Competitors & Complements
Understanding the businesses surrounding a potential site reveals the competitive landscape and co-tenancy opportunities. GrowthFactor identifies and analyzes both direct competitors and complementary retailers within your trade area, showing not just what's nearby but how well those businesses perform.
Competitors vs. Complements
Competitors
Businesses that directly compete for your target customers. These are retailers or restaurants in the same category that offer similar products or services.
Examples for a sporting goods retailer:
Dick's Sporting Goods
Academy Sports
REI
Big 5 Sporting Goods
Why they matter: Competitor density affects market saturation. Too many competitors may indicate an oversupplied market; too few might suggest untapped demand—or a location that doesn't support your category.
Complements
Businesses that attract customers who are also likely to shop with you. These are retailers whose customer base overlaps with yours, creating beneficial co-tenancy.
Examples for a sporting goods retailer:
Target (general merchandise overlap)
Best Buy (active lifestyle, tech-oriented customers)
Ulta Beauty (health and wellness adjacent)
Grocery anchors (regular traffic drivers)
Why they matter: Strong complements drive foot traffic that benefits your store. A site next to a thriving Target sees consistent customer flow you can capture without generating it yourself.
Configuring Competitors and Complements
Your competitor and complement lists are configured at the organization level in Brand Settings. These lists determine which businesses are tracked and displayed when you search a site.
Setting Up Lists
Work with your GrowthFactor team or access Brand Settings to:
Define which brands are direct competitors
Identify complementary businesses relevant to your concept
Adjust lists as your competitive landscape evolves
Once configured, these businesses are automatically identified and analyzed whenever you search a site.
Tracked Businesses Panel
When you search a site, the Tracked Businesses section in the results panel displays competitors and complements within your trade area.
Panel Layout
The panel shows two columns:
Competitors
Direct competitors within the trade area, with count
Complements
Complementary businesses within the trade area, with count
Each business entry displays:
Brand name
Foot Traffic Ranking (percentile performance vs. other locations in the chain)
Distance from the searched site
Unique Brands Only Toggle
Enable Unique Brands Only to show just one location per brand (the nearest). This simplifies the view when multiple outposts of the same chain exist in the trade area.
Disable it to see all locations—useful when you want to understand total competitive density or identify which specific locations are closest.
Viewing Full Details
Click "View all [X]" at the bottom of each column to open the detailed list view with:
Complete list of all competitors or complements
Sortable by distance or performance ranking
Expandable entries showing full foot traffic breakdowns
Monthly visit counts and brand/category performance
Reading the Business List
Distance
Shows how far each business is from your searched address. Closer competitors pose more direct competitive pressure; closer complements offer stronger co-tenancy benefits.
Foot Traffic Rankings
Each business displays a percentile ranking indicating how that specific location performs compared to others in the same chain:
Top 10%
Exceptional performer; this location outperforms 90% of the brand's stores
Top 25%
Strong performer
Top 50%
Average for the brand
Bottom 25%
Underperformer
Bottom 5%
Among the weakest locations in the chain
N/A
Insufficient data to rank
Rankings are based on foot traffic as a proxy for performance. See Foot Traffic and Brand Rankings for detailed methodology.
Interpreting Rankings
For competitors:
High-performing competitors confirm customer demand exists in the area
Low-performing competitors may indicate location challenges—or an opportunity to capture share
A mix of rankings suggests varied micro-location quality within the trade area
For complements:
High-performing complements are strong traffic anchors that benefit your site
Low-performing complements provide less co-tenancy value than their brand name might suggest
The nearest complement's performance matters most for direct adjacency benefits
Detailed Business View
Click on any business to see its complete performance profile.
Information Displayed
Monthly Visits: Estimated visitor count for that location
Brand Performance: How the location ranks against other stores in the same chain at three levels:
Local (within defined radius)
State
National
Category Performance: How the location ranks against all businesses in its retail category (e.g., "Department Stores," "Sporting Goods") at the same three levels.
