If Super Bowl LI taught us anything, it was to persevere and stay focused. Often, the best defense is a good offense, even when you don’t get rolling until the fourth quarter. The same principles are applicable when confronted with a low-cost or low-price competitor. Laura Patterson discusses five ways to have a fighting chance:
- Differentiate
- Be customer-centric
- Price based on value
- Create a low-price subsidiary
- Sell a solution, not a product
Source: Marketing Profs, January 17, 2017.
The solution isn’t to lower your prices and engage in a price war, because the result is lowered profitability for everyone involved. Before you decide on your strategy, you need to do some research, which should begin with both an objective analysis of where you stand in relation to your competition and an analysis of market needs and preferences.
INSIGHTS: To help with competitive price research, Vet-Advantage, now part of NAVC, has a handy consumer Price Index that tracks pricing for various animal health products.