Walmart doesn’t compete with Home Depot. And believe it or not, in my mind, Home Depot doesn’t compete with Ace Hardware. Home Depot may have a lot of similar products, but every time I walk into Ace Hardware, I get to talk to an 80 year old guy who can build anything from scratch and do it really well. This seasoned craftsman knows how to do EVERYTHING. He doesn’t work on commission and he’s basically there to hang out, drink coffee and tell people how to fix things (brilliant!).
I’ve been in 4 different Ace’s and the people working there have far more expertise than the minimum wage workers at Home Depot ever hope to have. If I want to buy wood and nails, I go to Home Depot. If I need to bend and sweat copper tubing for my 1976 house because of a leak in my kitchen sink, I go to Ace and talk to the guy who probably installed it back in 1976.
Just because someone is already in your space doesn’t mean you don’t have a waiting audience. The larger the space gets, the less personalized the service gets. People like that personalization. They like knowing the name of everyone in the room.
Open Source Software allows you the freedom to personalize and customize it to your needs. Why can’t every store do this? Just because something is Open Source, doesn’t mean it is free of charge (freedom vs. free beer). Ace Hardware is able to give me the customized attention that I need to get the job done.
Your site can do this too. There is immense value in having something tailored to your needs rather than being a “one size fits all” solution. Walmart doesn’t sell a sock that fits my size 8 1/2 foot correctly. I used to make due with whatever I could find, but at some point you discover that life is much nicer when it is tailored to your own specific needs.
If your business can provide the customer service that is needed, then you really aren’t competing with the other guy. You are just filtering out the people who don’t want what you have.
Toff Ward
OpenSourceMarketer.com
Learn how to build and market your business online using open source tools.