An article which was published in Harvard business Reviews and was introduced by Nirmalaya Kumar
Presentaions contains different strategies, suggestions as well as different case studies of successful bussiness to fight with respect to low cost bussiness as there main key success factors
2. Nirmalya Kumar
Companies can only have
3 options : attack, coexist
uneasily, or become low
cost player themselves.
None of them is easy, but
the right framework can
help you learn which
strategy is most likely to
work.
3. Contents
• Overview
• The Sustainability of Low
Cost Businesses
• Strategies of successful
rivals
• The Futility of Price Wars
• When Differentiation
Works
• Case Studies
• Conclution
4. Overview
• Low cost competitor is disruptive and changing
the way of competition.
• Ignoring the Low cost rival is a mistake
5. Contd…
• According to him :-
– Not a Price war but product differentiation is
a good strategy.
– Don’t afraid to set few rules to cut the price
level
– Customers choose a brand who value for
money
– Differentiation is an important strategy to
fight Low Cost companies
7. Strategies of successful
rivals
• Focus on just one or a few
consumer segments
• Deliver the basic product or
provide one benefit better than
rivals do
• Back everyday low prices with
superefficient operations to
keep costs down
8. The Futility of Price
Wars
• Not to conduct a unnecessary price war or
be panic.
• Should observe without getting in the
competition – “Wait and watch strategy”.
Case…..
When Europe’s supermarket chains launched low private
label water, it impacts on market leaders such as Evian,
Perrier, and San Pellegrino.
By acknowledging the threat compeititors usually try to
match or beat their prices. Later on, available evidence,
shows that price wars don’t work in favor.
9.
10. When Differentiation
Works
When businesses finally realize
they can’t win a price war with
low-cost players, they try to
differentiate their products in a
last-ditch attempt at
coexistence.
11. Many forms
• Design cool products : Apple
and Bang & Olufsen
• Continually innovate in the
tradition : Gillette and 3M.
• Offer a unique product mix:
Sharper Image , Whole Foods.
• Brand a community : Harley-
Davidson and Red Bull.
• Sell experiences: Four Seasons,
Nordstrom, Starbucks
12. THE USEFULNESS OF
DIFFERENT STRATEGIES
• Strategies that help an established player coexist with low-cost
rivals can work initially, but as consumers become more familiar
with low-cost options, they tend to migrate to them.
• In the airline, PC, and retail industries, the segment choosing to pay
less for fewer benefits has grown rapidly. Dell’s and Southwest
Airlines’ shares of their industries, for instance, rose from around
3% in the early 1990s to 30% by 2006.
• That has left the traditional players scrapping with one another for
a shrinking market, charging ever higher prices to fewer and fewer
customers. These companies have to cope with smaller top lines
even though they still have high overhead costs.
14. Aldi
• Supermarket company
• In 2006, Germans voted Aldi the
country’s third most-trusted brand
• Aldi sells products far cheaper than
rivals
• Aldi’s average markup is 13% while
that of most European retailers is 28%
to 30%
• Size of its product range: relatively
smallsells more of each product than
rivals do
15. Ryanair Airlines
Objective: Convert Ryanair into one
of Europe’s leading low-cost airlines
Strategy: advertising prices
somewhat lower than those of
Ireland’s flagship carrier, Aer Lingus,
being 80% to 90% cheaper
16. CONCLUSION
• There will always be two kinds of consumers:
those who buy on the basis of price and those
who are partial to value.
• There will always be room for both low-cost
players and value-added businesses. How
much room each will have depends not only
on the industry and customers’ preferences,
but also on the strategies traditional
businesses deploy.