Chapter 6 Chapter 5 Finding market gaps

In the past, we often used "survive in the cracks" to describe the difficult situation, but in today's business society, if your company can take root in a crack that no one else can see, then it will suffer more resistance than others. The business is much smaller and will bear fruit sooner.After it survives, it can thrive and strive for more nutrients for its own development.That is to say, entrepreneurs with small capitals should learn to look for profitable gaps in the market, so as to establish their own unique and attractive business fields.In this way, the pressure and resistance of starting a business will be much less, and there is no need to worry about new entrants and competition.

In Chapter 4, we mentioned that entrepreneurship needs to formulate feasible goals and plans, but the formulation of goals and plans should not be imagined out of thin air, but based on predictions.The first step is to do market research.In foreign countries, the implementation of any work must be based on market research.If an enterprise makes a marketing decision that conforms to the conclusion of the investigation after a sufficient and large amount of market research, but unfortunately fails in practice, the leader of the enterprise will shrug his shoulders and think that he is unfortunate, and then look for solutions to the problem again. method.On the contrary, if a marketing decision is made and implemented based on experience, feeling, judgment, etc. without market research, regardless of success or failure, this person can pack up and leave immediately.This shows the important position of market research in the decision-making process, which is something every entrepreneur should keep in mind.

McDonald's Market Research American McDonald's has rapidly developed from an unknown fast food restaurant to an international fast food operation group with more than 500 branches in China and more than 4,000 branches in more than 40 countries and regions around the world. There are many valuable experiences that can be used for reference.A question that many people are interested in is, how did their marketing department achieve such a rapid and large-scale market expansion?In fact, the answer is very simple. The marketing department of McDonald's just followed one of the tenets, that is: use the success of market research to ensure the success of marketing.

It is said that McDonald's was going to invest in Beijing.So I sent two staff members to a bustling street in Beijing to do market research.The first market researcher looked at the bustling street and went back with the crowd.Back at the headquarters, I told the person in charge that Beijing is very prosperous and has a lot of people, so a McDonald's can be opened here.The second market researcher also came to this road section. From morning to night, he took out the watch according to the time period to make the distribution of the flow of people in each time period, and calculated the number of people passing by every minute and every hour during the peak period of each time period. The number of people flow has been counted and recorded.Then it took a few more days to conduct a sample survey of people of different age groups in the form of giving small gifts to learn about their feelings and preferences for foreign fast food.After several days of investigation, the investigators who returned to the headquarters handed over such a detailed market research report to the person in charge.I believe that after seeing this, you are smart enough to guess whose report was adopted later and entrusted with the important task of being the person in charge of investment in the Chinese market.

"If you don't do market research, you deserve to die", although this sentence is ugly, it is the heartfelt words summed up by many people in their success or failure experiences.Don't underestimate a simple market research work, the degree of market demand saturation, as well as the competitive advantages and disadvantages of all aspects, play a vital role in the success of the enterprise. Of course, the market research we are talking about here also includes market analysis.A well-trained entrepreneur will generally do market research and market analysis before investing in a project, and then make a business plan.The role of market research and analysis is that entrepreneurs can formulate strategic plans based on the results of the analysis, analyze the external macro environment of investment projects, industry competition structure, market structure, competition situation, etc., and then do a good job in market segmentation and market positioning.Only the business plan made after actual and in-depth market research and analysis is feasible and convincing.

In today's fiercely competitive environment, it is especially important to be the first.For entrepreneurs who have just entered the market, it is too difficult to be the strongest and largest first, but you can definitely be the fastest and most innovative first.When you can carve out a piece of "virgin land" of your own, you can stand proudly in the number one position.To be the first means to stand at the commanding heights of the market, hold the initiative, and of course the profits will be considerable.On the contrary, if you are timid, dare not try to innovate by yourself, and wait to see others succeed before following others, trying to get a share of the pie, in many cases you will only end up with "the others picked up the watermelon and I pick up the sesame seeds".Therefore, if you want to start a business successfully, you must dare to be the first person to eat crabs.With scientific analysis and detailed market research as the basis, entrepreneurs have sufficient reasons to try to innovate, keep exploring, and find out the path that suits them and the company's development.