Why Both Rankings Matter
A Target location might rank:
Top 45% within Target (average for the chain)
Top 25% within Department Stores (strong for the category)
This tells you it's an average Target but a strong department store overall—the location has solid fundamentals even if Target specifically isn't maximizing them.
Conversely, a location ranking high within its brand but low within the category might indicate brand-specific strength that doesn't reflect general retail viability.
Using Competitor Analysis
Assessing Market Saturation
Count competitors and evaluate their distribution:
Few competitors, strong performers: Undersupplied market with proven demand—attractive entry opportunity
Few competitors, weak performers: May indicate location doesn't support the category—investigate why
Many competitors, strong performers: Saturated but thriving market—can you differentiate?
Many competitors, weak performers: Oversupplied market struggling to support existing players—proceed with caution
Competitive Density by Distance
Consider how competitors are distributed:
Immediate competitors (under 1 mile): Direct head-to-head competition
Nearby competitors (1–3 miles): Moderate competitive pressure
Trade area competitors (3+ miles): May share customers but less direct conflict
A site with no competitors within 2 miles but several at 4–5 miles may have a local monopoly while still validating market demand.
Competitor Performance as Signal
Strong-performing competitors validate that customers are present and spending in the category. If nearby competitors consistently rank in the top quartile, the location supports your category well.
Weak-performing competitors raise questions:
Is the location fundamentally flawed?
Are those specific sites poorly executed?
Is there an opportunity to outperform with a better offering?
Using Complement Analysis
Evaluating Co-Tenancy
Strong complements create a virtuous cycle—their traffic becomes your traffic. Prioritize sites near:
High-performing grocery anchors (consistent weekly visits)
Thriving big-box retailers (Target, Walmart, Costco)
Category-relevant specialty retailers
Popular restaurants that drive destination trips
Anchor Quality Matters
Not all anchors are equal. A complement ranking in the Bottom 25% of its chain provides less value than the brand name suggests. Always check performance, not just presence.
Example: A site "near Target" sounds appealing, but if that Target ranks in the Bottom 10% nationally, it's not generating the traffic you'd expect from the brand.
Complement Mix
Evaluate the overall complement profile:
Diverse, strong complements: Multiple traffic drivers create resilient customer flow
Single anchor dependency: Risk if that anchor underperforms or closes
Weak complement performance: Location may lack the draw needed to support your concept
Local Businesses Layer
Beyond your configured competitor and complement lists, the Local Businesses layer shows all businesses in the area.
When to Use It
Enable Local Businesses to:
Discover retailers not on your tracked lists
Understand the complete retail mix
Identify emerging competitors or potential complements
Assess overall retail density and health
How It Displays
Local businesses appear on the map with:
Business name markers
Brand logos for recognized chains
Clustering at zoomed-out views; individual pins when zoomed in
Click any business to see its foot traffic data and performance rankings.
Best Practices
Check performance, not just presence. A trade area "full of competitors" isn't concerning if they're all underperforming—it may signal opportunity. A single dominant competitor ranking in the Top 10% is more threatening than five weak ones.
Weight nearby complements heavily. The complement next door matters more than one across the trade area. Immediate adjacency drives meaningful traffic sharing; distant complements have diluted benefit.
Look for patterns. If every retailer in an area—competitors and complements alike—ranks in the bottom half, the location may have structural challenges regardless of your concept.
Consider the customer journey. Are complements positioned to create natural shopping trips that include your store? A complement in the same center matters more than one across the street with difficult access.
Update your lists periodically. As your competitive landscape evolves (new entrants, brand repositioning, closures), keep your competitor and complement lists current to maintain relevant analysis.
Use rankings to calibrate expectations. If the best-performing retailer in the trade area ranks at the 60th percentile, don't expect to crack the Top 25%—adjust your projections and expectations accordingly.
For related analysis, see Foot Traffic and Brand Rankings, GrowthFactor Score and Insights, and Sales Projections.
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