IRJMST Vol 5 Issue 9 [Year 2014] ISSN 2250 – 1959 (0nline) 2348 – 9367 (Print)

STRATEGIES TO LOOK AT YOUR COMPETITORS

Sonia Mittal
M. Com, NET
E-mail – soniamittal002@gmail.com

Abstract: This seems to be a hard truth, but you truly necessitate to be better than each of your
competitors in at least a few ways, if you want to get it.No question, creating a customer was initially
seen as the sole role of a business, but in the present era, client retention is seen to be of key importance
as it has become much difficult for the firms to assume there exists an unlimited customer base set up to
maintain trade.Keeping the customers increase the earnings of a firm which facilitates further
investments leading to expansions and enhancing of competitive advantage.And for achieving this end,
there is a need to formulate effective marketing schemes.One of the most usual and prevailing strategy is
to shorten down the cost of the merchandise. This report tests that always been cheaper than a
competitor is not your sole weapon.Attempting to compete on cost is a race to the backside- you squeeze
your margins so paper-thin that you are left with naught.If you can compete on price, vivid. If you
cannot, try to get on top with a combination of a few more developed strategies. This report is meant to
spotlight the diverse schemes and strategies that can be taken up by the marketers to deal with the
competition.It also tries to unhide the aspects that at the time of framing the strategy, Marketing
Manager had to delimit the relevant market, to develop, market segmentation, to evaluate segmentation,
size, growth of demand and to develop a competition analysis based in the competitive positioning.

Keywords: Competition, Customer Satisfaction, Customer Retention, Marketing Strategy.

Introduction: Whether you desire to admit it or not, competitors are out there and they are thirsty for
your clients. The region encompassed by the company’s actual and potential competitors can be a lot
more extensive than what is conceived of. And a company is more likely to be threatened by emerging
competitors or new technologies than by more recent singles.While it might seem unfair given
everything else, you need to keep on top of, in building up your business, you might desire to take the
time and energy into keeping tabs on your competitor.In the recent years, a number of new “emerging
giants” have arisen from developing states and these nimble competitors are not just competing with
Multinationals on their home turf but also becoming global powers in their own right.They have gained
competitive advantage by exploiting their knowledge about local agents of production- capital and
talent- and supply chains in order to build world-class businesses.
“By monitoring competitors on an on-going basis, you get to know their behaviour and so can begin to
predict what they will be like to do next, ” says Arthur Weiss, Managing Director of UK base
AWARE, which helps businesses bring in competitive intelligence.“You can then design your own
strategies so that you retain your clients and win customers away from rivals”.In other words, Keeping
tabs on your competitor is a great strategy for producing your commercial endeavour.

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IRJMST Vol 5 Issue 9 [Year 2014] ISSN 2250 – 1959 (0nline) 2348 – 9367 (Print)

What is really meant by marketing strategy?A marketing strategy is a process or model to allow a
company or organization to focus limited resources on the best potential opportunities to increase sales
and thereby, achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. It includes all the basic and long-term
activities in the area of marketing that deals with the analysis of strategic initial situation of a company
and the formulation, evaluation and selection of market-oriented strategies and thus, contribute to the
goals of the company and its marketing strategies.

Scope of study: The paper throws light on the marketing strategies designed effectively to deal with the
competition prevailing in the marketplace.

The objective of the study: The principal objective of this paper is to acknowledge the marketers about
the fact that aside from skipping down the price of the product, there are a lot more strategies to cope up
with the contest. These marketing strategies may be assumed in general as well as specific sense.

Review of literature: S. C. Jain (2000), stated that Marketing strategies basically mean, look at the
whole of a Company’s portfolio of products and markets, and managing the portfolio to achieve the
corporate’s overall goals. He linked and associated the Strategic Marketing with the Marketing
Management. C. Walker (2002), covered and unfolded the aspects, concepts and theories of creating &
implementing a marketing strategy & offer a focus on the strategic planning process and marketing’s
cross/interfunctional relationships. E. Shaw in 2012 opined that the marketing strategies serve as the
fundamental underpinning of marketing plans designed to fill market needs and reach marketing
objectives. These strategies are dynamic and interactive. It involves careful and precise scanning of the
internal and external environments.Philip Kotler and Kevin Lane Keller in book Marketing
Management (2009), emphasized that segmentation, targeting and positioning (STP) is the essence of
strategic marketing. The marketing strategy related to the product gets modified based on life cycle
stages: Introduction, Growth, Maturity and Decline. He also opined that the marketing strategy is also
influenced by the position the product gets in the competitive marketplace: Leader, Challenger,
Follower and Niche player.

