Competitor Benchmarking Methods

Price benchmark and positioning is one of the most important aspects for a new fashion brand launch. More so if it is an international brand launching in the diverse and competitive Indian market. The key benchmark of course would be the brand's base market price positioning as a starting point. More importantly to consider its global competition brand’s existing price positioning in India. And try to marry both outside-in and inside-out perspectives to identify that sweet spot in the market. Just applying a multiple on to the brand’s base market pricing for India may not suffice to cut through. It’s more nuanced than that, below are some key factors to consider: 🔸Brand's own market price positioning and aligning India pricing with that. M&S had to revise and reduce its pricing within a few years of its launch in India back in 2001, to align more with the market and be competitive. 🔸Brand’s global competitors pricing in India and their positioning vis-à-vis brand’s global benchmark. For example, a European denim brand starting 100 euros mrp planning to launch in India, would need to see its price benchmark with Levi's both in Europe as well as in India market to compare and align accordingly. 🔸Net landed cost including custom duty, freight etc and India sourcing mix requirements to reach ideal gross margins while maintaining global product standards & price competitiveness in the local market. Many leading international fashion brands operating over many years in India have successfully been able to offer that with scale and continue to grow. 🔸Pricing basis product perceived value, core vs fashion, categories etc and may price at a premium as/if needed, or sharper to try and sell more on fullprice and less on discounts. Zara entry price products in India are priced much sharper vis-a-vis higher price products in comparison with global price benchmarks, just to cater to that sweet price point for its TG. Thanks to social media, today customers are well informed about brand price positioning in the global market and would compare its pricing in Dubai, Bangkok etc or even the EU and US markets with the one in India, and make their shopping choices accordingly across brands and markets as accessible. Sharing snapshots of SS25 season men's t-shirt basic entry price point comparison for like-for-like style across brands in India and its global base market for perspective. Your thoughts? #Pricing #Positioning #Benchmark #Fashion #International #Brand #India #Market #Launch #Strategy

The most expensive mistake in business isn't financial - it's cultural. Here's the data... Last month, I watched a "successful" company implode. - Revenue was up 40% - Profits were soaring - Growth was explosive But something was rotting from within. The numbers told one story. The empty desks told another. Get Real-time Interview Assistance Here- https://bit.ly/4h3iGd7 Create Free Cover letter Here- https://bit.ly/406H1rK Get Jobs & Internship Updates Join Below:- . WhatsApp👉 https://lnkd.in/ghPTzV6m . Telegram👉 https://lnkd.in/ePxtYkFH . Here's what the research reveals about culture's true cost: 1. The Hidden Multiplier: • Companies with strong cultures see 72% higher employee engagement • Engaged teams are 21% more profitable • Positive workplace cultures boost productivity by 30% 2. The Expensive Exodus: • Poor culture doubles employee turnover • Each lost employee costs 1.5-2x their salary • High performers flee toxic cultures first But here's what fascinated me most: Louis Gerstner (Former IBM CEO) said it perfectly: "Culture isn't just one aspect of the game - it is the game" The science backs him up: 3 Critical Culture Metrics: • Employee engagement • Customer satisfaction • Cash flow When one falls, the others follow. I learned this lesson the hard way: Skills? Outstanding. Results? Exceptional. Culture? Toxic. Within 6 months: - 4 top performers quit - Client satisfaction plummeted - Innovation stopped Then everything changed. We rebuilt around 3 culture principles: 1. Trust Over Control (Give people autonomy to make decisions) 2. Growth Over Performance (Invest in development, not just results) 3. Purpose Over Profit (Connect work to meaningful impact) The results? • Employee turnover dropped 50% • Productivity jumped 40% • Innovation flourished The Oxford research is clear: A positive culture doesn't just feel better. It performs better. Your culture is your company's immune system. Strong? It fights off problems. Weak? Everything becomes a crisis. Is your culture multiplying your success? Or dividing your potential? The answer might be worth millions. What's one thing you're doing to build a stronger culture?

