantity.
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