It seems like everywhere you go, you see another business offering their competitor's speciality. This is especially true in the food industry; the burger place offers chicken, the chicken place now has fish and you can get biscuits and fancy coffee almost everywhere these days. While there might be some benefit to branching out with your offerings, there is a danger in getting too far afield or diluting your brand to the point that you no longer have a speciality at all. This lesson applies to all business types.
You are probably well aware of what your competitive advantage is, and what your competition's is as well. Before you jump in and start trying to jump on the same bandwagon there are some things you should consider.
- How well does their speciality match up with ours?
- How much would it cost in both monetary terms and man hours for us to offer the same?
- What are we hoping to gain?
If the specialities match up well, there would be minimal cost and training required to add the product or service and there is strong evidence that doing so will help you reach your goals then you should green light this project and start researching your options to add it. If, on the other hand, there is an obvious mismatch, a high barrier to entry, or little chance of reaching your goals it might be wise to pass on this and seek out other options for expanding your product or service line.
Another important thing to take into consideration is your brand. You don't want to dilute your brand, confuse your customers or hinder your marketing efforts by adding new business avenues. Does this mean the chicken restaurant shouldn't serve fish? No. It just means they need to carefully consider how they are going to market the new menu item so that it complements their existing menu instead of competing with it.
If you're feeling overwhelmed by these or other business decisions, take a step back and examine your inventory. Getting a firm grasp on what stock moves the fastest and what languishes on the shelves can clearly point you in the direction you should take your business. Don't have a handle on your inventory? Then you must not be using Stockpile! Stockpile free online inventory solution allows you to quickly and easily add items, and track inventory within a single location or across multiple locations. Stockpile is fully customizable so you can add the fields that make the most sense for your business application. Plus, Stockpile allows you to run various reports so that you can always get a concise idea of where your business stands. Don't want to be a slave to the office? Stockpile has you covered. You can always access your inventory data because Stockpile is mobile compatible. Stockpile free online inventory solution makes it easy to keep your finger on the pulse of your business inventory.
Keep Your Inventory In Check with Stockpile Free Online Inventory Solution
Once you have your inventory well in hand you can get back to seriously considering how you'd like to grow your business. Just because your business started out small, that doesn't mean it has to stay that way. Keep checking back with our blog for more small business tips. Ready to start using Stockpile? Try it today!
