Não é nem roubo nem desigualdade

Recomendo uma reflexão baseada em dois textos de Niraj Dawar.

O primeiro texto é "The Critical Role Of Context In Building Brands" e parte do vídeo com alguns anos, que muitos terão visto, de um reputado violinista a tocar anonimamente no metro de Washington, quando dias antes tinha enchido o Symphony Hall de Boston com os bilhetes a $100. A mensagem de Dawar é: o contexto é tudo.

"But ultimately, where does context reside? In the mind of the customer. By creating context, marketers play with the customers’ mind. They shape it to create the most receptive setting for the brand and the product."

O meu ponto de vista é: não podemos servir todo o tipo de clientes e para alguns, ainda que o nosso produto ou serviço seja de topo, não seremos a melhor solução pois o resultado que procuram obter nas suas vidas pode ser conseguido com uma oferta alternativa, ou mais barata, ou mais fácil, ou mais luxuosa, ou mais amizade genuína, ou mais ...

O segundo texto é "Brands And The Consumer Hourglass Theory" e vai de encontro a muitos desabafos que faço quando vejo empresas a deixarem dinheiro em cima da mesa - Damn! It's not about the price!!!

"Citigroup calls it the Hourglass Theory. As income inequality increases, consumers are polarizing into two groups – the few looking for high-end, highly differentiated and high value-added products, and the many looking for value, and sometimes extreme value.
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The middle, which was the staple target market of consumer goods companies since at least the mid-twentieth century, has shrunk, and continues to shrink." [Moi ici: Isto faz-nos recuar a 2005 e à polarização dos mercados]

O ponto de Dawar, com o qual estou totalmente de acordo, é que isto, o desaparecimento do mercado do meio termo, não acontece por causa do aumento das desigualdades económicas. Quantas pessoas conhecem com um bruto carrão, e que não têm onde cair mortas com dívidas? Quantos estudantes não querem gastar um cêntimo em livros e propinas, mas não hesitam em ir à discoteca da moda derreter dinheiro? [Apesar desta linguagem não faço julgamentos de valor, cada um é livre de decidir onde e como gastar o seu dinheiro, a menos que depois eu tenha de contribuir para fazer o bail-out de uns quaisquer lesados-[colocar nome dos maus de turno]]

"But while the data on income inequality are incontrovertible, there is another explanation for the hourglass that marketers should not rule out: attention scarcity.
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What if the scarce commodity at the source of the hour glass is not so much consumer income or spending, but consumer interest and attention?
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Consider for a moment that consumers now make thousands of purchase decisions in hundreds of product categories every year. They can’t possibly be experts in all of these product categories, nor do they have an interest in optimizing their choice in each product category. They just want something that will do the job."

Acredito profundamente nisto que se segue:

"for most of the thousands of choices consumers make, they merely want a reasonable product – give me something that works at a price that makes sense. This is the very definition of value.
Some consumers are willing to spend the time to learn about product categories about which they are passionate, and are usually also willing to spend more money on the better products in those categories. For all other product categories, they couldn’t care less.
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So the bifurcation of the market into what looks like an hourglass occurs, but due to attention disparity, not income disparity.
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If it is interest and consumer attention that are creating the hourglass"

Por isso, tento convencer os empresários que quando um concorrente conquista um cliente que entra num mercado pela primeira vez, o mais certo é que esse cliente ainda não esteja no patamar [de atenção] que os torna como a oferta mais adequada. O seu interesse e conhecimento vai ter de aumentar porque, por exemplo, querem subir na escala de valor, só nessa altura estarão maduros para uma outra oferta.

E no seu caso, como é?

Um mundo polarizado (parte VI)

Parte I, parte II, parte III, parte IV e parte V. 

