REPOSITIONING: Marketing in an Era of Competition, Change and Crisis

CHAPTER EIGHTVALUE IS THE NAME OF THE GAME

In Chapter 2, we talked about repositioning the competition as not being about price. When you are talking about value, once again it is not about price unless you have built a price advantage. If that’s the case, you are always about price as your differentiator.

Southwest Airlines has used low price to differentiate itself. But it has done so by, in CEO Herb Kelleher’s words, “being different.”

By using only one kind of airplane, Southwest saved on training and maintenance costs. By offering no reserved seats, it avoided expensive reservation systems. By offering no food, it eliminated expense and time. By avoiding expensive hub airports and using less expensive smaller airports, it avoided high gate ...