Anta led by a person who has the courage to "eat crabs" The entrepreneurial history of every successful entrepreneur has a development process from scratch.And Anta, under the leadership of Ding Zhizhong, thrived step by step and continued to mature. As the first sports shoe company in China to use sports stars to advertise, Anta President Ding Zhizhong was called "the first person to eat crabs". In the following years, the Chinese shoe industry became a stage where sports stars and entertainment stars competed for beauty. "Star Wars" and "Advertising Wars" made China's sports shoes market full of gunpowder. In this war and the subsequent brand wars, Anta has always maintained a leading position.

In the 1980s, in the summer after graduating from junior high school, 17-year-old Ding Zhizhong proposed to develop in Beijing, but his family did not understand.His father asked him to explain why.Ding Zhizhong said, every day, outsiders take money to buy things, and they can sell almost everything. Why don't we take the initiative to sell Jinjiang's products?Ding's father's shoe factory was just established at that time, and the economy was not well-off, but he was persuaded by his son, and Ding Zhizhong bought 600 pairs of Jinjiang shoes and sold them in Beijing for more than 10,000 yuan.

In order to put Jinjiang's goods on the counter of Xidan shopping mall in Beijing, Ding Zhizhong went to the people in the shopping mall every day. At first, others disagreed and said to him: "How old are you, you just ran out to do business?" Ding Zhizhong bit his bullet Said he was 20 years old.Regardless of other people's expressions, he sincerely introduced the advantages of Jinjiang's products. After going there for more than a month, the people in the mall finally agreed to go to Jinjiang to have a look.Ding Zhizhong was so happy that he hurried back to Jinjiang to prepare.In the end, Ding Zhizhong won special counters for the shoe factory in Jinjiang in all the big shopping malls in Beijing.In just two years, Ding Zhizhong opened up the most authoritative and difficult sales channel in Beijing - Beijing Wangfujing Shopping Center.

The first person to eat the crab successfully opened up the market.On the one hand, Jinjiang has a rich source of goods, and on the other hand, it has a broad sales channel. Isn't it possible to make a steady profit on this?But in 1991, Ding Zhizhong returned to Jinjiang again.It turned out that the low price sales of Jinjiang shoes in Beijing deeply stimulated Ding Zhizhong.At that time, a considerable part of the well-known "Qingdao Double Star" and Shanghai Torch brand shoes in the market were already produced in Jinjiang, which shows that the quality of Jinjiang products is no problem.With the 200,000 yuan earned in four years, Ding Zhizhong reopened the factory in Jinjiang. At that time, his idea was very clear: he must make the company bigger and the brand famous.

