Winning In A Mature Market
The Clever Approach To Going Against The Tide
I'm going to reveal an important secret in this article, one that will, no doubt, cause many people working in the product design areas of many well-known companies to turn a putrid shade of gray.
The secret is simply this: Most products hailed for their ground-breaking innovation are actually not ground-breaking or heroic at all, but are the result of some of the most cowardly planning imaginable. The appearance is of a paradigm shattering variation; the reality is simply well-considered targeting. Let me explain.
Most product categories mature very rapidly, with the higher volume sales niches quickly becoming well populated with product choices. And, as those markets mature further, everyone playing learns what customers are willing to buy and what they shun. So, mature product sectors end up soon being filled with items that have major similarities. Not that all of the products of a certain function all look precisely the same nor have exactly the same features, but most appearances and most feature sets are very, very similar. Manufacturers typically believe that sharing common ground with the proven design formula brings the safety of not bringing a potential failure to market.
Let me share a contrarian view... one held by many fellow travelers in the small circle of cowardly and successful product designers.
Be Different.
There is a world of opportunity for the crafty coward in creating alternative product designs for mature markets. The more homogenous the typical designs in a product category, the more chance exists for an unexpected hit product... a different product.
Pick a market space, and product category, and catalog the major common design elements and functional features. Make a short list of a few of the most ubiquitous design and functional features. Then, go down the list and identify what would be the opposite of each.
If the most common form factor in a product category is short and wide, then aim to make yours tall and narrow. If the typical design is dark and manly, make yours light and feminine.
If the bulk of products offered are around a $50.00 price point, then make yours sell for $500.00... or $5.00.
Find the common elements of the most successful products in your target market space, and then intentionally build a counter-product.
The secret behind this approach is very simple: When your product hits the market, it will have no competition. Feature comparisons will be invalid, as yours are intentionally different from everyone else's. Price comparisons?... forget it. Value comparisons?... to what benchmark? No existing standards apply to your nefariously schemed design.
The second part of implementing the coward's design approach is also very basic, but incredibly important. If you set out to build a contrarian product, the aesthetic design must be spectacularly beautiful.
Beauty Sells.
An example of this thinking is the work I am presently doing to create a contrarian design for a high-end tube audio amplifier, one built to find success in that rarified territory north of the $10,000 price point.
At first glance, there are a handful of key similarities that span the products now in this market channel. They are typically low and wide, with a broad expanse of flat space used to display the tubes. They normally use any number of different surface treatments and finishes to pointedly highlight the various parts of the amplifier design: the tubes, the transformers, meters, switches, or other controls. The designs tend to be quite busy. They also tend to be quite large in overall size.
The contrarian response would be an amplifier that is tall, narrow, and small as possible in form, that shows a surface finish of the expected elegance, but is of a uniform, monotone shade, and that is crafted to draw all attention to only the tubes themselves... as these are truly the stars of the show... with all ancillary components being reduced to hidden or diminished background elements.
But... Function Sells, Too.
Functionally, there are a few themes that are quite common in the ultra-amp sector... although these features are less cohesively uniform than the major physical design elements. The major trend is one of having a large number of tubes on display, and a large number of transformers... apparently following the bigger is better, more is best, and too much or too many isn't possible philosophy.
The contrarian reply to these functional ideas would be to reduce the exposed parts count to a bare minimum. Tubes and transformers are reassuring items to a high-end amp buyer, so complete elimination of these important value cues would be dangerous. However, the idea of displaying just one of each item would meet that goal, yet would still create a minimalist, contrarian design.
So, where we would land as a well-planned contrarian tube amplifier design would be: tall, narrow, small, subtle, uniformly finished, monotone color, one substantial tube spectacularly on display, and one transformer displayed as subtly as possible.
If an important electrical performance feature could be engineered that also positioned the amplifier as a clear alternative to existing products, then the package would be thoroughly set to appear as a noteworthy, and very desirable "counter product" in a crowded market.
Why This Actually Works
The press loves to extol the virtues of such a "radical" product release. The Internet lights up with opinions, pro and con, about these unique beasts when they appear. And, the portion of buyers in that product space who deem themselves leading-edge thinkers line up on both sides of the pro and con divide, with the "pro" advocates stepping forward to buy the new product and thereby prove their superiority.
The counter-product, just by being notably different from the existing products in the space, earns its natural share of buyers.
Any mature product category can be attacked with a contrarian approach, and attacked successfully. And, the ingenious cowards who are the consistent winners in the product design wars know just how to use this approach.
The secret is now out: Innovation isn't as progressive, fearless, or exciting as the world tends to proclaim; it's merely smart cowardice at its best.
Contact Me | Learn what I can do for you. | How to hire me.
