If
your competitor at the market introduces a new feature that is likely to pinch your customers you do something about it, right?
Let's
say you sell sports shoes and your competitor down the aisle has introduced a new
fluoro orange style that is coming past your stall in shopping bags at an
increasingly alarming rate. You make sure your next delivery has stock of
orange fluoros so you can get a piece of the action.
What
if your competitor is offering door to door delivery, or alternative payment
methods, or after hours ordering? And I can tell you, they are. These are not
necessarily your competitors down the aisle, but your competitors in the wider
shopping environment - the worldwide shopping centre.
It
would be nice if shopping only took place in our little cocoon at The Queen
Victoria Market. We could keep track of what our competitors are doing and
adjust our offer to maximise sales. But, thanks to the digital mobile age,
there is no cocoon. Shoppers have access to all our competition all of the
time. How often do you see customers wandering around with a mobile phone in
their hand? Many are using mobiles to check what is available from our
competitors. For those customers it is all part of the adventure.
The
good news is that we can also offer things like door to door delivery,
alternative payment methods, and after hours ordering. We can also check what
our worldwide competitors are doing and adjust our offer to suit. We can be
competitive in the worldwide shopping centre by using our low overhead
retailing model and our flexibility to trump the other competitors out there.
