Audience research
Part of Audience research for an online store that starts with the journey, not the recruit
Ecommerce competitor research: building a dated public claim record without inventing numbers
Study ecommerce competitor pages through a dated claim record that separates public claims, observations and unknowns, then return to customers for buyer evidence.
Competitor pages reveal what an organisation publicly says and what a visitor can observe. Use this checklist to build a dated claim record, then return to customers for actual buyer evidence.
What to take away
- Competitor pages show public claims and observable journeys, not merchant clients, traffic, conversion rates or revenue.
- Build a dated claim record that separates first-party claims, observations, interpretations and unknown evidence.
- Verify identity through Companies House but treat it as identity and filing facts, not proof of service capability.
- Inspect only safe public journeys without evading controls.
- Keep competitor and customer evidence apart.
Define the commercial question
- Name the seller, service class, England decision and research date.
- State whether the comparison concerns a retail journey, CRO service, analytics supplier or another category.
- Fix the journey stage and evidence fields before searching.
- Exclude organisations that do not meet the published class definition.
Do not treat search position as demand or company size. A manual or current in-house route belongs in the decision set even though it is not a competitor.
Fix the research scope first
- Name seller, service class, England decision, date
- State categoryretail, CRO, analytics, other
- Fix journey stage and evidence fields
- Exclude organisations outside class definition
- Keep manual or in-house route in decision set
Verify identity separately from service claims
- Record the exact legal and trading name shown by the organisation.
- Check public company facts through the official Companies House information service, the service named Get information about a company.
- Record website, terms and contact entity as separate fields.
- Mark conflicts, affiliate relationships and any funding.
A register entry can support identity and filing facts. It does not prove service capability, customer volume, financial health, England coverage or suitability.
Capture first-party claims as claims
- Save the URL, page title, wording, date accessed, named product or service and stated geography.
- Separate current feature text, case material, announcements and contract terms.
- Preserve qualifications and do not turn a customer logo into proof of a current engagement.
- Mark missing evidence as unknown.
An example record for one anonymised UK store, with claim, observation and interpretation rows kept apart:
| URL | Wording or note | Date accessed | Claim type |
|---|---|---|---|
| rival-store.example/delivery | Free next-day delivery on orders placed before 4pm | 14 March 2025 | First-party claim, unverified |
| rival-store.example/basket | Basket shows a £3.95 delivery charge before account creation | 14 March 2025 | Researcher observation |
| rival-store.example/delivery | Claim may cover selected UK postcodes only | 14 March 2025 | Interpretation, unresolved |
The CMA's current guidance, published as CMA207, on unfair commercial practices is an authoritative boundary for seller behaviour, not independent verification of a competitor's marketing. Product and performance claims need evidence proportionate to the claim.
Inspect only a safe public journey
- Use pages available without evading controls, paywalls or account restrictions.
- Do not place an order, enter real payment details, trigger support or create a false customer record.
- Do not inject tracking, scrape personal data or copy a protected database.
- Stop if the route exposes personal, security or unsafe-product information.
The NCSC's secure online service guidance supports understanding service risks and protecting processed data. It does not authorise probing another organisation. Ask the security and IP reviewers to approve the collection method.
Compare observable journey evidence
- Reuse the same evidence fields for every included organisation so the comparison lines up.
- Describe the exact page state rather than scoring attractiveness. For example, record a basket step as item price, shipping cost and order total before account creation.
- Treat optional tracking as a separate evidence field.
- Record whether the organisation provides a clear route for correction or complaint.
The CMA's online choice architecture collection explains why page design can affect shopping decisions. The ICO's storage and access technology guidance, published as Guidance on the use of storage and access technologies, provides the current UK privacy boundary for cookies and related technologies. Neither supplies competitor conversion results.
Keep competitor and customer evidence apart
- Label each record as a first-party claim, an observation, an interpretation or an unanswered question.
- Do not promote a competitor pattern into a buyer need without eligible participant evidence.
- Set a refresh date because pages, entities and terms change.
The final report should state scope, inclusions, exclusions, missing records and the hands-on boundary. Named consumer, privacy and PECR, IP, accessibility, security and statistical reviewers must approve their own sections. Hold the merchant decision where identity, evidence or permissions remain unresolved.
Before you act
- Define the commercial question and fix evidence fields before searching.
- Verify legal and trading identity separately from service claims.
- Capture first-party claims with URL, wording and date accessed.
- Inspect only pages available without evading controls or paywalls.
- Compare observable journey evidence using the same fields for every organisation.
Common questions
What can a competitor's checkout page actually reveal?
It reveals what an organisation publicly says and what a visitor can observe. It does not reveal market share, experiment results, popularity or typical uplift. Use the page to build a dated claim record, then return to customers for actual buyer evidence.
How should I handle first-party claims from a competitor?
Save the URL, page title, wording, date accessed, named product or service and stated geography. Separate current feature text, case material, announcements and contract terms. Preserve qualifications and do not turn a customer logo into proof of a current engagement. Mark missing evidence as unknown.
What boundaries apply when inspecting a rival's public journey?
Use pages available without evading controls, paywalls or account restrictions. Do not inject tracking, scrape personal data or copy a protected database. Stop if the route exposes personal, security or unsafe-product information.
