I’ve just spent most of the day discussing and planning vertical market (or niche market) positioning of some brands. Most of the time the question is how thin should we slice our market, how many “artificial†products should there be in order to find as many small ponds to conquer. This is of course in line with Crossing the Chasm book which recommends going for niche markets first in order to be able to gain enough market traction.
Afterwards I went to supermarket to buy some food and also get new shaving cream. For some reason I got confused by the sheer volume of choice and different customization they had to offer me: protection, ultra comfort, conditioning, deep cleansing, etc. At first point I thought that this is conquer intuitive since they give user too much choice, then I realized that if I think about in context of niches it makes sense. They also use a lot of shelf space that can not be occupied by their competition.
Right now I’ve found myself in “ultra comfort†shaving cream, but the real homework is to figure out how to create different website packages that do not only differentiate in sense of volume and price but also offer optional conditioning, ultra comfort or maybe deep cleansing.
