M & S or Fortnum and Mason. It’s Your Choice

February 4th 2023

2 minutes read

Written by LiveLink
February 4th 2023

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Is Your Positioning More M & S than Fortnum and Mason?

What’s that you say? What do you mean by positioning?

Let’s put it into shop and supermarket terms. All of the following examples sell the same product. You can buy a loaf of bread from any of them. One may cost you 50p, another £1.50 and another £4. It’s just bread. But your expectations of the experience will be very different.

✅ALDI- cheap, cheerful and zero frills

✅M & S – middle of the road. Does the job but a bit ‘beige’ and dare I say it, dull.

✅Fortnum and Mason – elegant, classy and premium purchase.

But it’s just bread 🤷🏼‍♀️

Which of these shops is thriving?

❌There’s no money in the middle as all the average priced restaurants found out such as Jamie’s, Carluccios etc…

Two are thriving. ALDI stack it high sell it cheap model. Doesn’t work for small business as there will always be someone cheaper.

Fortnum and Mason will thrive as they appeal to people that have the money, or will find the money as shopping there is important to the buyer.

Moral of this story? Don’t be vanilla and sit in the M & S area as you’ll get lost in the bagging area and who wants to be beige and a little boring.

Strive to be Fortnum and Mason and provide an elegant premium service for discerning clients🥂🥂

I chose Fortnum as it was a shop my Mum and I visited regularly and it was an annual tradition to visit before Christmas.

If you want to be the Fortnum of your industry, your marketing and pricing need to align with that branding.

You cannot provide a Fortnum service by charging an M and S or ALDI price. It’s impossible. And you’ll run yourself into the ground trying and the cash will run out fast.

It’s your choice about how to run your business and you can make a choice. What you don’t need to do is the same as the clinic or the business that you perceive to be your competitor. Give your patients or clients a choice of a different experience rather than having to make a choice based on price. Which is what will happen if you emulate your nearest competitors.

And that’s why your positioning is important.