[Case Study] Standing Out From Your Competitors

Pearl Omotoyinbo October 7, 2015 11 Comments

“Competitors”

One of the scariest words to a business owner.

Yet, if you’re in a market, without any competition, it’s either a weak market and you’re struggling and barely making any income or you’re a pioneer in the industry and the competitors are right now in their garages working out a plan to launch their own business.

In other words, competition is a “necessary evil” of doing business.

However, one of the major problems business owners face in different industries is standing out from the competition.

If I must have competitors, how do I make sure I’m able to stand out, be visible to my potential customers and clients and meet my revenue expectations?

In this article, I’m going to share with you a quick way to combat that and share case studies of how two companies were able to stand out from the competition by thinking out of the box.

Guideline: How To Stand Out From The Competition

Look at the top 5 – 10 competitors in your industry/market.

Take note of the following:

1. What are they offering?
2. How do they offer it?
3. Take a close look at price points, How they deliver, their customer service, their packaging etc.
4. Then, ask yourself, are there any weak spots?
5. Lastly, ask yourself “How can you leverage all this information to be different?”
6. How can you do things differently without undermining the value of the products and services you sell?

Hint: Sometimes, all it takes is improving the experience your customers and clients get doing business with you.

Alright. Now to the Case studies.

Case Study #1: Rebecca Minkoff Stores

I stumbled across an article about her in Inc. Magazine and you can check that out here.

Here’s the story in a nutshell:

She launched her brand of ready-to-wear accessories, handbags, and footwear in 2005 and knew it won’t survive as a regular store.

So, she set out to create the perfect shopper experience.

So, when shoppers enter flagship stores, they are greeted by a digital touchscreen wall that displays the latest runway selections, offers style suggestions from Rebecca Minkoff herself and can even take drink orders.

Then, each item contains an RFID tag that detects when a shopper enters a dressing room. When the tag is scanned, an image pops up on a mirror with suggestions for complementary accessories.

Talk about innovative. She really did create a unique shopping experience.

Case Study #2: The Trunk Club

It’s a subscription service for male fashion.

Here’s how it works. When you subscribe, a consultant gives you a call and talks with you to find out your “style”. Then, each month, you get a trunk box (miniature size, of course) of selections for the month packed attractively with price tags on each.

You have the choice to take what you want and return the rest. Whatever you don’t return, they bill to you.

You can check out this guy here as he receives his first trunk box.

Bottom line: Another innovative way of standing out from the numerous online shopping sites out there.

That’s it. Go through the guideline again and begin to come up with new ways to stand out from the competition.

One last thing: The two examples I gave happen to be in the fashion industry, but there are many companies out there in various industries being innovative and coming up with new ways to stand out from the competition.

“In order to progress into the unknown, people need to be more transformational in their thinking, with background outside the industry, and not be so intent on maintaining the status quo”

So, think outside the box.

What cool innovative ways have you seen companies use to stand out from the competition?

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AboutPearl Omotoyinbo

Pearl Omotoyinbo is a social media advertising consultant and marketing strategist. She serves as the Director of Promotions and Marketing for The iVEN Team and is keen to help small businesses leverage the power of the internet and social media to increase exposure to their brands and get their products and services in front of the right people. She believes that if businesses can apply the right Marketing Strategies, they can go from struggling to phenomenal. A self-acclaimed “social media junkie”, she has an avid love for social media and is constantly joining new social media platforms to figure out how they can be used for business. Her other loves include cake and ice cream. :)