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Differentiation
The process of developing business, product and service differentiation is important as it allows you to set yourself apart from the rest of the market. This can be particularly important where an extremely competitive market exists or where there are a limited number of customers to sell to.
In order to differentiate yourself from the competition, you need to conduct market analysis into both what the main players in the market are doing, as well as what you could do differently. You then need to develop a strategy that takes both of these factors into consideration.
Differentiating your business from your competitors is an ongoing process. You may be able to be innovative and provide products and services beyond what your competition can initially, however, the competition will soon catch up. A business needs to be able to develop and move forward if it wants to stay ahead of its competitors for a sustained period of time.
Another method of differentiation is to provide a product or service that is different and innovative or simply of better quality or value. It is very difficult to differentiate certain products as there is often little opportunity for variation. There are a range of factors that you can use to differentiate a product or service including performance, style, design, functionality, quality, value, reliability and durability.
While differentiation can be a useful tool to separate one business from another, it is important to keep in mind that customers generally don't like something different for the sake of it. There is no point in changing your business if the sole reason you are doing it is to differentiate yourself from the rest of the market. You need to ensure that what you offer is in some way better than what the competition provides.
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