Audience research
Part of How to run shopping feeds audience research for multichannel shops
Shopping feeds competitor research using free sources
A practical shopping feeds competitor research checklist for small UK retailers, using public listings, free tools, feed checks and a repeatable scoring method.
What to take away
- A retailer in Leeds selling through Google Shopping and one marketplace can finish a competitor review in a fortnight using public sources alone.
- Pick five to eight rivals that share your category and price band, not the biggest names in the sector.
- Score only what you can evidence. Every rubric row needs a source beside it.
- Record prices with the VAT treatment stated, since UK consumer prices normally include VAT.
- Re-run the checklist quarterly, because feed data moves faster than annual planning.
A Tuesday morning comparing how three rivals present the same coffee grinder is often enough to start. One offers free delivery over £30, another bundles a warranty, the third leaves the title vague. That gap is the raw material for shopping feeds competitor research, and it needs no data subscription.
Which competitors should a small retailer actually track?
Draw the boundary tightly. Choose rivals a customer would compare with you in the same search, then stop. A national chain selling forty categories will distort the scoring; a regional rival with a similar catalogue will not.
A workable filter:
- Track products a customer could realistically substitute for yours in the same category.
- Keep rivals within a comparable price band and, where relevant, the same delivery area.
- Include only sellers active on the channels you use, such as Google Shopping or your marketplace.
- Exclude national retailers with a substantially broader catalogue unless they compete directly on the products being reviewed.
Competitor filter checklist
- Same category and price band
- Sells into England via your channel
- Feed visible in search or marketplace
- Changed something in last six months
- Five to eight rivals is enough
Five to eight rivals is enough. More than that turns scoring into data entry.
What evidence can you gather without paid tools?
Everything here is public. The constraint is time, not access.
- Check public Google Shopping results and rivals’ own product pages for titles, prices, images, delivery offers and returns terms.
- For marketplace context, use public category bestseller pages such as Amazon Best Sellers; treat rankings as a visibility signal, not proof of sales.
- Use Google Trends for a free view of relative search interest, not as a measure of a named rival’s sales.
- Google Search Console can show how your own catalogue performs for search queries; it does not reveal competitors’ private data.
- In your own Google Merchant Center account, review Diagnostics and, where available for eligible products, the Price competitiveness report. These help check your feed and compare product pricing, rather than provide a public view of a rival’s account.
Public evidence to gather
- Search result pages for top twenty queries
- Product titles, descriptions and image counts
- Delivery thresholds, return windows, stock messages
- Review volume and recent negative themes
- Save a dated copy of every page
Save a dated copy of every page you rely on, so a later disagreement about what a listing said can be settled. Reviews left in the last three months matter more than a lifetime average.
Google's guidance on Shopping ads and Performance Max campaigns explains how product data supports its ad formats. For a feed-specific comparison, check your own Google Merchant Center Diagnostics and the Google product data specification: review identifier completeness, applicable GTIN, brand and MPN fields, title limits, Google product category, required attributes and feed rules. Treat missing-attribute errors as evidence to fix in your own catalogue; public rival listings can show how competitors present products, but cannot confirm what their private feeds contain.
How do you score rivals fairly?
Score each rival out of five on the rows below, then compare totals. If delivery speed matters more than review volume in your category, weight those rows before you total the scores.
| Criterion | What to check | Score 1 to 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Title clarity | Brand, product, size, key attribute | 1 vague, 5 specific |
| Price position | Against your price for a matched item | 1 far above, 5 below |
| Delivery offer | Threshold, speed, clarity of cost | 1 unclear, 5 explicit |
| Returns terms | Window length and who pays | 1 restrictive, 5 generous |
| Image quality | Count, consistency, lifestyle shots | 1 sparse, 5 complete |
| Review signal | Volume and recent sentiment | 1 weak, 5 strong |
| Feed completeness | Missing attributes or categories | 1 patchy, 5 full |
For the Leeds coffee-grinder example, log Rival A as offering free delivery over £30, Rival B as bundling a warranty and Rival C as having a vague title. If the live listing confirms that last point, score Rival C 1/5 for title clarity; leave other rows unscored until you capture evidence for them. These are anonymised labels for the example, not named businesses.
Keep the scoring sheet to one page per rival. The linked audience research guide for England is for broader audience framing, not evidence for a competitor score.
What pricing and compliance checks belong on the list?
Pricing comparisons fail when VAT is handled inconsistently. UK consumer prices normally include VAT, so compare like with like. The government's VAT detailed information collection sets out registration thresholds and rates, useful when a rival's pricing looks unusually low.
Match products on unit price where pack sizes differ, otherwise a larger pack looks cheaper than it is.
Also check:
- Whether delivery claims are realistic for the period compared.
- Whether promotional wording could mislead.
- Whether any rival sells restricted categories where age or safety rules apply.
How should you store and refresh the findings?
One shared document, one row per rival, one column per criterion, dated.
Name one owner and one review date, so the checklist does not stall when that person changes role.
Quarterly works for most small teams; re-check prices monthly in fast-moving categories. Log the source beside each score, because a finding you cannot trace back is one you cannot defend.
For buyer context, use the linked customer interviews in England resource alongside the rubric. Ask recent buyers which alternatives they considered and which listing details affected their choice; record their answers separately from observed competitor evidence.
Common questions
How many competitors should a small team track?
Five to eight. Fewer gives a view that is too narrow; more turns research into administration.
Can this be done without paid competitor tools?
Yes, for most small catalogues. Listings, delivery terms and reviews cover the core criteria; paid tools help with scale, not judgement.
How often should the checklist be repeated?
Quarterly is a sensible default. Refresh price rows monthly in volatile categories.
What is the most common mistake?
Scoring rivals on assumptions rather than observed listings. If a row has no source beside it, the score is unproven.
