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competitive-analysis

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Market and competitive analysis toolkit. Research competitors, analyze market positioning, identify differentiation opportunities, and create comprehensive competitive landscape assessments for software projects.

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Sourceflight505/claude-project-planner

Added on2026-02-25

NPX Install

npx skill4agent add flight505/claude-project-planner competitive-analysis

Tags

Translated version includes tags in frontmatter

competitive-analysis market-research product-strategy competitor-profiling differentiation-strategy

SKILL.md Content

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Competitive Analysis

Overview

Competitive analysis is a systematic process for understanding the market landscape, identifying competitors, and finding differentiation opportunities. Research existing solutions, analyze their strengths and weaknesses, understand market positioning, and inform product strategy with evidence-based insights.

When to Use This Skill

This skill should be used when:

Researching competitors before starting a new project
Analyzing market positioning and differentiation opportunities
Understanding feature landscapes across competing products
Identifying market gaps and opportunities
Creating competitive analysis documents for stakeholders
Informing product strategy and roadmap decisions

Visual Enhancement with Project Diagrams

When documenting competitive analysis, always include visualizations.

Use the project-diagrams skill to generate:

Competitive positioning maps (2x2 matrices)
Feature comparison charts
Market segment diagrams
SWOT analysis visualizations
Competitor landscape maps

bash

python .claude/skills/project-diagrams/scripts/generate_schematic.py "diagram description" -o diagrams/output.png

Competitive Analysis Framework

Analysis Components

Component	Purpose	Key Questions
Market Overview	Understand the market	What is the market size? Who are the players?
Competitor Profiles	Deep dive on competitors	What do they do? How are they positioned?
Feature Analysis	Compare capabilities	What features exist? What's missing?
Positioning Analysis	Understand market positions	Where do competitors position themselves?
Differentiation Strategy	Find your angle	How can we be different and better?

Research Process

Phase 1: Market Discovery

Identify the market landscape:

Define the market category
- What problem space are we in?
- What are adjacent categories?
- How do customers describe this space?
Search for competitors
- Use
```
research-lookup
```
  to find existing solutions
- Search product directories (G2, Capterra, Product Hunt)
- Review industry reports and analyst coverage
- Search for "[category] alternatives" and "[competitor] vs"

Categorize competitors

Category	Description	Priority
Direct	Same problem, same solution approach	High
Indirect	Same problem, different solution	Medium
Potential	Could enter this space easily	Monitor
Substitute	Alternative ways to solve the problem	Awareness

Phase 2: Competitor Profiling

For each significant competitor, research:

yaml

competitor_profile:
  name: "Competitor Name"
  website: "https://..."
  category: "direct | indirect | potential | substitute"
  priority: "primary | secondary | tertiary"

  company_info:
    founded: YYYY
    headquarters: "City, Country"
    funding: "Series X / Public / Bootstrapped"
    employees: "Range"
    valuation_revenue: "If known"

  product:
    description: "What they do in 1-2 sentences"
    target_market: "Who they serve"
    positioning: "How they position themselves"
    pricing:
      model: "SaaS / Usage / One-time / Freemium"
      tiers: ["Free", "Pro: $X/mo", "Enterprise: Custom"]

  strengths:
    - "Key strength 1"
    - "Key strength 2"

  weaknesses:
    - "Key weakness 1"
    - "Key weakness 2"

  market_presence:
    estimated_customers: "If known"
    notable_customers: ["Company A", "Company B"]
    geographic_focus: "Global / Regional"

  technology:
    platform: "Web / Mobile / Desktop / API"
    tech_stack: "If known"
    integrations: ["Integration 1", "Integration 2"]

  recent_developments:
    - date: "YYYY-MM"
      event: "What happened"

  sources:
    - "URL where information was found"

Phase 3: Feature Analysis

Create a feature comparison matrix:

yaml

feature_comparison:
  categories:
    - name: "Core Features"
      features:
        - name: "Feature A"
          description: "What this feature does"
          importance: "critical | important | nice_to_have"
          competitors:
            "Competitor 1": "full | partial | none"
            "Competitor 2": "full | partial | none"
            "Our Plan": "full | partial | none | future"

        - name: "Feature B"
          # ...

    - name: "Advanced Features"
      features:
        # ...

    - name: "Platform & Integration"
      features:
        # ...

Feature rating definitions:

Full: Complete implementation
Partial: Limited or basic implementation
None: Not offered
Future: Planned for our product

Phase 4: Positioning Analysis

Map competitors on positioning dimensions:

Common positioning axes:

Price (Low ↔ High)
Complexity (Simple ↔ Advanced)
Target Market (SMB ↔ Enterprise)
Focus (Generalist ↔ Specialist)
Approach (Self-serve ↔ High-touch)

Positioning Map:

                    High Price
                        │
          ┌─────────────┼─────────────┐
          │ Premium     │ Enterprise  │
          │ [Comp C]    │ [Comp A]    │
          │             │             │
Simple ───┼─────────────┼─────────────┼─── Advanced
          │             │             │
          │ Budget      │ Power User  │
          │ [Comp D]    │ [Comp B]    │
          └─────────────┼─────────────┘
                        │
                    Low Price

Identify white space:

Where are there gaps in the map?
Which positions are crowded?
Where could we uniquely position?

