Product Competitive Analysis Template for Brand Managers
# Product Competitive Analysis: Stay Ahead of the Market In today's competitive landscape, understanding where your products stand relative to competitors isn't optional—it's essential. As a Brand Manager, you need clear visibility into competitor strengths, pricing strategies, feature positioning, and market movements to make informed decisions about your own product portfolio. Without systematic competitive analysis, you risk missing market shifts, mispricing your offerings, or failing to capitalize on competitor weaknesses. The challenge? Gathering, organizing, and updating competitive data across multiple dimensions while maintaining accuracy and actionability. This is where a structured Excel approach transforms competitive monitoring from a time-consuming manual process into a strategic asset. By consolidating competitor data in one centralized location, you can identify patterns, spot opportunities, and track changes over time—all without complex software or expensive tools. In this guide, we'll show you how to build a robust competitive analysis framework in Excel. You'll discover practical formulas and visualization techniques that turn raw competitor data into strategic insights. Plus, we're providing a free, ready-to-use Excel template you can customize immediately for your specific market and competitors. Let's get started.
The Problem
# The Brand Manager's Competitive Analysis Challenge Brand managers constantly struggle to track competitor activity across multiple channels—social media, pricing, product launches, and marketing campaigns. The data arrives fragmented: scattered emails, screenshots, competitor websites, and market reports that quickly become outdated. Without a centralized system, critical insights slip through the cracks. You spend hours manually copying competitor prices, launch dates, and promotional strategies into different spreadsheets, only to realize the information conflicts or lacks context. When leadership asks "How does our positioning compare to Brand X?" you're scrambling to compile reliable data rather than providing strategic recommendations. You need a single source of truth that consolidates competitor intelligence, tracks trends over time, and highlights actionable insights—not another time-consuming administrative task that pulls you away from strategic thinking and brand development.
Benefits
Track 50+ competitor metrics in one dashboard and update insights in 15 minutes instead of 2 hours of manual research—using INDEX/MATCH formulas to pull real-time pricing and feature data.
Reduce reporting errors by 95% with automated competitive positioning matrices that flag when your brand falls below key performance thresholds using conditional formatting.
Identify market gaps 3-4 weeks faster by analyzing competitor launch patterns, pricing strategies, and messaging trends across 12-month rolling timelines in pivot tables.
Cut analysis time by 70% using VLOOKUP and data consolidation to compare your product features against 8+ competitors simultaneously, enabling faster strategic decisions.
Build reusable competitive intelligence templates that save 5+ hours monthly and ensure consistent, standardized analysis across your entire marketing team.
Step-by-Step Tutorial
Create the main table structure
Start by setting up the foundational columns for your competitive analysis. Create headers for Competitor Name, Market Share (%), Price ($), Product Quality (1-10), Customer Satisfaction (1-10), Brand Awareness (%), and Last Updated. This structure allows you to track key competitive metrics in one centralized location.
Use Ctrl+T to convert your data range into an Excel Table, which automatically enables filtering and makes formulas easier to manage
Input competitor data
Enter realistic data for your main competitors. For example, add rows with competitors like 'Brand A', 'Brand B', 'Brand C' and populate their corresponding metrics. Include your own brand as a reference point to benchmark against the competition.
Keep data updated quarterly or whenever you conduct market research to maintain accuracy in your analysis
Calculate market position ranking
Add a 'Market Position Rank' column to automatically rank competitors based on their market share. This helps you quickly identify who your strongest competitors are and where your brand stands in the marketplace.
=RANK(B2,$B$2:$B$8,0)Use absolute references ($B$2:$B$8) so the range doesn't change when you copy the formula down
Create a competitive strength score
Develop a weighted scoring system that combines multiple metrics into a single 'Competitive Strength Score'. This gives you a holistic view of each competitor's overall market position by averaging their quality, satisfaction, and awareness metrics.
=AVERAGE(D2:F2)For a more sophisticated analysis, use AVERAGEIF or assign custom weights using SUMPRODUCT instead of simple AVERAGE
Add VLOOKUP for competitor insights
Create a reference section where you can quickly look up detailed information about any competitor by name. This allows you to instantly retrieve price, quality, and other metrics without scrolling through the main table.