MARKETING STRATEGIES:-Marketing Strategies are drawn up keeping in mind the position

assumed by the firms in the market in comparison to their rivals. A firm may be classified into four
categories:-

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IRJMST Vol 5 Issue 9 [Year 2014] ISSN 2250 – 1959 (0nline) 2348 – 9367 (Print)

leader

challe
nger
follow
er

nicher

Fig. no. 1
Positions acquired by firms

MARKET LEADER STRATEGIES:

(a) Expanding the total market :- The crux of beating your competitor is to have your own unique
position in the mind of the customers. And this is the view that the market leader already enjoys.
Nowadays, if you own a job which has numerous competitors, it is important that you appear at
the market expansion along with localization. Don’t stay back from the global market, but more
significantly, while servicing the universal market, do not forget your home soil.
New users: - This is a step of a brand's popularity.Every product has the potential to draw the
buyers who are not mindful of the product or who are resisting it because of the cost or lack of
certain characteristics.A company may search for new users among two groups: (i) Market
Penetration Strategy- It takes place when a company penetrates a market in which current or
similar product already exists. The two schemes adopted for market penetration are product
development and market development. Product Development refers to the new merchandise in
the existing marketplace.For Example, McDonald is always inside the fast food industry, but
frequently markets new burgers.Market Development refers to existing products in the fresh
marketplace.For Example, Lucozade was first marketed for the sick kids and then rebounded to
target athletes.(ii) Newmarket segmentation strategy- It refers to creating the product available
to those who have never practiced it.“Drawing in more customers is really about listening to their
needs, not being a solution looking for a problem”, says Paige Arnof-Fenn, Founder & CEO
of Mavens & Mogulus, a strategic marketing consulting firm.
More usage: - Marketers try to increase the quantity, level or frequency of use. The amount of
consumption can be enhanced through redesigning of a product. It is broadly accepted that if the
product is made available in larger sizes, then it would definitely increase the uses of impulse
consumption, such as soft drinks and snacks, etc. The frequency of ingestion can be increased
either by keying out the additional opportunities in which a product may be used or by
identifying the new and other ways to use the product.

(b) Defending Market Share:- If your important market comes under attack, you need to stand up
and struggle to protect what you own. Maintaining market share doesn’t not enhance the firm’s
competitive advantage, but helps strengthen the firm competitive position.Usually, a defensive

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strategy should be employed by the market leader due to its market share advantage and
position.The primary purpose of the defensive strategy is to cut the probability of attack, diverse
approach to less threatening areas, and decrease their potency.The defender’s speed of response
can fix an important divergence in the profit consequences. A dominant firm may use any of the
six defense strategies to defend their market share:-

Counteroffensive
Flank Defense
Defense

Preemptive
Mobile Defense
Defense

Position Defense
Defense Contraction
Defense
Strategies

Fig. no. 2 Six Defense Strategies

(i) Position Defense: Position Defense means occupying the most desirable market space in the
intellect of the consumers, making the brand almost inexpugnable. It includes building
barriers to entry to make it difficult to be assaulted.This calls for consolidating all the
resources of the company to keep the spot in the market.Hither, the firm basically tries to
keep its status quo.
For Example; Tide laundry detergent with cleaning and Crest toothpaste with cavity
prevention.
(ii) Flank Defense: If you fear an approach at the lower price end, you can bring out your fighter
end as a deterrent.Yes, it might strike some of your sales away from your middle market
brand, but it may impede a new competition or get things a great deal more unmanageable.
Here, the market leader should also erect outposts to protect a weak front or possibly serve as
an invasion base for a counterattack.
(iii) Preemptive Defense: A more aggressive tactic is to attack before the enemy takes up its
offense. For this, it can start guerrilla action- hitting one competitor here, another there-
keeping everyone off balance; or it can try to achieve a grand market envelopment. It can too
present a flow of new wares here.
(iv) Counteroffensive Defense: When attacked, most market leaders will react with a
counterattack.Sometimes, it is more beneficial to respond outside or your own market for
fear of triggering a price war that damages all your sales in the core market so to send a sign
to the assailant, you can attack in their core marketplace and cause them as much or more
difficulty as they are causing you.

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For Example; Hero Honda’s launch of its 100cc Pleasure scooters and women exclusive
scooter showrooms called just4her across the country to take the two-wheeler industry fight
for the markets of its main competitors’ Bajaj and TVS.
(v) Mobile defense: Here, the market leader works to identify new market segments and supply
tightly-focussed products’ solution to particular customers wants and centers for defense and
offense through market broadening and market diversification.
For Example, Nike Corporations do not limit its operations to the USA but also explores new
markets for its products as well a stakes advantage of the cheaplabour cost, the developing
nations offer in terms of operations.
(vi) Contraction Strategy: This strategy is the last resort strategy as the large companies
sometimes must recognize that they can no longer defend all the territory, so they give up
some portion of the business to maintain leadership. In this, the market leader withdraws
from one section of the securities industry where it is not strong or profitable enough in order
that the resources used in that section may be recalled and be reassigned to stronger
territories where the prospects of success are higher owing to the greater strength of this
missive.
For Example; P&G India decided to withdraw brands like the Super Soaker from the
detergent market to improve its focus and profitability.

