Competitor analysis for a brewery

Define who counts as a competitor

List three groups. Direct competitors are other craft brands in your city or channel. Indirect ones are mass-market beer, wine and spirits-based drinks that the same person might choose on the same evening. Substitutes include non-alcoholic options and soft drinks.

Keep the list short enough to study properly, perhaps eight to twelve names. Choose by what a buyer would plausibly compare, not by size.

What to record for each one

Gather public information only: websites, menus, social pages, listings, reviews, shelf and price data from your retail audit.

• Range: styles, core and seasonal, pack sizes.
• Price: shelf price, menu price and any promotions.
• Positioning: the story and words they use about themselves.
• Channels: taproom, retail, bars, delivery where permitted.
• Brand: look, tone and what they post about.
• Customer view: patterns in reviews, with the reviews quoted accurately.

Build the comparison table

One row per brand, one column per attribute. Fill every cell with a fact or write "not found". A table with blanks is honest and shows where to look next.

Next to it, draw a simple two-axis map, for example price against style adventurousness. Place each brand where the facts put it. Clusters show crowded ground. Empty areas show where nobody is, though you still have to check that a customer would want to be there.

Taste the competition

Buy the beers and taste them blind next to yours, with a panel and not only your own palate. It tells you whether your beer is better, merely different or worse on the things customers can detect. We cover how to set that up in taste panels and focus groups.

Find the gap you can own

Look for the combination of need and offer that nobody serves well. It might be a style with poor quality locally, a price band with nothing in it or a channel nobody has bothered with.

Test it against your own strengths. A gap you cannot fill with your equipment, budget or skills is a distraction. Write the position as one sentence: for these people, in this place, we offer this, unlike these brands.

Reading what customers say

Reviews and comments are a free source of language. Read fifty or so for each main competitor and tally the themes: service, freshness, price, range, value, atmosphere. Count what appears, do not just remember the vivid ones.

Look for complaints that recur. If three competitors are all criticised for warm beer or slow service, that is a bar you can clear. Quote reviews accurately and do not treat a handful as the whole customer base.

Our guide on managing reviews and ratings covers the other side of this, how to handle the reviews you receive.

Using it in decisions

A good analysis feeds three decisions: the range you launch with, the price band you target and the story you tell. If it changes none of them, it was a summary and not an analysis.

Keep it light enough to update. A shared table you review every six months is worth more than a long report that is out of date by the time you launch.

Check for change over time. Compare a rival's menu or range today with an archived page or your own notes from a few months ago. A brewery that adds a new range every quarter is running a different game from one that holds three core beers for years. The difference shapes how you should respond.

Finally, decide what you will do with each finding before you write it down. Pricing information might set your launch price band. A weakness in service might shape your taproom plan. If a finding connects to no decision, leave it out of the final document.

Mistakes to avoid

Do not copy a rival's price without knowing their costs. Do not assume a brand with a handsome website sells a lot. Do not rely on reviews alone, since they come from the most pleased and the most annoyed. And do not file the analysis away: revisit it every six months, because competitors change their range and price without announcing it.

Common questions

Is it legal to research competitors?

Gathering public information, buying products and reading reviews is normal practice. Do not misrepresent who you are to get private information. Do not copy their content.

How many competitors should I analyse?

Eight to twelve is workable. More than that and the detail thins out.

Do I need to include big brands?

Yes if your buyer would plausibly choose them instead. Include them as a reference for price and distribution.