Sena measures the commercial position underneath the ratio in every market.
A financial benchmark compares a company's ratios to a peer set: margin, cost as a share of revenue, working capital, and return on capital. Three properties of published comparison make the exercise good at locating a gap and poor at explaining one.
Statutory accounts arrive months after the period and at whatever granularity the filer chose. A benchmark built on them compares a current company to a peer set that has already moved.
A peer set gets assembled from industry codes and revenue bands because those fields exist. Two companies inside one code frequently sell to different consumers in different markets, so the comparison holds the label constant and little else.
A margin ratio 200 basis points below the peer median is a fact. Whether the cause is price, mix, cost, or market position sits beyond every filed statement, so the corrective action gets chosen from whichever explanation is nearest to hand.
Sena measures the market position underneath a financial ratio: what consumers bought, at what price, and where the company stands against the category. Sena is a consumer-response source and holds zero filed accounts, so it supplies the cause, and the peer statements stay where they come from.
Company purchase against category purchase, market by market, so a ratio gap gains a location.
What shoppers paid at the till, so a margin gap separates price from cost.
The shoppers who chose a competing item state why, so the cause arrives with the comparison.
Financial benchmarking compares a company's financial ratios to a peer set to establish where it stands. It answers whether a number is good, which a single number leaves open.
Sena reads zero filed accounts, credit files, or peer statements. Those come from statutory sources, credit publishers, and sector bodies. A benchmarking exercise needs both halves, and stating which half arrives from where is more useful than implying one source does everything.
Published treatment of this term names two, and the distinction decides which evidence is needed.
Benchmarks published by industry give a median and a quartile spread for each ratio inside a classification code. They are useful as an orientation and weak as a target, because the code holds the sector constant and leaves the market mix, channel mix, and consumer base free to vary.
| Output | What it settles | Where it goes wrong |
|---|---|---|
| Category position | Where the company stands, per market. | Approximated from a peer code. |
| Realised price | What shoppers paid at the till. | Read from the list price. |
| Switch reason | Why a competing item won. | Absent from every filed account. |
| Market comparability | Whether a peer is a real peer. | Assumed from classification. |
Comparison against a bar wants four collected inputs, captured in the markets being compared.
| Input | What it answers |
|---|---|
| Receipts | The item taken, and the amount rung up for it. |
| Store captures | Which competing items were available alongside. |
| Geo-verified photos | The shelf and the price tag, dated and placed. |
| Stated preference | Why a shopper chose the item they chose. |
The finance team's own numbers and its peer sources join separately. Ledger extracts, price files, sector benchmark tables, and credit-file data connect through 250+ integrations, so a field comparison and a market read sit on one line.
Three questions sit outside statutory reporting by design.
Real people share what they buy and prefer, under explicit consent. Sena captures it directly at the source, so every figure traces back to where it came from whenever a number comes under question.
Each figure carries its market and its capture week, which is what lets a market read sit beside a field comparison in one paper.
The price shoppers paid is recorded, so a margin gap divides into price and cost.
Company purchase set against category purchase per market, over a peer code.
Shoppers who chose a competing item state the reason.
A benchmark built on filed accounts can establish a gap to the basis point and explain it only by inference. Sena builds every figure from real-world signals captured when the comparison needs it, from the price tag photographed in the outlet through to the shopper naming why a competitor won.
Selection and amount paid are entered as one record, which is how the realized price divides from the list.
Reads competing items and their price tags, off images captured in real outlets.
Signal arrives from the consumer network under explicit consent. A competitor's win is explained by the shopper who handed it the sale.
Ledger extracts, price files, sector benchmark tables, and credit-file data connect over 250+ integrations, so a field comparison and a market read report together.
Market, week, and source shoppers sit on each figure, so a market claim meets the questions a field figure meets.
Prior benchmark tables beside price history and closed period reporting, scan by scan.
Four teams read the same comparison, and each one needs a different part of the market half.
The margin gap. Needs the price shoppers handed over, per market.
The peer comparison. Needs market overlap tested.
The position argument. Needs category standing per market.
The external comparison. Needs a market claim that traces.
The same market read, set against whatever each industry compares on.
Realized price against competing items, market by market.
Promotion depth by occasion, compared on shelf price tags.
Own-label price standing, compared inside the market.
Fee standing, compared inside the market.
One mechanism, applied per market alongside the field comparison. Each step is documented, which is what lets a market figure enter a benchmarking paper.
The same shoppers supply the purchase, the price paid, and the reason, so position and cause arrive attached.
Company purchase is set against category purchase in the same market, which is the comparison a peer code approximates.
The shoppers who handed a competitor the sale say why, and the ratio gap gains a commercial cause.
Most financial benchmarking runs on filed accounts and a classification code, and both were built for other purposes. Sena supplies the market comparison alongside.
| Capability area | Typical setup | Sena |
|---|---|---|
| Timing | Accounts filed months after. | Purchase captured this cycle. |
| Peer selection | Industry code and revenue band. | Category purchase in the same market. |
| Price basis | List price from a price file. | Realized price. |
| A ratio gap | Measured, cause inferred. | Explained by the shoppers who moved. |
| Comparability | Assumed from classification. | Tested against market overlap. |
| Granularity | Whatever the filer chose. | Market and capture week. |
| Evidence in a paper | A published table. | Open any figure onto its shoppers. |
Three benchmarking questions a filed statement leaves open.
Read the realized price against the list per market, so price and cost hold separate explanations.
Read where the company and its supposed peers each sell, so comparability gets tested over assumption.
Ask shoppers who chose a competing item why, so a position gap arrives with a commercial cause.
A comparison with its cause attached settles what the gap is made of. The four decisions below are what a finance team runs around it.
Every finance decision Sena answers, in one place
Running to the bar
Holds the business to the target a benchmark helps set.
Explore financial performance management 02Where the target forms
Turns a benchmark gap into a committed number.
Explore financial planning and analysis 03The ratios underneath
Supplies the measurement every benchmark ratio is built from.
Explore financial analytics 04The cost side compared
Reads the cost half of a margin gap the benchmark found.
Explore cost intelligenceThe walkthrough takes one ratio gap from a real benchmarking paper, reports realised price and category position in the markets that produced it, and reads the switch reason from shoppers while the finance team watches.
Name the ratio and the markets behind it, and we will measure the commercial position underneath.