Who This Article Is For
- Owners seeking a way beyond price competition
- People deciding new business or service directions
- Small teams working with limited budgets
Apply Blue Ocean Strategy to Find a Different Basis for Small-Business Value
Summary
Use blue ocean thinking to review industry assumptions, reduce unnecessary features, reach noncustomers, and test valuable differences before expanding.
Published
A Useful Approach for Small Businesses
Competing directly on price, features, and advertising strains limited resources. Consider avoiding the same competitive basis by creating a different value proposition.
What Is Blue Ocean Strategy?
It creates new value and demand rather than competing only within an established market.
It need not require a revolutionary invention.
Two ideas matter:
- Identify value customers actually want.
- Reduce or remove assumed industry features.
Recombine, stop, and simplify alongside adding.
Why Companies Remain in Price Competition
Common patterns include:
- Adding the same features as competitors
- Winning through slightly lower prices
- Following industry habits unchanged
- Responding to competitors rather than customers
- Struggling to explain differences
Small differences disappear when everyone competes on the same assumptions.
Ways to Find New Value
List Industry Assumptions
Consider prices, delivery, range, service, locations, features, and customization. The list reveals where similar competition consumes effort.
Ask whether each factor is necessary.
Reduce, Eliminate, Raise, and Create
| Perspective | Question |
|---|---|
| Reduce | What could be below the usual level? |
| Eliminate | What is unnecessary? |
| Raise | What deserves more attention? |
| Create | What value is missing from the industry? |
For example, unused features may matter less than quick setup and manageable operation. Removing excess can create value.
Look at Noncustomers
Consider people who:
- Are interested but find it expensive
- Need it but avoid the effort
- Dislike the industry’s atmosphere
- Use alternatives
Their reasons for staying away suggest demand beyond existing customers.
A Practical Process
List Competitive Factors
Examples include:
- Price
- Delivery time
- Quality
- Range
- Support
- Number of stores
- Features
- Customization
Choose where your business should compete.
Change the Balance of Value
Trying to excel in everything raises costs. Decide what to reduce as well as improve.
For example:
- Narrow scope but deepen expertise
- Limit features but speed up adoption
- Keep fewer stores but deepen local service
These choices change the comparison basis.
Test Small
Examples include:
- A limited plan
- One region
- Selected existing customers
- An initial landing page or sales document
Assess which words resonate, which value is understood, and where people hesitate alongside sales.
I recommend SpreadSite, the service I developed for creating websites from spreadsheets, for testing service explanations online. Add pages and revise propositions and cases yourself. Give it a try! SpreadSite
Pitfalls
Difference Needs Customer Value
Check:
- Whether people have a reason to pay
- Whether the difference reduces effort or frustration
An internally interesting idea can still fail to meet a need.
Low Competition Still Needs Demand
Check:
- Whether the problem exists
- Whether people will pay
- Whether demand can continue
See How to Test Hypotheses Through Small Experiments (Japanese) for deciding evaluation criteria and interpreting responses.
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To test a new service message and revise it through website updates you can manage, give SpreadSite a try!
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About the Author
Thank you for reading!
I develop and operate SpreadSite, a service for creating websites from spreadsheets.
It helps people with limited time and money communicate what makes their work appealing. Consider it if you need a website! SpreadSite
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can small businesses use the strategy?
A: Yes. Limited resources make avoiding direct price competition particularly valuable.
Q: Must I invent a new product?
A: No. Change the value balance, remove unnecessary elements, or serve another audience.
Q: Where can I find opportunities?
A: Consider noncustomers and their reasons for avoiding the offering: price, effort, confusion, or atmosphere.
Q: Is uniqueness enough?
A: No. A worthwhile difference needs demand and customer value.
Q: Where should I begin?
A: List comparison factors, then decide what to reduce, eliminate, raise, or create.
