With the acceleration of changes in the market environment, if you only stay in the past, the main brand that has not evolved in time may gradually age, lose market competitiveness, or even be replaced by emerging competitors. Therefore, enterprises need to constantly gain insight into the changes in the competitive environment, avoid the decline of the enterprise, and let the main brand evolve and return to growth.
Gain insight into changes in the competitive environment
Insight into the changes in the competitive environment is the first step in finding the competitive direction of the main brand. The competitive environment is dynamic, not changing at a uniform pace, but at an accelerated pace. Enterprises compete across cycles in the context of accelerated iteration in the competitive environment, and the success of the main brand evolution strategy depends on an in-depth understanding of internal and external factors, as well as a sense of possible changes in the future.
Today, it is becoming more and more difficult to understand external factors and the future, which is the biggest challenge for enterprises to formulate competitive strategies. Therefore, to gain insight into changes in the competitive environment, we must constantly pay attention to changes in industry trends, competitors, and customer needs, constantly evaluate our own competitive advantages, and flexibly adjust and optimize the company's strategy in a timely manner, so as to seek growth and evolve the main brand. We should ask ourselves every day, what will happen in the market? Will there be new trends that we don't know yet are there that could change our business?
Industry trends are changing
The factors influencing the change of industry trends include financial crisis, consumption upgrading, economic structure changes, and technological innovation caused by social culture, politics, economy, science and technology, environment, and policies and regulations. Keeping an eye on industry trends enables companies to gain insight into current and future strategic opportunities for competitive growth and master brand evolution in a competitive environment. If you don't pay attention to industry trends, you often miss out on strategic opportunities for growth.
Philips ignored the changes in industry trends and abandoned the "money-printing beast" lithography machine, which was a tragic lesson for it. The EUV lithography machine, which is indispensable for manufacturing high-end chips, can only be made by ASML in the Netherlands, which has choked the throat of the world's chip industry with one machine. This cutting-edge technology is the "discard" of Philips, which is too focused on market share and profits, and has abandoned the EUV lithography machine, which is indispensable for the manufacture of high-end chips, for a self-balancing washing machine.
Therefore, companies need to assess changes in industry trends and analyze the extent to which their business affects competitive growth. On top of this, companies can make strategic trade-offs in order to maintain competitive growth in an ever-changing competitive environment and allow the main brand to evolve.
The impact of scientific and technological development on the power battery industry has emerged, and the capacity of the semi-solid-state battery pack will reach 150 kWh, far exceeding the 75 kWh of lithium iron phosphate and the 100 kWh of ternary. The semi-solid-state battery can reach a range of 1,000 kilometers and can achieve a charging speed of 10 minutes and a range of 1,000 kilometers. If such a technology can be controlled and mass production can be achieved, it will undoubtedly achieve competitive growth.
The consumer goods industry is no exception, and the use of erythritol by Yuanqi Forest has set off a wave of "sugar-free", making Yuanqi Forest sparkling water a popular product. However, with the change of the competitive environment, in addition to sugar-free and healthy, people want sparkling water to be functional, and allulose, which can regulate blood sugar, has become another major trend.
In addition, the growth of the sports population has led to the expansion of China's sports nutrition market, and the promotion of sports nutrition has gradually extended the demand for sports nutrition food from professional athletes to sports enthusiasts and mass consumers. Mengniu launched Maxim is a brand that is being explored, and its main product is sports protein drink, which is segmented according to the needs of different exercise intensities. If this trend breaks out, creating explosive products such as Genki Forest Sparkling Water and Oriental Leaves is often a huge competitive growth space.
So,To avoid aging, weakening, and degrading the main brand, companies need to have a deep understanding of these trends in order to develop a strategy for the evolution of the main brand and maintain a return to growth in an ever-changing competitive environment.
Competitor changes
Understanding and analyzing competitors is to more accurately understand the next moves and strategies of competitors, and to achieve competitive growth with the help of competitors to evolve the main brand. Paying attention to the changes of competitors and formulating the evolution strategy of the main brand will be more targeted, and it will be easier to further establish a competitive advantage in the results of the verification of competitors. Many new competitors from outside the industry are emerging that will disrupt the industry structure and customer base. If you do not pay attention to the changes of competitors, it is difficult to form competitive synergy and be marginalized by the industry or industry.
