Brand Relevance: Making Competitors Irrelevant - always yours

WINNING THE BRAND RELEVANCE BATTLE 31
an image of authenticity, scale economies, preemptive strategies,
and competitor inhibitions.
The fi rst mover has an opportunity to create customer loyalty
to the new offering and brand. If the exposure to and
experience with the new offering are appealing or even satisfactory,
there may be no incentive for a customer to risk trying
something that is different. Loyalty can also be based on real
customer - switching costs, perhaps involving long - term commitments.
Or there could be network externalities. If a large community
begins to use a service, such as eBay, it may be diffi cult
for another fi rm to create a competing community.
The innovator can also earn the valuable “ authentic ” label
described more in Chapter Nine . This was a factor facing competitors
such as Kirin when they tried to duplicate Asahi Super
Dry ’ s success in Japan. Being authentic is not only appealing, it
provides credibility to the innovator and interjects uncertainty
into the offering of any follower.
There are also scale economies available to the fi rst mover.
The early market leader potentially could have scale advantages
with respect to logistics, warehousing, production, back
offi ce support, management, advertising, and brand recognition
and perceptions. It is simple math. Spreading fi xed costs
like warehousing over a large sales base will result in a lower
per - unit cost.
Early market leaders can also preempt the best strategies. For
retailers that could mean securing the prime locations, for others
it could mean attaining the prime brand position. For chocolate,
for example, a prime position “ a glass of milk in every bar ”
and could be unavailable to the second brand into a market.
Preemption is particularly important if it results in a natural
monopoly (an area might be able to support only one multiplex
cinema, for example).
A competitor may be unable or unwilling to respond to
a fi rst mover ’ s offering. Technology may be a barrier, as when
competitors lacked the technology to respond to Kirin ’ s Ichiban