Market share
Your slice of a defined market, in units or in value.
01 What it is
Why anyone looks at this number
Your slice of a defined market, in units or in value.
It separates your performance from the market's. Growing 5% in a market growing 9% is a loss, and the revenue line will never tell you that.
02 The formula
How it is worked out
Market share = your_units (or value) ÷ total_market_units grain : month × market × category unit : percentage source : External panel or trade association data, joined to internal sales
The denominator is the whole argument. Write down exactly which products, channels and geographies count as the market, version it, and make both sales and finance use that one definition.
03 Worked example
The same number, with real inputs
| Your units | 4.00m |
| Category units | 32.0m |
| Calculation | 4.00 ÷ 32.0 |
| Result | 12.5% |
Up from 12.2% in a market that grew 3%. Both the market and the share moved in your favour, which is the only combination that compounds.
04 What moves it
Four things that actually change this number
Distribution
You cannot hold share where you are not stocked.
Price position
Relative price against the category, not absolute price.
Innovation
New entrants take share before they take revenue.
Market growth
A growing pool can hide share loss for years.
05 Where the number lives
The system, the record and the fields
| System of record | Key record | Fields you need |
|---|---|---|
| External panel or trade association data, joined to internal sales | Category × market, joined to Product | your_units, category_units, market_definition, period |
The denominator is the whole argument. Write down exactly which products, channels and geographies count as the market, version it, and make both sales and finance use that one definition.
06 How it goes wrong
Three ways this metric misleads people
Undefined market
Sales measure share of a narrow niche, finance measure a broad category, and the two never agree.
Fix: Make the market definition part of the metric, versioned with it.Units versus value
Volume share can rise while value share falls, which usually means you discounted.
Fix: Report both.Panel coverage gaps
External panels miss channels — often the fastest-growing ones.
Fix: State the coverage and adjust, rather than pretending it is complete.08 Questions
Frequently asked
Should we measure share in units or value?
Both. Unit share tells you about presence and volume; value share tells you whether you are getting paid for it. Divergence between the two is a pricing story.
What if no panel covers our market?
Use a proxy: total imports, industry association volumes, or the sum of known competitors. State the basis explicitly — a consistent proxy trend is more useful than a precise number you cannot get.
One definition, everywhere it is used
SCIKIQ stores this metric once and serves it to every dashboard, board pack and agent that asks.