CONTRACTION
LOW DEFENSE

CAPABILITY
HIGH
LOW HIGH

COMPETITION

(c) Expanding the market share:-In many markets, one share point is worth tens of millions of
rupees. No wonder competition has turned fierce in so many markets. But however, it is much
easier and more effective to sell more to existing clients than to get new ones.Once you realize
why your existing customers buy from you, you can examine ways of sticking them to buy more
or more frequently.In that respect are several strategic choices you can follow to obtain the most
out of your marketplace such as selling more to existing clients, focussing your customer
service & marketing efforts on retaining customers, expanding your customer basis to
include similar people who are not currently customers, selling through new channels or
into fresh markets and applying your core competencies to produce new products or
services.While expanding the market share, the key points to be considered are:

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Market In-House Risk

Sales Skills Capacity Finance
Knowledge Expertise Management

Fig. no. 3 Points to be considered for expanding market share

MARKET CHALLENGER STRATEGIES:-
(a) Frontal attack: - It can be of two types: Pure and Modified. In pure frontal attack, attacker
matches its opponent’s price, advertising methods, price and distribution. The single which has
better and more resources wins the market. For Example- Pepsi v/s Coke, P&G v/s HUL, Maruti
v/s Hyundai. In modified frontal attack, the competitor convinces the market that its product is
equal to the competitors. For Example- Amul is a master at convincing the market that its marks
are equal rather better in tone than the higher priced brands.
(b) Flank attack: - Here, the strategies are named in such a manner that focuses on the unaccented
portion of the antagonists. Attackers find the weakness and attack on the same to acquiremore
market. It can be conducted along two dimensions- Geographic and Segmental.In a geographic
attack, challengers target the regions where the leader’s product is underperforming.For Example-
LG successfully outflanked other market leaders in the color TV market by designing and
launching small town or rural specific products like sampoorna.The other flanking strategy is to
attend to the uncovered markets needs. For Example- Woodland has successfully challenged
established players like Bata and Liberty shoes by introducing robust, comfortable and durable
outdoor shoes.
(c) Encirclement attack: - This scheme aims at launching a raw product in the marketplace that is
really alike to the opponents, to capture the broad field of the grocery store.It takes in an effort to
catch a full slash of the enemy’s territory through a “blitz”.It establishes a sensation when a
challenger commands superior resources. For Example- Fashion Industry.
(d) Bypass attack:- Hither, the attackers attack where opponents are not looking and by finding a
new market segment. It provides three lines of approach: diversifying into unrelated products,
diversifying into new geographic markets, leapfrogging into new technologies to replace
existing products. For Example, Pepsi has used a bypass strategy against Coke by rolling out
Aquafina bottled water nationally before Coke launched its Dasani brand.
(e) Price Discount: - This strategy, says that as buyers are price sensitive and the antagonist does not
reduce the price, and then if the marketer lessens the cost of his product then this scheme can
assist a great deal. For Example- Surf Excel v/s Ariel, Puma v/s Koutons.
(f) Guerrilla Warfare: - Guerilla Warfare uses both conventional and unconventional means of
approach. It consists of waging small, intermittent attacks to harass and get down the opponents
and eventually secure permanent footholds. These include selective price cuts, intense
promotional blitzes and occasional legal actions. Normally, Guerilla warfare is practiced by
smaller firms against larger ones.

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MARKET FOLLOWER STARTEGIES:-

Market followers follow the strategy of product imitation. The innovators bear the expenses of acquiring
the young merchandise, bringing in the technology, breaking entry barriers and educating the
marketplace.Yet, another firm can come along and imitate or improve on the new product.Although, it
probably will not catch up with the leader, the follower can achieve higher earnings because it did not
support any of the innovation expense.Many companies choose to observe rather than to challenge the
leader. Many runner-up companies do not challenge the leader. But it does not imply that the followers
lack strategies. Each follower tries to bring distinctive advantages to its target market- location, services,
financing, etc. The schemes that are adopted by the followers can be separated into four broad classes:-

(a) Counterfeiter:- Copies the leader’s product and packages and sells it on the black market. For
Example- Pirated music/movie CDs and so on
(b) Cloner: - Emulates the leader’s products, name and packaging, with slight mutations.
(c) Imitator: - copies something from the leader’s product, but at the same time maintain
differentiation in the terms of promotional material, advertising, pricing or location.
(d) Adapter:- Takes the leader’s product and adapts or improves them. The adapter may choose to
sell to different markets, but often it grows into the future challenger.

MARKET-NICHER STRATEGIES:-

An important option, apart from being a follower in the large market is to be a leader in the small
market called niche. Usually, smaller firms try to avoid competition with the bigger firms. But
sometimes, even the larger firms may opt for using the niching strategies for some of their business
units. The houses which take very low percentage of the total market may enjoy higher profits
through smart niching. Such companies tend to offer high value, charge a premium price, achieve
lower manufacturing cost, and shape a strong corporate culture and vision.

Nichers basically have three tasks: creating niches, expanding niches and protecting niches. But
at the same time, they also take on a large deal of danger in that either their strategy may indulge
them in the loss or they might be assailed.For Example- cell phone industry has seen a phenomenal
increase in the early years but is now facing cut-throat competition as the routine of new potential
users dwindles.

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Homburg, Christian; Sabine, Kuester & Harley, Krohmer. (2009).Marketing Management- A

Contemporary Perspective. (1st ed.), London.

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Jain & C. S; Punj & Girish. (1987). Developing Marketing Strategy: A Framework, Marketing
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