Building A Brand In A Saturated Market

Some people think it’s best to avoid a saturated market, I used to think that too. They feel the market is too packed with competitors and will be difficult, if not impossible, for them to penetrate, But over time, I’ve had a paradigm shift.

Testing an unproven market can become expensive, time-consuming, and risky. On the other hand, in a saturated market, there are clear signals about where opportunities lie. However, most people tend to misread or misinterprete the signals.

When a market is saturated, many competitors sell similar products and services that people have a need for otherwise, it wouldn’t be sustainable for so many players to be in it.

What are the challenges of a saturated market?

Why are people very skeptical about saturated markets?

The presence of many competitors means many businesses are contending for the attention of the buyers. The market has a lot of noise and one can begin to feel pressured to spend more time and resources on marketing.

The main challenge is to come up with effective marketing and unique sale strategies.

Competitors will also try to undercut each other by driving prices down. Imagine you sell healthy fruit juice for 1000 naira per 50CL bottle and you have people offering 30CL for 500 Naira.

Your challenge here is to resist the temptation to commodify your own product by competing on cost and winning customers by being the cheapest option.

Some people even go as far as selling below the cost price just to get customers!

Your challenge is to offer something so valuable that people will pay what you’re charging.

Another major challenge in a saturated market is creating a great product. A saturated market keeps everyone on their toes at all times.

One always has to keep improving otherwise, the products would soon become obsolete. You need to keep listening to your customers, paying attention to what they want and the ever-changing trends.

Here are some ways that can help with market penetration and sustainance.

Carve out and own your niche.

The worst thing you can do to yourself as an entrepreneur is to try to compete with everyone else in the business. It is definitely the most assured way to run your business into the ground as quickly as it takes off.
The industry and your niche are two different things. Your competition exists in your niche, not in the industry. So focus your attention on your niche and watch everyone watch you.

Tap Into Change

One major key to success in a saturated market, is change. If you don’t know what’s changing—with your customers, competitors, distribution channels, alternative uses, features and more, your customers will buy from who do.

Right here is where new businesses have an edge.

New companies often recognize the gaps that established businesses don’t. If they’re correct, they gain customers and grow. The challenge is not to become like the established businesses who think they know better than the customer.

Larger companies that have been in business for decades sometimes already have ‘set in stone’ standards, and it’s more complicated to modify long-standing practices. Small businesses with less rigidity and a smaller organizational hierarchy can often make quick decisions and adapt to changing trends rapidly.

Brand your product.

Brand your product in a way that makes people curious. Make people wonder what you’re about. Engage people, and get them to want to test your products.
Ensure that you know all the right platforms to push your product on, and aggressively push it.

No matter how crowded your industry, even if it’s full of major brands, you can achieve success by setting yourself apart. Whether that means reinventing industry standards, taking a new approach to the business model or offering something customers can’t refuse, carving a niche in the most saturated market is possible with commitment and creativity.