Musings Of A Marketer

There is a post by Erich Joachimsthaler at Harvard Business Conversation Starter, which is not very new, but I have just been thinking over the same idea lately - where do you lose as a big company with as big a competition, and how do you win as a small company fighting to get into a niche to survive.

It turns out that it is possible for small ones not only to survive but rather win over the niches which are way more attractive than the markets where giants operate. How this is possible? Erich says the big ones would miss stuff because they are so overwhelmed with monitoring what they are doing at the moment, and researching for what competitors are doing. All the minor changes are being noted and acted on accordingly, but when it comes to a big thing that is a little out of the box, it becomes vague and unclear - no time to address to that. That’s where the small ones - those who concentrate on customer needs rather than competitors’ advantages - come and take charge.

I can’t tell how true this idea of the big airlines not paying enough attention to customers is, but you can see the result:

Four chic but cheap business-class start-ups, Eos, MAXjet, Silverjet and l’Avion have launched all-business-class flights on the incumbents’ most profitable routes from London to New York with huge success. They offer new services for business travelers that are so obvious and valuable: extremely late check-in, fast paths through the airport to avoid the masses, guaranteed luggage immediately upon arrival, private departure and arrival lounges, and all-business-class seating at very reasonable prices — even as walk-up fares. Two years into the launch it is clear that business travelers are taking great liking to these new airlines, which are beginning to get a lot more attention.