"It’s six years later and a similar malaise poisons the broader retail industry. Everyone is talking about the need for disruption, innovation and change, yet most stop well short of actually doing anything about it. Many retail brands talk about game-changing innovation but what we see are lukewarm iterations of existing concepts and old ideas. Retailers, it seems, lack the will or sense of urgency to effect significant and radical change.
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Adding to the numbness is a continuous chorus of bloggers and retail pundits saying the “retail apocalypse” is overblown. They acknowledge that 8,642 retail stores will close in 2017 in North America alone, but somehow always work their way back to telling us the sky isn’t falling and we need not be overly concerned. Well, I’m here to tell you that the time for concern has passed. We’re well into “shit-yourself” territory.
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E-commerce will soon drive the majority of sales.
You don’t need to multiply a small number by a big number too many times before the result is a huge number. Online retail is currently compounding globally at a rate somewhere between 12 and 35 percent, depending on where you do business. In the US, for example, even if nothing else changes, e-commerce will comprise 25 percent of total retail within 6 short years. In the UK that figure may exceed 30 percent. Perhaps most staggering of all is that within 3 years, three companies — Amazon, Alibaba and eBay — will control 40 percent of planet earth’s e-commerce. And this is just a warm-up. Within 15 years, e-commerce will overtake conventional retail sales in developed nations, as a new wave of pervasive technologies take hold."

Posso estar enganado, mas acredito fortemente no texto que se segue:

"Physical retail will no longer be a channel for buying
With the vast majority of our daily and weekly needs simply coming to us as necessary, the role and purpose of retail space will no longer be principally to sell products. Rather, these spaces will act as living, breathing physical portals into brand and product experiences. They will become places we go to learn, be inspired, see and try new things, experiment and co-create. Beyond mere consumption, we’ll go to these spaces for entertainment, education, connection and community. This is not to suggest that there will be no products for sale in these physical spaces, only that the emphasis will not be sales but rather on catalysing a relationship with the consumer that transcends the store. The way these spaces are planned, built, staffed, managed and measured will look and act nothing like the retail operations of today. My advice to retailers is to stop thinking “stores” and start thinking stories. Stop thinking “product” and start thinking productions."[Moi ici: Como não recordar as imagens do artigo] 

Trechos retirados de "To Save Retail, Let It Die"

Um mundo polarizado (parte V)

Parte I, parte II e parte III e parte IV.

Há dias foi a Toys 'R Us agora é a vez da Claire's, "Claire's is closing 92 stores as it files for bankruptcy — see if yours is on the list".

""This decline may be attributable to several factors, including competition from big-box retailers, large tenant closures (leaving malls without an 'anchor' tenant to drive foot traffic), and the increased popularity of online shopping," the company said."

Interessante esta justificação retirada de "We visited a Claire's store the day the teen retailer filed for bankruptcy" Recomendo a consulta do artigo e a observação das imagens... fizeram-me recordar o dia de Carnaval de 2005, 8 de Fevereiro. Nesse dia, ou no dia anterior, no telejornal "País, País" ao final da tarde passou uma reportagem sobre o encerramento das lojas tradicionais em Vila Real com a abertura de um centro comercial. Recordo um lojista a ser entrevistado na sua loja com as camisas de modelos arcaicos amontoadas no chão.

O que seria uma loja com o mesmo tipo de produtos, mas com menos tralha e com espaços de experimentação e teste?

Um mundo polarizado (parte IV)

Parte I, parte II e parte III.

"Deloitte undertook an extensive research process, devoting the better part of a year to examining the retail environment: studying official data; conducting a survey of over 2,000 participants; and drawing on the knowledge of our clients, industry contacts, and our own industry specialists. Our key finding: “Balanced” retailers (which deliver value through a combination of price and promotion) are generally doing worse than either price-based retailers (which deliver value by selling at the lowest possible prices) or premier retailers (which deliver value via premier or highly differentiated product and/or experience offerings). Specifically, premium retailers have seen their revenues soar 81 percent over the last five years, while price-based retailers have seen their revenues steadily increase 37 percent over the same period. This contrasts with balanced retailers, whose revenue has increased only 2 percent.1 What’s more, consumers are more likely to recommend premier or price-based retailers than balanced, suggesting that retailers at either end of the spectrum are more in tune with the changing needs and are better at meeting the expectations of consumers than those in the middle."

Trecho retirado de "The great retail bifurcation"

Um mundo polarizado (parte II)

Parte I.

