One of the good things about the free market system is the core of the system itself. Anyone can create and deliver a superior product to someone else. Any business person can look at something and change it with their style. Some learn what not to do again while others make a minor change and run it to its fullest. When you have multiple people doing similar things, even the same thing, you have choices. With choices, the free market system is hard at work in its natural state. Some people would question this system as unfair much in the same mode as questions Darwin’s observations in “Origin of Species”.
A true free market system should embrace the balance of pro and con, the Ying and Yang, and the understanding there has to be a “survival of the fittest” scenario which can play out over time. When looking at how your smaller business functions and operates, we can guess for a majority, (especially the brick and mortar businesses in a community) free market competition is present. When talking to some business owners about their strategy, they stress they cannot compete with the big chain stores and warehouse stores, and even the on-line stores.
When you talk like this, you are defeated before you even try. The choice you are making is to feel “price” is how, why, and the only way you win. This is not a valid choice as there is no way you can have the buying power. The true valid choice is to take an assessment of your ability to deliver what the others cannot. What could be the greatest advantage and make you a free market hero is to look at the area you can dominate in; customer service, knowing all your customers names, being able to order special things and honor special requests, going above and beyond and policy statements, and hiring, aligning, and collaborating with people who believe the same.
Let the large stores and businesses battle themselves for a falsehood of values built upon the frail framework of price. If you find yourself still feeling as if I have “missed the point” and you have to offer the best value through pricing because that is the only thing customers want, let me ask this. When you bring home a gift for a child or flowers for a spouse, is their first reaction in what you paid or how it made them feel? Now…you see the power of value you can create, just apply it to your customers and price is no longer the question.
