Unfortunately, at that time, customers preferred large fruit, which meant that he would have had trouble selling his papinos, even though they were delicious. So he made a plan. He put a sticker on each fruit, packed them into a neat, colourful box with a papino logo, and inserted a recipe leaflet.
Compared with the boring cardboard boxes used by other farmers, this packaging was eye-catching and fun – and sales soared. This farmer had differentiated his product. In other words, he had made it different from others. Another description of differentiation is ‘branding’.
Some products are differentiated more easily than others, but all products can be made to stand out from the rest. Impossible? Let’s have a look at the potato. In a quick survey in my home town, I found 27 different ways in which the humble potato is being sold! In addition to the 10kg paper pocket, there were 11 pack types and sizes, four ready-to-cook packs and six frozen products.
This is what product differentiation or branding is about. You can differentiate your product in many ways – by price, quality, sale location, the way you communicate with the customer, and so on. The main point is that you have to be different to stand out from your competitors.