Bem em linha com a minha versão acerca do futuro do retalho e em desalinhamento com as visões superficiais, "This is the real story of American retail":

"Forget all the “retail apocalypse” headlines. The phrase suggests the whole industry is collapsing, consulting firm Deloitte says. In reality, it’s not.
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But it is changing in significant and fundamental ways.
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There’s no apocalypse, Deloitte found, but there is a “renaissance” of sorts going on.

At the high and low ends, retail is thriving. It’s in the middle that it’s faltering.
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According to Deloitte, more stores are actually opening than closing. But they’re all on the low and high ends. If you look at the middle only, the situation does look dire.

Os que vêem a ascensão da Amazon acham que o caminho que ela está a seguir é a única via, mas reparem na polarização.

Mundo polarizado - cuidado com o meio-termo

Foi numa revista da McKinsey de 2005 que primeiro li sobre o fenómeno da polarização dos mercados, "Porque não podemos ser uma Arca de Noé! (II)".

Todos conhecem o sucesso da Amazon como livraria digital. Menos, conhecem o sucesso das pequenas livrarias independentes:

• Sonho de um optimista ingénuo (parte III) (Setembro 2010)
• Mongo também passa por isto, pela batota (Agosto 2013)
• independentes e Mongo (Dezembro 2013)
• Estes são os meus heróis! (Maio 2014)
• Interessante, nestes tempos de Amazon, Mongo cresce (Janeiro 2015)
• Isto é bonito... (Otubro 2015)
• Quando o mundo muda há quem dê a volta (Novembro 2017)
• Empreendedores literários (Dezembro 2017)

Se os extremos estão bem o que acontecem aos do mercado do meio-termo? Um exemplo, "Bookstore Chains, Long in Decline, Are Undergoing a Final Shakeout":

"“Sales in our mall stores are down this year from 30 to 60 percent,” said Bill Streur, Book World’s owner. “The internet is killing retail. Bookstores are just the first to go.”
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“There’s no way to compete against Amazon, which doesn’t care if it makes a profit,” said Erik Sanstad, the manager of the Mequon store. Still, he added: “I’m a little reluctant to say the internet killed Book World. We never advertised, never got our name out there.”"

Este discurso faz-me recordar "Talvez focar primeiro o valor e só depois o preço"

Tendências para a evolução dos media

"an increased demand for snack-sized formats and content available in a variety of sizes or lengths. Equally, the old model of edit first and publish second will be reversed, with content being published first and edited second (filtered by the audience). Long copy and rigorous analysis will become a specialist demand available on a pay-per-view basis, with journalists being compensated the same way. [Moi ici: Em linha com o que sempre escrevemos aqui, em vez de competir pelo pelo preço e tentar chegar a milhões, optar por trabalhar para nichos ou tribos underserved] Conversely, people will seek out quality content (judged, increasingly, by external links) regardless of format, length or even language. All of this will also create a high demand for quality search, editing and “sifting” of information and entertainment.
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Users will shift media to suit their particular requirements. For example, video on demand (or mobile video) will alter the way people watch television, much in the same way that podcasting has already changed the way people listen to radio. Both put the audience squarely in charge of programming. In the future, people will watch, read and listen to what they want, when they want, on any device they want, and content will be designed, edited and personalized for specific physical locations and situations.
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What are people paying for? The answer is scarcity. If the cost of creating and distributing digital content becomes practically zero, content will be ubiquitous and largely valueless as a result. Personalization and particularly physicalization (e.g. live events and experiences) will, on the other hand, be highly sought after. We will watch movies at home but we will pay more to experience them with other people in a cinema. Add to this a general flight to quality and media such as the best newspapers, magazines, television and radio could do very well in the future.
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In the future, it will be easier than ever to turn on, tune in and drop out, because while mainstream media channels and events will continue to exist, so too will a plethora of micromedia appealing to every conceivable interest, belief, prejudice and opinion. The top-down model, whereby media owners hold the attention of millions and then sell that attention to other people such as advertisers, is being replaced by companies and individuals who attract the fleeting attention of large, promiscuous audiences and by niche operators who capture the hearts and minds of very tiny audiences.
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In other words, the media universe is becoming polarized between very large and very small players. Moreover, the content produced by these totally different types of media organization will also be at two extremes, with the larger companies clustering around proven formulae and the smaller operators pushing the boundaries with original ideas. Both will obviously aim to appeal to as large an audience as possible, but only one will be able to survive when the audience is tiny. Equally, anyone stupid or unlucky enough to get caught in the middle will be history."