Same Industry. Different Economics. Both Win. This image isn’t about staffing levels — it’s about business models. ✈️ Emirates: ~267 employees per aircraft • Full-service, premium experience • Widebody fleet, global hub-and-spoke • Higher costs, but strong pricing power • ~$5B+ annual profit with ~15% margins ✈️ Ryanair: ~43 employees per aircraft • Ultra-low-cost, no-frills • Single aircraft type, fast turnarounds • Relentless cost discipline • Industry-leading margins (~20%+) at massive scale The insight: Efficiency is not about having fewer people — it’s about designing the entire system around your strategy. Both airlines are highly profitable. Both are operationally excellent. They just optimize for different KPIs. 💡 Lesson for leaders: You don’t need the same model to win — you need a coherent one, where costs, pricing, and customer promise are perfectly aligned. Which of these models would fail if you copied it into your business tomorrow? Picture: pinterest

Sean Ellis invented the ICE prioritization framework, coined the term "growth hacking, was one of the earliest people to use freemium as a growth lever, and, most famously, developed the widely used Sean Ellis Test for product-market fit. Over the course of his career, Sean was head of growth at Dropbox and Eventbrite, helped Microsoft and Nubank refine their growth strategy, and is the author of one of the most popular growth books of all time, Hacking Growth, which has sold over 750,000 copies. In our conversation, Sean shares: 🔸 The proper use of the Sean Ellis Test for measuring PMF 🔸 How to increase your activation and retention rates 🔸 How to select your North Star metric 🔸 Case studies from growing Dropbox and other products 🔸 How growth strategy has changed over the past decade 🔸 How AI is already impacting growth efforts 🔸 Much more Listen now 👇 - YouTube: https://lnkd.in/g59FDqw2 - Spotify: https://lnkd.in/g7j2sHgd - Apple: https://lnkd.in/gH8CshEE Some key takeaways: 1. The “Sean Ellis Test” is a leading indicator of product-market fit. Run it by asking your users, “How would you feel if you could no longer use this product?” with options: “Very disappointed,” “Somewhat disappointed,” “Not disappointed,” or “Not applicable.” If 40% or more respond with “Very disappointed,” you have a strong indication of PMF. 2. Dig into the users who would be “very disappointed.” Use the insights to reposition your product, refine your messaging, and add/remove features, aiming to grow your “very disappointed” user group to 40% of all your users. 3. Sean recommends focusing on growth investments in this order: a. Activation/onboarding b. Engagement c. Referral d. Revenue model e. Acquisition 4. To increase customer activation, first identify the root cause of low activation rates. The simplest way to do this is by asking your users directly—through surveys, messages, or even notes via the customer service team. Often the issue is that users lack an understanding of your product’s functionality and benefits. To address this, focus on improving your positioning and messaging. 5. Choose a North Star metric that reflects the core value your product delivers to users. This metric should be actionable, not a ratio, and capable of scaling up over time. It should correlate with revenue growth but should not be revenue itself. Ensure that it provides a clear direction for the team and aligns with customer value. 6. The ICE framework, developed by Sean, stands for “impact, confidence, ease.” It streamlines the prioritization process by concentrating on these three essential criteria. This method helps you assess tasks or initiatives based on their potential impact, your confidence in their success, and their ease of implementation.

New month, new content strategy? Before you start rewriting your calendar, here’s a question: Do you actually know what your competitors have been up to? 🤫 Because here’s the thing - most SaaS teams adapt their SEO or content strategy "reactively". Something drops in rankings? A competitor suddenly outranks them for a high-intent keyword? 😭 That’s when they scramble. But by then… they’ve already built traction. You're reacting to something they planned 2–3 months ago 💁♀️ That’s why every monthly report I send to clients includes a competitor analysis - and I use Semrush for it. It’s how we stay one step ahead - instead of playing catch-up. Here’s what I typically pull (and what it’s led to): → Keyword Gap Reports I can quickly see what my client’s domain isn’t ranking for - but their competitors are. This helps identify real opportunities without chasing generic volume. → Traffic Trend Comparisons Monthly and quarterly views show whether a competitor's visibility is spiking -and what content formats, clusters, or campaigns are driving that growth. → Backlink Opportunities A quick backlink audit helps spot who’s linking to competitors and where we might want to pitch content, build relationships, or reclaim links. → Top Performing Pages Which blog posts, features, or product pages are drawing the most traffic for your competitor? And how does your content stack up? Why most marketers skip this step: → Too much data, not enough time → Insights feel scattered → Benchmarking’s a manual mess But with tools like Semrush, the process is streamlined. And when you build monthly habits around competitive intel, your strategy becomes proactive - not reactive. Reminder: It’s not just about producing more content. It’s about producing smarter content. And smart starts with visibility. What's the one thing you do to keep your content strategy ahead? 💬 #semrushambassador #contentmarketing #seostrategy #seotips #b2bsaas #b2bcontent

