Marketing with David and Goliath

Papa John arrived on the scene and made no bones about the fact that they wanted to kill off Pizza Rita who were a small but feisty family business and based their continuity on good service, good food and not a little guerrilla marketing on the side.

The first part of the take over campaign involved coupons for free food stuck to bottles of Coca-Cola sold in the local school. Pizza Rita reacted by saying that they would honour any of these Papa John coupons.

Together with an existing offer to replace any pizza that a customer was dissatisfied with from any other Pizza place, Pizza Rita started piggybacking on the Papa John campaign.

That was not the end of the story but for the purposes of this article it sets the stage for big versus small in business and marketing. It happens in any industry and there are stories of the little guy outwitting the big guy as there are stories of steamrollers.

Graeme Duxbury, MD of Duxbury Networking, used it recently as an analogy when pitching to hold distribution ground against Westcon Enablers. Duxbury have been the distributor for Enterasys Networks for five years and Westcon have only recently been brought on board.

Duxbury are based in South Africa and Westcon have extensive African and international presence.

Duxbury says, "We specialise in a certain part of the market and have loyal customers that have been with us from the start. Owning our own company and not being employed to run a company means that there is more at stake for us."

Distributors in the IT industry deal with vendors like Enterasys from whom they receive product and resellers to whom they pass the product on. As in any business venture continuity is what counts. No reseller wants suprises simply the old adage 'what you see is what you get'.

One scenario could see Westcon moving into the market for SA companies with overseas presence and Duxbury perfecting their model of specialisation for clients that fear they may become just another number with a bigger distributor.

According to Derek Nareen, Divisional Director of Westcon Enablers, "Westcon are going to be targeting Black Economic Empowerment Networking start ups as well. The certification and training from Enterasys is cheaper than anywhere else and their product is very good."

This low cost entry into networking could be one of the triggers that increases the size of the Enterasys market in SA.

Duxbury are small and specialised working with Enterasys product whereas Westcon with their worldwide presence distribute Cisco products as well.

Westcon have their own finance house and Duxbury have entrenched themselves to a certain extent with existing resellers.

Weighing up advantages and disadvantages in a situation like this is not unlike a war situation between an invading force and the guerrillas that resist the expansion of the larger force from areas that they know and control.

Marketing becomes a critical weapon in this kind of showdown as the perception amongst potential clients about what a particular company offers can make or break them in the market.

In reality Westcon and Duxbury are not really competing in the same part of this distribution market. There will be an increased awareness in the market of Enterasys product which could benefit both Duxbury and Westcon and will benefit Enterasys itself.

The game is not a zero sum situation although there is a slight feeling of competitiveness between the two distributors the Enterasys strategy of adding Westcon to their stable revolves around simply increasing awareness and building their brand.

Martin May, Regional Director for Enterasys Networking, says, "Breaking Enterasys product into new markets in Africa is what Westcon can bring to the equation. In the process there will be increased interest in South Africa which means that Duxbury stand to benefit and could add to their existing resellers."

What makes this situation even more intriguing is that Enterasys are in the same networking market that is dominated by American giant Cisco. They are not competing for total control however but believe that there is market share for a network operator that offers an alternative to Cisco.

A showdown between David and Goliath in business terms need not mean destruction for one or the other. An intimate knowledge of target markets and marketing strategies can result in focusing on different parts of a market rather than a costly showdown and attempts to conquer competitors.

The benefits of increased customer and consumer awareness in a scenario like this should never be underestimated when putting a marketing battle plan together.