5. VALUE-ADDED SERVICE: She goes around with a small transparent plastic bucket containing cooked beans which she sells to her customers. While most businesses have stuck to only one need of their customers even when other business opportunities have emerged in the value chain of their business,these hawkers realized that their customers need something else to eat with their bread apart from only butter they introduced some two decades ago,they quickly introduced cooked peppered beans and like magic, their customers rewarded them with more patronage and loyalty. While it’s good to start small, you must not lose sight of emerging customers need and opportunities so you won’t be left behind.Some years ago, Microsoft used to look down on Apple and Google and when opportunities emerged in the mobile business,they ignored it while Google and Apple took the plunge.That single delay by Microsoft caused it to lose a significant section of the ICT business to its competitors and when they decided to’go mobile’,they are left with doing the catching up.Look closely at your business,what the emerging customer needs your competitors are ignoring?
6. PRICE: This credit should actually go to their Yoruba culture that provide a system where food price must accommodate even the poor in the society. They achieve this by dividing a single product into smaller portions so that a customer who can’t afford the price of the whole product can still buy the product. These hawkers use bread knife to cut the loaf into halves or quarters and split the price into two and four respectively.This business strategy is called price differentiation. She does it to ensure that her bread reaches and enjoy patronage from different sections of the society.It’s time for you to take a second look at your pricing strategy, you may still have an opportunity to increase your market share by using the right and effective price strategy.
Dangote Cement did same thing recently by having different price strategy and product-mix of cement while MTN recently introduced N500 airtime ostensibly after seeing that the difference between the N400 airtime card and N750 airtime card is blocking out the price preference of some of their customers. (to be continued)
Meet Jumoke Orisaguna in this video of her interview below
N:B ‘Biz Lifelines With Sunkanmi Vaughan’ on 103.5 Radio One now holds every Monday ( 6-6:15am; AM edition) and Wednesday (9:40-9:50pm; PM Edition).
Sunkanmi Vaughan is the host of ‘Bizlifelines With Sunkanmi Vaughan’ on radio and author of the most comprehensive business opportunity handbook; ‘1000+ Practical Business Ideas and Directory of Money Sources’.