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>But a new product must offer something that's not found in the existing products on the market. how is it then the case that there are multiple versions of pr

>But a new product must offer something that's not found in the existing products on the market. how is it then the case that there are multiple versions of products on the market that differ very little from each other?

pavlov 3y ago
Typically they're either using the same elements despite being branded differently, or there's a competitive factor in the design that's not superficially obvious to the consumer, or the market is so established that there's a repository of existing designs that can be slightly tweaked to create a new product affordably. Let's say you want to sell plastic brooms. With such a common product, what possible competitive edge could you get by creating your own design from scratch? If your reason for getting in the business is that you want to address a niche or trend (e.g. you want to sell hot pink brooms because it's Barbie summer of 2023), that can be accomplished with an existing design. It only makes sense to create new molds for a broom if you're a corporation like Ikea with the massive sales volume that enables vertical integration of every aspect of the product.
derefr 3y ago
Logistical convergent evolution. You set off to make your own thing, and maybe you do make your own thing, at first, in a small-batch artisanal way. Then you try to scale up. You subcontract to various manufacturing companies — companies also being used by your competitors. Those companies have standard "best practice" ways of doing certain things, and they tell you that your design will be executed a lot more cheaply if they're allowed to nudge it toward conforming with those best practices, so that they can use standard parts and techniques. Iterate this three or four times — especially in the context of a company that's plateaued in market share and is now all about cost optimization — and eventually you have a version of your product which is indistinguishable from your competitors' products. That's what allows for the best economies of scale up the pipeline, and therefore saves you and your competitors the most money.

pavlov 3y ago

Typically they're either using the same elements despite being branded differently, or there's a competitive factor in the design that's not superficially obvious to the consumer, or the market is so established that there's a repository of existing designs that can be slightly tweaked to create a new product affordably. Let's say you want to sell plastic brooms. With such a common product, what possible competitive edge could you get by creating your own design from scratch? If your reason for getting in the business is that you want to address a niche or trend (e.g. you want to sell hot pink brooms because it's Barbie summer of 2023), that can be accomplished with an existing design. It only makes sense to create new molds for a broom if you're a corporation like Ikea with the massive sales volume that enables vertical integration of every aspect of the product.

derefr 3y ago

Logistical convergent evolution. You set off to make your own thing, and maybe you do make your own thing, at first, in a small-batch artisanal way. Then you try to scale up. You subcontract to various manufacturing companies — companies also being used by your competitors. Those companies have standard "best practice" ways of doing certain things, and they tell you that your design will be executed a lot more cheaply if they're allowed to nudge it toward conforming with those best practices, so that they can use standard parts and techniques. Iterate this three or four times — especially in the context of a company that's plateaued in market share and is now all about cost optimization — and eventually you have a version of your product which is indistinguishable from your competitors' products. That's what allows for the best economies of scale up the pipeline, and therefore saves you and your competitors the most money.