Sena reads what each rival charged in the outlet, what buyers paid for it, and which item the switchers took.
Competitive pricing analysis places one price against the prices buyers see beside it, so a commercial team knows where it stands. Three choices made early decide whether the answer holds.
The comparison runs against three named rivals chosen at the head office. The buyer in that market compares against whatever the outlet stocked, including the own-label item.
Each side of the comparison is a displayed figure. Promotions, loyalty prices, and multibuys land differently on each rival, and the gap at the till differs from the gap on the label.
Prices come from two collections taken in different weeks. A rival's discount week compared against an own full-price week reports a gap the market held on zero days.
Sena is the decision AI with access to real-world data. It reads every price on the shelf off one image and sets them against what buyers in that market paid, so both sides of a comparison come from the same day.
Captures return what sat beside the item and what each one charged, so the list comes from the outlet.
Receipts show the transacted figure for the item and for its rivals, so the spread reads after promotions.
Both sides come off the same capture, so a movement between cycles belongs to the market.
Competitive pricing analysis measures where a price sits against the prices buyers see beside it and what that position is doing to volume. It is one method inside a wider pricing exercise, and it is the method most often run on its own.
Three to five rivals plus the own-label item where it holds real share. The list decides what the spread means, and drawing it at the head office produces a spread against the wrong set.
Both held constant, so two cycles compare, and a movement belongs to the market.
Posted, promoted, or paid, held on both sides. A posted-against-paid comparison reports a gap that exists on zero of the two sides.
A spread is a number until it is set beside the item buyers chose instead.
Competition-based pricing sets the price from what rivals charge, and it is one of three bases a business can price from.
| Basis | Where the price comes from | What it risks |
|---|---|---|
| Cost-based | Unit cost plus a target margin. | A price the market has already moved past. |
| Value-based | What the buyer will pay for the benefit. | An estimate, where acceptance goes unmeasured. |
| Competition-based | What rivals charge in the same market. | Inheriting a rival's mistake, and a race downward. |
Competition based pricing works as a check and struggles as a rule. A price matched to a rival carries that rival's cost position and their read of the market, and both stay hidden from outside. Pairing the spread with what buyers accept turns the comparison into a decision.
Four collected inputs place the price, applied per market.
| Input | What it answers |
|---|---|
| Store captures | Every competing item in the outlet and what each charged that week. |
| Geo-verified photos | Rival labels and their prices, read off one image. |
| Receipts | What buyers paid for each side, promotion applied and dated. |
| Stated preference | The rival they would move to and the price that would move them. |
Three questions sit outside a price comparison, and each one decides what to do about the answer. A gap says the two prices differ and leaves open which one the market prefers. The item buyers chose instead is the one the spread is about.
A price can sit above every rival and still hold, where the reason for the premium is clear.
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.
Shelf prices and paid prices arrive from the same outlets and the same week, and every figure carries the market and the day.
The label gap and the till gap sit side by side, so promotional depth shows as its own effect.
Every competing item present gets included, so the own-label item enters where it holds share.
Buyers who moved name the item they took, which is the comparison the spread was standing in for.
A price comparison is a claim about a set of items. Sena builds every figure from real-world signals captured when the question needs it, from every label photographed in the outlet through to the receipt showing which item was taken.
Records what buyers paid for the item and for its rivals, so the spread reads at the till.
Reads every competing label and price off one image captured in a real outlet, so the comparison set comes from the shelf.
Signal arrives from the consumer network under explicit consent. The rival a buyer would move to comes from that buyer.
Price files, promotional calendars, listing records, and volume history join over 250+ integrations, so the internal position meets the recorded shelf.
Every figure holds its outlet, its market, and its capture date, so a competitive claim opens back onto the image behind it.
Past shelf captures, competitor price histories, and promotional calendars, covering every cycle the category has been scanned in.
Four teams read the same spread, and each one needs a different cut of it before they can act.
The response. Needs the paid spread, per market, with the list drawn from the shelf.
The shelf position. Needs every competing item present, including own-label.
The lever set. Needs the spread read beside the internal realized price.
The competitive claim. Needs any figure to open in the meeting it is quoted in.
The same comparison, against the set each category actually cross-shops.
Every competing pack on the shelf, at the price each charged that week.
The specification and price of the tier buyers cross-shop against.
The branded price against the own-label item on the same fixture.
The tariff against the equivalent plan buyers name as the alternative.
One mechanism, applied per market and per category. Each step is documented, which is what carries a competitive claim through a commercial review.
One image from a real outlet returns every competing item and the price on each label, placed and dated.
Sena sets those labels against the receipts from buyers in the same market and week, so posted and paid spreads land together.
Buyers who moved name the item they took, so the spread carries the volume it explains.
Most competitive pricing analysis compares two published figures taken from a list agreed in advance, which answers what two sellers displayed to whoever was looking. Sena reads the shelf and the till.
| Capability area | Typical setup | Sena |
|---|---|---|
| The competitor list | Named in advance at the head office. | Every competing item present in the outlet. |
| Own-label | Frequently excluded. | Included where it holds share at its shelf price. |
| The price basis | Posted on both sides. | Posted and paid, with the promotion identified. |
| Timing | Two collections, two weeks. | One capture, one date, both sides. |
| Where volume went | Inferred from a share figure. | Named by the buyer who moved, at the price paid. |
| Market resolution | One national spread. | A spread per market, with the underlying records held by the provider. |
| Evidence in a review | A price table. | Open any figure onto the shelf image behind it. |
Three situations where reading the shelf changes the competitive answer.
Take a reported spread and read it at the till, so promotional depth separates from a real price difference.
Capture every item on the fixture and rebuild the comparison set from what buyers see.
Read which item buyers moved to and what they paid before the price response is chosen.
A comparison places one price against the set beside it. The four decisions below are what a revenue team asks around it.
Every revenue decision Sena answers, in one place
Where the range sits
Sets the whole range against a market reference.
Explore price benchmarking 02The discrete exercise
Runs the wider price question; this comparison is one method inside.
Explore pricing analysis 03The single price point
Turns the spread into the number the line carries, against what buyers accept.
Explore price optimization 04The figures underneath
Tracks the gap to the competing set every cycle.
Explore pricing analyticsThe walkthrough takes one category in one market, rebuilds the competitor list from a shelf capture, and reads the spread at the label and at the till while the team watches.
Tell us the category and the market, and we will read the fixture.