I've used this technique while working with Drinkit Coffee and Dodo Brands and it has proven to be incredibly efficient. Here's how it works: buy something from your top 5 competitors every day in the evening. Come in before they close and purchase something small, like a bottle of water. For this small purchase, you will get a receipt.
At first glance, it may seem like a silly idea, but it actually works wonders. Not only can it help you find a new location for opening a store and estimating potential revenue, but it can also help you grow your existing business.
In 90% of cases, the receipt will have a specific date and time. If it doesn't, simply buy something in the morning and evening and calculate the difference between the receipt numbers. This will give you an accurate estimate of the number of orders your competitors are receiving each day.
By checking your competitors' receipts daily, you can understand fluctuations in the number of their receipts, and therefore, in their revenue. If your own receipts decline and so do theirs, it means the traffic might have actually decreased for some reason. If yours decline but theirs grow, it's possible that they are doing something better than you. This helps your team bring more transparency to your current results, and comparing yourself to the local market always helps you stay in touch with the environment and feel out any underwater streams.
If your orders grow while your competitor's orders decline, that's the perfect opportunity to analyze what you've done that has allowed you to bite a share of the market from the competitors. That was exactly how we realized we could grow our own business. This technique also gives companies the ability to compare themselves to competitors and choose a better location.
If you like this tool, you can take it one step further. We recommend our clients try getting receipts from their competitors every hour for a week to understand the distribution of their orders throughout the day. By spending a mere $500, you can learn that you have the most receipts in the mornings, but you could totally lose out during lunch and dinner hours.
After that, you can generate several hypotheses for further study. For example, if your food menu doesn't attract guests during the afternoon, you can analyze your competitors' sales during this period and choose one or two items that satisfy your customers' needs better.
By using this technique, you can gain valuable insights into your competitors' businesses, improve your own business operations, and stay ahead of the competition. So give it a try and see what you can learn!
#team #food #business #coffee #dodobrands #retail #analytics #qsr #mysteryshopping #revenue #data #location #realestate #commercialrealestate #growth #sales #work #like #environment