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Nearly every business is usually affected by their competitors positively or negatively,

which in turn affects the decisions made by those businesses. On the other hand, competition can

be good for consumers since it means that businesses have to provide high-quality products and

services at the right price. It also implies that for businesses to remain competitive in the market,

they must keep on updating and bringing out new products and services through innovation.

Some of the major competitors already existing and operating in the fashion industry

include Nike, American eagle, Urban Outfitters, and Forever 21. According to studies, Nike has

surpassed former mainstays such as Fitch and Gap to become a favorite retailer amongst

teenagers. This brand has always invested more, mainly in women who are paying off in their

business. This has enabled it to secure more young women as lifetime customers (Teng, 2020).

Forever 21 has been considered the epitome of fast fashion because it is quickly offering

affordable products and looks that resemble those seen on the runway. One of the brands that

might be a potential competitor in the near future is Adidas due to its distribution network that

ships goods across various regions in the world.

The steps that might be taken to prevent customers from buying from the competitors

include fully understanding the customers, knowing competitors, and incentivizing customers in

exchange for action. The approach of incentivizing customers in exchange for action helps a

business to accomplish various things, such as preventing consumers from defecting by giving

them something tangible. This approach also helps a business to prevent customers from

defecting by creating buy-in and adding more customers through the marketing efforts of the

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existing consumers. Incentivizing involves rewarding customers in various ways, such as

offering discounts, coupons, or cash (Neumann & Gutt, 2019). A business having adequate

knowledge about their customers helps them to know who they are dealing with. Understanding

customers' persona can significantly help because it helps define how to continue attracting them

and serving them well. A business' persona must be comprehensive enough to show the

consumers' motivation and other characteristics that might affect the selling process.

Other ways of preventing customers from purchasing from the competition include

getting sales representatives to service present clients with helpful advice, ensuring products

reflect current market demand and making customers aware of the business's entire product

range. Most customers normally decide to abandon a given supplier in favor of another because

the products or services provided no longer meet the market demand. For instance, there has

been an increasing demand for eco-friendly products, particularly amongst millennial purchasers.

There has also been a decreasing demand for products deemed to be ethically unappealing and

environmentally damaging; hence a business has to ensure that its products reflect the current

market demand. A common factor that makes customers avoid purchasing from a certain seller is

due to their lack of awareness of the complete product range on offer. This might lead to

customers buying some commodities from a competitor, and once this occurs, the competitor

acquires a chance to offer discounts on bundled goods hence establishing a new relationship with

the customer.

Businesses should ensure that attention and customers are attracted away from the

competition by building their reputation, bundling their products with services, developing

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unique products, and finding new markets. Businesses need to find out where they stand on

pricing compared to other businesses in the industry. It is necessary for a business to offer unique

products and services because when competitors hold sales, they would not be forced to cut their

prices since their offering cannot be price-compared.

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References

Neumann, J., & Gutt, D. (2019). Money Makes the Reviewer Go Round–Ambivalent Effects of

Online Review Elicitation in B2B Markets.

Teng, J. (2020, December). Analysis of Female Marketing—Taking Nike as an example. In 2020

3rd International Conference on Humanities Education and Social Sciences (ICHESS

2020) (pp. 286-291). Atlantis Press.