Fast growth looks good — until it breaks everything. I’ve seen it firsthand. Quick wins, viral moments, impressive traction… And then? The team’s exhausted. The systems crack. The momentum stalls. We call it “growth,” but it’s often just speed. And speed without structure doesn’t last. So I started asking a different question: 👉 What kind of growth actually sticks? I pulled together 8 patterns I’ve seen — the ones that make or break real, sustainable growth. Here’s what stood out: 🔻 We mistake speed for success. ↳ Growth isn’t about how fast you go — it’s about how deep your roots are. 🔻 We grow without purpose. ↳ When your growth isn’t connected to your mission, it eventually feels empty — to your team, your customers, and even you. 🔻 We scale what can’t scale. ↳ What worked at 10 people often breaks at 50. If you’re scaling chaos, you’re just multiplying problems. 🔻 We ignore the data. ↳ Instinct matters. But without insight? It’s just guessing. 🔻 We misalign our teams. ↳ If your people don’t understand the strategy — or believe in it — execution dies in the details. 🔻 We measure the wrong things. ↳ Short-term KPIs don’t always reflect long-term value. Retention, resilience, and belief matter more. 🔻 We chase the wrong opportunities. ↳ Not every “yes” is worth it. If it doesn’t align with your purpose or your people — it will cost you later. So here’s my current belief: The best growth? It’s not the flashiest. It’s the kind that scales with clarity. It’s rooted in your mission. It’s built on real alignment. And it lasts. If you’re scaling, leading, or rethinking your growth strategy — this is the mindset shift I think we all need more of. I’d love to hear from you: 👉 What’s one growth move you’ve made that actually stuck? Drop it in the comments — let’s learn from each other. ♻️ Share this with your network if it resonates. ☝️ And follow Stuart Andrews for more insights like this.

Two Core Business Models to Master 🎯 If you can forecast these, you can forecast almost anything. Most finance professionals get thrown off when they switch between industries...but once you understand these two models, everything clicks. ➡️ SAAS (SOFTWARE AS A SERVICE) This is the recurring revenue goldmine. Monthly recurring revenue (MRR) and annual recurring revenue (ARR) become your best friends. High margins, low cost of goods sold...because once you build the software, serving additional customers costs almost nothing. Deferred revenue shows up everywhere because customers pay upfront but you earn it monthly. Often B2B with longer sales cycles, which means your pipeline matters more than daily sales. The metrics that matter: MRR/ARR → Predictable recurring income (this is your lifeline) CAC → Cost to acquire a new customer (how much you spend to get them) Churn → Customers lost (the number that keeps you up at night) Expansion → Customers increasing spend (your growth engine) Contraction → Customers reducing spend but not leaving (still revenue, just less) The MRR waterfall becomes your monthly obsession: New customers minus churn plus expansion equals net MRR growth. ➡️ CONSUMER-PRICED GOODS This one's completely different. One-time or repeat transactions instead of recurring revenue. Physical logistics take over your life...inventory, shipping, returns. Lower pricing with faster sales cycles means volume becomes everything. Digital marketing and ads drive most of your growth, so ROAS (return on ad spend) becomes critical. The metrics that matter: Conversion Rate → Percentage of users who actually buy (usually low, but that's normal) AOV → Average order value (how much each customer spends) Inventory Turns → How fast you sell through stock (cash flow killer if you get this wrong) Return Rate → Percentage of orders returned (especially brutal for fashion and electronics) ROAS → Return on ad spend (if this goes negative, you're in trouble fast) The e-commerce funnel becomes your roadmap: Traffic converts to revenue, but each step has massive drop-off. Cash vs revenue recognition gets tricky because you collect payment immediately but might have returns, chargebacks, or refunds later. ➡️ WHY THIS MATTERS FOR FORECASTING Each model requires completely different assumptions. SaaS forecasting focuses on cohort analysis, retention curves, and expansion patterns. Consumer goods forecasting centers on seasonality, inventory cycles, and marketing spend efficiency. Miss the fundamentals of either model and your forecast becomes useless. But master both? You can walk into any company and build a solid forecast within weeks. === Understanding these two models has saved me countless hours when building forecasts for different industries. Which business model do you work with most? What metrics do you find trickiest to forecast? Share your experience in the comments below 👇

