A benchmark is a reference. It is not the brief.
Benchmark products are one of the most useful tools in private-label development.
They give everyone involved something concrete to discuss.
Instead of saying:
“We want it to feel premium.”
you can say:
“We like the application of Product A, the finish of Product B and the fragrance direction of Product C.”
That is immediately more useful.
But benchmarks also create one of the most common development mistakes:
Trying to copy an existing product instead of defining the product you actually want to build.
The purpose of a benchmark is to clarify the target.
Not replace it.
What is a benchmark product?
A benchmark is an existing product used as a reference point during development.
It can help define expectations around:
performance
application
fragrance
viscosity
colour
foam
residue
durability
finish
packaging
price
user experience
The benchmark does not necessarily need to be the market leader.
It simply needs to demonstrate something relevant to the development target.
Why benchmarks are useful
Without a physical reference, words can mean very different things to different people.
For example:
“High foam”
What does high mean?
Dense shaving-foam style?
Large bubbles?
Long-lasting foam?
Foam that rinses quickly?
“Easy wipe-off”
One customer may mean:
one microfiber pass.
Another may consider three passes perfectly acceptable.
“Strong fragrance”
Strong in the bottle?
During application?
After rinsing?
On the finished surface?
A benchmark creates a shared reference.
One benchmark rarely provides the complete answer
A common mistake is choosing one competitor product and saying:
“Make this better.”
Better how?
A product can have:
excellent performance
poor fragrance
excellent packaging
average durability
outstanding application
high cost
poor compatibility with certain conditions
Copying the entire product concept may therefore copy its weaknesses as well.
A better approach is to break the benchmark down into individual attributes.
The Benchmark Matrix
For each benchmark product, evaluate specific characteristics.
For example:
| Attribute | Product A | Product B | Target Product |
|---|---|---|---|
| Application | Excellent | Good | Excellent |
| Slickness | Good | Excellent | Excellent |
| Gloss | Very good | Very good | Very good+ |
| Fragrance | Poor | Excellent | Premium |
| Durability | Excellent | Average | Excellent |
| Wipe-off | Average | Excellent | Excellent |
| Price position | High | Medium | Premium |
This immediately changes the discussion.
Instead of:
“Copy Product A.”
the brief becomes:
“Match Product A's durability, Product B's wipe-off, and improve fragrance.”
That is actionable.
Ask four questions for every benchmark
1. What should we match?
Examples:
durability
foam structure
cleaning power
wipe-off
application time
slickness
2. What should we improve?
Examples:
fragrance
residue
product consumption
user experience
stability
material compatibility
3. What should be different?
This is where differentiation begins.
Examples:
more concentrated
less aggressive
higher gloss
lower foam
faster curing
better warm-weather application
different scent direction
4. What should we avoid?
Examples:
streaking
strong solvent smell
difficult buffing
sticky residue
staining
excessive foaming
short open time
This question is often more valuable than asking what customers like.
Benchmark the use case, not just the product
The same benchmark can perform differently depending on:
climate
water hardness
surface temperature
application quantity
towel choice
machine type
user experience
vehicle condition
Therefore, the development team should understand how the benchmark is actually being used.
For example:
A coating may perform exceptionally in controlled indoor application.
But if your customers often work in:
warm workshops
humid environments
outdoor conditions
the same application behaviour may not be desirable.
The right benchmark depends on the actual use case.
Separate technical benchmarking from commercial benchmarking
A product can be technically excellent but commercially wrong for your brand.
Evaluate both.
Technical benchmark
How does it perform?
cleaning
gloss
durability
application
residue
compatibility
Commercial benchmark
How is it positioned?
retail price
pack size
packaging
branding
perceived value
channel
target customer
These are related, but not the same.
Do not benchmark only premium products
This is another common mistake.
A customer developing a €14.95 product may benchmark only €40 products.
Technically, that can be interesting.
Commercially, it may be unrealistic.
The benchmark set should include products relevant to:
target price
target user
distribution channel
brand positioning
A technically superior product that cannot meet the commercial model is not automatically the right product.
Use several benchmarks when necessary
Different products may be useful for different reasons.
For example:
Benchmark A
Best cleaning performance.
Benchmark B
Best user experience.
Benchmark C
Best fragrance.
Benchmark D
Best packaging.
Your target product can learn from all four.
This often produces a more deliberate result than copying one market leader.
Do not confuse marketing claims with performance
Competitor packaging may say:
12-month protection
extreme hydrophobicity
professional grade
ultra-safe
ceramic infused
maximum gloss
These claims can be useful clues.
They should not automatically become technical facts.
Benchmarking should rely on:
actual testing
real application
controlled comparisons
user feedback
not only what is printed on the bottle.
Blind testing can be useful
Where practical, samples can be evaluated without immediately revealing which product is which.
This can reduce bias.
People often rate a known premium brand differently because they already expect it to perform well.
Blind testing is particularly useful when comparing:
fragrance
slickness
application
foam
residue
finish
It does not need to be overly scientific.
The goal is simply to separate product perception from brand perception.
