This document discusses marketing strategies for companies operating as market followers or niche players. It defines followers as firms that allow leaders to pioneer the market and then imitate their strategies. Followers aim to survive by targeting unattractive segments for leaders or imitating the leader's mix at a lower level. Common follower strategies include counterfeiting, cloning, imitation, and adaptation. The document also defines niche players as targeting narrowly defined, underserved groups and pursuing high profit through specialized products above the average quality and price levels in limited markets.

1. Marketing Strategies for
Followers & Nichers
Strategic
Marketing

2. Competitive Dynamics: Kotler Model
Leader Challenger Follower Nicher
• Market Leader
• Market Challenger
• Market Follower
• Market Nicher
Kotler, 1996
30%
40% 10%
20%
Hypothetical Market Structure

3. Market Position
Matrix of Market Position/Managerial Resources
Quantitative managerial resources: number of sales force, input
financial power, production capacity, etc.
Qualitative managerial resources: corporate/brand image, marketing
power, technological power, leadership of top management, etc
Origin: Shimaguchi, Mitsuaki, Integrated Marketing, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Inc., p.99

4. Market Follower
• A company that allows other more
dominant firms to lead the way within
the marketplace that it does business
in. - Business dictionary

5. Followers

6. Follower Objectives
• Keep on surviving
– To target at a market segment which is not attractive
to high-ranking firms, hence avoiding their
competitive challenges
• Set sequence
– To imitate the leader’s marketing mix by
downgrading it by one level
• Thorough cost reduction is indispensable.

7. Market Follower Strategies
• Counterfeiter
• Cloner
• Imitator
• Adapter

8. Counterfeiter
• Duplicates the leader’s product &
package and sells it on the black
market or through disreputable dealers
– India's pharmaceutical companies
suggested that in India's major cities, one
in five medicines sold was a fake.

9. Counterfeiter statistics 1

10. Counterfeiter statistics 2

11. Cloner
• The cloner emulates the leader’s
product, distribution, advertising and
so on. The cloner product and
packaging may resemble the leader’s,
while the brand name may be slightly
different. Parasitically lives off the
market leader’s investments
– eg. Branded Apparels, Electronic goods

12. Imitator
• Imitator copies something of the leader
but maintains differentiation in terms
of packaging, advertising, pricing and
so on.
• The leader doesn’t mind the imitator as
long as the imitator doesn’t attack the
leader aggressively
– Eg. Kinder Joy & Jems Surprise

13. Adapter
• Adapter takes the leaders products and
adapt or improves them.
• May select a different market to avoid
direct confrontation with the leader
• Often adapter grows into the future
challenger
• Best strategy under uncertainity

14. Mobile Phone Manufacturers

15. TV Manufacturers

16. Market Nicher
• A Niche is a more narrowly defined
group, typically a small market whose
needs are not being well served
• Niches have a distinct and complete set
of needs; pays a premium to the firm
best satisfying their needs

17. Nicher Objective
• Maintain a high profit ratio in the
limited niche segment

18. Nichers Marketing Mix
• Marketing Mix
– To provide a specific segment with a limited
product line of the quality above the medium
level at the price above a medium level
– Closed-type channel policy
– Not requiring any large-scale promotion

19. Nichers Notabilia
• To prevent other firms’ entry into the
niche market
– The niche’s market size appears too small for
other firms to find attractive
– To enforce a segmentation that no other firms
can think of
– To leverage own unique capacity no other firms
possess

20. Market Nicher Strategies
• Low Volume, High Margin
• Specialization

21. Roles open to Nichers (Specialist)
– End-User
– Vertical-Level
– Customer-size
– Specific-customer
– Geographic
– Product or product-line
– Product-feature
– Job-shop
– Quality/price
– Service
– Channel

22. End-user Specialist
• The firm specializes in serving one
type of end use customer
– Support & Services, tele-support,
boutiques,
• Vertical Marketing
– Packaging product for end user

23. Vertical-level Specialist
• The firm specializes at some vertical
level of the production-distribution
value chain
– Tailoring/Embroidery with Boutiques

24. Customer-size Specialist
• The firm concentrates on selling to
either small, medium-size or large
customers

25. Specific-customer Specialist
• The firm limits its selling to one or a
few major customers
–Ancillary units

26. Geographic Specialist
• The firm sells only in a certain locality,
region or area of the world

27. Product or product-line Specialist
• The firm carries or produces only one
product or product line
– Planet Fashion

28. Product-feature Specialist
• The firm specializes in producing a
certain type of product feature
– Herbal

29. Job-shop Specialist
• The firm customizes its product for
individual customers
– Tailors, Cobblers, Fashion designer

30. Quality/price Specialist
• The firm operates at the low or high
quality ends of the market
– Branded Apparels (Mantra), Levis

31. Service Specialist
• The firm offers one or more services
not available from other firms.
– Car wash

32. Channel Specialist
• The firm specializes in service only
one channel of distribution
– Teleshopping brands

33. Fundamental Strategies & Market Position

34. Competitive Strategies by Market Position

35. Questions?

36. Thank You