Unfortunately, no organization works in isolation and the FMGC industry in particular is extremely competitive. With the wipe market alone set to grow by 6.5% per year on average, it is important that you have strategies in place to ensure that you remain competitive over the long term. Whether you are the market leader or a new entrant, it’s vital that you do everything possible to remain at the forefront of your customer’s minds by offering them the perfect wipe products. So how do you make sure that you hold your own and climb the market share ranks against your competitors?
1. Know your competitors and what they are offering
It’s vital to understand as much about your closest competitors as possible. The information gleaned from regular and in-depth competitor research can be vital to gaining the upper hand and improving your own products. What are your competitors doing better than you? What are their future plans for their wipe and related product offerings? Who are they targeting, how and with what levels of success? Make sure that you focus on your competitors across the board, so include high and low priced offerings.
2. Don’t just research your direct competitors
Thinking outside of the box when it comes to researching and monitoring your indirect competitors can be the perfect fuel for your next wipe product idea. For example, if your products are primarily aimed at babies and parents, what are your indirect competitors offering for teenagers and men? Is there a gap in the market that you can fill by repositioning a current product, or is there an improvement that you can make to your current products, based on what an indirect competitor is doing? It can be extremely advantageous to look at companies offering wipes and complementary products as a whole.
3. Put the customer at the center of what you are offering
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Your customers and what they want should be the primary driver for all of the decisions that you make around the launch and continued marketing of your wipe products. What are their needs and what problem can you solve for them? For example, you could start selling light and travel friendly moisturizing wipes – perfect for mums on the go who already have a bag full of baby things. Think in terms of problems and solutions.
4. Offer innovative products
In a competitive market that is still growing, there is bound to be ample opportunity to offer innovative wipe products. Where are the gaps in the market? For example, access to wipes with all natural ingredients for people with skin conditions such as eczema. Or it might be as simple as taking an existing product and developing the packaging so that it’s more suitable for a specific use.
The best way to stay ahead of your competition is through the development and launch of new products, or improved versions of existing products.
5. Get your products to market and then perfect as you go along
Launching a product is a bit like writing a book, it’s never going to be finished and perfectionism can hold things up unnecessarily. If you want to be first to market with a new and innovative wipe product – one of the most effective ways of staying ahead of your competitors – sometimes you have to launch first and perfect later.
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If you are looking to launch a new wipe product and want to ensure that you have the support needed internally, make sure you are communicating with your team and taking their feedback on board.
This first appeared on Simon’s blog.
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