Trechos retirados de "Future files : 5 trends that will shape the next 50 years" de Richard Watson.

O século XX continua por cá (parte III)

Parte I e parte II.

Há anos que refiro aqui o beco sem saída a que as corporações gigantes estão a chegar ao depararem com Mongo e a explosão de tribos que traz. Por exemplo:

• E porque não somos plankton (parte VII)
• E porque não somos plankton (parte VI)

A P&G a encolher, a Mondelez a encolher, ...

Via Twitter o @hnascim chamou-me a atenção para "So Long, Hamburger Helper: America's Venerable Food Brands Are Struggling", mais um exemplo de Mongo não é um mundo gigantes-friendly (parte III):

"For over a century, brands such as Kellogg’s cereal, Campbell’s soup and Aunt Jemima pancake mix filled pantries of American households that wanted safe, affordable and convenient food. They provided companies with reliable revenue growth from grocery shelves, and there was little reason to mess with that formula.
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Today, these giants are struggling with competition that is corroding business from both ends. High-end consumers are shifting toward fresher items with fewer processed ingredients while cost-conscious shoppers are buying inexpensive store brands. [Moi ici: Polarização dos mercados] The makers of staples including Chef Boyardee canned pasta and Hamburger Helper meal kits failed to spot the threat and didn’t innovate in time.
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Anyone searching for macaroni and cheese, a childhood staple, can opt for fancy pasta with organic ingredients or inexpensive store brands such as Kroger Co.’s. Squeezed in the middle are Kraft Heinz Co.’s venerable blue-and-yellow boxes.
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“A lot of what’s crept into big companies is internal focus, bureaucracy, PowerPoint presentations—the antithesis of agility,”
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Many big brands didn’t move fast enough to remove artificial ingredients and haven’t been able to shed the negative perception of processed food, said several food executives and others close to the industry.
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At the same time, they faced low-cost store brands—or “private label” products—from retailers such as Costco Wholesale Corp., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and regional grocers that sell copycat products. National brands, which have huge marketing costs, generally can’t afford to compete on price with the in-house brands of stores, which need little marketing beyond displaying products prominently on their own shelves.
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Big food sellers still dominate in America. The 25 largest food and beverage companies commanded a 63% share of $495 billion in U.S. food and beverage sales in 2016, according to consultancy A.T. Kearney.
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That is down from 66% in 2012, and even seemingly small market-share losses hurt sales and profits. The top 25 companies averaged 2% annual sales growth from 2012 through 2016, compared with 6% for their smaller rivals, according to A.T. Kearney."

Alterar a oferta (parte VI)

Parte V, parte IV, parte III e parte II.

"Yet while the internet forever changed shopping, the physical retail environment lagged behind.
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And over the next few years, the brick-and-mortar buying experience will change even more dramatically.
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"We had been operating for this idea that bigger is better, the superstore or supercenter. Now we’re seeing a shift away from that, brands closing their stores, reconsidering their footprint,"
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"At the highest level, you have more physical retail going into service,"
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places like sporting goods stores, once offering the value proposition of a large inventory of tennis rackets, are now getting into ancillary services, like the restringing of said rackets. Retailers are using services to make their brick-and-mortar locations more valuable in the face of online shopping.
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that cup of sugar you need from the store? That’s delivered. We go places for people, not things.[Moi ici: Uma ideia interessante]
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[Moi ici: Segue-se outra mensagem típica deste blogue] In a world based upon extremes, failure can often be found in the middle.[Moi ici: A polarização dos mercados e o pântano do meio-termo] Nobody likes lukewarm coffee. They want it steaming hot or poured over ice. Experts agree that retail is evolving the same way.
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"On the one hand, we will increasingly use digital services (ideally mobile apps) to purchase down-to-earth products—such as toilet paper, laundry soap, milk. I could imagine a kind of Amazon unlimited scheme that will constantly replenish our supply of toilet paper," says designer and MIT professor Carlo Ratti. "On the other hand, I see a blossoming of experiential shopping. Think about choosing fresh food produce: We will always enjoy going to a physical store where we can touch, smell, etc. The store, in turn, can become increasingly focused on providing us with unique experiences.""

