Saturday, October 25, 2008

The Bean Beaten

In SS2 (Petaling Jaya), the Coffee Bean died. It was killed presumably by its arch nemesis, Starbucks.

For over half a decade, CB thrived. Corner-lot and numerous restaurants (and a karaoke) nearby - smack inside a river of money.

But it died anyway. To a rival which opened less than a year ago.

And it wasn't like CB was bad or anything. The seating was comfortable, lighting serene and inviting, staff were fine. Overall, nice ambience and good food/drinks.

But it died anyway. To a rival which offered ambience, service and products (and prices) which were near identical, except for the colour.

Holding the brand quality constant for a sec, there's a lesson here: When two organisations are of near-equal quality and 'positioning', the newer one wins.

4 comments:

blogpastor said...

Do you think it applies to churches as well?
What about husbands or wives?

Anonymous said...

good questions, haha! :)

the big diff is that for these two 'items', there's already (or usually) a substantial amount of 'relational investment' involved. worship services and a marriage are no longer - thank God? - 'goods' or 'commodities' which one can drop at a whim.

In biz terms, the 'switching costs' have become substantial (grin).

Timothy Lee said...

i was living in ss2 for like 3 years but never sit in coffee bean once, the only time i think abt it is when i need 'wifi' haha

Anonymous said...

familiarity breeds contempt? :)