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In an online-first market, your competitors are no longer just the printer across the road. They could be a low-cost producer overseas or a tech-driven giant with economies of scale you simply cannot match. This article explains how to undertake meaningful competitor analysis – and how to use the findings to differentiate your business on value, not price.

Competitor analysis is the structured process of identifying who you compete with, understanding their strengths and weaknesses, and assessing how your own business compares.

At its simplest, it answers three questions: Who are we competing against? What are they doing well (or badly)? How should we respond?

For printers, competitor analysis is not about obsessively tracking rivals or copying their pricing. It’s about clarity. It helps you understand your position in the market, spot gaps and avoid being blindsided by changes in customer behaviour or new entrants. Done properly, it informs strategy, product development, pricing, marketing and investment decisions.

Competitor analysis looks different today

In the past, your main competitors were likely to be local or regional. You might have known their managers or owners personally. You could see their vans on the road and their work in shop windows. That world has changed. Today, your competitors might be:

A national online print brand offering aggressive pricing A niche e-commerce store specialising in a single product category A dropshipping operation with minimal overheads A large overseas manufacturer with significant economies of scale A platform-based business automating large parts of the ordering process

For many printers, the biggest competitive pressure now comes from businesses that operate very differently from traditional print companies. They may have lower labour costs, automated workflows or substantial marketing budgets.

That means it’s vital that competitor analysis go beyond local awareness. It must include digital visibility, pricing transparency, service models and online customer experience.

Start by identifying your real competitors

The first step is to categorise competitors into three groups. Direct competitors are those offering the same products to the same audience. Indirect competitors are those solving the same customer problem in a different way (for example, digital alternatives to printed materials). Aspirational competitors, meanwhile, are businesses you admire or benchmark against, even if they’re larger or operate in a slightly different space.

It’s important to be realistic. A small regional printer can’t compete head-to-head on price with a global online platform. But that doesn’t mean they’re irrelevant –…

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