How We Track Competitors Beyond the Usual Suspects

Who This Is For

If you're the person in your company who gets asked "What are our competitors up to?" and you answer with a list of feature updates and pricing changes, this is for you. We've all been there: we set up alerts for our direct rivals, we check their websites, we read their press releases, and we feel productive. But that's not tracking competition—that's just watching the parade go by. The real competitive forces are the ones that can upend your industry while you're busy comparing logos. This is a practical, field-tested walkthrough for tracking what actually matters, not just what's easy to see.

Stop Staring at Your Direct Competitors Only

The first mistake we all make is defining competitors too narrowly. Sure, the company that sells the same product to the same customers is your direct competitor. But what about the startup that solves the same problem with a totally different approach? That's an indirect competitor, and it's often the one that blindsides you. And don't forget aspirational competitors—the ones you want to be like, even if they're not in your lane yet. The fact base is clear: competitors include direct, indirect, and sometimes aspirational ones (IBISWorld). So when you build your tracking list, don't just list the usual suspects. Ask your sales team who they lose deals to, and ask your customers what else they considered. That will surface the indirect threats.

Step 1: Define Your Objectives and Your TAM

Before you track anything, you need to know why you're tracking. Are you trying to set pricing? Launch a new product? Defend a market share? Your objective shapes what you track. And the first thing to nail down is your total addressable market (TAM). The fact base says that TAM is crucial because it sharpens the areas to focus on and shapes the direction of the analysis (IBISWorld). If you don't know your TAM, you don't know who your real competitors are—you might be overestimating your market share or missing a whole segment. So start by defining your TAM, then identify who else is fishing in that same pond.

Step 2: Map the Five Forces, Not Just Rivalry

Here's where we get to the heart of it. Michael Porter's Five Forces framework, first described in a 1979 Harvard Business Review article, started a revolution in strategy (Harvard Business School). The five forces are competitive rivalry, threat of new entrants, bargaining power of suppliers, bargaining power of buyers, and threat of substitutes (Investopedia). If you're only tracking rivalry, you're missing four of the five forces that determine your industry's profit potential. The stronger these forces, the lower the profit potential (Investopedia). So when you're tracking competitors, you need to track all five. That means:

New entrants: Watch for startups, adjacent players, or even companies in other geographies that could enter your market. The threat of new entrants can force you to keep prices down and spend more on retaining customers, capping your profit potential (Harvard Business School). Track barriers to entry: economies of scale, capital requirements, access to distribution, government restrictions.

Suppliers: If your suppliers have power—say, there are only one or two of them or switching is expensive—they can charge higher prices and squeeze your margins (Harvard Business School). Track supplier concentration and any moves they make.

Buyers: Buyer power is highest when buyers are large relative to you, products are undifferentiated, and switching costs are low (Harvard Business School). Track your top customers' purchasing patterns and any consolidation among them.

Substitutes: A substitute meets the same need in a different way—videoconferencing for travel, email for express mail (Harvard Business School). Track adjacencies that could become substitutes. The threat is high when the substitute offers a better price-performance trade-off and switching costs are low.

Rivalry: Yes, still track your direct rivals, but do it in the context of the other forces. Intense rivalry drives down prices or raises the cost of competing (Harvard Business School).

Step 3: Use the Right Tools for Each Force

You can't track all this with just a spreadsheet of competitor prices. You need different tools for different forces. For market share trends and industry benchmarks, IBISWorld is a solid choice—it's a common competitive intelligence tool (IBISWorld). For tracking startups and funding, Crunchbase and PitchBook are go-tos. For website traffic and SEO, SimilarWeb and SEMrush are standard (IBISWorld). But here's the thing: don't just sign up for all of them and get buried in data. Pick one or two that answer your specific objective. If you're worried about new entrants, Crunchbase is your friend. If you're worried about substitutes, you might need to set up custom searches on Google and Twitter for the alternative solutions.

Step 4: Benchmark, But Don't Obsess Over Vanity Metrics

The fact base says benchmarking compares metrics like revenue growth, win rate, customer satisfaction (NPS), pricing, and market share against competitors (IBISWorld). You should absolutely track these. But beware of vanity metrics that look good but don't tell you about the forces. For example, tracking your competitor's website traffic might be interesting, but it doesn't tell you about buyer power. Instead, focus on metrics that are tied to the forces: supplier concentration, customer churn, win-loss rates against substitutes. And remember, market share trends can indicate if an industry is entering the decline stage of its life cycle (IBISWorld). If you see your market share stagnating while a substitute is rising, that's a clear signal.

What Can Go Wrong

The biggest pitfall is analysis paralysis. You collect data on all five forces, you build a beautiful dashboard, and then you never actually make a decision. The fact base reminds us that a competitive analysis is meant to help you learn how to differentiate and attract a larger market (IBISWorld). If you're not using the insights to shape your goals, it's a waste. Another common mistake is over-relying on a single framework. The fact base notes that SWOT is often used in conjunction with other frameworks like PESTEL and Porter's Five Forces (CFI). Don't think that tracking the five forces is enough—you still need to understand the macro environment (PESTEL) and your internal strengths and weaknesses (SWOT). The two are complementary: Five Forces explains the industry structure, while SWOT assesses your position within it (Investopedia).

What I'd Actually Do

Here's my opinionated recommendation: build a quarterly "Five Forces Tracker" that goes beyond your direct competitors. For each force, list two or three indicators you'll monitor. For rivalry, track pricing and feature changes. For new entrants, set up a Crunchbase alert for companies in your space. For suppliers, monitor commodity prices or supplier earnings calls. For buyers, track your top customers' churn and any M&A among them. For substitutes, set up Google Alerts for phrases like "alternative to [your product]." Then, every quarter, spend two hours reviewing and updating this tracker. Discuss it with your team. Use it to decide whether to invest in new capabilities, change pricing, or even pivot. And remember, the goal isn't to be the best at watching your competitors—it's to be the best at positioning yourself against the forces that shape your industry. That's what actually drives profit.

Sources

• Investopedia - https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/041015/whats-difference-between-porters-5-forces-and-swot-analysis.asp
• IBISWorld - https://www.ibisworld.com/blog/how-to-do-a-competitive-analysis/
• Harvard Business School (Five Forces) - https://www.isc.hbs.edu/strategy/business-strategy/Pages/the-five-forces.aspx
• Harvard Business Review (Porter 2008) - https://hbr.org/2008/01/the-five-competitive-forces-that-shape-strategy
• CFI (SWOT) - https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/management/swot-analysis/