Time and again, market share is mentioned by companies, analysts and media as a measure of how successful a brand is. Sure it is a measure, but just one of the measures of success. While market share is a motive for all companies, not all of them need to live and die by it. Companies can have different measures for success – from overall profitability to margins to average customer yield and so on. In some cases, gaining market share in a particular category may actually be putting pressure on company margins. Low-priced glucose biscuits sell in huge volumes in India. But no brand survive by expanding market share in that segment as it offers virtually no margins; that company will need a higher margin category to operate in. Point is, no one, other than the top management of a company will ever be in a position to figure out if the company is successful by its own parameters of success.
In this context, I find analysts and VCs mouthing ‘Android has won’ in the context of mobile phones a bit one sided. Sure, Android has won comprehensively in the market share game. But other players in the field may consciously choose not to play in that game. Ahem, you know who.
It is like equating the success of premium luxury hotel chains only by their ‘market share’ – that too among ALL hotel brands (including the lodges, 1 & 2-star hotels). Sounds wrong, doesn’t it?
photo credit: madlyinlovewithlife via photopin cc
4 Comments
Views on market share, good read http://t.co/k9hbcAAqqc via @bhatnaturally
RT @bhatnaturally: Market share is not the only measure of brand success http://t.co/nru1oueItp #blogplug
RT @bhatnaturally: Market share is not the only measure of brand success http://t.co/nru1oueItp #blogplug
Market share is not the only measure of brand success: http://t.co/0gPWHDxXkU #marketing #marketingchat #brandworms