Market share

A company's sales over the whole market's sales: one number about the company, from research or an industry body. Distinct from share of wallet, which is one number per customer and rolls up. The two can move in opposite directions.

DefinitionA company's sales over the whole market's sales: one number about the company, from research or an industry body. Distinct from share of wallet, which is one number per customer and rolls up. The two can move in opposite directions.

Cannot name a customer

Market share is a board and marketing figure. Share of wallet is the one that produces a list per rep.

Diverging

Adding small new customers raises market share while wallet share at the existing base falls. Only the second shows the leak.

How it is computed

The company's sales divided by total market sales in the same category and geography, from research or an industry body.

Example

A brand sells $40 million in a category measured at $500 million: 8 percent. It says nothing about which customers could buy more, which is what share of wallet measures.

Where it goes wrong

Confused with share of wallet. One is about the market; the other is about each customer.

Articles that use this term

Wallet share and penetration · Industrial manufacturers

Aftermarket attach: installed base against parts and service revenue

How an industrial manufacturer measures aftermarket capture per customer from the installed base register and the parts and service ledger: expected annual aftermarket per unit from the customers who buy it all from the OEM, actual per customer, the attach rate, and the list of customers running the OEM's equipment on someone else's parts, ranked by the revenue at norm.

16 Sept 20262 min read Wallet share and penetration · Investment banking

Fee wallet per client: measuring share of a client's investment banking fees

How an investment bank's coverage group estimates each client's total fee wallet across products from deal data and its own fee ledger, computes the bank's share per client per product, sets the expected share from clients where the bank is a lead relationship, and ranks the clients whose wallet is largest and whose share is lowest, with the product where the gap sits.

16 Sept 20263 min read Wallet share and penetration

How to calculate share of wallet, with a worked example

The share of wallet formula, the three ways to estimate the denominator when the customer will not tell you, a worked example from a real-shaped ledger, the roll-up from customer to segment to company, and the four mistakes that make the number wrong: mixing periods, counting one-off purchases, using a benchmark as the wallet, and reporting a share with no gap value beside it.

16 Sept 20263 min read Wallet share and penetration

Share of wallet vs market share: two numbers that are often confused

The difference between share of wallet and market share, when each is the right measure, why a company can grow market share while losing wallet share at its largest customers, how each is computed and what each needs, and the one situation in which they converge.

16 Sept 20263 min read AI and self-service analytics

What is coverage intelligence? A plain definition and the five measures in it

Coverage intelligence is the practice of measuring, from a company's own sales data, which customers it reaches, how much of each customer's spend it holds, and where the gaps are, with every figure reconciled to the ledger. This guide defines it, sets out its five measures, coverage, share of wallet, gap at norm, dormancy and concentration, shows how they roll up, and distinguishes it from BI, CRM reporting and sales analytics.

16 Sept 20263 min read Alternatives and comparisons · FMCG and CPG brands

How to choose analytics software for FMCG and CPG brands: questions, data and traps

How CPG brands should choose analytics software: start from the questions, check the data you hold, ask vendors ten questions, avoid the traps.

24 Sept 20264 min read