Online, in tiny apartments or garages, and in the minds of entrepreneurs, new enterprises are forming every hour of every day.
New products and services are coming into the marketplace, disrupting well-entrenched, seemingly untouchable, highly branded companies whose offerings are vulnerable to innovation and less expensive, better or faster widgets.
You’ve probably heard of several of these new-breed companies, even though they haven’t been around for very long. Many already have rattled traditional marketplaces and companies.
Eyeglass company Warby Parker, founded in 2010, has grown 500 percent and sold more than 300,000 pairs of eyeglasses. Three-year-old Pinterest, has grown from 5,000 users to more than 70 million today. And Fab.com is one of the fastest growing e-commerce sites and has more than 10 million users since its launch just two years ago.
Or go back to 2007, when Greek yogurt brand Chobani sold its first order and five years later is recording $1 billion in sales. Snagging media coverage around the globe, the manufacturer is a prime case study of how a small, unknown company can battle the big names, even in the hyper-competitive retail grocery space.
Business success stories aren’t just built around product innovation though. There’s also the emergence of creative business models that accommodate how customers really want to buy or use a product today.
For example, look at what’s going on with collaborative buying and ownership sharing.
Consider such companies as Blackjet, which offers private jet sharing, or Zipcar, a global car sharing and car club service that challenges the traditional car ownership and car rental models.
Developments like these are growing quickly, and it may just portend the view that our business model really ought to be a variable instead of a constant. After all, sustaining a competitive advantage today for more than 12 months is difficult given the globalization of business, technology advances and the sheer pace of unending change.
Everything is in flux today. No company is safe. Larger and better-known companies are contending with highly adaptive, smaller rivals that are competing without much care for traditional branding. Instead, these agile companies build their brand strength by making their offerings highly relevant, providing customers with great value and convenient, highly sought after purchase options, and by delivering products supported by responsive customer service.
How is it that a small upstart can compete successfully today in a fiercely competitive world? A new level playing field has emerged.
It’s just not a seller’s market anymore. Customers have more knowledge and more options than ever. If your business can’t keep up with the times, even your most loyal customers are going to switch over to a company that will offer higher relevance and value. It’s not what you’ve done for me in the past, but what can you offer to me today and tomorrow that matters.
The affordability of high speed Internet and the new distribution channels it has created for upstarts seeking to market their wares, also present serious competition to well-established brands. For a glance at the future, take a look at AmazonSupply.com. It has more than 1 million business and industry products – and growing daily – available at the click of a button. This is a game changer for the businesses-to-business sector that’s grown too comfortable with storefronts or sales forces as sole revenue generators.
What does it all mean? A continuous stream of new suppliers, products, services and company models – all adding up to the disruption of business and branding as we’ve grown accustomed.
There’s a new breed, and they are taking advantage of the exciting opportunities made possible by change.
It may be uncomfortable for some businesses to adapt to the times; but if they don’t, their ability to succeed in the future is questionable.
Springfield consultant Mark Holmes helps companies execute strategies that increase sales and customer loyalty strategies. He and Bette Price, of Dallas, are writing the upcoming book, “MindShift: How Five Super Shifts Will Change How You Think About Business.” Holmes can be reached at mark@salesonomics.com.
