Market share

"Marketers need to be able to translate sales targets into market share because this will demonstrate whether forecasts are to be attained by growing with the market or by capturing share from competitors. The latter will almost always be more difficult to achieve. Market share is closely monitored for signs of change in the competitive landscape, and it frequently drives strategic or tactical action." Additionally, market share is a key metric in understanding performance relative to the growth of the market as measurement of internal sales growth (or decline) only may be a result of similar growth or declines in the industry being measured.

Increasing market share is one of the most important objectives of business. The main advantage of using market share as a measure of business performance is that it is less dependent upon macro environmental variables such as the state of the economy or changes in tax policy.

In the United States market, however, increasing market share may be dangerous for makers of fungible and potentially hazardous products such as medicine, due to a US-only legal doctrine called market share liability.

Purpose

Market share is said to be a key indicator of market competitiveness, i.e. how well a firm is doing against its competitors. "This metric, supplemented by changes in sales revenue, helps managers evaluate both primary and selective demand in their market. That is, it enables them to judge not only total market growth or decline but also trends in customers' selections among competitors. Generally, sales growth resulting from primary demand (total market growth) is less costly and more profitable than that achieved by capturing share from competitors. Conversely, losses in market share can signal serious long-term problems that require strategic adjustments. Firms with market shares below a certain level may not be viable. Similarly, within a firm's product line, market share trends for individual products are considered early indicators of future opportunities or problems." Also,"Market share competition drives companies to support climate change policies with a view to imposing costs on domestic competitors". Research has also shown that market share is a desired asset among competing firms. Experts, however, discourage making market share an objective and criterion upon which to base economic policies. The aforementioned usage of market share as a basis for gauging the performance of competing firms has fostered a system in which firms make decisions with regard to their operation with careful consideration of the impact of each decision on the market share of their competitors.

It is generally necessary to commission market research (generally desk/secondary research) to determine. Sometimes, though, one can use primary research to estimate the total market size and a company's market share.