Define your ebusiness strategy

When it comes to business, our business strategists forget history and propagate war, writes Puneet Mehrotra.

The key to your business success

HT Image

The Vietnam War, 47,369 deaths, $140 billion spent and the outcome nothing. Fast forward to 2003, the Gulf War, enormous resources dumped down the drain. The result, from the frying fan into the fire. Twenty-one centuries after the birth of Christ and thousands of wars later, how many problems have wars solved? Back home what military couldn't achieve in 17 years in Kashmir, a few words of diplomacy and a statesman ex-Prime Minister and the results are still showing.

Yet when it comes to business our business strategists forget history and propagate war. This war is of a different kind of course, a price war. But a war is a war, whether it's a price war or a soldier to soldier combat. As a humble e-commerce strategist I suggest exorcise the ghost of Bush in you and re-define your business strategy. The price war strategy is a war and as I said earlier wars don't help. Similarly, a price war definitely cannot help your business in the long run.

On the Internet, a potential customer has multiple choices on the click on a button. For the online company that boils down to stiff competition. To stand out of the flock companies resort to the low price tactic. But has anyone told these companies this tactic is more a sign of desperation than sustainability in the long run. Even if a large company does successfully implement this tactic due to economies of scale, what makes the younger brother think he can replicate big brother's success?

What strategy to then adopt?

Service as the differentiating factor

Every customer likes to be delighted. Delight him, make service your USP. Deliver him service he doesn't even expect. Charge a small premium for this. In turn you get a client probably for life, your revenues soar and let's not forget the 1-4 equation most of us learnt in our b-schools, one satisfied customers tells four others.

Value Addition as the differentiating factor

Offer value to the customer. Value could also mean combining the core product with tacit service, or value addition in the supply chain or even value addition in the peripheral product or service.

Positioning as the differentiating factor

Positioning in Trout speak means "how you differentiate in the mind of the customer". For those who didn't follow what I am talking about I would suggest read "The Battle for Your Mind" written by Al Ries, Jack Trout. By the way this battle isn't really a battle. You are forgiven if you do on to fight it.

The mind of the customer is what your business should be working at. If you can position your product or service in the way you want him to perceive, then success is just a short mile away.

Strengths - your muscle to differentiate

Yamila Diaz busts off what she best has. Pamela Anderson's silicon wonders, Britney's gyrations Laetitia Casta's soft curves have lent muscle to many imaginations. What made them successful? They merely showed off what they best had and the world focussed on them.

Let the strengths of your e-business be your muscle and see how success follows.

The Bottom Line

Times are tough, business is competitive yet there is success like never before to be achieved. A price war definitely isn't the surest way to success. As an online entrepreneur what you need to do is put your thinking cap on and think of strategies that best suit your business.

Puneet Mehrotra is a web strategist atwww.Cyberzest.comand editswww.MidnightEdition.comyou can email him on puneet@cyberzest.com