Competitive products
Refers to the same market, price, brand influence, products and services, there are similar to this series of characteristics, and then the two sides of this head-on competition between the two sides, in order to each compete for each other's target markets and customers.
For example, Apple and Huawei in the cell phone industry are competitors. Another example is Mercedes-Benz and BMW in the automobile industry.
Competitive products
The two sides in the price, quality, service, brand, the main target market and customers on the existence of large differences, but at the same level of the market "cake", the other side will be through their own marketing strategy, to further attract the original belongs to your customers upward / downward mobility, so as to eat up your market share. The market share.
For example, Xiaomi cell phone through its large user base and cost-effective, will be more inclined to choose other cell phone brands (such as Huawei / Samsung) early users, through the influence of the people around the downward mobility (consumption change), and ultimately become Xiaomi cell phone customers.
New products
Competitors based on the current market, in the existing product features, quality, performance, etc., on the basis of optimization and upgrading, to provide more than the original product features, performance is better than the original product of such a new product.
WeChat, for example, replaces China Mobile's SMS/call function (a pain point for users), which requires payment for sending SMS/pictures. Another example is the "Bullet SMS" feature in the Hammer cell phone, which seizes the opportunity of the new product's "comeback" through the new function/feature of instant voice/text conversion/sending.
Substitutes
These are products that do not belong to the same category as the competitors and do not seem to have a direct competitive relationship, but in fact fulfill the same/similar needs of customers.
For example, the emergence of take-away food ordering (platform), due to its fast, hassle-free nature, replacing the traditional instant noodles are not nutritious, unhygienic defects (bad point).
When you figure out the above four major competitive dimensions and relationships, combined with the following strategies, your market development will be more favorable.
What is the crack strategy for dealing with competition?
Competitive products & gt; lateral crack method & gt; balance + fill gaps
Balance strategy is to avoid with your competitors to fight the resource "war of attrition". Adopt and competitors to maintain "not to be pulled away / tail" "not to be nibbled" "not to be attacked" "not to be lagging" The state, and strive to obtain their own smooth development and revenue in this form.
For example: Alipay and WeChat sweep code mobile payment, Mobay and OFO, it is the use of a balanced competition strategy, that is, in the market competition with rivals to maintain a "dynamic equilibrium" state, I can not take advantage of your cheap, you do not want to take advantage of my cheap.
Fill-in-the-blanks strategy:
Through the analysis of the competitive market, looking for, identifying, and then find a rivals are ignored or unnoticed, but can be filled in the "blank" area. Such as educational brain XX walnut, is to find the students and consume brain power of this consumer group "blank" market, and then to "fill the gap" (in order to supplement the positioning of the brain puzzle) strategy to cut into the trend.
Competition for products & gt; vertical crack method
In the brand positioning, price positioning, target market, product quality with rivals, there are greater separation and differences, such as Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen in the car, the former belongs to the high-end type, while the Great Wall, Land Rover, relatively speaking, the latter for the high-end type.
Based on the "high-end" and "low-end" of these two different levels, but also in the product competition in the camp of the opposition, the main strategy (crack method) for the "upper cut under the exhibition".
The main strategy is to "cut up and spread down".
Upper cut: quality, brand, category to do entry, through the quality of the improvement to do upward "tear mouth" action, in order to obtain new development opportunities, such as the car brand of Acura, Lexus.
Next show: to better cost-effective for the target audience, the use of special pricing strategy, in order to make your product / brand more competitive. For example, Great Wall SUV in the automobile industry, Xiaomi in the cell phone industry.
New products > crack method > observation + counterattack
Because of the new products in the market at the beginning of the cut, will face a lot of questioning, such as: quality, service, price, reputation and so on. At this time the main wait and observe the market / customer dynamic changes, and then timely collection and master the corresponding data / information, in order to facilitate the preparation of the late counterattack.
For example, Guazi Used Car has adopted the positioning/strategy of "no middleman to earn the price difference", which in turn has countered the weak links of its predecessors such as RenRen and Yuxin (the B2CB model has a middleman, which gives the user a less assured feeling).
Substitutes > crack method > anti-leakage + anti-absorption
Since the substitutes have obvious competitive elements exist, at this time your primary strain strategy is based on anti-leakage. For example, the emergence of *** enjoy bicycle, intercepted the business of the cab at the subway entrance, takeaway platform intercepted the target customer base of instant noodles.
Counter-absorption: Through effective marketing strategies, the customers who previously belonged to the opponent/competitor are counter-absorbed. For example, the high-speed railroad has sucked the target customers of airplanes.
Competition is inevitable and not irreversible (especially now in the homogenization of competition). But as long as you can see the market changes in a timely manner, and then take favorable, effective response strategy, the competition will give you a kind of upward force, such as looking for differences in the positioning of the category, segmentation of entry opportunities, brand positioning, etc., through your this "counterattack" measures, in turn, you can win more and more victory.
Sources of research/analysis/generation for this article (external public information + team of marketing experts from Dadao):
-"2018 Consumption Upgrade Big Data Report";
-"Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG)-Marketing Planning";
-"Brand Marketing and Market Positioning";
-"Consumption Upgrading, How to Maintain High-Efficiency Growth for Business";
-"Consumption Upgrading, How to Maintain High-Efficiency Growth for Business";
-"Consumer Psychological Behavior"