=VLOOKUP("Brand A",$A$2:$F$8,3,FALSE)Replace the hardcoded 'Brand A' with a cell reference (like G2) to make this lookup dynamic and reusable
Calculate your competitive advantage metrics
Add columns that show your brand's performance relative to competitors, such as 'Price Advantage', 'Quality Gap', and 'Awareness Gap'. Use formulas to automatically calculate how your brand compares to the average competitor.
=B2-AVERAGE($B$2:$B$8)Use conditional formatting with color scales to visually highlight where your brand has advantages (green) and disadvantages (red)
Create a competitive summary dashboard
Build a summary section that displays key insights like the highest-ranked competitor, average market share, and your brand's percentile position. This provides executives with quick, actionable insights without requiring them to analyze the full dataset.
=MAX(B2:B8) and =PERCENTILE($B$2:$B$8,MATCH(B10,$B$2:$B$8,0)/COUNTA($B$2:$B$8))Use named ranges for your summary calculations to make formulas more readable and maintainable
Add conditional formatting for quick analysis
Apply data bars, color scales, or icon sets to your numeric columns so trends and outliers are immediately visible. This visual layer helps you quickly identify which competitors are gaining or losing ground.
Apply a 3-color scale to Market Share and Quality columns: red for low, yellow for medium, green for high performance
Create a trend tracking section
Add a secondary table that tracks how each competitor's metrics have changed over time (quarter-over-quarter or year-over-year). This helps you identify emerging threats and opportunities in the competitive landscape.
=VLOOKUP(A2,PreviousQuarter!$A$2:$F$8,3,FALSE)-C2Use separate worksheets for each quarter and reference them in your main sheet to maintain historical data
Build a competitive positioning chart
Create a scatter plot using Price (X-axis) vs. Quality (Y-axis) to visualize where each competitor is positioned in the market. This visual representation makes it easy to spot market gaps and positioning opportunities for your brand.
Add data labels to your scatter chart showing competitor names, and use different colors for your brand vs. competitors to make it stand out
Template Features
Market Share Comparison Dashboard
Automatically calculates and displays your brand's market share against competitors using revenue or unit sales data. Solves the problem of manually tracking competitive positioning in real-time.
=B2/SUM($B$2:$B$10)*100Price Positioning Analysis
Compares your product pricing against competitors and flags price gaps. Helps brand managers identify pricing opportunities and competitive threats instantly.
=IF(B2>AVERAGE($B$2:$B$10),"Above Market","Below Market")Feature Parity Matrix
Visual checklist showing which features your brand offers versus competitors. Solves the problem of identifying capability gaps and highlighting unique selling points.
Trend Analysis with Growth Rate Calculation
Automatically tracks quarter-over-quarter or year-over-year growth rates for your brand and competitors. Helps identify market momentum and competitive threats early.
=(B3-B2)/B2Competitive Strength Scoring System
Weighted scoring model evaluating competitors across multiple dimensions (price, quality, marketing, distribution). Provides objective competitive ranking instead of subjective assessment.
=SUMPRODUCT(B2:B6,$C$2:$C$6)/SUM($C$2:$C$6)Automated Alert System
Flags when a competitor's metric crosses critical thresholds (price drop, market share gain, new product launch). Ensures brand managers never miss competitive moves.
=IF(B2>B1*1.15,"⚠ Alert: Competitor gaining share","Stable")Concrete Examples
Q2 Market Share Comparison Across Product Categories
Sarah, Brand Manager at a beverage company, needs to assess how her flagship energy drink compares to competitors (Red Bull, Monster, Celsius) across key retail channels and price points for her quarterly board presentation.
Competitor A (Red Bull): Market Share 32%, Avg Price $2.99, Distribution 85% of stores, Customer Rating 4.2/5. Competitor B (Monster): Market Share 28%, Avg Price $2.49, Distribution 92%, Rating 4.0/5. Our Brand: Market Share 18%, Avg Price $2.79, Distribution 76%, Rating 4.3/5. Competitor C (Celsius): Market Share 15%, Avg Price $2.89, Distribution 68%, Rating 4.4/5.
Result: A competitive matrix showing our brand's positioning gaps (lower distribution vs Red Bull, premium pricing without market leadership, strong customer satisfaction). Identifies action items: negotiate shelf space with retailers, consider promotional pricing strategy, leverage customer satisfaction in marketing campaigns.
