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How to Attack a Category Leader

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When I went to purchase my last mobile phone I purchased a Nokia. I was swayed by its user-interface screen and its big huge form factor with the shiny screen of high resolution. I was sold by its high resolution camera higher than any other phone on the market ever. Encirclement attack was used in ads to show that noone has ever made a mobile phone with a resolution that high in history. I was also impressed by its speed but design was a major selling point because of the color and shape of it.

Glitter and glamour alone is not enough to make a difference because even if the product has served design needs sooner or later the consumer will realize that the product has not fulfilled enough of its needs. That is why it is very important for marketers to explain all benefits of the product to the consumer market segment before the consumer purchase.

Marketers need to differentiate their products from a market leader. Things to make a new or competitor that is low on the totem pole in a market segment to stand out are:

1. Convenience
2. Location
3. Store layout
4. Instore services
5. Instore additional kiosk services
6. Good execution

When good execution is used to set up low cost operations while abandoning low profit market segments. A method of frontal attack that matches the market leader. A flank attack which attempts to fill in gaps and under-performing areas, encirclement of launching a big offense, bypass attack to bypass the leader altogether or guerrilla attack to launch a series of small attacks.

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Solution Summary

This solution responds to a post regarding attacking a category leader and includes a concrete example of Apple and their iPhones.

Solution Preview

The post does a great job of illustrating the different ways marketers work to attack a category leader. In considering phones, I just Googled smart phones and saw that Samsung is the category leader (http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/01/27/samsung-widens-lead-in-worldwide-smartphone-marketshare-smaller-oems-rising). This is interesting based on the ...

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