The Market is a very fierce place and any brand that fails to acknowledge this will pay dearly, there are a lot of forces in the Market and When I say 'Forces", I am not talking about the traditional forces of demand and supply
Brands are in a War to grab the eyes and hearts of the general population and there are a lot of Factors that can be considered when releasing Products to the general Market
What inspired this post actually was this Picture of the New Peak Milk Tin that clearly has the consumer in mind
Peak Milk was one of the Strongest Milk Brands In Nigeria and they previously held a Sizeable Market share of the Beverage Market in Nigeria
One of the pitfalls of peak Milk was that they failed to Innovate, they grew Comfortable and before long other Milk brands came in and took sizeable shares of the Market
The most interesting Story was that of Cowbell, most Nigerians don't know that Cowbell is not a Nigerian Company, due to level of Market penetration Cowbell has achieved most people feel it is a Nigerian Company
When Cowbell came in Peak held up to 50% of the Market share, but Cowbell came with a different strategy
Before Cowbell, Tea was mostly a Luxury as the Top Three brands then Coast, Carnation and Peak had costly products, but Cowbell burst the Bubble by packaging Milk in smaller sachets at an affordable rate.
So with just #3 one could get a cup of tea, Cowbell took the Market by Storm and also blazed the trail for 30 other Milk brands to follow. Peak also adopted the Sachet model Introduced by Cowbell
As of today, Peak cannot boast of 5% market share in the Milk Market
The rules of the Market are universal and one of the Universal rule of the Market is putting the Customers first, that is one of the things that made Whole Foods stand out
Whole Foods kept true to their Model of providing fresh organic food while others were pushing genetically modified foods into the Market, when people realized the dangers of Genetically Modified Foods, they flocked to Whole Foods
Even though Whole Foods sold Foodstuff that was more expensive, people still patronized them because they were sure of what they were buying
In the Market Price does not always matter as far as you care about the Consumers, this is mirrored perfectly by the Two examples I mentioned above
Cowbell took the Market by providing Cheaper products, Whole Foods products in Contrast were more expensive than that of the Competition but people still flocked to their Store
Another method brands use to penetrate the Market is preying on the emotions of the Consumers, and In my opinion no Company crushed that like Mercedes
Mercedes has already created the perception in the minds of the Consumer as a Luxury brand
When Mercedes wanted to penetrate the U.S market they met with stiff competition with Chrysler and Instead of doing the most popular thing being done by newer brands in the Market which is selling Cheaper, they swept the Market with an unpopular tactic
Mercedes pushed their SUV into the U.S Market and doubled their Price. The Mercedes SUV had similar features with that of Chrysler but doubling their price created a Perception of Superiority
People always attach Price tags with superiority, it does not matter whether the product has a similar cheaper substitute. Just like buying things, everything we do is to create a feeling and the feeling the Mercedes SUV created was that of superiority
Innovation in the Market is not Limited to Price, lowering the price of your product every time might just make you look like a copycat
You have to have the consumer in Mind and Find a way to satisfy their needs that your competitors are not addressing
Spiegel's Cross
Evan Spiegel is one of the most stubborn business man I have encountered of Late, he is the CEO of Snap inc, the parent company of Snap Chat
Snap Chat has come a long way from an App that was just used to send pictures, there was a lot of buzz about it and most people felt that it will not hold
My favourite criticism about Snap Chat was guy who said that
Everything Snap Chat can do can easily be done with Text Message
