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Best way to enter in a sector that is young but currently ran by 4 giants?

JeremyCreed99

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hi its Jeremy, i have been doing a lot market research for my new business venture while waiting for my first piece of equipment to come in the mail. i made a pro and con chart and a value list of all of known companies in this sector, but after i did this i noticed there are almost no small businesses in this sector and that both worried and excited me. on top of that there where 4 companies that always popped up on top, so i went on there websites and here's a short list of what i found

GOOD
-only 1 out of 4 had instant pricing
-they all had super high tech and interactive web sites
-all had a teams of engineers and designers(this worry's me the most)
-loads of tech info and specs online


BAD
-only one of the companies had a online store and that was so hard to find
-you had to sign in to get a quote
-they all felt so cold and lifeless
-no prices online
-could be hard for non tech people to under stand

what should i make of this? i plan on my business being a online and local, i want to target the non-tech savvy crowd and make this type of tech more main stream. i would really appreciate any input and if you need more info just ask, just go easy on me its my first time lol.
 
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Rabby

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I would start by talking to some people who you think might be customers. See if they want the thing you plan to make. Try to find out which features or aesthetics actually matter to them, if any. That's market research... what you're doing so far is what I would call "competitor research." :)
 

Rabby

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Another thought... you could ask regular folks for their opinions on the 4 existing products - and tell them honestly that it's market research. Do they care if a company is "cold and lifeless?" Does it seem complicated to them? Do they see any need for the product? Do they understand some better than others? IF you get them talking, they might even tell you how to differentiate so that your future product appeals to them.
 

JeremyCreed99

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I would start by talking to some people who you think might be customers. See if they want the thing you plan to make. Try to find out which features or aesthetics actually matter to them, if any. That's market research... what you're doing so far is what I would call "competitor research." :)

thanks i really appreciate it i didn't know the difference. i have talked to a few co workers and friends and they all seamed to really be interested my next step is to go talk to a auto body shop owner
 
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JeremyCreed99

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Another thought... you could ask regular folks for their opinions on the 4 existing products - and tell them honestly that it's market research. Do they care if a company is "cold and lifeless?" Does it seem complicated to them? Do they see any need for the product? Do they understand some better than others? IF you get them talking, they might even tell you how to differentiate so that your future product appeals to them.
the only problem im having with telling people about what services i plan to offer is that they all seem to not know or only have a extremely basic understanding of what i'm talking about. i guess i gotta figure out a way to make it simpler to explain with out losing interest
 

Rabby

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Yep. If their eyes glaze over, you won't be selling anything. Try to find the things they actually care about. If they really will care about this product once they understand it, a big part of your work as an entrepreneur (assuming this is the product you stick with) will be finding an easy way to make them understand it.
 

JeremyCreed99

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Yep. If their eyes glaze over, you won't be selling anything. Try to find the things they actually care about. If they really will care about this product once they understand it, a big part of your work as an entrepreneur (assuming this is the product you stick with) will be finding an easy way to make them understand it.
oh yes! i just dedicated to produce some sample parts once i get my machinery in this week and give them out to potential clients with a short service pitch... pray for me! and thanks

EDIT: i just noticed that this only solves the local side of things any tips for the online side of things?
 
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Rabby

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Video. If handing them the product explains it to them, then showing it to others in a video likely does the same.
 

Kid

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Btw. just to clarify, you have physical part that you want to sell online?
 

Walter Hay

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Jeremy, you are very fortunate to land on a forum where you can obtain such excellent help from people such as @Rabby. So far he has acted like a coach for you, giving you very sound advice.

I would like to chime in also with a little advice: Don't be put off by the existence of 4 giant competitors. If you do this right, you could obtain a very profitable slice of the pie.

When starting my industrial chemical business, I was undaunted by the fact that my competitors included ICI (now owned by AkzoNobel ), Dow Chemicals, Dow Corning, Hoechst and Bayer.

I grew it to the point when I was ready to sell and my little ;) business was bought by a consortium headed by one of Australia's biggest merchant banks. By that time some of those competitors were referring customers to me because they could not solve some of those customers' problems.

The moral of the story is that you can compete successfully against the giants if you can differentiate yourself from the impersonal, hide-bound, bureaucratic way the big boys operate.

Walter
 

JeremyCreed99

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Btw. just to clarify, you have physical part that you want to sell online?
its a service where i can provide custom products but i plan on having a base set of parts i can have in stock to sell
 
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JeremyCreed99

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Sep 3, 2020
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danbury connecticut
Jeremy, you are very fortunate to land on a forum where you can obtain such excellent help from people such as @Rabby. So far he has acted like a coach for you, giving you very sound advice.

I would like to chime in also with a little advice: Don't be put off by the existence of 4 giant competitors. If you do this right, you could obtain a very profitable slice of the pie.

When starting my industrial chemical business, I was undaunted by the fact that my competitors included ICI (now owned by AkzoNobel ), Dow Chemicals, Dow Corning, Hoechst and Bayer.

I grew it to the point when I was ready to sell and my little ;) business was bought by a consortium headed by one of Australia's biggest merchant banks. By that time some of those competitors were referring customers to me because they could not solve some of those customers' problems.

The moral of the story is that you can compete successfully against the giants if you can differentiate yourself from the impersonal, hide-bound, bureaucratic way the big boys operate.

Walter
Thanks Walter i was really worried about this issue and the both of you really helped with my nerves. I'm planing on making it all a very customer friendly experience with out all the "scary" words that might scare away less experienced customers. But i'm also concerned about this pushing away all the professorial big ticket sales, that's alright tho because i know we all fear the unknown.
thanks for your time! -ill have to check out your book some day it seams very interesting
 
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