Who is Your Competitor ???

There are many ways to brand development. One such way is brand extension wherein a company extends its brand to various categories.

One such brand in league of brand development is Horlicks. Horlicks was introduced in market as a health drink. It then extended into biscuit category. Now it has extended to another class of products namely functional foods category with its new Horlicks Nutri-Bar. This energy bar is positioned as a ready-made healthy solution to hunger.

Well, the category extension is fine and rational, but I hope that the marketers don’t get infected by Competition Myopia, wherein the marketers view the competitors too narrowly. In this case, Horlicks Nutri-Bar may see itself as the pioneer in cereal bars category, but they are not the only one in ready-to-eat hunger satisfying food class. In this context or category, we have a major competitor, namely Mars Snickers, which has a positioning similar to Horlicks Nutri-Bar, though it comes in confectionery category.

Horlicks Nutri-Bar is a recently launched product, while Snickers is an established player. Horlicks has to identify its competitors, and strategize accordingly to highlight its POD (Point Of Difference) and gain SCA (Sustainable Competitive Advantage).