Define testing conditions
A useful benchmark comparison should ideally use similar conditions.
For example:
same surface
same dilution
same quantity
same applicator
same towel
same dwell time
same ambient conditions
Otherwise, the comparison may say more about the test method than the product.
Example: shampoo benchmarking
Suppose three shampoos are evaluated.
PRODUCT A
Very high foam
Excellent fragrance
Average lubricity
Higher residue
PRODUCT B
Moderate foam
Low fragrance
Excellent lubricity
Very clean rinse
PRODUCT C
High concentration
Good lubricity
Low foam
Excellent cost per wash
The customer says:
“We want something like Product A.”
After discussion, what they actually want is:
Product A's fragrance experience
Product B's lubricity
Product B's rinse behaviour
Product C's concentration
That is a much better brief.
Example: spray sealant benchmarking
Customer benchmark:
Competitor X
What they initially say:
“We want this but better.”
After structured evaluation:
MATCH
application speed
gloss
IMPROVE
slickness
warm-weather wipe-off
fragrance
DIFFER
slightly longer durability
lower product consumption
AVOID
streaking on dark paint
Now R&D knows what success means.
Example: wheel cleaner benchmarking
The customer chooses a strong reactive wheel cleaner.
But further discussion shows the real priorities are:
professional cleaning power
reduced odour
slower drying
good compatibility with frequent use
The benchmark becomes a useful starting point rather than the final target.
Benchmarking should include negatives
Customers often focus only on what they like.
But development benefits enormously from understanding what they dislike.
Ask:
What frustrates you about this product?
Possible answers:
bottle leaks
fragrance is too aggressive
too much foam
dries too quickly
difficult wipe-off
leaves residue
product consumption is too high
difficult dosing
poor trigger behaviour
Those negatives create differentiation opportunities.
Benchmark the packaging too
Packaging is part of the user experience.
Evaluate:
bottle shape
grip
trigger
spray pattern
cap
dosing
label readability
size
stability
perceived quality
Sometimes customers believe they like the chemistry when part of what they actually like is the packaging experience.
Benchmark price per use
Shelf price alone can be misleading.
For concentrates, coatings and professional chemistry, consider:
product quantity used per application
dilution
coverage
number of vehicles treated
cost per use
A €50 product may be cheaper per application than a €25 product.
This matters when defining target formulation economics.
Avoid chasing benchmark changes
Markets move quickly.
If the target changes every time a competitor launches something new, development may never finish.
At some point, the brief needs to be frozen.
Competitive awareness is useful.
Permanent reaction is not.
When benchmarking becomes copying
There is an important distinction between:
learning from an existing product
and
trying to recreate it exactly.
A stronger development question is:
Why does the customer like this product?
That leads to understanding.
Exact replication often leads to:
limited differentiation
unclear commercial value
unnecessary development constraints
The objective should usually be to create the right product for your brand, not someone else's.
Benchmarking and intellectual property
A benchmark product may also involve:
patented technology
protected claims
proprietary application systems
distinctive packaging
trademarks
Using a product as a performance reference does not mean every element can or should be reproduced.
Where relevant, intellectual-property questions should be considered separately from technical benchmarking.
Build a Benchmark Sheet
For every serious development, document:
PRODUCT
Brand:
Product:
Category:
Pack size:
Price:
WHY IS IT RELEVANT?
MATCH
IMPROVE
DIFFERENTIATE
AVOID
TECHNICAL NOTES
Application:
Performance:
Fragrance:
Viscosity:
Finish:
Residue:
Other:
COMMERCIAL NOTES
Price:
Positioning:
Packaging:
Target customer:
Channel:
Use a rating system carefully
Ratings can help structure feedback.
For example:
1 = Poor
2 = Below expectation
3 = Acceptable
4 = Good
5 = Excellent
But numbers alone are not enough.
A rating should be accompanied by explanation.
Instead of:
Wipe-off: 3/5
write:
Wipe-off: 3/5 — acceptable at 20°C, but begins to streak when the panel is warm.
That is useful development information.
Benchmark against the brief
The benchmark should never become more important than the development objective.
The final question is not:
Did we recreate Competitor X?
It is:
Did we achieve the agreed target?
That distinction is critical.
The Infinitec approach
When benchmarks are used in an Infinitec development project, we prefer to define them explicitly.
For each relevant reference product, we want to understand:
MATCH
Which characteristics are already right?
IMPROVE
Where should the new product perform better?
DIFFERENTIATE
What should make the finished product distinct?
AVOID
Which weaknesses should not carry over?
The benchmark then becomes part of the development brief instead of replacing it.
A practical rule
Do not send a competitor product to a manufacturer with only this instruction:
“Make us this.”
Instead say:
“We like these three characteristics, dislike these two, and want the finished product positioned here.”
That is the beginning of meaningful product development.
Ready to benchmark a product?
Use our Benchmark Evaluation Sheet to turn reference products into structured development information.
Use the Sample Evaluation Sheet for benchmark comparison
Or tell us which products you are using as references and what you want to achieve.
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