In 1999, a domestic shoe industry's advertising war and sports star war were born, and Ding Zhizhong once again became the first person to eat crabs. 1.6 million yuan, "I choose, I like", Kong Linghui became Anta's image spokesperson for two years; 5 million yuan is the budget price for Anta's advertising on CCTV.As a result, with Kong Linghui's outstanding performance in the Olympic Games and his very personal "I choose, I like", Anta quickly completed brand establishment and communication, and greatly stimulated the growth of the market.The result of this "crab eating" is: from 2000 to 2004, for four consecutive years, Anta's sports shoes market share ranked first in the country. The successful establishment of the "Anta" brand stems from Ding Zhizhong's unique vision, which is widely publicized by the celebrity effect.Because in this field, Ding Zhizhong was the first person to eat crabs.But we can also see that before that, Ding Zhizhong had bravely fought for the first place more than once.To be a successful entrepreneur, like Ding Zhizhong, one must have a keen vision and amazing courage to cultivate a "virgin land" suitable for the development of oneself or the enterprise. Today, in order to win in the corporate jungle with increasingly homogeneous products and increasingly fierce market competition, entrepreneurs must have the concept of market segmentation, that is, through market research, according to consumers' needs and desires, purchasing behaviors and purchasing strategies. The market classification process that divides the market of a certain product into several consumer groups based on differences in habits and other aspects.Each consumer group is a segmented market, and each segmented market is a group of consumers with similar demand tendencies.You should never try to satisfy all the needs of all the people.As long as a company or a brand can meet some of the needs of some people and persist in continuous improvement, it can enjoy the cake of success and wealth. The Secret of Shi Yuzhu's Success At present, the status quo of the domestic market is that all the princes are gathering, no one can win, no one can eat anyone, the market has not been upgraded, and everyone is fighting for the same market.At this time, if an external force intervenes to break the balance of the game, it is likely to change this phenomenon.This is exactly what Shi Yuzhu did. Under the existing market, he successfully used the cutting technique to maximize the seemingly inconspicuous market segments (gift-giving market, online game market). Melatonin, which we are all too familiar with, is in the form of capsules and oral liquids in terms of specifications, so as to distinguish it from other health care products. , delivering vitamins to various groups of people as a selling point; similarly, when the domestic market was blank, Shi Yuzhu made the online game "Zhengtu" tailored for Chinese netizens, and "Going on the journey to earn wages" has also become a popular slogan; I also saw the concept of gold wine, which was also made in response to the needs of gift giving. It successfully introduced Wuliangye, the leader in the wine industry, into the health wine market.Later, when "Eagle Brand" and "Chuyuan" and some other well-known brands followed up later, it was no longer important to Shi Yuzhu. Shi Yuzhu's move made it possible for every market to grow bigger.In the past, everyone only knew how to fight to the death for the market, and no one was willing to use their brains on "demand behavior".Even advertising on CCTV is nothing more than educating the same group of consumers in the same market, and the result is naturally a lose-lose situation for both sides.But Shi Yuzhu's success has shown us another possibility.As an entrepreneur, what you need to learn from him is to be good at discovering opportunities for subdividing industries, and conduct reasonable market segmentation based on product characteristics, so as to lay the foundation for successful entrepreneurship. So, how should entrepreneurs carry out market segmentation?Generally speaking, the following steps can be followed: select the product market scope according to the demand; list the basic needs of potential customers; analyze the different needs of potential customers; remove the common needs of potential customers; temporarily name the sub-market; further understand the details Characteristics of the submarkets; measure the size of each submarket.The above steps basically determine the type of each sub-market, and then measure the number of potential customers in each sub-market.If the number of customers is too small, the market may not be worth lingering on. For entrepreneurs, the role of "good ideas" is self-evident.If you want to start a business, you must first have a good idea. Where does this idea come from?When looking for inspiration in many ways, entrepreneurs may wish to pay more attention to the various opportunities around them, maybe the gold mine is by your side.All the problems, changes, competitions, new knowledge, and new technologies in your surrounding environment may become sources of valuable business opportunities. Paying more attention to these aspects will have a much better effect than staring at a distant place. restless gold digger In 1850, a surprising piece of news brought people endless hopes and fantasies: a large gold mine was discovered in the western United States, and everyone was dreaming of gold panning.As a result, countless people who wanted to get rich overnight flocked to the once inaccessible, desolate and barren western land.Levi Strauss was in his 20s at the time, and the adventure factor in his heart was just around the corner. The natural restlessness of the Jews made him uneasy to be a stable clerk. He was eager to take risks, and gambled through his own labor and luck. So he gave up this too boring job and joined the mighty gold rush. After he arrived, he realized how reckless he was. The once desolate west is now full of gold diggers and tents everywhere. With so many people living in tents, can their dream of getting rich be realized?Can you return with satisfaction?Could it be that he abandoned his job and came here, just waiting hopelessly?He fell into deep thought. Then, he opened a small daily necessities