02 / Professional caseRetail Competitive Intelligence
Every week, the market leaves clues. My job is to put them in order.
I lead the weekly competitive intelligence for Decathlon: what competitors are doing, what’s moving in the category and what deserves a closer look.
Personal reconstruction. The brands and signals in this case are fictional: they show the method, not client data or deliverables.
01 / Practical caseFictional example
This is how a week arrives. This is how I sort it.
Eighteen signals from five days, each from a different place. On their own, they’re noise. Sorted by topic, they can be compared. Tap any of them to see where it comes from.
Every signal keeps its source, its day and its topic. Without that, nothing can be compared.
This week’s readingFictional example
What repeats
Second-hand and rental: three brands move in the same week.
What’s new
The category’s first trainer with an interchangeable sole.
What I’d watch
The criticism of a ‘green’ campaign. If it grows, the topic becomes sensitive for everyone.
02 / The challenge
In retail, competitors don’t send a warning. One move shows up in a press release, another in a social thread, another in a new store.
On its own, each piece says little. Together, with source and date, they show where the market is heading.
What has changed this week and what deserves a closer look?
03 / Methodology
Seven days of noise, one clear reading.
Listen
Social listening, press, competitors’ websites and social channels. Everything that moved during the week.
Understand
Each signal with its source, date and topic. Without context there’s no comparison.
Decide
What repeats, what’s new and what to watch. Everything else stays out.
Build
A weekly reading that’s quick to understand and can be followed over time.
04 / Signal analysis
A news story isn’t a signal until it has context.
Signal · fictional example
Brand A buys back used bikes in exchange for vouchers.
Layer 01 of 06 · Observation
Brand A announces it will buy back used bikes and pay in vouchers for its stores.
The brand’s own press release, on Monday. It tells you what the brand wants to say, not how it works.
Circularity. And commercial strategy too: the voucher brings people back to the store.
It’s the third second-hand move in the category in just a few weeks.
Second-hand stops being just a sustainable gesture and becomes a way to bring people into the store.
Is it a pilot in a few stores or a national programme? I’ll keep an eye on it next week.
05 / My role
My part is the reading.
What I do
- I lead the competitive monitoring every week.
- I find, filter and classify the signals by topic.
- I write the reading: what repeats, what’s new, what to watch.
What I don’t claim
- The brand’s commercial decisions.
- Business results.
06 / Decision value
So nobody has to read a hundred news stories to know what has changed.
Learning
A signal without a source is a rumour. With a source and a date, it starts to become information.