Winning against a dominant brand Received (in revised form): 11th February, 2020 DAVID AAKER Vice Chair of Prophet and Professor Emeritus, Berkeley-Haas School of Business David Aaker is Vice Chair of Prophet and Professor Emeritus, Berkeley-Haas School of Business. He is the author if 18 books including Owning Game-Changing Subcategories, Creating Signature Stories and Aaker on Branding and is a member of the American Marketing Association and the New York Marketing Hall of Fame. Abstract David Aaker The successful e-commerce-first brands competing against Amazon provide a road map for any firm going against a dominant player in any category. These brands engage in strategic jujitsu by exploiting Amazon’s vulnerabilities — an impersonal/functional image, being the everything store without in- depth credibility in anything, and often having the personality of a-powerful giant lacking humour or warmth. Strategies that work include developing credibility for their subcategory, a simpler choice set, a brand community, a higher purpose, a personal touch, being the feisty underdog, positioning to highlight advantages and expanding the distribution footprint by adding storefront synergies. Keywords underdog brands, e-commerce strategies, dominant brands FACING A GIANT challengers create a growth platform in Many, if not most, categories have one, that shadow? How do they neutralise the two or occasionally three dominant play- enormous assets of the market giant, or ers that that seem close to invincible. even turn those assets into a liability using Against this reality, it is challenging even some form of strategic jujitsu? A formida- for innovative firms to gain a foothold and ble task. There are many avenues to suc- create a growth platform. Consider com- cess but most involve one or both of two peting against John Deere in farm equip- precepts. ment, Apple/Samsung in smartphones, First, create a new subcategory that Logitech in computer mice and key- changes what customers are buying and boards, Campbell’s in canned soup, Lego using as described in my book Owning 1 in building toys, Burberry in rainwear, Game-Changing Subcategories. Exhibit McDonald’s in fast-food burgers, Nike in commitment and even passion to the sub- athletic footwear, Lexus/Mercedes/BMW category, which could be defined in many in luxury sedans or Tesla in electric cars. ways, such as by new features or uses, dif- These giants all have enormous advan- ferent ways to connect to customers or tages, including scale economies, brand tailoring to the needs of a market segment. David Aaker Prophet, strength and visibility, distribution clout Make a focused and specific offering an One Bush Street 7th Floor, San Francisco, and power, huge marketing budgets and advantage rather than a disadvantage. Be CA 94104, USA E-mail: [email protected] an established customer base. How do something more than an organisation that © HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 2045-855X JOURNAL OF BRAND STRATEGY V OL. 9, NO. 2, 103–112 AUTUMN/FALL 2020 103 AAKER is after sales and profit, but rather an organ- A third is a stream of customer-facing isation that puts customers, innovation ‘must haves’ that include a secure payment and quality first. Consider leading a brand system, personalised purchase suggestions, community with involved customers. an enormous product scope, low prices, Second, move beyond functionality and customer reviews, 1-click and the huge efficiency, the core advantage and often game changer, Prime. Launched in 2005, the driving strategy of the giant. Create a Prime had over 100 million members in personality that could be based on being 2019. Amazon truly became the dominant the feisty underdog, having a sense of brand.4 humour, being warm and personal or hav- How can a firm win against such a for- ing a passion for an activity. Really believe midable competitor? in a higher purpose. Have a social con- Some Amazon competitors, such as scious that is authentic and visible. Walmart, the Home Depot, Sephora One context in which to observe the and IKEA, are storefront-first retailers. winning strategies of challengers to an Their e-commerce strategy draws in part industry giant is the world of e-commerce, upon linking those physical assets with which contains one of the biggest ele- e-commerce. Many capitalise on the phants in today’s environment — Amazon. ‘buy online, pick up in-store’ option. The In 1994, Amazon begin as a book selling Home Depot, for example, says half of its e-commerce venture with the mission e-commerce purchases are now picked to have Earth’s biggest selection and be up in stores. Others encourage accessing obsessed with the customer. In just over e-commerce while in the store, especially 25 years, it became the second company to for items that are out of stock. be worth over a trillion dollars, capturing The interest here, however, is the spe- nearly 50 per cent of the U.S. e-commerce cialised digital-first e-commerce firms, market and over 90 per cent in