Do you ever shop or do business at a company that has a unique way of doing business and wonder why others in the same industry don’t copy that idea?
Here are my random observations on great business ideas that never seem to be copied by others in the same industry.
- Aldi’s cart retrieval system. If you’ve ever shopped at Aldi you’ll know that in order to use a shopping cart, you need to insert a coin like a quarter. Aldi does this everywhere in the world. The result: customers return their carts to the store instead of leaving them abandoned in the parking lot. Great idea…why don’t other merchants do the same thing?
- Speaking of Aldi. Aldi prints UPC barcodes on every side of each product that they sell. Result: cashiers don’t constantly turn products over looking for the barcode during the check out process. Checkouts are fast at Aldi.
- Chick-fil-a drive through process. Chick-fil-a drive throughs are different. Instead of driving up to a window or speaker box and speaking your order, Chick-fil-a employees instead walk up to your vehicle with a tablet and take your order. The result, the line is always moving. I’ve seen similar ideas in other industries but I dont know why McDonald’s doesnt do this at all of their drive throughs.
- Apple’s app marketplace. Sure Google has their own app store but why haven’t other cell phone manufacturers (looking at you Samsung) created their own app store. The advantage with Apple’s app store is that Apple ensures security, they keep out random apps, and, if the app collects money, Apple gets a cut from each transaction. As an Apple user, I know the apps are always secure, there are no such thing as IOs viruses, and it’s somewhat idiot proof for non tech people. Why wouldn’t Samsung copy that?
- Why didn’t Sears keep their catalog business? Sears Roebuck and company once was the largest catalog merchant in the United States. They discontinued their catalog in 1993. Amazon started selling books in 1994 and launched into items other than books in 1997, arguably only 4 years after Sears discontinud their catalog.
There are plenty more examples…can you think of any? Comment below