A recent article by McKinsey (Bias busters: The cognitive brakes on the AI adoption accelerator) highlights only a fraction of the issues that really plague the area of #change management allied to #transformation of a #digital or #AI related nature. I have consistently emphasised that status quo bias and loss aversion are critical barriers to AI adoption because they shape how individuals and organisations perceive risk, change, and value, often resisting transformation even when the benefits are clear. 🧠 Behavioural Barriers to AI Adoption AI adoption is not just a technical or strategic challenge; it’s a human one., where people tend to prefer existing routines and systems, even when alternatives (like AI tools) offer clear advantages. This bias is rooted in comfort, familiarity, and the perceived safety of current practices. Further, Loss aversion: Individuals and organisations often fear losing control, jobs, or tacit knowledge more than they value potential gains from AI. This leads to resistance, especially when AI is seen as disruptive rather than enabling. 🔄 Why These Biases Matter for AI These biases are especially potent in professional settings like procurement, operations, finance, engineering and more: AI adoption requires behavioural transformation, not just technical deployment. That means redesigning workflows, decision points, and even social exchanges within organisations. Tacit knowledge and undocumented tasks are often overlooked in AI strategies. People fear that AI might erase or undervalue these contributions, triggering loss aversion. Shadow adoption (individuals using AI tools informally) often outpaces official rollouts. This reflects both the friction of formal change and the subtle ways people navigate status quo bias. 🧩 A Proposed Framework Behavioural frameworks informed by models like COM-B (Capability, Opportunity, Motivation), where: Capability: Users must feel confident and skilled enough to use AI. Opportunity: The environment must reduce friction and support experimentation. Motivation: Incentives—both fiscal, non-fiscal and psychological—must align with adoption goals. Equally EAST (Easy, Attractive, Social & Timely) I would also stress the importance of: ▶️ Trust and psychological safety ▶️ Open communication and prosocial culture ▶️ Recognition of personality traits and mindsets These elements help counteract status quo bias and loss aversion by making change feel safer, more rewarding, and more aligned with personal values. The levels of poor adoption (70%+) are well documented from decades ago,so #leadership has a an obligation to ensuren the vlaue creation is enabled by design at the outset... Feel free to comment and share: Jon W. Hansen Stuart Beech Caroline Blackman-Edney MSc LLM FCIPS Canda Rozier, Procurement Evangelist Thierry Fausten Sevasti Wong Julie Hodges Hariharan Laxminarayan FCIPS (Hari) Dean Fell FCIPS BA Hons Kelly H. Chris McCann BA (Hons), MSc, MCIPS (Chrtd.),

Which is stronger in your workplace: Organisational Culture or National Culture? And how do you make them work together? 🤔 Cross-cultural management research suggests that national culture runs deeper than organisational culture, especially under pressure. Why? Because national values are acquired in childhood and become embedded in the subconscious mind, while corporate values are learned later in life and are consciously adopted. When we join a company, we don’t leave our national identity at the door. We carry it into every meeting. So you can train an employee to follow a corporate practice (e.g., “speak up in meetings”). But if their cultural wiring teaches that contradicting a boss is disrespectful, they will likely feel deep psychological discomfort. It is not easy to integrate the organisational culture on the wall with the national culture in the hall. But a strong company culture has many benefits. It can create a shared language and set of behaviours that allow diverse people to work together, even if their underlying values are different. So how do you strengthen your corporate culture without suppressing the behaviours, values, and mindsets that diversity brings? Here are 3 steps to start with, so these two dynamics work WITH each other, not against each other: 1️⃣ Make your culture a dialogue - Invite employees from different cultures to share how the company’s values show up in their context. You might be surprised how “respect,” “authority,” or “fairness” can look different across cultures. 2️⃣ Translate values into practices - Since values are interpreted differently across cultures, focus on creating a specific shared set of behaviours and practices that allow people with different underlying values to collaborate as one team. 3️⃣ Align goals, adapt execution - Align everyone around the same strategy and goals, but give local teams the freedom to achieve them in their own ways. The goal is consistency in direction, not in how the work is done. Which one do you see more often in your workplace: national culture or organisational culture? And how does your organisation balance corporate belonging with cultural differences? #GlobalMindsets #CulturalIntelligence #GlobalOrganisations  

If you don’t pick your business model, one picks you. And spoiler: It might not be the one you actually want. I see too many coaches build offers, but not a model. They chase income, but forget about long-term freedom. Your business model is how you make money consistently. And how you structure it determines your time, income, and peace. If you’re unclear on yours — start here: 5 Business Model Options for Coaches + Creators: → 1:1 Coaching High-ticket, intimate, results-driven, but time-for-money trade. → Group Programs Scalable, community-based, recurring enrollment opportunity. → Courses / Digital Products Evergreen, passive(ish), great for niche skills and frameworks. → Masterminds / Retreats High-value, relationship-based, premium offer for seasoned clients. → Done-For-You / Consulting Expertise-driven, great for coaches with operational know-how. Questions to ask when choosing your model: → How much time do I want to work each week? → Do I prefer 1:1, group, or hands-off delivery? → What pricing model supports the lifestyle I desire? → How does this align with my long-term business vision? → What type of clients energize me vs. drain me? Pro tip: Start with one core offer and nail it first. Then stack or expand your offers once you gain traction. Your model isn’t just about income — it shapes your life. Pick the one that lets you thrive, not just survive. PS: Save this post so you can revisit when mapping offers. Which model feels most aligned for you right now? Drop it below 👇🏼