some cat- sometimes called direct to consumer egories such as batteries and skin care.2 (D2C) companies, where there is a focus In 2019, it had nearly 200 million visitors on a type of product and/or customer to its U.S. website each month and was application led by e-commerce, where expanding rapidly globally.3 Its momen- the customer orders primarily through tum has caused the closure of storefront the website even though storefronts might retailers to increase year over year. exist. There are a host of e-commerce-first Amazon’s success is due to many factors retailers, such as clothing brands like in addition to scale economies, operational Stitch Fix, Bonobos and Everlane; Warby excellence and a strong customer base. One Parker (eyewear); Glossier (cosmetics); was its strategic decision to focus on hyper- Away Travel (luggage); Allbirds (shoes); growth and accompanying infrastructure Blue Apron (meal kits); Madison Reed investment fuelled by selling investors on (hair colour); Casper (mattresses); Boll the logic of foregoing short-term profit & Branch (bed linens); CarMax (cars); and the cash flow from the Amazon Web Ally Bank (banking); Birchbox (beauty); Services (AWS) (cloud) business launched Adore Me (lingerie); Dollar Shave Club in 2006. A second is its commitment to (razors) and Etsy (crafts). In each case, the measurement and experimentation, which goal is to become the only relevant (or allows it to leverage its data to optimise at least the most relevant) e-commerce which offerings are displayed and how they brand in that specialised product or cus- are presented, priced and promoted. tomer space. 104 © HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 2045-855X JOURNAL OF BRAND STRATEGY VOL. 9, NO. 2, 103–112 AUTUMN/FALL 2020 WINNING AGAINST A DOMINANT BRAND The good news? It is possible to com- or the motivating idea? What are the pete and win against Amazon and garner organisation values that affect its ability to a growth platform. An amazing number of deliver quality reliably? specialised digital-first brands have done Everlane, which started as a t-shirt firm just that. They have benefited, as do those in 2010 (with a market cap of US$250m in other categories facing incumbent six years later), offers transparent pricing giants, by advancing technology that cre- (you know exactly what the costs are) and ates competitive options not available only ethical factories.6,7 On the website you a few decades ago. There are, for example, can see the story of each of their dozen or Internet improvements, enhanced mobile so factories — why it was chosen, why it capabilities, increased computer power excels, pictures of the factory in operation, and better software platforms. descriptions of the owners and so on. The The key factor, however, has been system of rating factories evaluates, in par- the willingness and ability of these ticular, how the workers are treated. These e-commerce-first firms to employ the stories provide credibility that could not two strategic thrusts — new subcategory be obtained just by making assertions. formation and going beyond functional An in-house design can convincingly benefits — and leveraging those to pro- provide credibility. Warby Parker, the eye- vide a customer relationship or customer wear firm, started in 2008 (and valued at experience that is markedly different and US$1.75bn ten years later) by hiring a better.5 There follow eight strategies that veteran eyewear designer attracted to the lead to ‘must haves’ defining game-chang- opportunity to design a line from scratch. ing subcategories, strategies that follow The initial line had 27 designs that were from the two precepts of how to win fac- both functional and aesthetic and respon- ing a dominant firm. sive to current style trends. Articles about Warby Parker early on often commented on the quality of styling. The fact that it, SUBCATEGORY CREDIBILITY year after year, received high net promoter Amazon is the ‘everything store’; there- scores (per cent recommend less per cent fore, it is an expert on nothing. A key to not recommend) provided the ultimate success then is to select a specialised prod- compliment.8 The mattress brand, Casper, uct area and become the expert at least started in May 2014 (valued at US$1.1bn in the online world. It might be eyewear, five years later), designed its product from shaving equipment, mattresses, speakers or scratch by a team from IDEO, the inno- whatever. Within that arena, the goal of vation design firm in San Francisco. The your brand can be to become the most result was a single design (that later had authentic and knowledgeable source of three versions) with unique material that product. was ‘outrageously comfortable’ and named Product credibility, which starts with by Time as an invention of the year in delivering or overdelivering on the brand 2105’.9 promise, gets more traction when the Extending the brand and therefore customers know how the firm is able to the subcategory into related items can deliver.