Benchmarking often gets sidelined, seen as repetitive, resource-heavy, or simply not urgent. But in this article, intO’s Global Strategist, Lalo González, argues it’s the missing link in global product strategy. Drawing on Studio intO’s unique approach, he explains how contextual, on-the-ground benchmarking reveals leapfrogging innovations, exposes competitive gaps, and feeds directly into product and design decision-making. For teams stretched across markets, it’s essential.
Most product teams know they should keep an eye on the competition. But between meetings, backlogs, and sprints, benchmarking often slips to the bottom of the priority list. It’s repetitive, time-consuming, and rarely feels urgent…until someone launches something you didn’t see coming.
Benchmarking is one of the most powerful tools in a product team’s arsenal. Yet it’s also one of the most neglected. At Studio intO, we’ve built a way to make it not only doable, but genuinely valuable, especially for teams working across multiple markets.
In some markets, product experiences are evolving so fast they leave global teams playing catch-up. What looks like an incremental change in one region might be a leapfrog innovation somewhere else.
That’s what we help surface. Our benchmarking work captures real-world competitor journeys, particularly in places where product development doesn’t follow the usual path. For example, in Mexico, the widespread use of installments has redefined expectations around payments. These kinds of changes don’t always start in Silicon Valley, but they still shape global competition.
When product teams don’t have time to look beyond their usual lens, they miss the signals. Our Benchmarking offer brings those signals into focus.
Many people think benchmarking just means Googling features or looking through app store reviews. But when you’re planning a global roadmap, surface-level research isn’t enough.
At intO, we use a method called autoethnographic benchmarking. Our Local Researchers – people based in-market – act as real users. They go through product journeys step by step, capturing screenshots, noting UX details, and flagging what feels intuitive (or confusing).
This isn’t desk research. It’s detailed, structured, and rooted in lived experience. We capture the full journey across multiple competitors, so you can see how your product holds up – region by region, feature by feature.
It’s easy to assume that your product is ahead of the curve. But the truth is, without benchmarking, it’s hard to know for sure. You might be proud of a new feature while your competitors are already two steps ahead.
Our benchmarking approach gives teams a way to track availability clearly:
We score this in a binary, black-and-white way, making it simple to quantify gaps. But we also go beyond the numbers, with qualitative insights and researcher commentary that bring those scores to life. This helps teams see not just what’s missing, but why it matters.
The value of benchmarking feeds directly into design and product work.
We tailor our deliverables to the people who need to use them:
For clients like Amazon, this work helps shape 1-year, 3-year, and even 5-year roadmaps. It gives structure to strategic planning, while also supporting day-to-day improvements. It’s rigorous and detailed, but also highly accessible to teams across functions.
Two teams can launch the same feature, and still deliver completely different experiences. That’s because features don’t exist in a vacuum; they live in cultural, economic, and behavioural contexts.
Benchmarking with intO brings this to the surface. Our Local Researchers highlight how the same payment flow feels in Tokyo vs São Paulo. What users expect in Germany might not be what users need in India.We help global teams understand what’s actually working, and why, so they can make informed, respectful, and locally relevant decisions.
A great example of how benchmarking becomes indispensable over time is our ongoing work with Amazon’s UPX (User Payment Experience) team.
Their mission is ambitious: to raise the bar for global payment experience by comparing core features across international marketplaces, through the lens of Amazon’s five brand pillars:
Ease of Use, Safety and Security, Trust and Transparency, Availability and Access, and Value.
But getting meaningful comparisons at that scale isn’t easy. They needed more than a list of features. They needed consistency, local perspective, and insight that speaks directly to design and product planning.
Our team worked closely with the Payments team to develop a yearly benchmarking programme, supported by deep-dive reports and regular reviews. Our Local Researchers explored over 100 features across the end-to-end payment journey, evaluating them in real-life purchase scenarios, across regions, platforms and competitors.
Over year one, we delivered:
It’s been a true partnership, designed to help Amazon lead, not just compete. And it shows what’s possible when benchmarking is embedded into planning cycles, not treated as a one-off exercise.
Benchmarking takes time. It requires structure, consistency, and local presence. That’s why most teams deprioritise it, even though they understand how critical it can be to success.
At intO, we do the work for you. We’ve built a scalable, strategic offer that removes the burden and delivers insights you can use immediately. Whether identifying a competitive threat, informing a redesign, or tracking year-on-year improvement, benchmarking turns hunches into evidence.
For many of our clients, this isn’t just a one-off exercise and operates as more of a rhythm. A year-on-year benchmarking programme, structured through a retainer model, helps teams stay informed, react quickly, and plan proactively. We become an extension of your product team, keeping our eyes on the market while you focus on building.
When it’s done right, benchmarking gives you the clarity to lead rather than just the hope that you might keep up.
Curious to see how benchmarking could support your product strategy?
Book a conversation with me and Nitika Wahi, Studio intO’s Account Director. We’ll walk you through how our approach works and explore how it could fit your team’s needs.
We’re proud to announce that Studio intO has been awarded the 2025 Tech Impact Award for Ethical AI Leadership. This recognition acknowledges our ongoing commitment to ensuring that artificial intelligence is designed with, not just for, people. And that ethical, equitable UX research plays a central role in shaping the future of intelligent systems.
Studio intO has been awarded B2B Organisation of the Year at the 2025 Women in Innovation Awards, presented at a ceremony in New York on Friday 24 October. This isn’t just a win for intO — it’s a win for every client, collaborator, and Local Researcher who believes, like we do, that innovation must be designed with people, not just for them.
