Competitio.us

Competitio.us; just one of a flurry of innovative products arisen as a result of the increased capabilities of web 2.0. It provides a service monitoring designated web sites, and relays any new publications back to its client.

Your competitors’ web sites have a wealth of information about their products, actions, plans, and strategies. Indeed, according to some researchers, “Track your competitors' web sites, and you’ll be able to track them!”
[Srikanth Chari, 2006]

Using this facility companies can effortlessly keep themselves informed regarding the published information of their main rivals. A deep insight can be extracted form a companies’ website; for most this initial point of reference when conducting research into a companies therefore it is in the companies interests to keep this source in line with current activity. That any alterations which may have a bearing on its potential as an investment candidate are fully disclosed, in a flattering light.

Press releases, News or media coverage, Products and solutions, Events and web seminars, Financial or investor relations, Executive team and board and Job openings are just some of the features targeted by the service. For example the simple vacancy advertisement could suggest much about a company. Revealing a new direction it intends to pursue or if they are strengthening a particular department or hiring people in a new location? Each of the scenarios above would have repercussions for its competition, which can be minimised or counteracted if advanced notice is given. This is the role I see for this technology to raise issues, for further investigation.


Of course companies could track these sites themselves, setting up RSS feeds, where possible, from each of their opponents sites would create a crude version of what Competitio.us offer. Establishing and operating this system, would expend a significant amount of the companies resources and as feeds can only be subscribed to for limited postings it may still require traipsing through all the web pages and documenting anything new or yet still relevant, a value adding process?

There clearly exists a market for this service, however Competitio.us itself has competition. A finding of a simple link search on Google produced the following results;

Firm Links

• Competitio.us 31,600

• Google 319,000,000

• EBay 71,100,000

• Semphonic 536

• Watch 360 822


This provides a primitive notion of public awareness as it measures how many sites indicate to wards the subject’s page. The conclusions which can be drawn from this are that while vastly more sites promote the Competitio.us brand than either of its main adversaries it still lags well behind the heavy weights of the virtual world. This is to be expected as the company is still in its infancy however it does allude to that fact that Competitio.us’s comparative advantage lies within its more renowned name. This attribute would stand it in good stead as a take-over target; significant returns can be sought by investors in web start-ups where their revolutionary idea or creation has been latched on to by a major force such as Google. Examples are widespread; Google’s acquisition of Blogger, Writely and Utube. In addition to expanding its range of tools it also gains valuable user data and statistics. In the case of Blogger this software gave Google a foot in the door in establishing its own version, whilst thinning out the competition and gained access to over 2 million blogs which it could utilise to further more refine its search results. An optimal situation for all parties, especially given the most recent scenario where the founders of Utube were compensated with $1.6 billion Google shares.

This is the scenario hoped for by Competitio.us investors. Currently the service is offered free of charge, almost certainly to accumulate a valuable client statistics to entice the data hungry predators. The other firms offering a comparative product have been successful in monetising by charging for it’s premium service, as much as $1000 per month. Clearly this is an option available to the management of Competitio.us who have already confirmed that they are developing such a hierarchy within their range.


“The basic idea is that it’s a tool for web start-up teams to keep track of their competitors.”

While I think that this is a very useful product, the main drawback I foresee it that companies especially those who are web orientated is that it may not always be that simple to determine who your main competitors are. As much effort may be required in tackling this question as would be involved in keeping abreast of new developments within these. Competitio.us provides a quick and effective solution to the latter which I am sure will appeal to a tremendous volume of companies. Although this goal is not solely pursued by Competitio.us, I am inclined towards their approach, firstly publicising their brand with immediate returns absent from the priorities list, at least form now. I feel there great potential for success inherent within this concept and would not discourage the addition of this into a diversified portfolio of securities.


Bibliography;

• Do You Know Who Your Competitors Are? James Allen, Kara Gruver. Brandweek. New York: Apr 11, 2005.

• Keeping an eye on the competition, Stephen J Mraz. Machine Design. Oct 6, 2005

• http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/10/04/competitous-track-your-competition-online/

• http://www.imakenews.com/scip2/e_article000334573.cfm?x=b11,0,w

• Why track competitors' web sites? Srikanth Chari, SCIP.online Monday, October 30, 2006