By Moses Baguma
According to my little experience in entrepreneurship, I’ve learnt something which I can unlearn if dynamics dictate otherwise.
I’ve learnt: before venturing into any business, seek to understand how far that business has evolved and determine whether there’s anything new or unique you can put on market.
If there’s nothing new you can offer, then It’ll be so hard( if not impossible) to succeed — that’s making resonable profits. When you happen to have a business option(s) which hasn’t evolved fully, it might actually be the better alternative.
I’ll give an example; I see many people venturing in bottled water business. What’s any unique thing one can add to the bottled water business? I’m not surprised many such businesses have failed to make it.
The only competitive ground available is branding. Water has no taste. There’s nothing unique one can add to a final product like water besides different packaging.
One can successfully venture into soda or juice production because; albeit many kinds of soda are on market, it’s possible to add a unique taste of soda or juice on market. It’s easier then to succeed with a unique product because clients can opt for it and nothing else. If I’m thirsty and need to quench my thirst, I can surely go for any brand of bottled water because any water on market can satiate thirst.
Without evidence that a certain brand of water isn’t safe for consumption, all brands can only compete on the marketing front and width of the supply network.
If I want to take juice or soda, I might not go for any kind; because different sodas and juices have different tastes. I’ll go for the soda or juice which has a taste I rate as best.
A unique product can market itself through ripple effect — without paying extra or paying less money for marketing and hence increased profitability.
