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Desk Research: Competitive analysis

Understand trends, expectations, and competitive practices.

What it is

Main objective

Understand trends, expectations, and competitive practices.

Detailed description

Competitive Analysis is a secondary research methodology that examines competitors' products, services, and strategies to identify opportunities, market trends, and industry standards. This technique enables understanding of the competitive landscape, usability benchmarks, and user expectations formed by previous experiences with similar products. Academic research supports its importance for informing strategic design decisions (Nielsen Norman Group). It is advisable to conduct periodic competitive analyses to stay updated on market evolutions and validate product positioning.

When it fits

Project start and during design.

•Project initiation
•Market research
•Feature benchmarking
•Concept validation

Effort level

Medium

Recommended number of users

Not applicable to users; product analysis

What you gain and what you give up

Advantages

Efficiency: It is much faster and cheaper to analyze existing solutions than to build and test prototypes from scratch. It lets you learn from others' mistakes and successes without incurring their development costs.
Identifying standards: It helps you understand users' mental models. If every competitor uses a "cart" icon for purchases, changing it can confuse the user (Jakob's Law).
Design argumentation: It provides solid evidence to justify design decisions to stakeholders, showing how the market addresses similar problems.
Inspiration: It offers tangible ideas on how to solve specific interaction problems.

Disadvantages

Doesn't explain the "why": Analyzing a competitor's interface shows what they did, but not why they did it, or whether it is working well for them or their users. There is a risk of copying bad practices.
Limited context: You have no access to competitors' internal strategy, technical constraints, or real usage data.
Obsolescence: The analysis is a snapshot of the moment. Competitors may be about to launch a new version that changes everything.
Risk of homogenization: Following the competition too closely can mean missing the chance to innovate or differentiate the product.