How to do competitor analysis (Step-by-Step guide + Free template)

Competitor analysis – why is it important?

In Romania, the e-commerce market has grown rapidly, making competition fiercer than ever. According to Romania Insider *11, recent data shows that the market continues to expand, reaching billions of euros annually and attracting both local and international players.

That’s why conducting a thorough competitor analysis is essential for any business operating in Romania or similar markets. It helps you:

• Learn best practices to market and sell more effectively 
• Identify gaps in the market, where customer demand is not being met – demand you can develop your business to meet
• Spot emerging trends in consumer behavior and e-commerce that can shape your future strategy

All of this leads to one key outcome: making smarter decisions that drive more sales and sustainable growth.

How to Conduct Competitor Analysis: Step-by-Step Guide

Successful competitor analysis in Romania starts with thorough market research. Your first step should be Google. Search for keywords related to your products or services (in Romanian and English) and analyze the top 3–5 results. In Google’s ranking system, these top positions indicate your main competitors, as they capture the majority of local search traffic and potential customers.

Explore their websites in detail and evaluate:

• Product or service offering: What are they selling and who are they targeting in the Romanian market? Where do you overlap?
• Strengths: Do they have a clear unique selling proposition (USP) that attracts Romanian customers?
• Weaknesses: Where can your business offer a better experience, pricing, or value?
• Pricing strategy: Are they competing on low prices or positioning themselves as premium brands?
• Delivery & logistics: In Romania, fast and flexible delivery (e.g., courier options, easy returns) can strongly influence buying decisions.
• Online presence: How active are they on social media platforms popular in Romania (like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok)? Are they driving traffic effectively?
• Performance insights: Tools for estimating traffic, visibility, and sales trends can give you a competitive edge.

While this may seem like a lot, we’ve simplified the process into a free competitor analysis template you can download below and use immediately.

Finally, compare your findings with your own e-commerce business to identify gaps and opportunities in the Romanian market.

A SWOT analysis will help you clearly understand your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats—and guide your next strategic moves.

These insights will help you set clear priorities and turn them into actionable steps within your overall business strategy. To make things easier, we’ve also included SWOT analysis points in our template—so you can start applying everything right away.

Competitor analysis tools

Google browsing aside, to really know your online competitors you’ll have to take a deeper dive into their performance analytics. Luckily, there are plenty of tools to help you do so – perhaps most importantly, those that will allow you to improve your SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) position. An analysis by SEO specialist Backlinko² found the top result in Google’s organic search results has an average Click Through Rate of 31.7%³. Furthermore, only 0.78% of Google searchers clicked on something from the wilderness of the second page. It’s no surprise then, that there is a whole SEO-focused industry dedicated to helping e-commerce businesses land a prized position at the top of the first page.

You could start with SpyFu⁴, a search tool that will show you competitor analysis keywords and what terms these sites have invested in on Google AdWords, alongside every ad test they’ve run. It reveals the keywords they’re ranking for, so you can work backwards to see which of their backlinks and content are bringing them the ranking, and use those findings to influence your advertising. It's sneaky, but that's half the fun! 

SEMrush⁵ is an all-in-one digital marketing suite, impressive due to the sheer scale of data it can source. SEMrush’s software analyzes SEO, PPC (pay-per-click) advertising, keyword research, social media and content – to name just a few. You can tailor the tool to your specific needs, whether that is identifying competitors’ highest-ranking keywords, their strategies and budgets, or their best-performing product listing ads.

Beyond SEO-focused tools, the following will also help you understand more about your competitors’ online presence:

BuiltWith⁶
With a database of 42,237+ web technologies and over a quarter of a billion websites, this business intelligence tool will show you which technologies your competitors are using on their websites – such as shopping carts – and how they’re performing. So, if you're building an e-commerce website for the first time, these insights will serve as a best practice guide. And that’s not all. BuiltWith will also provide you with competitor sales intelligence and analytics reports. You can use these insights to build lists of your competitors and identify key market segments that your brand may be missing out on.

SimilarWeb⁷
A market intelligence tool regularly used by DHL Express to help e-commerce businesses identify and qualify new customers. SimilarWeb’s in-depth analytics reports will give you an overview of your competitors’ performance to benchmark against, including their online strategies, website visitor numbers (and bounce rate), consumer intent and customers’ demographic makeup.

Once you’ve gathered the necessary analytics, add them to your competitor analysis template. They should act as KPIs by which to measure your business's performance, and to help you set goals for the future.  

The customer
Analytics aside, sometimes there’s no better way to understand a brand’s success than learning its customers’ motivations. Browsing on customer review websites such as Trustpilot8 means you can monitor the conversations around your competitors’ businesses. What do they like about the product? What are the pain points? You can use these insights to improve or adapt your product. Similarly, Talkwalker’s Quick Search9 is worth a look too. The social search engine scans social networks, news sites, blogs and forums to find customers’ opinions and trends in real-time.

DHL Express
Last, but by no means least, is the unrivaled industry knowledge of DHL. As experts in international shipping, we can help your e-commerce business sell to markets where your competitors aren’t. Our E-commerce Health Check will analyze your business in a few simple steps and identify opportunities where it can grow its exports. Get started now!

And, we can help you implement checkout options that are proven to improve sales10 – such as Express delivery or international currency options. Don’t let a potential customer choose a competitor’s product over yours just because theirs would arrive quicker!

Apply for a DHL Express business international account and we’ll help your e-commerce business reach its full potential.