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Introduction
Hi, and welcome to the research session practice. Today we help Laras answer a question that often worries business owners: are my prices right? We'll write a research brief, collect competitors' prices with web search, organize them in a spreadsheet, read the position with a chart, and then make a decision in an ethical way.
Step 1: Research goal and limits
Laras often hears customers say: liter-size coffee is cheaper elsewhere. But others say Sunset Coffee is actually cheap for its quality. She needs data, not feelings. The decision she wants to make is clear: whether to adjust the price of the one-liter palm sugar iced coffee, now eighty-five thousand rupiah, and the five-hundred-milliliter cold brew, now fifty-five thousand. Before searching, set limits so the comparison is fair. First, similar shops. Sunset Coffee is a small shop, so compare it with small shops, not big coffee chains. Second, the same region: Bandung, because costs and customers' buying power differ from city to city. Third, comparable products. One liter is compared with one liter, not with a seven-hundred-fifty-milliliter bottle without adjusting. Fourth, the latest prices, from the last three months. Old menu prices in customer reviews can be misleading. We put those limits into the brief. The goal goes at the top so Claude knows what this research is for. The task is to find three to five small coffee shops in Bandung that sell similar products online. The format is a table with ready-made columns, including shipping, added value, source, and date. Notice the cold brew price per five hundred milliliters column, so different sizes are converted right away. The limits are firm: only prices from the last three months, and write not found if there's no data. The words don't guess are very important for price research.
Step 2: Claude collects the data
Laras turns on web search and pastes in the brief. Claude starts by searching for liter-size iced coffee prices in Bandung. Then it searches for bottled cold brew from coffee shops in the same city. The result is a table of four shops with their sources. All shop names and numbers in this video are examples. Notice one cell that says not found. Claude doesn't guess, just as the brief asked. Claude also adds two important notes. One price has been converted from seven hundred fifty milliliters, and another price comes only from a customer review, so it needs confirming. Where were those prices actually found? The strongest source is the shop's official website or catalog. Still, check when it was last updated. Next come online stores and delivery apps. The data is clear, but app prices sometimes include service fees, so they're usually higher than in-store prices. Social media posts are fairly helpful, but they often show promo prices that only last a short time. Customer reviews are the weakest. Use them only as a lead, like the Corner Coffee price earlier. Ask Claude to always name the type of source in the table. That way you know right away which prices you can rely on and which need rechecking. Remember the fact-checking lesson from the previous episode. Before processing, check first: every price has a source and a date. Second, different sizes are converted correctly. Laras does the math herself: seventy-eight thousand divided by seven hundred fifty, times five hundred, makes fifty-two thousand. It matches. Third, prices from weak sources are flagged. Laras decides to confirm the Corner Coffee price by checking the latest menu on their account. Fourth, open at least two sources and match the numbers. Laras opens the Twilight Coffee catalog and the Grand Morning Café website. The numbers match.
Step 3: Organizing it in a spreadsheet
Laras moves that data into a spreadsheet. The first row is Sunset Coffee itself, as the benchmark: eighty-five thousand for one liter, fifty-five thousand for cold brew, and free shipping above two hundred thousand. Twilight Coffee is the cheapest, but its shipping is fifteen thousand. A low price with expensive shipping isn't necessarily cheaper for the buyer. Grand Morning Café is the most expensive, but it has free shipping and uses glass bottles. They sell a more premium experience. Friends' House sits in the middle, with local coffee beans as its added value. And Corner Coffee has been confirmed through its latest menu. The source status column tells Laras which data is already safe to use. This spreadsheet has a tab for each month. If she updates it every three months, Laras has a record of how market prices move over time.
Step 4: Reading the price position
Now let's read the position. Laras asks Claude to make a chart of the one-liter prices and calculate the competitors' average. The chart appears in the right panel, sorted from cheapest. The average of the three competitors is about eighty-seven thousand seven hundred, so Sunset Coffee is about three percent below average. Laras then asks a question that's closer to reality: what if shipping is included for a two-liter purchase? The result: after shipping, the gap with the cheapest shop shrinks to just seven thousand rupiah. A follow-up question like this turns raw numbers into the picture buyers actually experience. Price is only one side. The first row shows Sunset Coffee in the middle, between the cheapest and the most expensive shop. On shipping, Sunset Coffee wins for large orders because shipping is free above two hundred thousand. On added value, Sunset Coffee has gift hampers and a sugar-free version that competitors don't. These are strengths to highlight, not a reason to slash prices.
Step 5: From findings to decisions
The last step is the decision. Laras asks for three strategy options with their pros and cons, and firmly asks Claude not to decide for her. Claude gives three options: keep the price while highlighting added value, raise it a little but stay below average, or create a two-liter bundle. Each option has benefits and risks. Notice that every option comes with reasons and risks. This format makes it easy for Laras to discuss it with Dimas, the Sunset Coffee admin, who hears customers' complaints about price most often. Laras picks the first option for a month while testing the two-liter bundle with loyal customers. Her decision is based on data, and it's still her own decision. Finally, competitor research ethics. What's allowed: using public information such as competitors' menus, catalogs, and official posts. And always record the source and date of every price, as we did in the spreadsheet. What's not allowed: posing as a buyer to dig out a competitor's confidential data. Don't copy competitors' photos, text, or promotional designs either. Ask Claude to help you create your own content. And don't badmouth competitors in your promotional content. Highlight your strengths, not other people's weaknesses. Healthy competitor research makes our business better without harming anyone.
Done!
We've run competitor research from the brief, data collection, and spreadsheet to the price position chart, strategy options, and ethics. Research results are worth more when they're presented neatly. In the next episode we learn to write a research report that's easy for both managers and the team to read. See you there!
Practice exercises
Try these on your own after watching to lock in what you learned.
Collect three competitors' prices for your two main products, with sources and dates
Flag prices that come from only one source, then check directly with the competitor
Ask Claude to make a price position chart and three pricing strategy options
Ask the class material
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Cerdas Inovasi Digital Team
Software developers, BIM & 3D engineers, and AI practitioners
52 video classes1,276 episodes
We build software, BIM models, games and AI automations for clients every day, and turn that hands-on work into step-by-step classes: every step is shown on screen and comes with a PDF guide you can keep.
