DEATH BY COMMODITY OR LIFE AS A BRAND

Every business owner and leader will tell you that if businesses don’t sell, they die. Indeed that is true. But what many business owners and leaders might forget to tell you is that Death by Commodity is very real- When prospect consumers don’t know how your product or service is different from those of competitors in the market. These products or services can be cheaper; easier to deploy; easier to access (availability); come as value-adds too, or as other marketing ideas arrived at by the competitor marketing team.

​

HOW CAN YOUR BUSINESS SURVIVE AND AVOID DEATH BY COMMODITY TRAP?

Take a few minutes to internalise why consumers are willing to spend premiums for Nike products when they can get a functional equivalent elsewhere or a duplicate at a far lower cost.  

Parallels can be drawn across products and services in all categories. Consumers perceive products or services as a commodity when they are unable to distinguish a Value Proposition that resonates with them. When consumers perceive your product or service as a commodity they negotiate; discount; replace; upgrade. WHY? Because businesses haven’t built a Brand of Trust that consumers can latch on to.

​

IF BUSINESSES CONTINUE TO RELY AND COMPETE ON PRICE THEY WILL DIE A COMMODITY.

Food Aggregator Companies have built their business around discounts. They commoditised the F&B of local restaurants with the promise of more customers. While these local restaurants continually feel the pressure of lower business margins; they hope that volume sales will offset this. What they need to realise is that the survival of their business lies in their BRAND (rather The Branded Experience of their restaurant). This is something that food aggregators cannot replace or replicate.