store, no longer digging for gold from the soil, but starting his new dream from the gold diggers.The business of the small shop is very good, but the canvas is neglected, and it seems to be losing money.He originally thought that tents were a necessity for people, so he bought a lot of canvas, but he didn't expect that no one cared about it. Looking at the backlog of canvas, he was very frustrated. At this time, a gold digger came up and stared at the canvas.He hurriedly went forward happily and asked enthusiastically: "Do you want to buy some canvas to build a tent?" The worker shook his head: "I don't need to build another tent, what I need is something as hard and wear-resistant as a tent." Do you have trousers?" "Trousers? Why?" asked Levi Strauss in amazement.The worker told him that the work of panning for gold is very hard, and the clothes and pants are often rubbed against stones and sand, and the pants made of cotton are not durable and will be worn out in a few days. "If these thick canvases are used to make trousers, they must be strong and durable, and they may be very popular!" The words of the gold diggers reminded Levi Strauss.He thought, these canvases can't be sold anyway, why not try making pants?So, with an idea, he used the thick canvas he brought to imitate a pair of novel and durable brown work pants specially made by Jayne, a shepherd in the western United States, and sold them to the miners. Thus, the world's first canvas overalls, later called "jeans", were born in the hands of Levi Strauss.At that time, it was called "Levi's overalls" by the workers.When jeans became popular all over the world, Levi really hit his gold mine. Every problem breeds opportunity.In front of the real gold mine, what Li Wei saw was another gold mine.What about entrepreneurs?Gold mines are everywhere around us, the key depends on whether you have those eyes.Entrepreneurship requires opportunities, and opportunities depend on discovery.How to find suitable entrepreneurial opportunities?How to grasp business opportunities?These are all things you have to learn.Of course, finding gold mines is not an easy task. This requires entrepreneurs to watch, listen, and think more, develop the habit of market research, and have their own unique thinking. Opportunities to ignore or forget. The reason why people have fewer and fewer questions and less and less curiosity after they grow up is because most people's thinking patterns have been formed in the process of continuous learning while growing up.All kinds of affairs in the living environment have been taken for granted, and many products actually have certain standards.But sometimes, entrepreneurship needs to be different, because the ideological system formed under the standardization system and mass production thinking can no longer meet people's needs for individualization. Too much "rational thinking" sometimes indulges one's own experience and kills one's own innovation.As entrepreneurs, we should not have too many worries.We should let our imagination fly, think boldly, and even find someone who dares to imagine to help us imagine together.There are many entrepreneurial guidance experts who think that "you should be bold when you think, and be careful when you do it."Yes, blind action is risky, so should we act entirely on the results of "market research"?Not quite. Spaghetti in the shape of a kitten Would you eat pasta shaped like a football, a kitten, a sailboat or a goat?Yep, that's what John and Carey Aron of Nashville, Tennessee decided to do with plain old pasta.Pasta in this shape is just a small sample of the delicacies produced and sold by Allen's company, The Pasta Shoppe. The Allen brothers gave up life as corporate employees and left New York in 1993 to realize their dream of starting their own company.Pasta is their entrepreneurial passion, and they feel that they can make unique pasta products with higher quality than most manufacturers in the market today.Therefore, they bend the original ordinary type of product in a distinctive way to create valuable product variants.In the process, the two entrepreneurs turned a unique idea into a viable business popular with young people. When you find that the cute noodles are not only beautiful but also delicious, will you become a loyal customer of this store?It also sells pasta, and this shop can be famous all over the world. Deliciousness is one of the important reasons, but you must not ignore the credit for those strange shapes.Sometimes people decide to buy your product for one reason only, and that is to look “different”! Take, for example, a hard-shell backpack, which is available in some shopping malls in Shanghai.The plastic shell is hard and round; it doesn't feel good, and the appearance is not very beautiful.If you "arbitrarily think" that this design called "dinosaur eggs" will not have a market, you are wrong, and you will see many little girls come to "group shopping".why?The price of this product is more expensive than ordinary school bags.Maybe you don't understand it, but those children who are many years younger than you do.They obviously don't "analyze how the product or service will benefit us", they just say "don't you think this bag is weird, it's hard shell!" You see, that's why they buy it. The entrepreneurial histories of successful people are unique, and they think differently from the beginning.As the leader of SWATCH, the world famous watch that is best at "unconventional" said: "My 60-year-old body has a 6-year-old heart inside, so I can lead SWATCH to continue to innovate in the watch industry." However, it should be noted that not every bold idea can be transformed into an entrepreneurial opportunity.So, how to judge a good business opportunity? Professor Jeffrey A. Demos, the author of "Entrepreneurship in the 21st Century", proposed that a good business opportunity has the following four characteristics: first, it can attract customers; second, it can work well in your business environment third, it must be launched in time before competitors think of it, and there is enough time for marketing; fourth, you must have the resources related to it, including people, money, materials, information, time and skills.If you want to start a business, you can keep it in mind and use it as a reference.