Important Note: There are lots of ways of looking at market share – see list below.
It would be a mistake for a firm to rely upon one market share measure only. Assuming that the firm has access to competitive sales information, then a variety of market share metrics should be calculated and reviewed.
Market shares a very easy to calculate – indeed there is a free Excel template available on this site – therefore, there is minimal effort in calculating additional information.
Variations of market share
A firm should probably look to have market shares for:
- The overall market
- Key segments of consumers
- Geographic areas/markets
- By channel/retailer
- Against key competitors
- Relative market shares
- Market shares over time (trends)
- Market shares for the overall brand and individual products
- Different definitions of the market (for example for a soft drink firm – colas, sugar/diet, all flavors, all beverages)
External website
Cluster Analysis for Marketing – provides a free template to create key consumer segments
