Describing markets with a few characteristics is not an easy task. The current markets are complex and are affected by multiple variables, but there are definitely some elements that stand out in these markets and that significantly impact the way of doing business regal marketing, such as access to information and technological change .
These characteristics are also interconnected and ultimately lead us to a highly competitive and changing global market. Unlike markets fifty years ago, companies must constantly adapt and are exposed to global competition today. No matter if your business is in a small town in the United States or South America, the town's pizzeria will be competing with Domino's Pizza and Papa John's.
More informed consumers
Internet access has made consumers access information since the late 1990s. This reduced what economists call "information asymmetries", which is nothing but an advantage for the discovery gardens, knowing their cost structure. However, consumers are now empowered. Not only do they access the internet on their PCs, before going to the point of sale ("zero moment of truth"), but they also share information on their social networks and can even access the information at the time of purchase in the point of sale, giving rise to the concepts of in-line shopping and showrooming, which are giving so much headaches to the retail industry in the United States.
Technological change
But access to information by the consumer is not the only effect of the development of information technologies and telecommunications, but rather different technological innovations are changing the way of doing things in different sectors of activity, giving rise to the emergence of new business models and market players. In tourism, for example, online travel agencies and metasearch engines have emerged, observing how a growing portion of travellers use the internet to plan and buy tourism services. But beyond the use of digital channels for marketing and sales, important technological developments are beginning to impact areas such as operations and customer service (internet of things, robotics, etc.).
The development of technologies such as the cloud, mobility and social media, has allowed the emergence of an economy around platforms, where technology allows connecting people, organizations and resources in an interactive ecosystem in which surprising value is created. Virtually any industry in which information is an important ingredient is a candidate for the platform revolution. Examples of this are easily found in education and the media, but it is really very easy to find examples in various economic sectors. Its importance is such that it is not by chance that some of the companies with the largest market capitalization have business models based on platforms, such as Apple, Google and Microsoft. Also companies that are giving a lot to talk about like Facebook or Amazon rely on platforms, including so-called "unicorns" (companies that reach a valuation of more than a billion dollars before going to the stock market, such as Uber or Air bnb).
Three recommendations to compete in today's markets
1. Know the characteristics of current markets and their impact on your activity sector.
2. Determine how greater access to information by customers affects your sector and how your company can incorporate this knowledge to better compete.
3. Identify which of the new technologies have an expected effect on your sector of activity and how these technologies will change the way of doing business (opportunities and threats).