Trechos retirados de "The Way You Shop Will Change Forever This Year. Here's How"

Um exemplo de polarização de mercados

Um exemplo daquilo a que se chama a polarização do mercado. Clientes underserved e overserved em desenvolvimento simultâneo num mesmo mercado:

"A growing segment of the U.S. population is making a significant sacrifice for physical fitness, and not just in sore muscles and pre-dawn wake-ups. More and more people are paying hundreds of dollars a month, or thousands a year, for personal workouts, special classes, and ever more luxurious gyms.
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By contrast, the average American spends a minuscule amount on getting in shape. Almost one-fifth of Americans are health club members, and the average U.S. club dues are $54 a month, or 1.2 percent of median household income, according to the latest data from the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association, or Ihrsa, the fitness industry trade group.
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While midmarket clubs barely gained members, the number of budget club members grew 69 percent in 2015 alone, Ihrsa estimated last year. Much of this growth is driven by franchising, a trend that has brought outside money to the fitness industry."

Empresas com futuro escolhem o seu segmento e não tentam ser tudo para todos.

Trechos retirados de "Why You’re Paying So Much to Exercise"

The Mid-market (parte III)

Parte I e parte II.

"Does all this activity mean the mid-market is finally disappearing, or can operators in this segment of the market evolve to survive? We ask the experts... [Moi ici: Seguem-se trechos da resposta de Richard Millman]
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They need a clear strategy and proposition for the consumer, differentiating on quality of product and service. They need to find their point of difference, both as a chain and as individual clubs. Going upmarket — as some mid-market operators are trying or have tried to do — presents a marketing challenge. It's easier to do if you have just one club than a chain, because to successfully make this move, operators must really understand their local marketplace — what their USP is locally — and how to capture new groups of customers. There are still lots of new audiences out there, provided clubs can define their proposition and find something unique to offer their particular geographic and consumer market."

Acerca da importância do alinhamento.


Trechos retirados do número de Outubro da revista "Health Club Management"

E assim se faz Mongo

"In addition to meeting the perennial need for growth, marketers have been launching more brands in response to the fragmentation of traditional segments. Consider, for example, how customers are migrating out of the middle to the low and high ends of the market in cars, clothes, computers, retailing, and other industries. At the same time, while globalizing consumer tastes are creating segments in some markets that cut across geographies, growing ethnic diversity in other markets is exacerbating fragmentation as customers seek products with local flavor. Furthermore, it's increasingly feasible for marketers to develop and launch brands cost-effectively for fragmenting customer segments. Distribution costs and communication costs are falling, and manufacturing flexibility is on the rise."

Recordar "Polarização do mercado ou como David e Golias podem co-existir"

Trecho retirado de "Profiting from Polarization"

The Mid-market (parte II)

Parte I.

"Does all this activity mean the mid-market is finally disappearing, or can operators in this segment of the market evolve to survive? We ask the experts... [Moi ici: Segue-se a resposta de Michael Clark]
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Unless it’s a premium or destination club, most consumers will categorise the remainder of gyms as much the same and, as consumer research continues to tell us, they will choose to the join the most convenient one for them. If they have a choice when it comes to convenience, with two or more clubs in similar striking distance, then price becomes more of a factor. This tilts the tables in favour of the budget operators.
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That said, big box mid-market clubs do have numerous offensive strategies available to them to counter the cost differential. One is to address the ongoing consumer frustration of having to pay for all the club’s services and facilities when they only use one or two areas. This can be achieved by breaking out popular formats – for example, some group exercise genres – into a boutique-style ‘club within a club’, with a separate pay as you go fee structure.
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Going forward, I feel it will be all about how mid-market operators can articulate their differentiation and how they can attract new markets using technology and other services. A good location alone won’t be enough to stop consumers comparing on price and choosing what they see as a cheaper like-for-like option."

