Développer un avantage concurrentiel durable

A sustainable competitive advantage is an advantage in providing value to customers that cannot be imitated.

Numerous cases abound where the first mover in a market develops a competitive advantage, but soon loses it.  In the 1990s, AOL had a competitive advantage as an Internet Service Provider (ISP), becoming the preferred provider for consumers new to the internet. It offered more features in one easy-to-use platform. Some customers used “AOL Keywords” to search just as much as they used Yahoo and Altavista to search. Yet, as customers became more sophisticated and as competing ISPs launched cheaper substitutes (e.g. Netzero, Earthlink), that advantage became difficult to sustain.  It can be a challenge to sustain a competitive advantage because once a product or service is made, other competitors can reverse engineer a company’s success, taking the competitive advantage away.

Sources d’avantages compétitifs durables :

• Compétences supérieures
• Ressources supérieures
• Expérience d'utilisation unique
• Caractéristiques uniques du produit
• Conception
• Mode de livraison
• l'image de marque
• GRC
• Étude de marché
• Coûts de changement élevés
• Barrières à l'entrée
• Brevets
• Leadership en matière de coûts
• Différenciation
• Se concentrer

An example of sustainable competitive advantage through differentiation is Starbucks. The company essentially serves a commodity: coffee. But it has made the coffee-buying experience cater to its customers’ lifestyles and psychographics. Customers buy at Starbucks to relax and purchase many of its additional products in the meantime. This superior and unique customer experience is an example of a competitive advantage.

Comment les études de marché génèrent un avantage concurrentiel

Les études de marché sont cruciales pour développer un avantage concurrentiel durable, car elles révèlent ce que veulent les clients. Ça peut:

• Découvrez des informations qui ne sont pas disponibles pour les concurrents
• Identifier les facteurs clés de succès
• Guider le positionnement sur le marché
• Adapter les mouvements stratégiques pour garder une longueur d’avance sur les concurrents

Contactez-nous pour votre prochain projet d'étude de marché.