- Approach market gap analysis as relative to competition. In this model, market variations are stressed. While your competitors might be doing well filling certain gaps, this may also entail that certain variations on a product or service might also be in demand. Variation analysis can figure out whether a variation on a product is called for. A good example of this might be the development of synthetic motor oil. As the need for energy independence developed, a variation gap was opened, and several firms began developing the now highly profitable synthetic forms of motor oil.
- Approaching the firm's consolidation strategy is another central element in gap analysis. In this model, the firm can expand into new areas without using internal resources to do so. Market gaps are self financing, and therefore a firm can use gap analysis to consolidate its hold on a specific market and fill all holes so that competitors cannot. A good example of this form of consolidation might be that of Toyota getting involved in the luxury car market with Lexus. In this case, Toyota had already dominated the lower end market for automobiles, but in economic good times in the 1980s, Toyota saw a means to consolidate its automotive dominance by launching Lexus.
- Also consider holes in the market where there is no product. Some have called this the "Launch" model, where firms strategize their next marketing moves relative to areas where there is no product at all. In this case, speed is everything, and gap analysts can approach the market with an eye on what demand is not being met. An example of this kind of gap filling might be companies such as Motorola in the early 1980s in its development of the mobile phone. There was a demand for quick voice communications without the requisite hardware and the demand to radically improve on the "pager" technology then dominant.
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