Three strategies for combating big competitors

The second phase. There are indeed nuggets of collected wisdom from some of industries smartest and most innovative businesspeople, including jewelry thinkers. 

Many independent jewelers, for example, have joined forces to become successful gorilla fighters. One of these organizations is California-based Leading Jewelers Guild, a 70-store cooperative, guided by Jimmy West, which has been exchanging best practices and has developed into an excellent management and operational “to-do” resource.

Of course, there are also some very nimble big gorillas, as well as some stodgy executives in small companies. Gorillas, in other words, come in all shapes and sizes as do the jewelry companies that slay them. You get the idea.

For the sake of this discussion, we are simply deliberating smarts versus brawn. We are looking for ways to prevent the gorilla from eating us. 

Before we list a few techniques to use in halting, or at least wounding, the gorilla, there are a few undeniable facts that puts the big player at a distinct competitive disadvantage, namely the constraint of an immense budget, a political organization and an abundance of time. These are missiles for the small jeweler and a curse for the gorilla.

Since the small jeweler doesn’t have the budget or head count, Mary is forced to make choices. She and her team have to think harder with more force, with better focus, with superior motivation and with surprising innovation.  But her lean organization also allows her to make decisions quicker.

On the other hand, gorillas with their huge budgets simply throw money at problems. They have the money and manpower but Mary has the time and the opportunity to think hard, innovate and execute. These efforts will have a longer lasting and more powerful effect on her store.
 
Not all the following three strategies will work for the smaller jewelry store but many will. None of these are silver bullets or “fire-and-forget” tools, of course, as all require work and energy. Remember, many gorillas may see the Mary-types as a scrappy competitor with next to nothing to lose.

Thin ice. Always look for a place to find an edge. Create your own thin ice where the gorilla won’t go.

Mary’s store is, and should act like, a local brand. Start by joining local organizations (e.g., the YMCA and the local country club) and spread the word to local schools and groups that you are the owner of a small jewelry retail brand with a large, out-of-town jewelry chain breathing down your proverbial neck. Hire an intern, or interns, from the local high school.

Organize programs for key political players to join you on sourcing trips to jewelry shows (JA New York, JCK, the shows in Hong Kong and Baselworld.)

Design questionnaires to gauge local tastes and preferences to maximize the brand. Join social networking organizations and cater to local schools and colleges. Insulate and differentiate your brand from the gorilla.

Speed. Gorillas have a culture of processes. You have, or are developing, a culture of speed.

Gorillas form a style evaluation committee for a particular piece or line while Mary simply places that style or line in her showcase. Gorillas form subcommittees. Mary places a second style in her showcase. Gorillas form an evaluation team to evaluate the first style. Mary is shipping her third style.

Today, it’s safer to make decisions on opinion, as gorillas do.  You make decisions on evidence, which is faster, correct and dependable.

Fighting dirty. The key point here, of course, is to do no harm to the gorilla or to the store. Mary should shy away from the gorilla’s massive advertising budget and focus her small spotlight on her store, matching her trumpet with the gorilla’s orchestra.

For example, Mary could (should) offer better prices, or at least have a mixture of loss leaders, to fight the gorilla’s higher price structure based on its overhead and costs.  Maybe the gorilla will be forced to change its pricing strategy.

Instead of spending advertising dollars, Mary could write articles in the local newspaper that her store brand is the only store in town that sells silver jewelry (assuming the gorilla doesn’t) or that it has the best employee benefits in town (assuming it does) or that the gorilla’s parent company is rumored to be owned by a foreign company.

 Finally, instead of looking at the gorilla and being intimidated by its size and power, don’t forget to think how the gorilla must be viewing you and wondering what they stand to lose.

Remember, the mouse fears the elephant as much as the elephant fears the mouse.