Trechos retirados do número de Outubro da revista "Health Club Management"

The Mid-market (parte I)

"Does all this activity mean the mid-market is finally disappearing, or can operators in this segment of the market evolve to survive? We ask the experts... [Moi ici: Segue-se a resposta de Ray Algar]
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Mid-market clubs were very slow to respond when low-cost gyms entered the market and disrupted the status quo. Now, unless they can offer something more compelling, it will only be a matter of time before more of these generic health clubs start to close.
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In the last couple of years, we've seen a disproportionate number of mid-market independents close as membership stagnated, membership prices remained flat and insufficient funds were generated to reinvest into refreshing the experience.
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The low-cost and premium markets are both well defined, but historically the mid-market brands have deliberately been more generic. Neither one thing or the other.
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The remaining legacy brands need to take stock and now jettison things which no longer serve them, or their members, and rediscover their core excellence. Similar offerings may be good enough when there's significant geographic distance between clubs, but can be disastrous as the distance between health clubs shortens.
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Mid-market clubs need to become experts, and build a reputation, in an area they really care about."

Como não recuar a 2005 e ao primeiro artigo que li sobre o fim do middle-market com a polarização do mercado: The vanishing middle market,” The McKinsey Quarterly, 2005 Number 4.
 
Trechos retirados do número de Outubro da revista "Health Club Management"

Balanced Scorecard (parte III)

Parte I e parte II.
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Escrevia no final da última parte: Quando os negócios correm mal a tentação é fazer uns descontos e tentar seduzir clientes por essa via. Normalmente essa é uma via que acelera o caminho para a desgraça.

1.Então, começo a minha intervenção demonstrando o perigo dos descontos introduzindo o Evangelho do Valor. Fazem-se os descontos e os clientes ganhos nunca compensam a perda de receita e a situação ainda se agrava mais.

2.Depois, dedico-me a destruir a Torre de Babel em que as cabeças da gestão estão encerradas: a crença de que só existe um tipo de cliente, o que valoriza o preço acima de tudo. Começo pelos 3 extremos, pelas 3 propostas de valor de Treacy e Wiersema, ou de Porter e mostro a impossibilidade de tentar ser bom para todos ao mesmo tempo, chegando a esta figura do livro:

E referindo o precioso esquema de Terry Hill que usei aqui:

3.Chega o momento de introduzir o tema da polarização dos mercados, para tirar ilusões quanto ao mercado do meio-termo. Ou se é bom num extremo ou no outro, tentar ser carne e peixe ao mesmo tempo não resulta. Aquilo a que chamo tecto de vidro do desempenho das PME.

4.Para finalizar apresento a curva de Stobachoff, a metáfora de Bruce Jenner e os salami slicers. Tudo no sentido de despertar a necessidade de fazer escolhas: quem são os clientes-alvo?

5.Agora depois da destruição dos mitos estão criadas as condições para começar a construir algo. Se a empresa existiu até agora é porque fez alguma coisa bem. Precisamos de encontrar essa coisa boa e verificar se pode ser o alicerce para uma nova vida.

Continua.

Lucro vs quota de mercado (parte II)

Parte I.
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Recordando o mercado da refrigeração na Europa e a sua polarização:

Este exemplo fresco dos colchões nos Estados Unidos:

"Most mattresses bought in the U.S. cost under $1,000, but mattresses that cost more than $1,000 account for over half of the industry’s sales in dollars, according to Tempur Sealy." 

