In the absence of a minimum advertised pricing policy from a manufacturer, you might face unfair odds in your online efforts. Some retailers tend to offer unrealistic discounts and promos to grab the attention of prospects.
Left unmitigated, such practices degenerate into costly pricing wars that can leave you nursing hefty losses. Luckily, some producers anticipate such problems and take credible preventive measures.
Although MAP policies are effective, you need more market intelligence to stay ahead of the competition. With the right information, you can anticipate and escape instances that can lead to price wars.
1. Find the market gaps
If you are in a sector with lots of big players with bigger budgets, you don’t stand a chance going head to head with them. Your best bet is to find a walkabout way to overcome this competition. You need to study their methods, approaches, and strategies until you identify their shortcomings.
A market gap, in this case, could just be a problem being solved badly. Such a situation often gives rise to disgruntled customers, and therein lies your opportunities.
You only need to come up with a better solution or a new perspective on the problem, and you have a ready target market. Best of all, such clients are often willing to a premium price to let you erase these pain points.
2. Differentiate your products and services
Identifying your target market is the key to differentiating your brand and products on the market. If the competition is particularly stiff, the last thing you want to do is blend in with the rest. You want your brand to persuade customers to pick you over the competition.
Price is a good differentiation point but by no means the best. Excellent customer care, quick turnaround, free returns, and other ways of improving the customer experience give you an edge.
The last thing you wish to do in a tough market is to embark on a pricing war, especially when you’re up against a bigger rival that can afford to be competitive. Identifying market gaps and differentiating your products gets you better results.