Knowing who your direct competitors are in a local market is useful, but how you use that knowledge makes the difference between analysis that helps you position yourself and analysis that leads only to a race to the bottom on price.
What to look at besides price
Stated delivery times, perceived quality, the extras offered — installation included, technical advice, extended guarantees — are as revealing as price about how a competitor actually positions itself, and about where there is room to differentiate that nobody has taken.
The risk of a price war
Responding to every competitor's price move by cutting your own leads, over time, to a spiral that erodes everyone's margin without creating value for anyone. Competing purely on price is rarely sustainable for a small business.
Finding a distinctive space
Useful competitor analysis does not try to replicate their strategy but to identify a distinctive space — a service nobody else offers, an under-served product niche, a higher standard of reliability — on which to build a position that does not depend on head-to-head price comparison.