Trecho retirado de "Bed-in-a-Box Startups Challenge Traditional Mattress Makers"

Um exemplo da polarização do mercado

A isto que se segue aprendi a chamar de polarização do mercado no artigo de 2005 que refiro em ""Listen very carefully, I shall say this only once."" e continua válido e cada vez com mais força à medida que Mongo se entranha:

"For several years, I have been paying close attention to the emergence of the global low-cost gym segment. I understand the business model and how they compete to win customers and the pressure they apply to many ‘legacy’ or established operators. However, it was only after taking a step back that a broader perspective emerged and I realised that mature health and fitness markets seem to be bifurcating or forking along two distinct pathways, which I describe as ‘self-service’ and ‘supported’.
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Many consumers have steadily been taking control of activities once outsourced to others – selfscanning groceries, using apps to book hotels and flight tickets – and enjoy the empowering feeling of serving themselves. Low-cost gyms have very effectively tapped this phenomenon, attracting members seeking a ‘narrow’ fitness experience who are competent exercisers and content to serve themselves. However, perhaps less evident is the second ‘supported’ pathway, where  customers seek and pay for a more guided experience. This is where the very best micro gyms and studios are to found, purposely engaged in helping customers reach a desired health and wellbeing aspiration. So one pathway serves up outputs (facilities, equipment, programmes etc) and the other outcomes (creating a meaningful difference in a member or customer’s life).
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If a club is stuck between these two pathways it is a vulnerable position [Moi ici: Stuck in the middle] because it creates a sense of confusion, not just among existing and new members, but also staff and other stakeholders. Also the experience the member receives may not be aligned with the price – members may feel they receive little or no valued support and yet are paying two or three times more than a low-cost, self-serve
experience. Journalists, if at all interested in the business, would also struggle to understand what the club believes in and what it excels at.
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An interesting trend which is presently better evidenced in the United States is the growing number of consumers choosing to hold membership of multiple clubs or instead opting for a ‘pay-as-you-train’ relationship taking advantage of class and gym pass booking platforms
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It suggests that some consumers are seeking a more open relationship with fitness providers, one based on a ‘best-in-class’ approach to their health and fitness regime. This means they ask themselves ‘where is the best indoor boot camp experience in Boston on a Thursday evening?’ – not the closest, but the best. This phenomenon begins to erode the idea that a single fitness operator can ‘monopolise’ a consumer’s health and fitness experiences."

E a sua empresa, também está atolada no pântano da indefinição?
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Também precisa de um choque ao estilo de Mateus 10, 34-36?
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Talvez possamos ajudar.

Trechos retirados de "Health club industry mid-market report – investigating how brands are repositioning in an era of rising competition" (Researched and written by Ray Algar, Managing Director, Oxygen Consulting, UK. December 2015).

Acerca da importância do foco (parte III)

Parte I e parte II.

"THE STRATEGIC PURPOSE OF SACRIFICEHmm, Sacrifice. Isn’t this just clear prioritization by any other name? The difference between Sacrifice and prioritization is that the latter allows secondary and tertiary targets. Sacrifice means not doing these secondary and tertiary things at all.
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Sacrifice’s value, therefore, is not simply one of concentration of marketing forces externally; it also has an internal value similar to hardpruning a plant: all the energy, all the dynamism in the company becomes devoted to the primary goal.
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1. Sacrifice concentrates the internal and external expressions ofidentity by eliminating activities that might dilute it.
2. Sacrifice allows the creation of strong points of difference by changing the organization’s mind-set from pursuing weak universal appeal to a more intense, narrower appeal (and thereby avoiding becoming the ‘‘mush in the middle’’).
3. Sacrifice generates critical mass for the communication of that identity and those differences by stripping away other secondary marketing activity. This is central to maximizing the Challenger’s consumer presence, given its more limited marketing resources.
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While the Brand Leader perceives its currency to be mass appeal and can afford the dilution of preference that creates because it is compensated for by the convenience of its ubiquity and distribution, Challengers need more extreme actions and gestures - they need to create a greater proportion of ‘‘committed’’ and ‘‘enthusiastic’’ users through real differentiation.
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Challenger currency is therefore not means but extremes: top-box preference scores or nothing.
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For any brand, positioning is Sacrifice; for a Challenger, it is the path to growth. What it chooses not to do defines who and what it really is."

Trechos retirados de "Eating the Big Fish" de Adam Morgan.

