Crossing the chasm – from niche to mainstream

HEERENVEEN - A pressing question that a lot of entrepreneurs are facing is: How can I grow from small niche player to a solid market position in a bigger market? Or in other words: How can I generate enough money to build a profitable business? Geoffrey A. Moore is working on this topic for many years now. When he gives a lecture, you don’t realize he’s over 70 years old as the energy is flowing into the room. He has many current examples supporting his theory. His roots are in the high-tech business, but he shows that his theory is also applicable to food (and many other) companies.

Geoffrey’s speech concerns the chasm that exists between the early adopters and the majority of the product life cycle. The issue here is that early adopters have totally different reasons to buy a product (e.g. sincere interest in the idea, or an own vision on the possibilities) than the majority (who first wants to have proof that the product works and have references from experts). An important learning is that you should not start targeting a large market, but instead should segment your market and focus on a small target group. Moore: ‘In such a niche-market strong competitors can hardly attack you, big companies are not good at this. Once you have achieved a strong position here, you can gradually expand your market.’ Once you have established a strong foothold, there are also different smart methods to expand more quickly. An example Geoffrey is referring to is the 10-year old American company Beyond Meat, supplier of plant-based meat products. This company recently established a relationship with Burgerking, making use of its vast international network to quickly realize a global expansion.

Moore already sold over 1 million books, so if you are interested in crossing the chasm from niche to mainstream reading his book is recommendable. Are you interested what would be the best growth strategy for your company? TEN the export network advises and supports food & beverage companies that are aiming to broaden their horizons. They co-ordinate food export activities, encourage business development projects, and create new international links. TEN also helps improving the standard of existing export activities, and operates as SIB advisor (Starters International Business, an initiative of the Dutch government) for SMEs. For more information have a look at http://www.theexportnetwork.nl or contact TEN for a first meeting: http://www.theexportnetwork.nl/contact/

Source: Meeting ‘Crossing the Chasm’ Geoffrey Moore, Oranjewoud Export Academy, June  2019 - https://oranjewoudacademy.com/x-sessions/x1/oranjewoud/

http://www.geoffreyamoore.com