Do you think copy-cat competitors can help your businses or not?
I was just reading an article about how they think it can help.
http://www.free-range-humans.com/advice/copycat/
This got me to thinking about my parents and their business. Over 30 years ago they started an Asian/International grocery with a dining restaurant next door. There was no other businesses like this (Grocery/Restaurant). Over the past several years I see MANY Grocery/Restaurant among ethnic stores. If you see a Mexican, African, or Asian grocery store you’ll bet there will be a restaurant next to it now.
My parents claim that they were the ones that started that “trend”. My mom says with a little negativity “Now there’s so many other places to go and we don’t have as much customers as we used to”
I mean, we still do good but in the past it was REALLY good.
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It also made me think of Apple products and how there’s so many like their stuff now.
This is where branding can come in. While imitation is an inidication that your marketing idea is a strong one, branding will make sure that copycats don’t eat too heavily into your market share. It’s why iProducts do well. When was the last time you saw someone walking around with a zune?
You can’t BRAND a marketing idea lol or am I wrong? What the heck is a zune? My thinking that your response is probably “Exactly…”
It depends where the others are located. It’s best if they locate near you. Then you become a destination site. You build lots of businesses who bring in people who then want to eat.
In this sense, copycatting can really help.
As to why you are losing business, there could be many reasons, and it may have nothing to do with copycatting. Is your quality still as good as it was? Are there now better Thai restaurants around? Has your menu kept up? Is your chef still any good? Do your tables look old? Has the decor been redone? Restaurants can’t stay still. People get tired of them. The menu, in particular, must change. Most Asian restaurants I know never change, and after a while, they get boring. Hell. Some even start boring.
Ideally, it would force you to constantly innovate, to stay one step ahead of the curve.
Of course, many companies, like CrApple, prefer to rely on marketing(propaganda), while their product stagnates.
As long as the business is in the same country and not devaluing their own currency. Barring this you have to keep an edge by coming up with something unique only you have.
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