Acerca da importância do foco (parte II)

Parte I.
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Entretanto em "Eating the Big Fish" de Adam Morgan encontro todo um capítulo dedicado à importância da renúncia para as PME, segundo uma vertente diferente:

"In the world of clutter and information saturation that consumers are faced with, the greatest danger facing a brand is not rejection, but indifference.
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the solution to indifference for a Challenger lies in both a strong identity and, through this, a strong relationship with its consumer base. Inevitably, this means that success for the Challenger brand comes from considering very carefully what it is going to Sacrifice in order to create this relationship and identity. Indeed, the ability to sacrifice and concentrate one’s focus, voice, and actions more narrowly is one of the few advantages a Challenger has. Having to fight a war on two fronts weakens the ability to do either really well and Brand Leaders have to fight on many fronts at once.
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Challengers recognize, ... that in order to break through, their only currency with the consumer is going to be strong preference. If they achieve simply weak preference or parity preference, all the other attributes the market leader has on its side will swing the vote in its favor: ubiquity, social acceptability, salience, convenience. And to create that strong preference, we as Challengers accept that we will need to do things that reach out and bind certain groups of people very strongly to us. And we will also accept that, in order to create those stronger relationships, these same actions or behaviors may (and probably will) leave other groups cold.
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The Sacrifices a Challenger makes do not lie in incidentals to the business, such as minor line extensions, a research budget, or the assistant public relations manager. They are instead fundamentals: distribution, messages, audiences, even issues like promotional pricing, or our deliberate lack of it (T-box, unlike the rest of the ready-to-wear category, never offers seasonal discounts). The overriding objective is to have significant impact of the right kind on your core audience, to achieve critical mass for your voice.
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Although ubiquity in distribution is good for establishment brands like Coca-Cola and AT&T, it is dangerous for Challenger brands looking to create a stronger affinity with a more focused target, be they self-styled fashion rebels, surfing wannabes, or weekend mountain bikers.
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there is no escape: Strong brands are necessarily simple and single-minded in their communication, even if it means sacrificing what might seem to be important secondary messages.
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As a Challenger, we have to use our more limited resources (people, time, passion, energy, money) against the few things that will really make a difference, and this means being very clear on both who we are and what we are going to Sacrifice to promote that identity. Focus on the products, experiences, and marketing that will genuinely break through."

Assim, concentração não só por causa do encaixe do mosaico estratégico (recordar Terry Hill) mas também para reforçar a mensagem de marketing, mas também para criar uma identidade forte.
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Continua.

Acerca da importância do foco (parte I)

Quando comecei a trabalhar estratégia com PME chamava a atenção para a importância do foco, da concentração nos clientes-alvo.
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Mostrava como a escolha de diferentes tipos de clientes-alvo implicava apostar em diferentes prioridades contraditórias entre si.

Depois, conheci Terry Hill e Skinner e a sua plant-within-plant:

Recordo de 2008:

"the most important orders are the ones to which a company says 'no'."

Recordo Jonathan Byrnes:

"in a typical company, 30 to 40% of revenues are actually unprofitable, while another fraction of revenues — often more like 20 to 30% — accounts for most of the organization’s profitability."

Recordo Kotler:

"Philip Kotler no livro “Marketing para o século XXI” chama a atenção para a relação 20/80/30.
Já ouviu falar dela?
De certeza que já ouvi falar na relação 20/80.
80% dos lucros de uma empresa são gerados pelos 20 clientes mais rentáveis.
E os 30? O que querem dizer?
Os 30 clientes menos rentáveis provocam um corte de metade dos lucros de uma empresa.
Pense bem no significado, no impacte, desta relação… "

Recordo as curvas de Stobachoff:

Recordo a polarização dos mercados e o "Stuck-in-the-middle".
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Tudo razões para defender que uma PME não pode ir a todas, tem de seleccionar os seus clientes-alvo e tem de se organizar para os servir. Servir bem um tipo de clientes implica não servir bem outro tipo de clientes.
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Entretanto, encontrei mais uma razão para a necessidade de focalizar.
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Continua.