Insight into competitor changes often leads to competitive growth and the evolution of the main brand. Wolong took the lead in launching Wolong Daily Nuts, and then Qiaqia launched the "Little Yellow Bag" Daily Nuts to create a second signboard in addition to the paw business, driving the growth of both melon seed business and nut business; Special forces pioneered raw coconut water in Jiangsu, and Happy Home achieved a leading position in the rapid distribution of goods in the country by virtue of the channel advantages of canned food and other businesses; Bright Moslian saved the entire dairy industry in China, Yili had insight into the changes of competitors, and Ambrosia has exceeded 30 billion since 2013;
Competitor analysis should be conducted on benchmarking companies, including their products, pricing, market share, marketing strategies, brand image, etc., in order to better understand their strategies and actions, and formulate corresponding countermeasures. At the same time, we can respond quickly to the entry into new markets and the launch of new products or services after keeping abreast of changes in competitors.
Through continuous competitor analysis, companies can better grasp the growth opportunities in the market dynamics and competitive environment, which is the key to the evolution of the main brand.
Changes in customer demand
The essence of competition is a battle for survival that revolves around the customer. Why should customers buy our products? Why do customers buy from their competitors? How to be the first choice of customers is the main contradiction. We need to understand the needs of different customer groups. Only then can we improve our products and services in a targeted manner and realize new business models. The purpose of customer demand analysis is to find strategic opportunities for growth from the changing trend of customer demand and let the main brand evolve.
If you don't pay attention to the changes in customer needs, it can even lead to bankruptcy. Victoria's Secret underwear has always been based on the image of "the best brand positioning, in the past, the main purpose of people to buy underwear is to "please". But as customer needs change, they are more expressive and comfortable, changing from "pleasing others" to "pleasing themselves". This change in customer demand makes the main brand of Victoria's Secret more aging than the emerging brands, and cannot withstand the impact of brands such as S**Age X Fenty, ThirdLove, Lively, and Knix, because they emphasize comfort, health, customization, and sports, and Victoria's Secret almost goes bankrupt.
The same is true in the automotive industry, the trend of new energy vehicles, more and more customers have a declining demand for traditional fuel vehicles, and prefer new energy and intelligent vehicles. In this way, BYD has leapt from a follower in the era of fuel vehicles to a leader in new energy vehicles. Many joint venture brands are struggling to face this trend, even for the Volkswagen Group, which is deeply entrenched in China. An even more incredible trend in the automotive industry is that more and more people don't need to actually own a car.
The competitive environment is constantly changing, customer needs are constantly changing, and brands need to constantly pay attention to the changes in customer needs, and adjust products, services and marketing strategies in a timely manner to allow the main brand to evolve.
Evaluate your competitive advantage
Through the above analysis, companies need to have a deep understanding of their competitive advantages in order to find their place in the competitive environment to return growth and evolve the main brand. Its own competitive advantage refers to the advantage of an enterprise relative to its competitors in the market, which can come from a competitive factor or comprehensive competitive advantage in terms of products, services, brands, technologies, talents, channels, costs, etc.
In a competitive environment, companies need to be clear about their competitive advantage. For example, in the apparel industry, Zara has gained a distinct advantage through its unique chain management and rapid response capabilities, enabling it to launch apparel faster and accurately meet consumer needs. H&M, on the other hand, has won the favor of a large number of consumers through its low-price, high-quality strategy. Companies need to analyze their strengths and continuously optimize their products and services to better adapt to the changing competitive environment. In addition, companies need to understand their own shortcomings and weaknesses in order to avoid risks in a competitive environment.
Insight and adaptation to the competitive environment is one of the keys to business success. In the ever-changing market, enterprises need to pay attention to the changes in the external environment and competitors at all times, and evaluate their own strengths and weaknesses in order to formulate a strategy for the evolution of the main brand. Only by constantly evolving the main brand can it gain a competitive advantage in a competitive market, increase market share, and bring growth back.