Social Media Engagement Benchmarking for Campaign Performance
David, Brand Manager for a fashion retailer, launched a spring campaign across Instagram and TikTok. He needs to compare his brand's engagement metrics against 3 direct competitors to validate if the creative strategy is resonating with the target audience.
Our Brand - Instagram: 125K followers, 4.2% engagement rate, 2.8K avg likes per post, 340 comments per post. TikTok: 89K followers, 6.1% engagement, 12K avg views. Competitor 1 - Instagram: 340K followers, 3.1% engagement, 8.5K likes, 520 comments. Competitor 2 - Instagram: 210K followers, 5.8% engagement, 9.2K likes, 680 comments. Competitor 3 - TikTok: 520K followers, 4.9% engagement, 28K avg views.
Result: Dashboard revealing that our brand achieves higher engagement rate on Instagram (4.2% vs competitor average 4.5%) despite smaller follower base, and outperforms on TikTok (6.1% vs 4.9%). Insight: our younger audience is more engaged; recommendation is to increase TikTok content investment and repurpose top Instagram posts to reach broader follower base.
Brand Perception Study: Attribute Scoring vs Competitors
Lisa, Brand Manager for a luxury skincare brand, conducted a consumer survey asking 500 respondents to rate her brand and 4 competitors on key attributes (quality, price value, sustainability, innovation, trustworthiness) on a 1-10 scale. She needs to identify perception gaps.
Our Brand - Quality: 8.7, Price Value: 6.2, Sustainability: 7.1, Innovation: 7.8, Trustworthiness: 8.4. Competitor A - Quality: 8.3, Price Value: 7.8, Sustainability: 6.4, Innovation: 8.1, Trustworthiness: 8.2. Competitor B - Quality: 7.9, Price Value: 8.2, Sustainability: 8.6, Innovation: 7.2, Trustworthiness: 7.8. Competitor C - Quality: 8.5, Price Value: 7.1, Sustainability: 7.3, Innovation: 8.4, Trustworthiness: 8.6.
Result: Radar chart and gap analysis showing our brand leads in quality and trustworthiness but significantly lags in price value perception (6.2 vs competitor average 7.7). Competitor B dominates sustainability messaging. Strategic recommendation: reposition pricing narrative in marketing (communicate value-for-quality ratio), develop sustainability storytelling initiatives to close 1.5-point gap, and leverage quality/trust leadership in premium positioning.
Pro Tips
Build a Dynamic Competitive Positioning Matrix with Conditional Formatting
Create a 2x2 matrix comparing your brand against competitors on two key metrics (price vs. quality, innovation vs. reliability). Use conditional formatting with color scales to instantly visualize competitive gaps. This helps you identify white spaces in the market and positioning opportunities at a glance. Use Ctrl+Shift+L to apply AutoFilter, then pivot your data to spot trends across competitor segments.
=COUNTIFS($B$2:$B$100,B2,$C$2:$C$100,">"&AVERAGE($C$2:$C$100))Automate Competitor Tracking with INDEX-MATCH for Real-Time Updates
Instead of manually updating competitor data, use INDEX-MATCH formulas to pull pricing, product features, and promotion info from a master data table. This eliminates manual copy-paste errors and allows you to update all analyses instantly when new competitor data arrives. Pair this with Data > Refresh All (Ctrl+Alt+F5) to keep dashboards current.
=INDEX(CompetitorData[Price],MATCH(CompetitorName,CompetitorData[Brand],0))Create a Weighted Scoring Model to Rank Competitive Threats
Assign weights to different competitive factors (market share 30%, innovation 25%, brand loyalty 20%, pricing aggressiveness 25%). Build a formula that multiplies each competitor's performance by these weights to generate a single threat score. This removes subjective bias from competitive assessment and provides data-driven prioritization for your brand strategy. Use Ctrl+` to toggle formula view for auditing.
=SUMPRODUCT(PerformanceScores,Weights)/SUM(Weights)Use Data Tables for Scenario Planning on Market Share Impact
Build a one-way or two-way data table (Data > What-If Analysis > Data Table) to model how changes in competitor pricing or your promotional spend affect projected market share. This allows you to test 50+ scenarios in seconds without rebuilding formulas. Essential for brand managers preparing for competitive moves or budget allocation decisions.
Formulas Used
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