Illustration by Ms.Bhakti Chande
"There are over 40 good quality e-commerce websites in the your industry space, and that is only in India." The client was quite surprised at this. He had not considered how much the e-com space has evolved in his industry, especially in India. But the good news for him was that there is were very few differentiating factors among 40 plus odd competitor websites. I continued, "The opportunity exists if we can come up with a radically different concept & strategy, leveraging your core competencies."
When I talk about differentiation I am talking about very real, very unique, extra ordinary differentiation. Easier said than done. Most new e-commerce entrants don't put in the thought process required to produce a truly different business model. Rather they go for what I would call 'tactical differerences'.
Tactical differences are much smaller and do not provide a unique inflection point that a business entering a crowded space requires. Tactical differentiators include pricing, delivery methods, payment methods, packaging, or even product feature differentiation. However all these do not have the depth required to truly make a difference in the market place and stand out.
Most would be e-commerce ventures get stuck when they try to extend or modify the 'how its done now' models. What you get is a piss poor copy of the original model which succumbs to competition and copycats. Throw out the old model and start with a blank slate and a fresh outlook. Think game changing, think wow factor and think a new way to interact with the customers.
If your model does not involve some sort of customer social or community factor than you are missing a very important piece of the puzzle. Here I am not talking about some Facebook or Twitter interaction. I am talking about a genuine loyalty building, socially interesting concept that has your customers hooked.
Some cool models that have emerged recently for higher customer engagements include:
None of the above models might be attractive to you personally but they all have it in common that they are out of the box. Some way out of the box than others.
A small last word of caution. Whatever model you decide, it should be fun. It should sound like fun for the customers, for your employees and for your investors as well. The fun component enhances saleability of the concept.
I love the term - 'Differentiate of die', it brings into sharp focus the job ahead of us all in business and in life.
Cheers,
Ron
We have completed 10 year in business, do check out our work and services at http://www.miracleworx.com
He has been in the web development business for the almost two decades.He is a keen student of marketing and business development and writes regularly on web strategy and other related topics which is read and followed by many every month.