Gianna Blawas – 1 April 2025 9:04am
With the rising popularity of water bottles, a multitude of brands have become well known for their stainless steel water bottles. The most popular two are considered to be Stanley cups and Hydroflasks!
How do traditional rivalry strategies compare to praising the competition in this situation? Let’s find out!
Traditional Rivalry:
Traditional rivalry tends to be pretty cutthroat. These strategies include competing for potential customers and competing for rival’s customers. According to Oregon State, “As new potential customers develop, rivals fight to win them and develop this potential pool of resources for their own. The challenge for organizations that are developing potential customers is to understand what is driving customers’ choice for which “pipe” to flow through. That is, what motivates their buying behavior? Their choices will be driven by competitors’ decisions and actions, especially marketing and sales activities, relative price, relative perceived performance of competing products, and mechanisms such as word of mouth reinforcing growth. Traditional rivalry tends to be pretty cutthroat. These strategies include competing for potential customers and competing for rival’s customers. Competitors battle to steal resources that have been developed and controlled by their rivals at the same time as they fight to prevent their own resources from being lured away. The rate at which customers choose to leave one firm for another reflects the comparison of price and benefits (value for money) between the rivals. This flow of customers between competing suppliers may, however, be moderated by switching costs.”
Stanley and Hydroflask essentially produce the same product, but in different styles. They traditionally aim to compete through the latest aesthetics or trends in the styles of their water bottles.
Competitor Praise:
Consumers respond favorably to competitor praise because it brings a sense of compassion to a usually negative prerogative. Although I could not find research to support that Stanley and Hydroflask support each other, it is almost guaranteed that consumers would be intrigued by one of the two if they were to publicly praise each other in friendly competition.
Competitor praise allows the consumer to see a side of a company that is human and kind-hearted. If companies always approach with a cutthroat marketing analogy, consumers will get annoyed at both competitors as a whole. This tactic ropes consumers in to purchasing the complementing competitor’s products because they feel they are supporting a company that matches their moral compass.
Automatic Processing:
How can automatic processing allow consumers to make quick judgements and purchasing decisions? Harvard Business Review states, “The term “frictionless commerce” is widely used to describe how digital technologies are blending product purchases seamlessly into consumers’ daily lives. In the ultimate manifestation of frictionless commerce, purchases will be automatically initiated on behalf of consumers (with their advance consent) using real-time, integrated data from known preferences, past behaviors, sensors, and other sources. Envision, for example, a “smart fridge” automatically ordering food items it senses are running low. That is not common yet, but ever since consumers were offered the option to shop online from home, rather than having to go to a store, technology has been rapidly removing friction from commerce.”
Praising Competitors – Fail
In what cases might praising competitors not work? If Stanley were to publicly praise Hydroflask for excellent designs or color ways, consumers might sway towards purchasing a Hydroflask. Stanley has to be careful how much compliment they put into their praise. These praises should be more vague; kind but vague.
Resources:
Harvard Business Review. (2018, May 25). How do consumers choose in a world of automated ordering? https://hbr.org/2018/05/how-do-consumers-choose-in-a-world-of-automated-ordering
Harvard Business Review. (2022, March 24). Research: When praising the competition benefits your brand. https://hbr.org/2022/03/research-when-praising-the-competition-benefits-your-brand
Oregon State University. (2019, June 15). Types of rivalry – Strategic management. Open Educational Resources – OERU, Oregon State University. https://open.oregonstate.education/strategicmanagement/chapter/6-types-of-rivalry/
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