Wednesday, May 20, 2009
♥ 3 elements - Bases for Building Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Sustaining the competitive advantage over one’s competitors is crucial if one would like to stay ahead of its competition. Especially in the retail sector, it is vital for the retailers to constantly improve their product offering in order to stay ahead of their competitors. In the male apparel business, it is no different. Owing to the fact that the target market is males, it is important that they constantly improve their design and pricing as males tend to be more cautious and frugal with their money and tend to see past advertising. Hence, pricing is very important. As the merchandise is more targeted at younger males, dropping the price would help to a large extent without having to worry about the company’s image.
They also have to ensure that customer service is immaculate and the staff must have perfect product knowledge as to counter the men’s frugality. They will tend to ask plenty of questions before they make the final purchase and will only do so when they are absolutely sure they are making the correct decision. The staff must therefore be equipped to answer these questions and also have the right amount of persuasion skills. These qualities will put them ahead of their competitors.
Males tend to invest their time in other things besides shopping which means that the outlets must be centralized and located in as many places as possible. By doing this, the male customers get compelled to buy the apparels as it is convenient and non time consuming which will be a major advantage. Hence, it is important to constantly set up new stores in strategic locations if finance permits.
It also paramount to have adequate advertising to create the awareness of the target market as most of them are usually too busy to realise the arrival of new products. Hence, effective advertising will have to be carefully deliberated and executed to reach to the target market. Not all methods of advertising would necessarily reach the right target market. For example, using magazines may work to create the awareness of women but may not necessarily work for men. Hence it is important for the company of male apparels to actually carefully pick the advertising and its contents. This should effectively sustain its competitive advantage.
They also have to ensure that customer service is immaculate and the staff must have perfect product knowledge as to counter the men’s frugality. They will tend to ask plenty of questions before they make the final purchase and will only do so when they are absolutely sure they are making the correct decision. The staff must therefore be equipped to answer these questions and also have the right amount of persuasion skills. These qualities will put them ahead of their competitors.
Males tend to invest their time in other things besides shopping which means that the outlets must be centralized and located in as many places as possible. By doing this, the male customers get compelled to buy the apparels as it is convenient and non time consuming which will be a major advantage. Hence, it is important to constantly set up new stores in strategic locations if finance permits.
It also paramount to have adequate advertising to create the awareness of the target market as most of them are usually too busy to realise the arrival of new products. Hence, effective advertising will have to be carefully deliberated and executed to reach to the target market. Not all methods of advertising would necessarily reach the right target market. For example, using magazines may work to create the awareness of women but may not necessarily work for men. Hence it is important for the company of male apparels to actually carefully pick the advertising and its contents. This should effectively sustain its competitive advantage.
5:33 PM
