Don't Get Stuck In The Middle

Thought-provoking positioning realities hit me whilst watching Jeff Randall on Sky News Monday night.  Although his forte is the written word rather than interviews, he did arrive at one spell-binding observation on British retailing 2008.

As consumers begin to listen to the self-fulfilling misery from financial banking-biased journos talking us ever-downwards, high street spending habits are demonstrably changing.

Recent winning figures come from the likes of Burberry, New Look & Primark.  The trend is that those doing well either push being cheap and cheerful, or aim to be luxury brands.  Success is to be found at the poles.

Is there a lesson here for us solution sellers in any slowdown?  I think there may well be.  For now, I shall never use any language that could be interpreted as positioning my products in the ‘middle ground’.  I shall not fall into the trap of being “stuck in the middle”, afraid to be premium, scared to box-shift.  I’ll either talk about being a cost-leader on something, or the premium-type provider.