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Do you compete with yourself?

by CyberAlien
7 replies
How many people here own multiple products/services that compete with each other? Like the same base product with a few extra features and marketed towards a different niche?

This can always be a great way to market because if you lose a customer of one product, they could easily signup for another that you own.

For example, there is a single company that owns BlueHost, HostMonster, JustHost, LunarPages, iPage, etc. so if they lose a customer, there is a good chance they just signup with a sister-company.

Just some food for thought
#compete
  • Profile picture of the author jdwebwork
    You get quite a few companies like that. They UK companies Shop Direct Group & JD Williams have multiple brands of catalog company. Each one sells lots of the same products but the catalogs each have their own unique products aimed at a certain niche. Its a good way to work in my opinion.
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  • Profile picture of the author barbling
    I'll never forget how surprised I was when I found out that many of the competing mattress companies (Sealy, Serta, etc.) are owned by the same parent company.

    Same thing goes for eyeglasses.

    I made a video about that....


    And this has some fun info:

    Going to the Mattresses - Slate Magazine

    The bigname mattress companies are all owned by Leggett Platt. Makes sense for them!
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  • Profile picture of the author sirtiman
    Better have same compete products, because can be back up if you down one of yours or you can sell one of it.
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    • Profile picture of the author funkynassau
      An afterthought - many years ago a friend who was a grocery store mgr told me that Sani Flush toilet bowl cleaner and another similar product (forget the name) were made by the same company. One was about 20 cents cheaper than the other. That was my intro to the world of making your own competition. I thought it was weird at the time but it sure isnt!
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      ChipFixx custom mixed auto touchup paint kits.
      http://www.chipfixx.ca

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  • Profile picture of the author funkynassau
    We are in the process of setting up our own competition, the new biz will cater to an upscale market. We also have plans for a commercial version of what we do. I am fortunate to have a biz marketing grad son who comes up with these ideas that I never thought of. It seemed so obvious once he said it, but really it never occurred to me.
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    ChipFixx custom mixed auto touchup paint kits.
    http://www.chipfixx.ca

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  • Profile picture of the author CyberAlien
    I don't see a whole lot of this going on around here (or at least doesn't look like it) but it is definitely something people should consider. If you can take a niche, even if it is smaller, and form a monopoly on it then you own every customer because they have no other alternative.
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  • Profile picture of the author CyberAlien
    It really isn't that weird of a think to do, you just have to make sure that when you're marketing, it is towards your real competitors and not yourself
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