Phase 5: SWOT Analysis

For each major competitor:

yaml

swot_analysis:
  competitor: "Competitor Name"

  strengths:
    - factor: "Strong brand recognition"
      impact: "high"
      evidence: "Top-of-mind in category, high search volume"

    - factor: "Extensive integrations"
      impact: "medium"
      evidence: "500+ integrations listed"

  weaknesses:
    - factor: "Complex pricing"
      impact: "medium"
      evidence: "Frequent complaints in reviews about unexpected costs"

    - factor: "Poor mobile experience"
      impact: "high"
      evidence: "2.5 star app store rating"

  opportunities:
    - factor: "Underserved SMB segment"
      impact: "high"
      evidence: "Pricing starts at $50/user, reviews mention 'too expensive for small teams'"

  threats:
    - factor: "Strong network effects"
      impact: "high"
      evidence: "Viral adoption within organizations"

Aggregate into market SWOT:

Industry-wide strengths and weaknesses
Market opportunities
Competitive threats

Phase 6: Differentiation Strategy

Identify differentiation opportunities:

Feature Gaps
- What do customers want that no one offers?
- What's done poorly by everyone?
- What new capabilities are becoming possible?
Market Segment Gaps
- Which customer segments are underserved?
- Where is pricing misaligned with value?
- Which use cases are ignored?
Experience Gaps
- Where is UX frustrating?
- What's overly complex?
- Where can we simplify?
Technology Gaps
- What's outdated?
- What new tech enables better solutions?
- Where is performance lacking?

Differentiation Strategy Options:

Strategy	When to Use	Risk
Cost Leadership	Can sustainably be cheaper	Race to bottom
Differentiation	Clear unique value	Hard to communicate
Focus (Niche)	Specific segment underserved	Limited market
Innovation	New approach is possible	Execution risk
Experience	Can be significantly better UX	Easily copied

Output Templates

Competitive Analysis Report

markdown

# Competitive Analysis: [Market Category]

## Executive Summary
- Market overview (2-3 sentences)
- Number of competitors analyzed
- Key insights (3-5 bullets)
- Recommended positioning

## Market Overview
### Market Size and Growth
[TAM, SAM, SOM if available]

### Market Segments
[Key customer segments and their characteristics]

### Market Trends
[Important trends affecting the market]

## Competitor Landscape

### Primary Competitors
[Detailed profiles of direct competitors]

### Secondary Competitors
[Brief profiles of indirect competitors]

### Competitive Positioning Map
[Visual representation of market positions]

## Feature Comparison
[Feature matrix comparing capabilities]

## Analysis and Insights

### Market Opportunities
[Where gaps exist]

### Competitive Threats
[What to watch out for]

### Differentiation Opportunities
[How to stand out]

## Recommended Strategy
[Positioning recommendation with rationale]

## Appendix
- Detailed competitor profiles
- Data sources
- Feature comparison data

Competitor Profile Template

markdown

# Competitor Profile: [Name]

## Overview
**Website:** [URL]
**Category:** Direct / Indirect
**Founded:** [Year]
**Funding:** [Amount or status]
**Employees:** [Range]

## Product Description
[What they do and who they serve]

## Pricing
| Tier | Price | Key Features |
|------|-------|--------------|
| | | |

## Strengths
- [Strength 1]
- [Strength 2]

## Weaknesses
- [Weakness 1]
- [Weakness 2]

## Key Features
[List of notable features]

## Customer Reviews Summary
**Positive themes:**
- [Theme 1]

**Negative themes:**
- [Theme 1]

## Recent News
- [Date]: [Event]

## Sources
- [URL 1]
- [URL 2]

Research Best Practices

Do's

Use multiple sources (don't rely on competitor's marketing alone)
Include customer reviews (G2, Capterra, Reddit, Twitter)
Look for recent news and funding announcements
Document all sources for credibility
Update analysis regularly (market changes)
Talk to actual users when possible

Don'ts

Don't just copy competitor marketing claims
Don't ignore indirect competitors
Don't assume feature lists equal actual capabilities
Don't skip pricing research
Don't make analysis too long (focus on insights)
Don't let analysis replace customer research

Finding Information

Product information:

Company websites and blogs
Press releases and news
Crunchbase, PitchBook for funding
LinkedIn for employee counts

Customer sentiment:

G2, Capterra, TrustRadius reviews
Reddit discussions
Twitter mentions
App store reviews

Market data:

Industry analyst reports
Market research firms
Trade publications
SEC filings (public companies)

Feature details:

Product documentation
Help centers
YouTube demos
Free trials

Quality Checklist

Before completing competitive analysis:

Market clearly defined
All major competitors identified
At least 3 direct competitors profiled
Feature comparison completed
Positioning map created
Strengths and weaknesses documented
Differentiation opportunities identified
All sources cited
Analysis is actionable (not just descriptive)
Insights support product strategy decisions