Developing a Market Entry Strategy and Product Launch: Ensuring a Profitable Launch and Successful Future

Decisions to enter new markets are notoriously hazardous. If the market is new, and you are one of the first entrants, then you can build on this to achieve the benefits of first-mover advantage, effectively becoming entrenched and making it much harder for your competitors to succeed. However, your business could also end up making costly mistakes that your competitors could then learn from and avoid.

There are several notable examples of firms that have achieved this position, but perhaps the best known is how Microsoft came to dominate the computer software market. It can be claimed that Microsoft was not the first into the market, but this is to miss the point. It came to market early, benefited from barriers to entry and gained economies of scale – growing to become one of the wealthiest businesses in the world. However, the history of every industry is littered with tales of decisions that failed. If you are a late entrant then this too has potential advantages and disadvantages. Mistakes may be avoided and better products introduced, but conventional wisdom says that you will be fighting experienced businesses that possess the advantages of market share.